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Christmas Wine II

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fama said:
I quite like the Asda ones at 50p
https://groceries.asda.com/product/wine-champagne-glasses/george-home-champagne-flute/1000229963489
Those with more rarefied tastes might prefer the Kate Moss coupe £340/pair
https://34-restaurant.co.uk/the-kate-moss-coupe/
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Not sure. There are crucial questions. Is the Asda one a playful homage to George? Was it made from a mould of his left breast? Does he have seminal status? (On second thoughts, don’t bother answering the last one.)
 
I guess the new rules kills of the idea
of a vineyards roadtrip hardly seems worth
it for 24 bottles limit.
 
I have noticed over the last few weeks that the Christmas Wine fraternity view is increasingly that one should make use of specialized and preferably rather expensive glasses. With this in mind, yesterday afternoon I saddled up and trotted across the border into tier 2 in search of some glasses by Kate Moss MW as recommended by fama.

The assistant looked a little puzzled, but told me they stocked a range of her fragrances, which I took to be a Young Person way of saying grape varietals. Sadly I couldn’t find any on the shelves (presumably sold out following the pfm tip-off), and had to be satisfied with a pair of Riedel stemless Pinot Noir Tumblers. Even more sadly, on returning home and finding my specs I saw that the glasses had cost me £9.99 for a pair and not £99.99 as I had thought when squinting at the price tag in the shop. This meant my options for finding a wine that wouldn’t be ruined by pouring it into a glass worth less than it was were severely limited.

Fortunately I had a CdR that could fill the role. Not a PN I know, but beggars can’t be choosers. Blame Ms Moss. But it all went well with cook’s special Bubble and Squeak and leftover roast pork, carved myself. A hanky tightly wrapped around my fingers soon stopped the flow of blood.

CdR: Lille Wine Fair 2016, £4.75
Riedel: Tkmaxx, £5


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Yes I like the stemless ones for red wine: cheaper (although you have broken all records there as usual) and more robust. Almost rustic..
 
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fama said:
I guess the new rules kills of the idea
of a vineyards roadtrip hardly seems worth
it for 24 bottles limit.
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My reading of it is the limit is 36 if you don’t bring back sparkling or fortified.

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/christmas-wine-ii.249782/page-6#post-4195767

If there are two of you that doubles, of course. Add on the permitted crates of Rochefort - sorry, I mean Beer Of Your Choice - and your car will soon be quite full. A PITA, absolutely (what isn’t about B****t?) but it could be worse.

Alternatively stump up the duty at the border, keep a note of how much is taken from you and claw it back by whatever means possible. Every pound returned will make the wine taste even better.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I do like Otago PN, my preferred, readily available one has been the Mud House Claim 431 which used to be just a pound or two more than the regular Mud House. Sadly I was rather shocked to discover recently that's no longer the case.
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I looked those up. I’d assumed Otago was in California, I’m ashamed to say. I really need to go on a New World Pinot Noir course. Not to mention a geography one.
 
Marchbanks said:
My reading of it is the limit is 36 if you don’t bring back sparkling or fortified.

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/christmas-wine-ii.249782/page-6#post-4195767

If there are two of you that doubles, of course. Add on the permitted crates of Rochefort - sorry, I mean Beer Of Your Choice - and your car will soon be quite full. A PITA, absolutely (what isn’t about B****t?) but it could be worse.

Alternatively stump up the duty at the border, keep a note of how much is taken from you and claw it back by whatever means possible. Every pound returned will make the wine taste even better.
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According to that link
  • 42 litres of beer
  • 18 litres of still wine
  • 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV
  • So 24 Botts wine 12 Botts sparkling
  • Is that correct?Or are you allowed to
  • substitute?
 
fama said:
According to that link
  • 42 litres of beer
  • 18 litres of still wine
  • 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV
  • So 24 Botts wine 12 Botts sparkling
  • Is that correct?Or are you allowed to
  • substitute?
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Well, as still wine comes under the heading of ‘any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV’ I don’t see why not. You certainly used to be allowed to sub in the *cough* glory days pre-Customs Union, so I can’t see why you shouldn’t now.
 
