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.

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.

Don't we look festive?

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

Bob Geldof was right

We had a pretty shabby weekend's drinking, between using up samples and trying slightly over-the-hill bottles, we didn't fare too well so we decided to have a bottle last night. We normally try to stay off the booze on Monday and Tuesday to try and be good, but it was cold, we had a long day and a bowl of pasta to eat.

So it was Chateau La Brande 2005. This is a Cotes de Castillon owned by the Todeschini family, who also own up-and-coming St. Emilion Grand Cru, Chateau Mangot. In fact, it is really all the one property as the two are separated by the road that divides st. Emilion from Cotes de Castillon. We were really impressed with the La Brande - it is a blend of 70% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in oak. It is quite full-bodied, ripe fruit with nice tannic grip and a long, smooth finish. Very pleasant wine, drinking well now but will develop for another 5 or so years, I would think. We finished the bottle which is always a good sign.

It certainly made the first day of this week much better than usual. Now I realise why I don't like Mondays...

Christmas Wine Dinner

Moving on from the bah humbug below onto more cheerful things. Our annual wine dinner is taking place on December 9th in Benito's in Dalkey. Benito's just got a really good review by Paolo Tullio and we are preaching the good news about shopping local, so we are doing the same ourselves. Camillo always looks after us well anyway. Italian theme, as you would expect with Benito's doing the food and we will provide some interesting bits and pieces, wine-wise.

Not a turkey in sight.

If you would like to join us, it is €60 per head, all in, including wine. Call Carol on 01 2353054 for further info on a great night out.

The natives are getting restless....

As bank shares continue to plunge, people's pensions and stock options disappear down a black hole and the government dithers with even more panache than usual, there is growing unrest in the wine trade about cashflow, getting paid by customers and the real threat of businesses disappearing overnight. There are unfounded rumours flying around the trade about who isn't paying their bills, who is taking whom to court and who is going out or has already gone out of business. Such a level of uncertainty only feeds the nervousness that is already there.

There is no doubt that the banks have closed down the shutters in terms of credit flexibility and that is having a big effect down the foodchain. The banks seem to be in denial about it, the government haven't a clue what to do, meanwhile jobs are being lost.

It could be worse, though, it could be raining.

Good producer + bad vintage=?

We had a bottle of Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2002 at the weekend and it was delicious. 2002 was a disastrous vintage in the Rhone. It was dampish in many places in Europe (Bordeaux and Tuscany both had ropy vintages that year as well), but in the Rhone it was biblical, with some vineyards submerged under water. As a result, the vintage was written off and we found it difficult to shift the 2002, especially when the amazing 2003s came in. AS a result, we sold off some of the 02 at a good price and I kept a few bottles for myself. It now has still lovely fruit concentration and is getting some nice farmyardy stuff going on. It was delicious.

My point is that good producers will make good wine, regardless of the vintage. If they are proud of what they do, they won't put their name on the label unless it is up to scratch. Another example is Poliziano who, in 2002, made no Asinone, put the Asinone grapes into the Vino Nobile, used the Vino Nobile grapes for the Rosso and sold the rest to the co-op, taking a huge financial hit, but maintaining a high level of quality. So, ignore "vintage reviews", trust the producer, but, most of all, taste the wine and judge for yourself.

Pity it didn't work out with Louis, but anyway...