Saturday, December 27, 2008

Wines over the Christmas

How did your wine fare over the Christmas period? Good, I hope. Everybody wants a decent drop over Christmas and we had lots of queries about what to drink on Christmas Day. I always think there are so many variables on Christmas Day that is is better to drink something you like and are comfortable with (from both taste and price points of view) that trying to drink the best bottle ever or to try and match it perfectly with turkey ( and ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sprouts and all the rest...). However, we always go for some sort of Pinot Noir as it is our favourite grape variety and it does seem to go well with turkey, its silky tannins and delicate fruit going well with a good turkey. This year we had a bottle of Mugneret Gibourg Vosne Romanee 2002 hanging around so we thought it would be a good runner. It was delicious, concentrated yet silky and with delicious, pure fruit. We didn't quite finish the bottle, on Christmas Day, so there was one glass left for me last night and it was even nicer.

We preceded dinner with some smoked salmon, accompanied by Roederer Rose 2002. I have always thought that Roederer Rose was one of the nicest Roses on the market and the 02 is no exception. A pale, delicate salmon pink colour, with delicious fragrant but fresh strawberry fruit and the characteristic Roederer elegance, concentration and balance. Really excellent.

On St. Stephens Day, we had the second portion of Christmas Dinner, but went for white this time. I got a present of a couple of Riedel Vinum Extreme Chardonnay glasses which are really quite beautiful. Into these amazing glasses, I poured the Chavy Meursault Narvaux 2006. I know that this wine is only a baby, but when it is so delicious, why wait. Chavy's wines always have an energy, a nervosite about them that I really like. In the Meursault, the typical roundness and broadness is matched really well with Philippe's style and results in a delicious balanced wine with perfectly judged oak and no hint of fatness or over-ripeness.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The latest crisis...

As we lurch from one crisis to the next with no let-up in the bad news, the last thing we needed was to have our sausages taken away from us! Aren't the builders in enough trouble without taking away their breakfast rolls? Is it a genuine crisis or just another example of a botched knee-jerk reaction from a government who can't manage to dress itself in the morning?

From what I have read, around 2% of products are affected and you would have to gorge yourself on the stuff for thirty years before there is an effect. We have all been eating the stuff since september at least so why the big panic now? An entire industry is put in peril for this? Or is there something more sinister that we don't know about?

A whole lot of questions, but no answers, what's new?

The good news is there are no wine scares to worry about.

And, if we find any, we will kick it into January when everybody gives it up for a few days anyway.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Don't we look festive?

Carol did a great job on the window this year, dontcha think?