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Wednesday 26th March
Two brilliant wines last night that just matched the occasion, a
rather mundane Tuesday evening with some deadlines getting tight...
First up, Zondernaam Sauvignon Blanc 2002 (Stellenbosch, South
Africa). This had a knockout nose of rich, grassy, blackcurrant-edged
fruit. I drink a lot of Sauvignon, and get a little bored with it
sometimes, but this was as striking as my first experience with Cloudy
Bay, almost a decade ago. Yours for £6.99 from Majestic. The second
wine was an old favourite, the Mouton Syrah 2000, Vin de Pays des
Collines Rhodaniennes. This was performing just perfectly, with
ripe raspberry fruit backed up with a lovely savoury meatiness and
good acid (La Vigneronne, £6.95). More please.
Monday 24th March
The flurry of interest created by my recent Wine Magazine
piece on supertasters rolls on. The story has found its way into
the news, via The Times, The Daily Mail and the BBC
News website. They've all taken the rather simplistic line that
supertasters make the best wine tasters, but it's still nice to see
this interesting science get a wider airing. I don't get a mention as
author of the original article, but Wine Magazine get a much
deserved plug. I am going to be interviewed on BBC Radio Wales later
today, at around 4.55 pm, in connection with this story. Through the
marvels of the Internet interested readers can listen in by following
the link on this
page. The last time I was interviewed on BBC radio was when I was
a member of a folk band, but the less said about this the
better.
Sunday 23rd March
We’ve just had a delightful lazy, sunny, relaxed weekend in
Twickenham. The first really sunny, warm weekend of spring is always
special, but this one has been especially enjoyable. It’s not that
we’ve done much; just chilled and pottered around, really. On
Saturday we wandered into Twickenham. It was one of the rugby days,
and with 72 000 rugby fans descending on the neighbourhood you tend to
do everything on foot since the traffic gets a little busy. Still, it
creates a bit of a buzz about the place, and the rugby crowd tend to
be fairly well mannered even if they’re drunk. We lunched by the
river, and on the way back I popped into the fishmonger to pick up a
lovely fresh sea bass for dinner. This was served with two different
Rieslings. The first, Brundlmayer’s Zobinger Heiligenstein 1997 (from
Austria’s Kamptal region) would have been quite profound, lively and
minerally, but after about 20 minutes the faintest trace of mustiness
showed up: it was corked, if only ever so slightly. More successful
was the Villa Maria Reserve (Black Label) Riesling 2000, from
New Zealand’s Marlborough region. This was just beautifully poised
and quite intense. Great balance, and fully justifying its £10 price
tag (Oddbins). It suited the sea bass pretty well, too. Tonight I’m
going to switch continents again and try the Buitenverwachting
Riesling (South Africa’s Constantia region is home to this). I’ll
report back.
Thursday 20th March
Prompted
by the Riesling tasting mentioned below, I banged out a short piece
looking at why Riesling is such a hard sell with the public. One point
I didn't make, and which probably deserves some discussion, is that
its relative unpopularity with punters is due to the fact that there
isn't much good cheap Riesling. Perhaps if there were more palatable
sub-£5 Rieslings then the grape might be more generally popular. I'm
sitting here scratching my head and I can't think of any. Penfolds Bin
202 is just under a fiver, but the last time I tried it it was bright,
lemony, sherbetty and a little confected. Hardly inspiring.
Suggestions welcome. Talking of grapes, it's been difficult to decide
what to plant on the Twickenham vineyard (vineyard??...more like a few
rows of straggly vines on my allotment). I started off with Bacchus, a
grape that does well in English conditions, making flowery, grassy
Sauvignon-like wines. I have about 20 of these vines. I added some
Huxelrebe (c. 7 vines) and then some Pinot Noir (c. 15). I've a few
rows left to fill. I'm going to leave some space for Phoenix, a new
disease resistant cross that does well in the UK and apparently makes
good wine. The picture on the right shows my Phoenix cuttings (a gift
from Peter May) beginning to bud.
