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Christmas Wine

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Last page has inspired me to start putting my wines into Cellartracker. It is probably worth the faf: for example it has already reminded me that my Bila-Haut 2015 are not to be kept too much longer. I don't care about Purchase Date or Price/Value so just skip those.
I wouldn't join any society with a dress code; although I have no problem whatever others want to wear and I might even wear a jacket myself if I want to. Seems terribly old fashioned and indicative of closed minds. But then a cheap claret 'appreciation' society would be my idea of hell anyway. Glad to hear some are pulling it into the 21st century.
 
wacko said:
Last page has inspired me to start putting my wines into Cellartracker. It is probably worth the faf: for example it has already reminded me that my Bila-Haut 2015 are not to be kept too much longer.
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CellarTracker has made me realize that I am dangerously close to the event horizon in terms of permanently racing to drink wine before it is past its best. So I must stop buying. And I will. Definitely. After my trip to Alsace.

A disproportionate number of these wines are white, so I have informed cook that the entire household will be dining on lobster and turbot for the foreseeable.
 
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I have a friend with over 1,000 bottles. I'm hoping he will need my help at some stage. Unfortunately he is only 58.
 
Marchbanks said:
CellarTracker has made me realize that I am dangerously close to the event horizon in terms of permanently racing to drink wine before it is past its best. So I must stop buying. And I will. Definitely. After my trip to Alsace.
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Ah, the spectre of vinous necrophilia looms. I can't tell you the amount of bottles that people have brought for me to inspect over the years, or cellars that they have asked me to value, that have contained little more than brown dust. Heartbreaking. Someone recently brought me some fatally ullaged bottles of 1959 Latour to value. When I enquired, it transpired that they had been kept in a flat-roofed garage in Notting Hill for the last 50 years.
 
Another friend served Krug 1996 at his family Xmas lunch. Just told me it was off : the whole case of 6 down the plughole ! That would have spoiled anybody's Xmas. Not sure where he stored it but he got it from your old 'friends' Lay & Wheeler years ago.
Haven't had Krug for a long time: I do like it but I'm not paying those prices.
 
Marchbanks said:
I admit I tend to stick to Guigal for generic red CdR, which can be picked up for the same price [as the Perrin] in the spring and autumn wine fairs.
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Having just drunk the Perrin and Guigal white CdR on consecutive nights I can say I prefer the Guigal white too.
 
I don't think French would be my first choice for white unless paying up for good Sancerre or Chablis; or Alsace riesling of course. Perhaps a good Picpoul if you can find one. But it all depends on what the old taste buds are used to.
Guigal and Chapoutier could have been burned as sorcerers in the 17th century.
 
CdR and Alsace whites were the first wines I ever bought by the case as magazine offers and I’ve had a soft spot for them ever since. The Alsatian stuff was from Hugel and I can still remember drinking one of the CdR (Chusclan) whilst watching the Iranian Embassy siege on the news, so that gives you an idea of when it was.

Although decades of stomach abuse mean I’m not great with dry whites (the sight of a bottle of Muscadet has me reaching for the Bisodol) I’m still partial to a nice SB. However, I make it a point of honour not to open a >£10 bottle before midday, which rules out Sancerre and Cloudy Bay with cook’s Special Breakfast Kedgeree or my elevenses kipper paté with toast. The Guigal CdR (or the Perrin) at 6-7€ serves as a very decent cheaper white. I’ve tried wines like The Ned and think they taste like an ad agencies idea of what SB should be. I suppose they are, after a fashion.

Alsace is probably my favourite region in the world (so far) for whites - in terms of variety, for starters. Riesling isn’t my favourite though, I would rather have a Tokay or Muscat. But anything with VT on the label will have me making a drooling spectacle of myself.
 
You have bought your wines at exceptionally good prices. I guess I could force myself @ €6-7 !
OTOH Cloudy Bay is often overpriced, and The Ned is not top NZ SB IMO. I was surprised to find Aussie and NZ wines almost the same price as in the UK when I visited: perhaps I didn't know where/how to buy them.
I should have drunk more Alsace/Mosel over the years and my NYResolution is to rectify that.
 
I’ve only bought Cloudy Bay once, at the end of 2017 when Sainsbury were doing 25% off. I think I paid around £14/bottle. I’ve only had one so far, but was very impressed.

Of course, just as I vow to stop buying the Wine Soc Rhône 2017 offer comes along. Seductive, dark and delightful apparently - in other words utterly unlike me. The Piedlong looks interesting at £155/6 botts. Must... resist.... I’m pleased to say a quick whiz through the Southern section has shown no mention of ‘crunchy fruit’ although there was one of ‘sun-ripened grapes’ which did make me wonder how many wines out there must therefore be made from artificial light-ripened grapes.
 
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Another wine fan here (coming from Italian parents, I guess it was inevitable)... So are you guys more into new or old world wines, or does it depend on various factors?:cool:

Marco.
 