Marchbanks said:
My reading of it is the limit is 36 if you don’t bring back sparkling or fortified.

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/christmas-wine-ii.249782/page-6#post-4195767

If there are two of you that doubles, of course. Add on the permitted crates of Rochefort - sorry, I mean Beer Of Your Choice - and your car will soon be quite full. A PITA, absolutely (what isn’t about B****t?) but it could be worse.

Alternatively stump up the duty at the border, keep a note of how much is taken from you and claw it back by whatever means possible. Every pound returned will make the wine taste even better.
Click to expand...
The limit is 18 litres or 24 bottles of table wine.


https://www.thelocal.fr/20201209/bo...brexit-limits-on-french-wine-beer-and-spirits
 
Bob McC said:
The limit is 18 litres or 24 bottles of table wine.


https://www.thelocal.fr/20201209/bo...brexit-limits-on-french-wine-beer-and-spirits
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...plus (from the article you linked to)
  • 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres (12 bottles) of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV
which I still maintain means a total of 36 bottles of wine if you don’t bring back spirits, sparking or fortified. I can’t see a fault in the logic - please tell me where I’ve gone wrong.
 
Another bottle tonight from the extremely generous aid package left by Mr 3 following his visit to Marchbanks Towers between lockdowns. The dilapidated air of the buildings and my threadbare appearance tend to evoke sympathy in visitors (as long as they avoid the falling masonry) and it would seem he was no exception.

50788747171_e12c585fbe.jpg


This is a seriously powerful number, reminding me more of SW France than Argentina. It certainly saw off the rump steak and garlic and parsley duck-fat fried potatoes with no problems at all. Very impressive, and on special offer right now (I’m pretty certain it’s the same thing, with the same label but a slightly different name) in the current Majestic bin-end sale. I’ve gone for a straight six, but there are some other interesting bottles in there if you want to mix’n’match. The Mont Tauch should be a decent buy at under £6, and there’s a Ridge that is at a good if not spectacular price.
 
Glad you’re enjoying it!
I find the way you describe it interesting @Marchbanks . To me the Argentinean Malbec I’ve tried has always come across as stronger than the French - could be down to my poor choice of French Malbec. To an extent it’s where my exploration of French Tannat comes from: it’s more astringent than Malbec, but making the jump from Argentina to Uruguay to France seems to yield wines more in line with what I like than Argentina to France (I hope that makes sense to someone other than me!!).
For more fun, there are some South African Malbecs pushing in a similar direction. Dornier wines come to mind, their CMD (a blend, I know) is very Malbec-rich, and could make a good comparison to the big Pulenta Gran Corte blends (not 1:1 the same blends, but I think it’s a valid approach). I’ve not A-B tested this, but I’ve tried both. Might be a good place to start my Coravin experiments...
 
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BTC3 said:
Glad you’re enjoying it!
I find the way you describe it interesting @Marchbanks . To me the Argentinean Malbec I’ve tried has always come across as stronger than the French - could be down to my poor choice of French Malbec.
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On the other hand it could be down to my poor choice of Argentinian Malbec, which in the past has been limited to some pleasant enough but unremarkable lower-end Nortons, supermarket shelf jobs and some downright unpleasant Alamos. I thought this was closer to my memories of Clos de Gamot and Clos Triguedina - admittedly from a while back.

I also made a connection to Tannat - it reminded me of Montus, but with a darker, cooked plum edge. But closer to that than to Uruguayan Tannat (from my experience of precisely one type of Bouza!)

So I imagine between us we have now confused everybody. And I have to explain to English Heritage how yet more of the restoration fund has ended up in Majestic’s bank account.
 
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