Monday 17th March
I’ve been feeling a little buoyed by the positive feedback I’m
having from my latest Wine Magazine feature. It’s on the
subject of individual taste differences, and how these relate to wine
– pitched this time at a general consumer audience and a little less
involved than an article I did on the subject last year in Harpers,
and which also made it into South Africa's Good Taste magazine. [It's
been a nice earner, this subject...] In his editorial, publisher
Robert Joseph says, ‘Jamie Goode’s analysis of this controversial
subject is one of the most fascinating pieces to have appeared in Wine
Magazine since its launch in 1983’. Gosh! I’m flattered…
Spent a short while today at the
Great Riesling Tasting, but
not as long as it deserved. Organized by a keen and rather select band
of importers, Riesling wines from around 40 different estates around
the globe were on show. Credit to them for putting on such an
interesting tasting, which will be followed this evening with a
consumer event. Certainly among the trade and press, Riesling has
pulling power. Not the largest of venues, the Royal United Services
Institute was a little over-run, which made tasting a little
difficult. I concentrated on three producers: Donnhof in the Nahe, FX
Pichler in the Wachau and Josmeyer in Alsace. All were first class,
yet quite different to each other.
Saturday 15th March
A
near perfect March day. Lots of sunshine and warm enough to sit
outside at the White Horse in Hedgerly, savouring a pint of Rebellion.
This is an almost perfectly balanced, beautifully crafted
cask-conditioned ale, served in good condition. A drink like this is a
national treasure: Britain’s answer to Grand Cru Burgundy or
first-growth Bordeaux. Interestingly, with beer there isn’t the same
sort of price differential as with wine. This pint of near-perfect ale
is the same price as a pint of bland, insipid nitrokeg beer, even
though they are poles apart in terms of quality and interest. Last
night we had some interesting wines. First, an earthy, evolved 1992
Chambolle Musigny from Ghislaine Barthod. This was followed
by a robust, youthful-tasting 1996 Domaine du Baruel from the
Cevennes. We then cracked a 1999 Ch Rozier from St Emilion –
quite fleshy and ripe with more concentration than you might expect
for an £11 Bordeaux. The Old East India Sherry from Lustau finished
things off in a sweet, sticky, raisiny, delicious sort of way.
Thursday 13th March
One of the worst aspects of cork
taint is the potential for disappointment it brings every time you
open a bottle that you are looking forward to trying. Last night I
cracked open a bottle of Goat Roti 2001, the upmarket sibling
of the brilliant Goats du Roam, the successful red blend from South
Africa’s Fairview. I knew
fairly soon that it was not as it should be, although it was hard to
be sure that it was suffering from TCA, the cork taint culprit. It was
still enjoyable enough and most people would have happily drunk it.
But despite the fact that there was no obvious mustiness – difficult
to pick out in such a concentrated, exuberantly spiciliy fruited wine
– the rather subdued, muted fruit and a hint of dullness on the
palate eventually convinced me it was low level cork-tainted, and I
couldn’t touch it. It’s a shame, because this was just the right
wine for the moment. One thing most people are aware of are that for
molecules such as TCA there are two sorts of sensory threshold. First,
there is the detection threshold, where they can spot that something
is wrong without being able to pin it down. Second, there is the
recognition threshold, where people can actually identify the
molecule. I suspect that this poor old Goat Roti was somewhere in the
middle for me. Aside: for those who missed out on Goat Roti on release
(it sold through very quickly), Oddbins now have some more, although
the price has now crept up to £9.99.
Tuesday 11th March
Some
weekend wines. First, a relatively disappointing Jaboulet Crozes
Hermitages ‘Thalabert’ 1995. I remember the 1990 Thalabert as
a spectacular effort: the 1995 is intensely savoury with some earthy,
spicy character, but overall it’s a little mean, thin and acidic.
