Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
I was awoken this morning by the sound of church bells. I was still searching for my phone in order to ask the vicar rather grumpily why I hadn’t been warned about extra bell-ringing practice when I realised they were indicating the start of the six weeks of festivities for my birthday.
I had decided a while ago that I’d have a personal celebration project this year and drink my way virtually around the world, opening at least one bottle from every country represented in the cellars starting from the International Date Line and heading eastwards. A quick look at Cellar Tracker showed that there were fifteen such countries, so that means I’ll have to dawdle in one or two of them to fill out the six weeks. I’ll keep going until I get back to the date line, or get bored with the project, or sense that there is absolutely no interest in it whatsoever.
The first country that we come to is the USA, courtesy of Peaked Island, the westernmost of the string of islands that trail out from Alaska. Longitude 172° 26’ 35”E - thus we are actually starting in the eastern hemisphere. I might have disqualified Alaska for that reason, making Canada the first port of call, but as I don’t have any Canadian wine that’s somewhat moot.
And so the first birthday festival bottle is Au Bon Climat Isabelle Pinot Noir 2015. The fourth bottle from six I bought. The last one of these that I opened was flawed, but fortunately this is as lovely as the first two were - beautifully perfumed, delicate and fresh.
I’ll try to pair each evening’s listening to the wine, probably rather tenuously. I couldn’t think of anything with Isabelle in the title, but I do have Ysabel’s Table Dance. So tonight it’s Tijuana Moods by Mingus. Excellent wine, brilliant music. A fine start, which bodes well for the next six weeks.
I had decided a while ago that I’d have a personal celebration project this year and drink my way virtually around the world, opening at least one bottle from every country represented in the cellars starting from the International Date Line and heading eastwards. A quick look at Cellar Tracker showed that there were fifteen such countries, so that means I’ll have to dawdle in one or two of them to fill out the six weeks. I’ll keep going until I get back to the date line, or get bored with the project, or sense that there is absolutely no interest in it whatsoever.
The first country that we come to is the USA, courtesy of Peaked Island, the westernmost of the string of islands that trail out from Alaska. Longitude 172° 26’ 35”E - thus we are actually starting in the eastern hemisphere. I might have disqualified Alaska for that reason, making Canada the first port of call, but as I don’t have any Canadian wine that’s somewhat moot.
And so the first birthday festival bottle is Au Bon Climat Isabelle Pinot Noir 2015. The fourth bottle from six I bought. The last one of these that I opened was flawed, but fortunately this is as lovely as the first two were - beautifully perfumed, delicate and fresh.
I’ll try to pair each evening’s listening to the wine, probably rather tenuously. I couldn’t think of anything with Isabelle in the title, but I do have Ysabel’s Table Dance. So tonight it’s Tijuana Moods by Mingus. Excellent wine, brilliant music. A fine start, which bodes well for the next six weeks.
