Ridge Geyserville 2013 with lamb shank yesterday. Paul Draper 'retired' in 2016; so I think I can still say "Thank you Mr Draper. Cheers".
Sorg night. I knew the only bottle left in the Aldi cooler was a Sorg Gewürz, so when cook’s chicken salad was offered up I grabbed it, opened it and poured the first glass without even putting my specs on. The second I tasted it I knew it wasn’t the generic Gewürz I had assumed it was and peered at the label. Aha! This is fantastic, oddly simultaneously less in-your-face lychee-style Gewürz than the basic Sorg model (although that’s still obviously the grape) but also richer, more concentrated. Really lovely stuff.
Tonight this is being paired with a variety of Randy Weston via Spotify, staring at the moon in a totally clear sky and a happy heart due to a tiny bit of daylight still being present at 10pm.
Cool,how is that?
I went to my nearest big (in wine terms) Waitrose in search of Catena Alta Malbec. No luck. A helpful assistant did a lot of tapping on his handheld thingy and said there were no bottles to be seen anywhere within 40 miles. Unusually, the shelf was full of Chocolate Block which, with my pocketful of spend-£90-get-£18-off vouchers, would have come in at £13.50. But (having been frowned at here for quite liking it) I let myself be tempted instead by Guigal Brune et Blonde. After ten minutes with a calculator working out the most propitious combination I bought two (came down from £40 to £25) and topped up with four bog-standard Catena Malbec (from £13.50 to £8.20).
Then six Clos de Mosny from Waitrose Cellar when I got home, obvs. (Ordered I mean, not consumed.)
This is a wine thread, outside reality doesn't come into it ,or I could throw up a few questions about SA wines.Very interesting TV programme tonight on the poverty of people who work the vines of Bordeaux - apparently the region of the Grands Crus is one of the poorest in France - the chateaux just exploit skilled manual labour by the sound of it. They call it Le couloir de la pauvreté. To compound matters, the chateaux benefit from significant tax advantages, which means that the regional administrations, the municipalités, are poor.
We had a bottle of Chocolate Block today, 2019. I can see that at Waitrose price minus 25% it’s not a bad price, but still, I don’t think it’s a wine for me. Perfectly drinkable, it won’t end up in the daube, but somehow I feel it’s a bit without personality, bland.
I adore chocolate block. I have some very early vintages which were made in low number of barrels eg 53! Interesting to see the new vintages the number of barrels increase. Well into thousands now. I’m reluctant to open some of my early vintages.Another day, another Waitrose. I had to go there to collect the Clos de Mosny. I bought three Catena Chardonnay and three Chocolate Block (so frown at me.) Further wine spending was justified as follows - obviously it makes perfect sense to add £78-worth of wine to my £16-worth of groceries - that way I can use another of my £18-off-a-£90-spend vouchers.
Hmmm. 999, in more ways than one.
I can see the argument made by some that it’s a wine made to a pleasing formula, but it’s far from being the only one that is. I paid £12.84 last week at Waitrose after various discounts, which is pretty fine VFM in my book. I admit I wouldn’t bother at £22.I adore chocolate block. I have some very early vintages which were made in low number of barrels eg 53! Interesting to see the new vintages the number of barrels increase. Well into thousands now. I’m reluctant to open some of my early vintages.
I met Marc Kent twice. Really nice man and so enthusiastic about his wines. I buy a case every year from Waitrose with 25% discount. Although price has crept up over the years. I think I was originally paying about £12 per bottle for such low number wines. At that price they were probably best value wine on planet.
I picked up some Bin 389 in a French supermarket for £18 a couple of years ago. But that’s a story I’ve bored people with too many times already.I used to buy lots of Penfolds bin 28 and 389 at £5 and £15 respectively. The are now in excess of £30 and £60. Never again. Although I do have a few cases stashed.