Fine as a food companion, but I was expecting better. The Clare Valley
is one of Australia’s two leading regions for Riesling (the other is
the Eden Valley), and Knappstein’s 1997 Hand Picked Riesling
is drinking nicely at the moment. Not profound, but beginning to
evolve some typical petrolly, toasty aromas to go with the bright
limey fruit. This would be lovely with a nice grilled fish. Sticking
with Australia, the 1996 Footbolt Old Vine Shiraz from
D’Arenberg is still alive and kicking. The vivid, up-front fruit
this wine that typifies this wine in its youth has now receded. Now it
is intensely spicy, with some sweetness from the American oak that was
initially lavished upon it. I don’t know whether this evolved state
is an improvement – on balance I’d probably rather have this style
of wine in its first flush of youth. It makes me think of Spain,
actually, which brings me round to the next wine: the 2001 Vina
Esmerelda from Torres. In its Germanic-style tall bottle, you
might expect this blend of Gewurztraminer and Muscat to be medium
sweet. Infact, it’s bone dry. Fresh as you like, sealed with a
screwcap, with some pretty sweet floral notes, but rather lean and
acidic on the palate. Needs food, again, where it could work very
well. Speaking of food, we had two pleasant wines by the glass at a
Cafe Rouge near London Bridge on Saturday (aside: surprisingly good
food and excellent service made for a nice family lunch, after a visit
to HMS Belfast, which two 5 and 6 year old boys loved). The Alain
Brumont Tannat/Merlot was just right, with a nice density of
savoury structured fruit, and the Valdivieso Sauvignon Blanc
was zippy, fruity and correct. I can't recall the vintages. Both
matched their respective dishes very well. Two more cheapie whites to
finish. First, the 2001 Avila (a nicely packaged branded Vin de
Pays; shame about the rather plonkish, crude wine) and the 2001
Riverview Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay (from the Hilltop winery, again
nicely packaged but this time the wine is really good: fresh and crisp
with lovely balance, a steal at £2.99 from Waitrose). Nothing that
really stands out here, but some interesting drinking in places.
Tuesday 4th March
A newspaper wine columnist? This is the bit where I extend a
hearty welcome to any readers who have found their way here from my
new wine column in the Western
Mail (Welsh national daily newspaper). A newspaper wine column –
mine is in the Saturday magazine section – is a new departure for
me. It’s meant that I’ve had to start paying much more attention
to the requirements of a general reader, and looking with more
scrutiny at where the best value is among sub-£5 bottles. This is a
healthy discipline. It also means that I’m facing up to many of the
issues outlined in the series I did on the two
cultures. Readers who live in Wales will have to let me know how
they think I’m doing with my recommendations.
Low budget BBC? Interesting to
note that the BBC news website is asking readers to submit
digital images of global events. Is this a tight-waddish move by
the corporation to save on picture agency fees? After all, why pay,
when you can get it for free?
Sunday 2nd March
This afternoon I’ve completed the satisfying job of pruning my
vines. It’s a process full of metaphor: the drastic, almost brutal
cutting back of the plant that is essential to ensure that next
year’s crop is of good quality. I have about 50 vines of four
different varieties (the white grapes Bacchus, Huxelrebe and Madeleine
Angevine, together with Pinot Noir). This year I’ll be introducing a
fifth variety, Phoenix, which I’ll be growing from cuttings kindly
sent by Peter May, who runs www.pinotage.org.
Phoenix is a white grape that is a relatively new crossing, bred for
resistance to fungal diseases as well as making good quality wine.
Most of my vines are still young, so this year should see the first
proper harvest. Who knows? I might even make some wine. The biggest
problem so far hasn’t been ripening the grapes, but keeping them
healthy, and my aim for the 2003 growing season is to defeat powdery
and downy mildew by early and regular application of sulphur and
Bordeaux mixture. I’ll also be trying spraying with 10% milk v/v.
This may sound barmy, but there are some good new data showing that
this is quite an effective control mechanism against mildew. It’s
cheap and it’s certainly environmentally friendly, so it has to be
worth a go.
Monday 24th February
Back to the normal routine again today, after a two week break.
Holidays are important. It doesn't matter where you go, but a change
of scene for a couple of weeks, at least once a year, is a high
priority chez Goode. You come back feeling fresher inside your head,
with a renewed perspective: I don't know of many other ways of
achieving this. And February is a particularly good time to take a
break like this. When we left it was the glum dead of winter. Now
we're back and nature seems to be showing plenty of signs of impending
awakening; spring isn't far off -- it's a hopeful time of year. Of
course, the temptation is to think that if holidays are so great, and
so useful in sorting our heads out, then why shouldn't we try to make
the whole year round a holiday. Hence the current profusion of TV
shows combining the British love of property (and home improvement)
with the desire to make life one permanent holiday. We have the rather
limply presented 'A Place In The Sun', where the show's
producers try to find a suitable overseas pad for wantaway Brits,
usually on a very tight budget. Exploring the theme a little further
there is Ricochet's wonderful 'No Going Back'. This compulsive
C4 series follows Brit families who are relocating abroad. In most
cases they are woefully underfunded and ill-prepared, and disaster
usually strikes. But they tend to pull through in the end. A must see.
