eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
Upon further reflection, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't written that.
Christmas Wine
- Thread starter eternumviti
- Start date
- Status
Upon further reflection, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't written that.
Ha you are reading too much into your own words now.
It was of great relief to me when I found out that England was conquered by Vikings rather than the French.
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
Yes, we thrashed one lot of Vikings at Stamford Bridge (isn't that a football club?) and then immediately lost to another lot at Hastings. Bad form.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
As a Norman myself (I am assured) I decided to trace my ancestors’ exciting and peripatetic history once. When I lost interest shortly afterwards the most exotic location I had managed to find them in was Salford.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Or maybe Jack ‘the Hat’ McViti?
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
Reverting to the subject of wine stemware, we are in peak Burgundy season at the moment, the tastings so thick and furious that I got in a muddle this week and went to a Wednesday bash up on Tuesday. All was not lost, and a brisk walk across St.James Park presented the choice of Flint Wines and Fields Morris & Verdin, or both. Liberty were running their portfolio tasting, and Charles Taylor and Howard Ripley were also doing Burgundy within reach, which might account for what seemed a thinnish turnout at FMV (BBR's agency arm) at The Great Hall at the Institute of Civil Engineers. The Great Hall can easily soak up 400 people and I'm sure you could land a small aircraft in it were it not for the ceiling, something impressive in its own right.
I've noticed that glassware at these trade tastings has become very smart in the last few years, indeed extravagant. FMV were using Riedel Veritas at about £27 a shot at retail, and 67 Pall Mall as always was fielding Zalto Universals at Thorman Hunt yesterday, also around £30 a shot. Inevitably a few hit the deck, but I suppose that pales when you consider the eye-watering prices of some of the wines. I actually managed to taste Dugat-Py at 67 Pall Mall, as it's normally all gone by the time I reach the table. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, to be honest. As I was writing my scrambled notes my eyes fell upon the ex-cellar price (to me) of €241.50 for the Charmes Chambertin, and it took a few seconds for it to register that as being just for a single bottle rather than six of them. This was placed into perspective when I was relieved to taste the next wine, a wonderfully refreshing Chablis Villages from Domaine Fevre (not that one) at a slightly less brain-blowing €10.20. I was scoring high yesterday, and I gave the Chambertin 17-18. The Chablis got 17+. They sell every bottle of the Dugat that they are allocated en-primeur, and the Fevre wine last for a year. That difference cannot be accounted for merely by the 10 hectare to 50 hectare vineyard ratio. The Chambertin would retail at a monster £430 odd a bottle, Nathalie Fevre's beautiful, graceful and entirely comparable Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses (19/20) would languish at a mere £60.
The Great Hall. This was at tip-out time, it wasn't really this quiet. The ceiling below.
Riedel at FMV.
..and Zalto at 67 Pall Mall.
Incidentally, MB, according to Zalto you should wash their stemware in the dishwasher.
I've noticed that glassware at these trade tastings has become very smart in the last few years, indeed extravagant. FMV were using Riedel Veritas at about £27 a shot at retail, and 67 Pall Mall as always was fielding Zalto Universals at Thorman Hunt yesterday, also around £30 a shot. Inevitably a few hit the deck, but I suppose that pales when you consider the eye-watering prices of some of the wines. I actually managed to taste Dugat-Py at 67 Pall Mall, as it's normally all gone by the time I reach the table. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, to be honest. As I was writing my scrambled notes my eyes fell upon the ex-cellar price (to me) of €241.50 for the Charmes Chambertin, and it took a few seconds for it to register that as being just for a single bottle rather than six of them. This was placed into perspective when I was relieved to taste the next wine, a wonderfully refreshing Chablis Villages from Domaine Fevre (not that one) at a slightly less brain-blowing €10.20. I was scoring high yesterday, and I gave the Chambertin 17-18. The Chablis got 17+. They sell every bottle of the Dugat that they are allocated en-primeur, and the Fevre wine last for a year. That difference cannot be accounted for merely by the 10 hectare to 50 hectare vineyard ratio. The Chambertin would retail at a monster £430 odd a bottle, Nathalie Fevre's beautiful, graceful and entirely comparable Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses (19/20) would languish at a mere £60.
The Great Hall. This was at tip-out time, it wasn't really this quiet. The ceiling below.
Riedel at FMV.
..and Zalto at 67 Pall Mall.
Incidentally, MB, according to Zalto you should wash their stemware in the dishwasher.
You've slipped a Brexit Britain ceiling in there but let's not talk about that stuff on here. Except to note there is still a lot of money sloshing around in good old Blighty.
I'm not so keen on the straight sides on the Zalto.
According to Mr Google you can also put Riedel in the dishwasher if you place them carefully. I've never dared but might one day as cleanliness is next to godliness.
Very impressed with your note taking. It looks like hard work. Appreciate the photos btw.
I very much doubt I would pay £60 for a white wine. And that is your VFM option !
I'm not so keen on the straight sides on the Zalto.
According to Mr Google you can also put Riedel in the dishwasher if you place them carefully. I've never dared but might one day as cleanliness is next to godliness.
Very impressed with your note taking. It looks like hard work. Appreciate the photos btw.
