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Christmas Wine III

^ yes I can understand that: I like them both. Which reminds me I have a few Hunting HIll gathering dust waiting for a 'special occasion'. I'm just going to start drinking them as life itself becomes a special occasion.
 
"Opening the bottle is the occasion".
Here's the gist of that Boscarelli video (daughter translated)
"We’ve taken forward the idea of our grandfather from the sixties - he didn’t find what he hoped from a bottle of wine in terms of perfume or flavour .
We hope that when you drink our wine you get that sense and you can feel all our work and pleasure that has gone into producing that wine ."
 
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This is a bottle of Imvini Wethu Cinsault-Pinotage 2019. 70/30, the Cinsault from nearly 100-year-old Franschhoek vines and the Pinotage from 50-year-old Stellenbosch vines. Its origins are in a German project to support the South African wine industry. Rather than type a load of stuff that’s already been said, here’s an article about its background by Tim Atkin which contains a lot of food for thought.

https://timatkin.com/the-human-factor/

My bottle came to me by a roundabout route via Germany. It cost me £17 and I have no complaints at that price - it tasted to me rather like a good Languedoc. Plus it’s a good feeling to know you may have helped, albeit in an infinitesimally tiny way.

As Tim has done the hard work for me, I can ramble on at free-associating length. Given the illustration of the gigantic twining mega-vine reaching to the skies on the label, plus the fact I’m looking at the trees on the first alfresco evening of the year I’m pairing this with the wondrous Henki. I’m sure you know it was a collaboration between plangent weirdo folkie Richard Dawson and Finnish metallers Circle, every track having a flora-based subject. The magnificent Methuselah is my favourite - part cautionary tale, part heavy-metal romp.

Searching for the oldest living bristlecones
On a former glacier in the Snake Ridge of Old Nevada
Quite unwitting Donald Currey felled the tree he sought
To gain a complete cross-section

…Richard tells us in an ominous tone. At this point our tale deviates from the official account. Unwitting or not, the Spirit of the Forest (the Henki) is not amused by Donald’s vandalism. He appears as we enter the heavy-metal section and, against a wall of guitars, tells him what he’s got coming…

Look to the air and you'll find me there
Whistling through your clothes
Rib cage, blossoming in the snow
After your insides have made a feast
For the jackals and the crows
Your song will echo down below…

…the last three words delivered in a blood-curdling scream that Rob Halford or Ian Gillan would have been proud of. Things slowly calm down, and after Richard has reminded us of Prometheus, and what happened to him when he also stuck two fingers up to the Gods (BTW did you know the liver was the source of all human emotion? That might explain my rather dyspeptic nature, not to mention one of Jon Anderson’s lyrics), he gives us his final summary…

Only when you are dead
Will you know you had
What you were looking for…

Or, as Joni Mitchell didn’t say - you won’t know what you’ve got till you’re gone.


Of course, the moral is ‘don’t screw with the Spirit of the Forest.’ Fortunately I know where he lives - or at least one of his manifestations - and I’ve visited him several times. He’s in a small clearing in the middle of the forest, unsignposted - you need a map to find him. His is a very special spot - all you can hear is echoing birdsong and gently creaking branches.

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I think I’m still in his good books, but I’ll double check when I get another chance to see him next month.

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^ Proper weird Prog rock from 2021 !
And interesting background to the wine: most laudable.
How do you find these gems ?
 
Had the Tasmanian chardonnay the other night very like Kumeu bit more elegance and lovely creaminess.
Ch.Barbanu 2023 mix of grapes never sure if their gonna be more than the sum etc or a mishmash,I would say this
is quite pleasant nice long finish but think I'd just prefer a marsanne .
Who could follow the @pilgrim,think I quite liked that.
Something more prosaic.
 
eternumviti said:
I don't think they're 'designed' for early consumption at all, the only exception being his Nouveau - he does actually make one! Even Ronsay often only really starts to sing at 18 months, and l'Ancien tends to need about 2-3 years, and can easily run for 6-8. The Le Buissy cuvée of l'Ancien that you spotted (good call!) is a plot of particularly well-sited old vines that he seems only to vinify separately in good years. I've drunk it a decade, fresh as a daisy.
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Le Buissy is delicious.
 
wacko said:
^ Proper weird Prog rock from 2021 !
And interesting background to the wine: most laudable.
How do you find these gems ?
Click to expand...
Re: Richard Dawson - I’ve been intrigued by him ever since The Glass Trunk. I wasn’t sure at first if he was properly weird (eg Beefheart) or calculatedly so (eg Tom Waits.) Fortunately, I’m pretty sure now that it’s the former.

Re: Imvini Wethu - a wine-loving pfm chum got a heads-up about it from a German supplier and asked me if I’d like to split a case a couple of years ago. Sadly he has been off the radar for quite a while. Doubly so as he’s a bit of a metalhead and I think he would have enjoyed Methusaleh. I really hope he sees this and gets in touch again.
 
^ a quick blast of The Glass Trunk confirms proper weird. I do like his 'Don't be a Richard' t-shirt though.
 
wacko said:
^ a quick blast of The Glass Trunk confirms proper weird. I do like his 'Don't be a Richard' t-shirt though.
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Strangely enough, given my failing attempts to turn this into a tree-spirit thread, it was ‘The Ghost of a Tree’ from the Glass Trunk that first made me sit up and take notice. Try that, it’s a corker!
 
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Opened a st.Veran I think its poxed,dull yellow only my second experience of this first was in a restaurant. Wonder how the others are.
 
Marchbanks said:
Strangely enough, given my failing attempts to turn this into a tree-spirit thread, it was ‘The Ghost of a Tree’ from the Glass Trunk that first made me sit up and take notice. Try that, it’s a corker!
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I can't. I gave it a feeble try. A step too far. It might work in your back garden after two glasses though :)
 
Dogberry said:
I see TWS listing l'ancien '22 again for £14.5.As well as Burgaud.
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I think the Buissy is so good and so rare that it's worth having, especially given that it's 2020 so ready now and for a few more years. I've just ordered some from Davy's.
 
Opened a Catena Alta Historic Rows chardonnay. They seem to have dialled back the 'full fat' so far it is fat free. In fact it hardly tastes like a chardonnay at all. My daughter might even like it and I have another bottle so I will try it on her.
I don't think it is 'off' but quite unlike what I remember.
 
wacko said:
Opened a Catena Alta Historic Rows chardonnay. They seem to have dialled back the 'full fat' so far it is fat free. In fact it hardly tastes like a chardonnay at all. My daughter might even like it and I have another bottle so I will try it on her.
I don't think it is 'off' but quite unlike what I remember.
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We certainly do seem to have a consistency problem with this wine! What year was it?
 
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