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Christmas Wine II

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wacko said:
There was never much doubt but you are right about Roc. Reminded me of Musar initially which is high praise.
Not cheap but on the Bordeaux scale of VMF (haha) not expensive either.
So thank you for the introduction.
btw did you build the Towers cellar yourself ? Do you parachute in or is there a hidden ladder ?
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I’m really glad you liked it. I have fun posting my rambling nonsense, but that’s all it is in my mind. I never expect people to be influenced by it, and panic a bit when they are - especially at £50 a bottle. Anyway, watch this space later tonight...

The cellar is a very big plastic box dropped into a hole in the ground. The bloke in the top picture made it. He is/was a plastics fabricator, and this was a prototype/demo model. I think there might be another couple in existence somewhere.

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There’s a spiral staircase leading down at one end (you can see the supporting bolts on the exterior shot.) You can also just see it in the corner of the shot in the post from yesterday. Note the heavily clay-stained sumptuous luxury carpet.

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Those pictures were taken over 25 years ago - most of those Huet bottles are still in exactly the same place!
 
John Phillips said:
Too late for the offer I know, but out of curiosity I had seen this one and had bought a sample beforehand. I opened it earlier today:
  • At 1 hour after decanting it was very sleepy indeed - not promising.
  • At 2 hours it had started to wake up a bit - maybe it's better than I thought.
  • At 3 hours it has developed surprisingly well. It's very young. It's not Pichon Longeueville Comtesse de Lalande or even Reserve de la Comtesse. But for just £10, I say!
YMMV, of course. But assuming it still seems OK later into this evening, I might be back to Sainsbury's soon to grab another sample to see if I still agree with myself. I have been known to argue.
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I agree 100% having just polished off a bottle. (Cru Bourgeois Château Tour Prignac Médoc - Sainsburys)
 
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Following Gaston’s arrival at the Towers yesterday, he has now been sworn in as Official Sommelier at a solemn ceremony. Solemn probably isn’t the correct word - riotous may be closer. His first duty was to select the final bottle (no. 17) of my OAP birthday bash. I’m very pleased he chose a 2012 Tertre Rôteboeuf, as I had been dropping extremely heavy hints that that was what I wanted.

I haven’t tasted Tertre Rôteboeuf before, or any three-figure wine come to that. It’s the most expensive wine I’ve ever bought, by some 50%. I’m not boasting, it’s more of a catharsis to admit it. I’ve always had a hankering to try a bottle, possibly because I like Mitjavilé’s refusal to play the Bordeaux game and can sense a fellow contrarian spirit.

And it is fantastic. Start with the Roc de Cambes from last week, turn everything up to about 14 and add the ‘goes down glowing’ element that I mentioned in the La Tyre. And the best blackcurrant jam you’ve ever tasted lingering in your mouth afterwards.

That’s it! A wonderful month, but tomorrow is back to normal (although I have pension day to look forward to in a fortnight.)
 
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Joe Hutch said:
Getting a pension is great. It was the closest thing to money for nothing since my first student grant cheque. Plus free bus travel!
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I haven’t been offered a bus pass yet! Mind you, the nearest bus stop is an hour’s walk away and there’s only one route, so it would be of limited use.
 
Marchbanks said:
I haven’t been offered a bus pass yet! Mind you, the nearest bus stop is an hour’s walk away and there’s only one route, so it would be of limited use.
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I don't think mine was immediate either; maybe six months or so after I got my first pension payment. There's loads of buses round here, but the best use was on holiday when we got a free ride over Kirkstone Pass, high up in the Lake District.

Loads of people piled on at Kendal, where there's a changeover of drivers. One young woman, either Italian or Spanish, got on, showing her passport, and said that she'd been told that she was entitled to use it to travel on any bus. The driver, at the end of his shift and wanting to go home, just waved her on. We wondered what would happen next time she tried to use it.
 
Marchbanks said:
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Following Gaston’s arrival at the Towers yesterday, he has now been sworn in as Official Sommelier in a solemn ceremony. Solemn probably isn’t the correct word - riotous may be closer. His first duty was to select the final bottle (no. 17) of my OAP birthday bash. I’m very pleased he chose a 2012 Tertre Rôteboeuf, as I had been dropping extremely heavy hints that that was what I wanted.