I very much doubt I would pay £60 for a white wine. And that is your VFM option !
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
I think that the ceiling commemorates the contribution of civil engineers to victory in WW1, so 40 years before the EC, and a full century before brexit, but I see where you are coming from. The poor old union flag is getting a rough deal at the moment.
I agree on the Zalto. They do show the wines very well, and the glass is so thin its almost flexible, but they're not aesthetically close to the Riedels. The Veritas are a lovely shape.
There was only one grower, Comte Armand (Clos des Epeneaux) in Pommard who was showing at the two tastings, and I should have tasted the wines at both to compare. Suffice it to say that I was more aware of the tannins in the reds at FMV than I was at TH/67 Pall Mall, but the judgement of whether that was my palate or the stemware will have to await the next opportunity.
A pleasure. It is hard work, and after anything up to or beyond 100 wines, it is exhausting. I can't do it nowadays, but younger hearts (or palates) were crossing from Liberty to Flint to FMV etc. I'm not sure that I would have trusted their judgement though.
Heavens, no, £60 doesn't constitute VFM, except in the context of the £430 Chambertin! The VFM option above was the Chablis Vieilles Vignes from Gilles et Nathalie Fevre at about £20 on the shelf.
A friend of mine is a member at 67 Pall Mall. We had a boozy lunch there and the concept seemed interesting initially.
Having got more details I'm no longer sure it is either a convivial place or a fair deal. The menu is too middle of the road for frequent meals, and I don't want to be told when I must wear a jacket.
However as a 'wine professional' you would pay half the fees. It might be worth it if you have London clients and can write it off as a business expense.
Having got more details I'm no longer sure it is either a convivial place or a fair deal. The menu is too middle of the road for frequent meals, and I don't want to be told when I must wear a jacket.
However as a 'wine professional' you would pay half the fees. It might be worth it if you have London clients and can write it off as a business expense.
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
I'm not a member, but there's a room in the basement that has become a popular and well-located venue for small to medium-sized tastings, seminars and so on.
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
No, Calvinists, that lot who fled stroppy Catholics in France and settled to weaving wool in East Anglia and East London. I'm apparently a weaver's daughter for my sins.
You probably have some relatives in Stellenbosch/Franschhoek.
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
Yes, of course. That would be fun. I think I've got some in Australia, but that doesn't have anything to do with persecution, or catholics.
Just prosecution ?
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
Possibly!
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
So what’s being going on while I have been working? (Not for profit, I might add, just for the enjoyment of swearing frequently at inanimate objects)
An uncharitable soul might compare your muddlement to that of a certain salamander.
I quite like that ceiling. It reminds me of the micropub I was in a couple of nights ago. Except everything was a model, not a painting. And the plane was German, not British. And the ICE don’t have a foot and the bottom half of a leg coming through the ceiling. I can’t quite work it out, I admit. I can see two arms on either side of the flag, but not what they belong to.
Blimey, thank goodness I can’t afford it anymore. I had so much in the late 90s I sold a case on eBay. Those were the days... Why? God knows. I did some odd things when I was young(er). I seem vaguely to recall selling some Beaucastel on eBay too. On second thoughts, I’d rather not dwell on it.
An uncharitable soul might compare your muddlement to that of a certain salamander.
Yes, that mirrors the advice the nice lady from Riedel Austria gave me. (Riedel UK couldn’t be bothered with such trivia, they forwarded my email to head office. Mind you, she added caveats like ‘open the dishwasher immediately the cycle has finished’, ‘don’t wash with anything aluminium’, ‘if it’s a leap year, don’t rinse them if it is a Wednesday’ etc. (OK, I made the last one up.)
I quite like that ceiling. It reminds me of the micropub I was in a couple of nights ago. Except everything was a model, not a painting. And the plane was German, not British. And the ICE don’t have a foot and the bottom half of a leg coming through the ceiling. I can’t quite work it out, I admit. I can see two arms on either side of the flag, but not what they belong to.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Do you have a typical Huguenot name in your lineage? I’ve known quite a few- among them Lambert, Baskerville and Hug. The last knew the name had some funny French connection and was historically a pejorative term but was surprised to hear about the religious origin of the family. Round the corner from my place in Edinburgh is Picardy Place- named after the colony of French Protestant lace makers that settled there. I also know a woman with an Italian name who’s family settled in in the early 1500s- followers of Savaronola. They formed a colony in Culross on the Forth. Their predicament was even worse than that of their French counterparts. Can you imagine trying to start a reformation in a Italy with the Medici and the Farnese living round the corner?
^^ I guess an Italian (or two) gave you Valvona & Crolla so you have to welcome them. More useful than a lace maker these days. I thought Scotland was more Catholic than England: strange for Protestants to seek refuge there.
I'm pretty sure I had a Meo-Camuzet a few years ago: such a cool name. I can't remember which one or the vintage. But I do know I didn't buy any more so I probably tasted the wrong one.
I'm pretty sure I had a Meo-Camuzet a few years ago: such a cool name. I can't remember which one or the vintage. But I do know I didn't buy any more so I probably tasted the wrong one.
- Status