Marco said:
Another wine fan here (coming from Italian parents, I guess it was inevitable)... So are you guys more into new or old world wines, or does it depend on various factors?:cool:

Marco.
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Personally my wine comes mostly from France as I tend to buy on my travels rather than through merchants, hence I’m awaiting the outcome of the next month or two in parliament with trepidation. And even though the House of Townend 15% offer has damaged my credit card recently, everything I bought there was from the Rhône. But I’m probably in a minority of one.
 
Again a good price you paid for Cloudy Bay: it is usually over £20. I would buy it at £14 !
Don't think you should resist 2017 Rhone: third good year in a row, it can't last.
When do you leave for the big Alsace raid ? Is there a limit on amount that HM Customs start to get twitchy ?
 
I have a broad mix of pretty well anything but French (but I do have some), as I've just never got into understanding and tasting/testing it properly / it's become a "one of these days when I have time" tasks. I enjoy a lot of Spanish, Argentinean, US, Italian wines.
 
BTC3 said:
I have a broad mix of pretty well anything but French (but I do have some), as I've just never got into understanding and tasting/testing it properly / it's become a "one of these days when I have time" tasks. I enjoy a lot of Spanish, Argentinean, US, Italian wines.
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I agree French can be tricky: some of the best wines in the world but also some of the worst VFM as well.
Unlike in France many of the cheap French reds in the UK are hard work: maybe our tax/duty system to blame. But also the British obsession with certain names like buying cheap claret instead of a better wine, at the same price, from outside Bordeaux.
The austerity of some French reds only work with food so that is a consideration.
The vintage affects French wine probably more than any other country. Equally French red might need to be stored a year or 3 which is a faf for some.
So French wine requires more thought and research than an easy New World wine but it can repay that effort.
However nothing at all wrong with the wines from the 4 countries (I find Italian wine almost as complex as French) you mention. We are so lucky in the UK to get the widest selection of wines in the world.
 
wacko said:
Again a good price you paid for Cloudy Bay: it is usually over £20. I would buy it at £14 !
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Basically I’m a cheapskate - I will buy wines on offer that I would never consider buying at full price.

wacko said:
Don't think you should resist 2017 Rhone: third good year in a row, it can't last.
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I suspect I won’t. I’ll wait and see what my new favourite merchants (HoT) come up with. I’ve been really impressed with them so far. And I can’t resist their Quidco cashback either (sorry!)

wacko said:
When do you leave for the big Alsace raid ? Is there a limit on amount that HM Customs start to get twitchy ?
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I will get there tomorrow week. In theory anything up to 120 bottles is fine, after that you may have to prove the wine is for ‘personal use.’ I’ve never gone over 120 and I’ve never been stopped beyond a couple of questions. I don’t know how you would prove ‘personal use’ but I carry a couple of photos of the ancestral cellars on my phone (interspersed with some of vintage Ferraris and kittens - not mine, I hasten to add - to melt the hearts of over-zealous customs officers of both sexes. Targeted stereotyping - Cambridge Analytica eat your hearts out!)
 
Yes of course but you don't often see CB discounted.
Hardly worth going for less ! Even £ is holding up for you. Bon voyage. Have a bottle or 3 with JCJ and tell him to be nice to the other 48%.
Are you getting some red as well or is it pot-luck in the supermarche on the way back ? Knowing your luck you will pick up some Beaucastel 2001 for €7.
 
wacko said:
Bon voyage. Have a bottle or 3 with JCJ and tell him to be nice to the other 48%.
Are you getting some red as well or is it pot-luck in the supermarche on the way back ? Knowing your luck you will pick up some Beaucastel 2001 for €7.
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Thanks. Must get some request for tasting appointment emails sent out. No reds must be bought unless they are mega-bargains! If I see 7€ Beaucastel and there is more than one bottle I promise to let you have one.
 
wacko said:
I agree French can be tricky: some of the best wines in the world but also some of the worst VFM as well.
Unlike in France many of the cheap French reds in the UK are hard work: maybe our tax/duty system to blame. But also the British obsession with certain names like buying cheap claret instead of a better wine, at the same price, from outside Bordeaux.
The austerity of some French reds only work with food so that is a consideration.
The vintage affects French wine probably more than any other country. Equally French red might need to be stored a year or 3 which is a faf for some.
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Storage (and the patience not to drink it) is, thankfully, not an issue. But delving into the vagaries of Bordeaux is where the lack of specific experience comes into it. I don't necessarily want to go down the route of trying the the best (most sold?) names in the UK... I think I'll have to convince my wife to take a holiday in the region sometime and go exploring.
Growing up there was always wine (our version of fizzy drinks as kids was 1cm of wine in a tall glass topped up with sparkling water), but never French, always Spanish. Then spending a lot of time in Chile and Argentina put me onto their wines... French wines just never came up, if you see what I mean?. Funnily enough, I have a few bottles of Madiran that I came to through a Uruguayan winemaker, exploring what could be done with Tannat grapes. Similarly, I've had Chilean cabernet that was said to come from pre-phyloxera French vines, and have gone back to compare the cab from that same vineyard now (probably picked a poor for example, but I preferred the Chilean). Regardless, it's a fun interest to have.
 
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