I haven’t tasted Tertre Rôteboeuf before. It’s the most expensive wine I’ve ever bought, by some 50%. I’m not boasting, it’s more of a catharsis to admit it. I’ve always had a hankering to try a bottle, possibly because I like Mitjavilé’s refusal to play the Bordeaux game and can sense a fellow contrarian spirit.

And it is fantastic. Start from the Roc de Cambes from last week, turn everything up to about 14 and add the ‘goes down glowing’ element that I mentioned in the La Tyre. And the best blackcurrant jam you’ve ever tasted lingering in your mouth afterwards.

That’s it! A wonderful month, but tomorrow is back to normal (although I have pension day to look forward to in a fortnight.)
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Bloody MARVELLOUS!

Congratulations, MB. You have come of age. I'm just behind you.

What did Gaston recommend by way of a matching dish?
 
Joe Hutch said:
Getting a pension is great. It was the closest thing to money for nothing since my first student grant cheque. Plus free bus travel!
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...and if you're still working no more National Insurance contributions! Could be worth many a case of Fayne Wayne!
 
eternumviti said:
What did Gaston recommend by way of a matching dish?
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There was salchichòn sausage offered to go with the Rochefort, followed by saucisse (from a very free range pig reared five minutes walk away) aux lentilles with salad from the grounds, then Poiret de Meuse and Bleu de Gex brought back from France.

And now the ISS has just floated overhead. Excellent! Many thanks to all at NASA for organising that for me.
 
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eternumviti said:
Bloody MARVELLOUS!

Congratulations, MB. You have come of age. I'm just behind you.
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And I'm just in front. Didn't have the fortitude myself for a run of 17 bottles but congratulations to you MB. I trust Gaston will look after you for many more years.
 
andrew d said:
...and if you're still working no more National Insurance contributions! Could be worth many a case of Fayne Wayne!
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That’s an interesting point. I see £291 was paid on my behalf from my irregular PAYE employment last year (plus an extra £3 NI told me I had to stump up in order to boost my pension by £5/week for life - I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about but it seemed like a good deal, so I paid it) - that’s a very decent bottle every month! Plus apparently I have a £300 Winter Booze Allowance to look forward to. Old age definitely rocks!
 
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John Phillips said:
Thanks for reminding me. I never did get that second bottle to see if I still agree with myself. I will.
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Well my view is that it's drinkable now, with great pleasure. But when the Sainsbury's 25% off sale happens I'll buy a case and drink slowly. I think it could be very good indeed in a few years -- mine was 2018.

I'll tell you what I think about it: it'll make an excellent desert wine. I don't mean pudding, I mean desert in the Oxford College sense: fruit, nuts, turkish delight etc after dinner and before coffee.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I don't think mine was immediate either; maybe six months or so after I got my first pension payment. There's loads of buses round here, but the best use was on holiday when we got a free ride over Kirkstone Pass, high up in the Lake District.

Loads of people piled on at Kendal, where there's a changeover of drivers. One young woman, either Italian or Spanish, got on, showing her passport, and said that she'd been told that she was entitled to use it to travel on any bus. The driver, at the end of his shift and wanting to go home, just waved her on. We wondered what would happen next time she tried to use it.
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I did a little research today - apparently I have to apply for it. They kept that quiet, the bastards.

I didn’t realise you could use it all over the country, I thought it was only valid in your county. That changes things. I could try and get to Plymouth, or Carlisle. This is where it would be handy to have the help of Pulkstenis. He went to my school, and was the weirdest of a weird bunch. I don’t know what his first name was, or indeed if he had one. He had memorised every bus timetable in Britain, and even appeared on local TV to show off his skills. He was tall, broad and stout, and sounded like Arnie. I can’t help wondering if he was really some early version of the Terminator.
 
Ah, on the spectrum. I have a cousin, 6'4", strong as an ox, also with a deep, booming voice. He has an encyclopaedic recollection of car number plates.

"That bum brown Renault 4 van you had in 1977..." he booms, and then reels off the number plate... "you could go through all the gears without using the clutch, it was just a matter of getting the revs right."
 
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