So far, they haven't found any prospective vignerons to follow. The
problem is, holidays are only great when they act as a counter to our
normal lives. I'd love to have 12 h unbroken sleep every night, but
that's only because I don't really get enough normally. And being
confined to bed for 18 h a day, for example, would be torture. Yes, a
couple of weeks every now and again is enough holiday for me. But I
still have that vigneron fantasy... Saturday
February 8th
Had a remarkable wine last night. It was a Montlouis Sec, from Domaine
de la Taille Aux Loups, 1998 vintage. Montlouis is an appellation
in the Loire, near Vouvray, and the grape here is the widely
misunderstood Chenin Blanc. 'Chenin Blanc is like a difficult child',
says Nicolas Joly, who uses it to make impressive (and expensive)
Savennières. 'They will go on to be either a genius or a terrorist.'
Well, this Montlouis isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I
find it thrillingly individual. It begins quite tamely with a nose
showing waxy, straw-like notes. After a while it picks up momentum and
comes across with lifted mineral notes and some strong, soft cheesy
aromas. Sounds weird, and it is a bit. The palate is bone dry, with
more cheesy, waxy notes and high acidity. Great concentration and
quite a bit of complexity, but very challenging. I'd say it was more
an intellectual than a sensual experience, and a world away from
accessible, slightly sweetly fruited new world Chardonnay, which is
what most people expect from white wine these days. The continued
existence of wines like this Montlouis is a cause for celebration.
Let's celebrate the triumph of the appellation system in preserving
this diversity. Tuesday 4th February
Apparently
Rioja has had its largest snowfall for 50 years. I received a picture
taken on Friday at the 300 ha Ygay estate of Bodega Marqués de
Murrieta, from their UK PR company, which I
thought I'd share (right).
Today
was the annual press tasting of Winetraders, a UK agent specializing
in Italian wines, run by Michael Palij MW. Some interesting wines,
including top notch Tuscans from Castello di Bossi, the stunning wines
of Inama (some seriously exciting efforts; full report to follow) and
some intriguing, brilliant Barolos from Mascarello. Palij has some
interesting things to say in the introduction to his price list. 'What
bores me rigid are the oceans of predictable, winemaking by numbers,
varietally labelled tedium that continues to haemorrhage from the new
world,' he says, 'and the press diligently reviews them week after
week as if they, or anyone else, can tell the difference one from
another.' I quite agree, Micheal. 'Wake up to a country bursting with
wines that will both excite and challenge you', he implores. It's true
that Italian wines aren't widely known in the UK. Considering that
Italy makes more wine than France, and with a similar diversity of
styles, it's surprising that we are generally so ignorant of
them.
Tuesday
28th January
As
I write, I’m sipping the Vin de Pays d’Agenais 1999 from Elian da
Ros – a brilliant bargain in the recent La Vigneronne sale at a
staggering £2.08 a bottle (by the case). It’s not a wine for
everyone though, with its challenging array of savoury flavours, high
acid and firm tannins. Unfiltered, it sheds a mound of sediment.
It’s a bit of a brute actually, but it has that magical sense of
place (in this case, the southwest of France) that I look for in a
wine, almost above anything else. I’d rather have a rather rustic,
rough-edged wine with a sense of place than some polished but
ultimately anonymous international creation. My brother-in-law,
William Beavington (pictured on the right -- he's moaned about never
being mentioned here before), bought a couple of cases of this on my
recommendation, along with a whole bunch of other stuff. He’s one
among many who I suspect will find this sort of thing just a bit
extreme to be enjoyable. In fact, he phoned up to offer me the
remaining 23 bottles he has at cost. I’ll take him up on it. This is
one of the interesting things about wine: even geekish types have
different taste preferences. This is where scores or ratings alone
fall down. Indeed, one of the goals of my tasting notes is to give
you, as a reader, a good sense of whether you will enjoy a particular
wine. As a (wannabe?) critic, I can’t let my personal preferences
override an assessment of the quality of a particular wine. Yet I’m
aware that the preferences of some readers will be for classic
old-world styles. When I assess a big oaky Australian Shiraz, I may
decide that according to its genre, it’s a brilliant example of this
type of wine and worthy of an excellent rating. In my note, though,
I’ll try to warn off the old-world-classic-only buffs who I know
would find this sort of wine repellent. As for Beavington, I'm
disappointed he didn't like this wine, but I think he did rather well
with a previous recommendation of mine, securing two cases of the 1999
Jamet Côte Rôtie en primeur. I wouldn't mind buying back this
at offer price. He also has a bottle of Pingus 1996 which he got *for
free* and which he has promised to share with me.
