I don’t do Christmas. To me, to have a fortnight-long ‘season of goodwill’ also carries a tacit implication that it’s OK to behave like an arse towards everyone else for the other 50 weeks, which I don’t go along with. And I’ll believe it’s ‘really for the kids’ when they stump up the majority of the cash that retailers try to shame you into spending with their carefully-aimed, cynically sentimental advertising campaigns.
But there’s no point in fighting it, Marchbanks, just meet it on your own terms. So. My terms are - during the Ghastly Period the cellars will be raided for particularly interesting bottles. Here’s no. 1.
No surprises, eh? Ernest Burn Goldert Pinot Gris 2010. Magnificent. Beautiful, acid and rich at the same time. You know all this by now if you’ve ever read my Burn ramblings. This is the last one. Goodbye, old friend...
Tonight this was paired with France Musique la Jazz and also some crusty French baguette and a wedge of Philippe Olivier’s Fourme au Sauternes. Fourme d’Ambert blue cheese that has had liberal doses of... yes, you guessed. An extraordinary thing, the saltiness of the blue cheese suddenly gives way to sweetness when you go inside from the crust. It cost approximately one arm and half a leg, but hey, it’s Christmas. Ah - hold on - am I starting to get the hang of this?