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Christmas Wine

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wacko said:
^^ Seems a bit lazy.
If you ask for a bottle opener why not ask room service for a wine glass too. No charge for that.
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When did you last see Chateau Musar available from room service anywhere near Gatwick?
 
PsB said:
When did you last see Chateau Musar available from room service anywhere near Gatwick?
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Have we got wires crossed ?
I'm assuming Mr Rajigoodtaste brought the Musar to the hotel. Probably asked for a wine bottle opener and could have asked for a wine glass at the same time.
Otherwise it was Mrs Peacock with the candelabra in the ballroom.
 
Thinking about this he could have shown a little more initiative. If there were mugs, there was probably a kettle. That could have been pressed into service as a makeshift decanter, and what’s more if the Musar was a little cold after a January journey a few seconds at 2kW would have sorted that too.
 
The kettle could have been used to steam the glass sparkly clean.
I've always been a bit concerned I'll break something to do that myself but a sparkly clean glass is an impressive thing.
After all Musar deserves some respect.
 
PsB said:
When did you last see Chateau Musar available from room service anywhere near Gatwick?
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I remember being quite shocked to see Musar on a family restaurant list in Venice. I had drunk so much italian wine by then I ordered it. And was even more shocked to see an approving nod from the sommelier.
 
Perhaps he was staying in a Travelodge? Not much in the way of room service there, unless you want to fulfill some basic... no, I must shut up, don’t want Tony getting a libel action. And it probably only applied to the one I stayed at in Ashford.
 
USA punitive 25% tariffs on French, German, Spanish and English (!) wine imports doesn't seem to have affected the market yet. If they are increased to 100% and widened to all EU wines (possibly as early as next month) there should be some serious distortions: USA accounts for about 30% (€5 billion) of all EU wine exports.
I suppose in the short-term it could be positive for us as prices may go down in Europe. In the longer term some vineyards and distributors could go bust.
I knew a teetotaller POTUS (who just happens to own a vineyard in USA) was bad news.
 
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I find Musar to be a very enjoyable wine. Strong and relatively complex flavour, ages very well... it’s a bit different.

Don’t think I’ve every stayed at a travelodge, but GNER used to serve small bottles of Musar on the train from London to Aberdeen. Back in the days when on Sundays (or was it all weekend) you could upgrade from std to first class for £10; mid nineties. Not sure I was a stereotypical uni student...
 
Decanting - (Jamaican for tin-opener, as no doubt someone has already said on ISIHAC)

I gave in to Christmas Wine peer pressure a few weeks ago and bought myself a decanter. I have to say that so far the results have felt disappointing (I say ‘felt’ because nothing has been conducted with any kind of scientific rigour.) Psychologically I seem to prefer actually having the bottle next to me, and on virtually every occasion I have split a wine over two days (day one in the decanter, day two from the bottle) I have preferred it on day two. This has been the case with both fairly immature and rather aged wine.

Aha, you say, that is because the wine is even more aerated on day two. And I probably would have bowed to your superior knowledge until I saw the Christmas edition of QI, in which it was stated that the aeration effect of a decanter is negligible and the only way wine could be aerated would be to give it a few seconds in a blender. Émile Peynaud was cited as a reference, so I decided to do some research (ie I googled him and ‘decanting’ whilst finishing a bottle off last night.)

I found details of this rather more scientific experiment on the BBR website which I found interesting, if finally inconclusive. I thought I’d link to it here to see what you think.
 
I decant for sediment. And I like the bottle around too so I would double decant back into the bottle sometimes. I do like the freshness that does disappear if you leave the wine a couple of hours to 'evolve': so an hour or less usual for me. (Don't decide which wine I'm drinking too far in advance either).
I wouldn't decant any whites I have.
Your (MB) wines usually have quite a few years of bottle age so maybe don't need it. Although your comments about Day 2 indicate the opposite.
Swirling in the glass is usually enough IMO although I am happy to be corrected. I have used those aerator gadgets in the past and it definitely improved one good wine we were drinking too young.
Too many variables to be sure but if it tastes good who cares ? I'm not in the category that sips a glass over 4 hours and makes notes ! I have a half bottle of Sito Moresco from yesterday so I may report back later...
 
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Mixed results here. Will try it with/without with a couple of the same vintage and note if any difference.

Bought our decanters from charity shops/junk stores, cheap as chips.

I have made a wine log, well over a 100 bottles now, and becoming more balanced red/white ratio. Hopefully this will make future purchase decisions easier.

Bloss
 
blossomchris said:
Mixed results here. Will try it with/without with a couple of the same vintage and note if any difference.

Bought our decanters from charity shops/junk stores, cheap as chips.

I have made a wine log, well over a 100 bottles now, and becoming more balanced red/white ratio. Hopefully this will make future purchase decisions easier.

Bloss
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Put them on Cellartracker.
 
I find a very vigorous decant can often open out a young wine. Sometimes I decant into a jug, then back into the bottle.
 
eternumviti said:
I find a very vigorous decant can often open out a young wine. Sometimes I decant into a jug, then back into the bottle.
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Yes, my (limited) experience of decanting is that younger wines benefit most, older wines less so unless there's likely to be a sediment when decanting is helpful for managing that, but not significantly beneficial to the drinking.
 
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