Wednesday
22nd January
Hermitage 2000
As I write, I’m on my way back from one of the most
disappointing tastings I’ve yet attended. But it was also highly
illuminating. It was a blind tasting of Hermitage 2000 at La
Vigneronne. We tried 10 different wines, although one was a ringer and
another was Chave’s Hermitage Blanc 2000 (which was probably the
best of the bunch in terms of absolute quality). The overall
impression was that this was a very weak vintage in the region, and
most of the wines were simply not good enough to be sold as Hermitage
at £30–£100 per bottle. For once, I scored these wines out of 100,
as well as using my normal scoring system. I’ll go through them,
starting with the worst, giving the score and a brief description. (A
full report will of course follow). Interestingly, the two Tardieu
Laurent wines can be found at the bottom and the top of the scale,
with the latter being the ringer.
-
78
Tardieu Laurent Hermitage 2000. An
aberration of a wine. Light fruit with sweet vanilla and coconut
nose. Tastes like a cheap Spanish wine. Bizarrely overoaked.
-
82 Jaboulet Pied de la Côte Hermitage 2000.
Thin and light. Charmless.
-
85
Chapoutier La Sizeranne Hermitage 2000. Not
a lot of typicity here. Tastes like a Côtes du Rhône.
-
87
Jaboulet La Chapelle Hermitage 2000. Pleasant,
with some savoury, meaty fruit, but too simple for Hermitage.
Another poor showing for La Chapelle
-
87
Sorrel Le Gréal Hermitage 2000. Quite
classy oaking but the fruit is a tiny bit stewed and it doesn’t
show enough typicity
-
87
Domaine des Remizières Hermitage 2000. Very
rich, toasty, chocolatey fruit with a roast coffee edge. It’s
massively overoaked. It’s not a terrible wine, but it completely
lacks any sense of place, which is a tragedy from such a good
terroir.
-
88
It’s the JL Chave Hermitage 2000.
Very closed at the moment, but attractive and quite classy.
Tannic, with good acidity. Could evolve into something impressive,
but if you offered this to me at £30 a bottle, I’d probably
pass. So at £100 a pop, don’t even think about it. Now I know
it's identity I can see some potential, but still a
disappointment.
-
90
Domaine du Colombier Hermitage 2000. Lovely meaty, expressive nose with lots of typicity. The
palate has a hint of a vegetal streak and high acidity. Not top
notch but satisfying.
-
93 The ringer,
Tardieu Laurent Cornas Vieilles
Vignes 2000. Quite beguiling with rich, meaty, ripe Syrah
fruit. The oak plays a supporting role and doesn’t dominate.
Shouts Northern Rhône to me, although I didn’t spot this as the
ringer. A very impressive effort
from 90 year old vines.
I wouldn’t really recommend any of these Hermitages,
especially considering their prices. And it’s a shame that even in a
not-so-good vintage, producers can’t make more interesting wines:
after all, the name ‘Hermitage’ will be devalued if producers are
selling wines like these, still at high prices. Either they should
drop their prices dramatically in weaker vintages, or declassify.
Otherwise they risk damaging the reputation of the appellation. I’m
just telling it like it is.
Saturday 18th January
Interesting interview with Patrick Sandeman, of London Mechants Lea
& Sandeman, in this week's Harpers. A couple of choice quotes
concerning his thoughts about a couple of French regions. 'It's
difficult to get passionate about the Rhône', he explains. Why? 'Because
there is so much bad wine made there'. I guess this is true, but
there's no shortage of top producers doing good work, amid the dross.
And show me a region where lots of bad wine isn't made. Perhaps he
just can't get hold on any of the decent stuff to sellcertainly
the leading Northern Rhône producers make tiny quantities and will
sell most of their production directly or en primeur. Patrick's not to
keen on the Loire, either. 'Well, the wines are made of Sauvignon
for a start. And, OK, you can find some super wines made from
Sauvignon, but you can't get passionate about them.' I wouldn't
disagree, here. 'Otherwise there's Chenin, which is sweet in its
best format and therefore difficult to sell, and the red wines are
just too hit and miss. I find that the wines are rather like the
region itself: there's something rather cold and uncharming about
them.' It's a good read.
Wednesday 15th January
I've
finally realised something. It's hardly rocket science, but it might
change some of my drinking habits. If I only drink half the amount of
wine that I currently do, I can drink wine that's twice as expensive.
Yesterday evening I opened a bottle of Mas Foulaquier's 'L'Orphée'
2001, from Pic St Loup. It's not vastly expensive, at £8.95 from
Bentalls of Kingston, but this would probably be more than my average
spend for a regular Tuesday night. If I can spread it out over a few
nights, then I can raise my per bottle spend. Simple, really. In
theory, at least. Regular readers will know that I'm an advocate of Pic
St Loup, a commune in the Coteaux du Languedoc, and possibly soon
to be an appellation in its own right. It deserves to be, because the
wines exhibit a real sense of place and have come a long way in the
last five years. Foulaquier is a relative newcomer, but this 'L'Orphée'
(which translates as 'Orpheus', the unfortunate character from Greek
mythology) hits the spot. Dark coloured, it has a
really well defined nose slightly meaty, leathery fruit with some
spicy undertones. The palate is savoury with a subtle herby edge, and
lovely structure. Lots of typicity here. I know it's probably some
bizarre mental association, but the wine links me with the place (I've
visited three times, now) in an unusual way. It tastes good,
too.
Thursday 9th January
The
big news here over the last couple of days has been weather-related.
Readers from cooler climes will be perplexed at just how much fuss we
Brits make over 2 inches of snow: this arrived on Wednesday, and it's
the heaviest snowfall for 12 years apparently. Very exciting (photo on
the right shows one of the boys on Twickenham green). Of course, the
visual transformation snow brings has its own magic, but for me the
most remarkable thing about a fresh snowfall is the change in the
quality of sound. Suddenly everything becomes quiet. It's lovely.
Today was 'The Bunch' press tasting, organized by a coalition of
independent merchants (Adnams, Berry Bros, Corney & Barrow, Armit,
Lay & Wheeler and Yapp), and it was probably the best-attended
tasting I've yet been to. I spent more time chatting to people than
tasting wine. Just about everyone was there. Each merchant was showing
just six wines, though, which isn't really enough to get any real idea
about the quality and breadth of their ranges. It's hard to single out
a favourite wine, but two that stood out were the 1999 Savennières
from Nicolas Joly's Coulée de Serrant and the Ridge Geyserville 2000.
The Joly wine is idiosyncratic and very complex: dry, but with some
apricotty botrytis flavours creeping in. It's brilliant, but a shame
that it's £40 a pop. The Geyserville is half the price, and quite
different. It's dominated by concentrated, sweet ripe fruit: very
intense and with plenty of complexity, this is quite
exotic.
Wednesday 8th January
Regular
visitors will be aware that I don't drink an awful lot of Bordeaux (or
Claret, as we Brits like to call it). It's not a deliberate omission,
though. Bordeaux makes some of the worlds most spectacular, iconic
wines: I really should drink more of them. But as a region, I don't
feel any strong affection for it. The vineyards aren't particularly
beautiful, and then there are all those big, ostentatious Château,
with the oversized lifestyles they support. You don't find many
passionate owner-vignerons; instead the estates are more likely to be
owned by investment banks and insurance companies. And following
Bordeaux is a bit like being a Manchester United fan -- rather
unoriginal. This said, in recent weeks I've opened three rather
different Clarets. Most spectacular, and least expensive, was the 1989
Vieille Cure from Fronsac, which had evolved a truly classic,
beguiling bouquet. The challenge with Bordeaux is to find the
sometimes rather narrow drinking window when the wine is peaking: this
time I got it right, but it's a gamble. Drink a wine too young and it
will be closed and unyielding (i.e. it won't smell of much); leave it
too long and it will smell of old wine (not very interesting, but some
people tend to like it). The second wine I got wrong: the 1995 Rollan
de By (an ambitious Medoc Cru Bourgeois) was dense but closed, but
there really is a lot of substance here. The third wine, the 1997
Talbot (St Julien), was drinking very well, showing lovely balance and
an open nose. Many of the 1997s are drinking very well now, and offer
a lot more pleasure than some more highly rated vintages ever will, as
long as they aren't kept too long. I suspect that a lot of these 1997s
will end up being kept too long...
Sunday 5th January
It's
been Northern Rhône for the last couple of nights. Yesterday we took
the boys (aged 5 and 6) to their first football game together:
Brentford (our local side, in Division 2) versus Derby County in the
third round of the cup. A close match which Brentford just nicked 1-0.
In the evening I popped open a 2000 Côte Rôtie from Domaine Barge.
Savoury and very perfumed, this is quite light but shows lots of
typicity: meaty, spicy and slightly animal, with good acidity.
Extremely satisfying. Today my team (Manchester City) were live on the
BBC, playing Liverpool in their third round tie. A surprisingly
lethargic, muted performance, and Liverpool ran out 1-0 winners.
Tonight I've popped another bottle of the Vin de Pays Collines
Rhodaniennes 2000 from Domaine Mouton. Almost as good in quality as
the Barge, with a bit more raspberryish fruit and that lovely meaty,
green olive character that's common in many of the wines of this
region. Sadly, though, there's just a hint of mustiness about this --
I'm putting it down to low-level cork taint.
Thursday 2nd January
I began the year, yesterday, with two resolutions: reflect more,
and learn more. Time to add another. Over the course of the next 12
months I want to try to structure my wine buying a bit more, to add
some sort of sensible breadth to my cellar. At the moment my
purchasing follows a rather magpie-like pattern. I see something
interesting, I buy it. Of course, I have to exercise a lot of self
control: numerous times last year I had to grit my teeth and stop
myself from purchasing. If I didn't, two things would happen. First,
wine would consume an inordinately large part of the Goode family
budget. Secondly, I'd accumulate far more wine than I could ever
drink. My other failing is buying the odd bottle here and then the odd
couple of bottles there, resulting in a cellar-full of orphans. This
year I'm going to try to think more carefully about my purchases, buy
more six packs or full cases, and make sure that I patronize those
merchants who are really doing good work. They need our custom,
because the wine world would be a poorer place without them.
Wednesday 1st January
Baths are wonderful. I was in the bath this morning, thinking about
what to write in the first blog entry of 2003. While showers have
their place, and are probably a more effective means to personal
hygiene, baths allow time for reflection. This brings me nicely to my
first New Year’s resolution. In a survey of old people over the age
of 90, they were asked a telling question: if they had the chance to
live their lives again, what would they do differently? The most
common answers were that they would take more time to reflect, they
would take more risks, and they would leave more behind them that was
of enduring value. Thus my first intention for the next 12 months is
to take more time out to reflect. One of the defining features of our
current age is busyness. We have cluttered, over-full lives, with
little time to think or contemplate, and that is our loss. Just like a
nice hot bath, good wine can be an aid to reflection.
It’s certainly been a busy year. In 2002 there were 298
substantial additions to wineanorak. Perhaps it wouldn’t be
unreasonable to claim that this represents the largest body of
original material added to any UK wine site over 2002 by a single
author – bearing in mind that I don’t rely on ‘user-generated’
content in the way that many other content sites do. In addition to
this, I’ve had six features in Harpers Wine and Spirit Weekly
and one each in Decanter and Wine magazines. But it’s
not the quantity that matters as much as the quality. I aim to improve
both in 2003, and I hope that further opportunities will come my way.
Most importantly, I’ve learned a great deal in the last 12 months,
and I’m aware that I still have a very great deal left to learn. As
others have kindly pointed out to me, I know I’m still just a
beginner in this game. I hope that by meeting lots of people, asking
lots of questions, visiting various producers in different wine
regions and generally keeping my mind, ears and eyes open, that by
this time next year I’ll be able to look back and see that I’ve
progressed a great deal in my understanding of wine.
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