[Houdini]

In fact, next thing I kill I'm gonna eat.  It's been 2 decades (minus a bit of duck or a shrimp).  Just in case I'm missing out of some sensory grub/wine mating extravaganza (probably give me savage trapped wind, like, but . . .)   

This is the last unfortunate creature to cop it (it fell out of the sky - nearly braining me - after being winged by a hunting party in the distance) I fell on it like a ravenous urchin and merely expedited matters . . .



Manna.

[Sloper]

Remember road kill is fine, but be sure to have some decent Burgundy to go with it.

[Joepicalli]

Boy pheasant ain't normally the best eating. Hang it.

[Houdini]

I never tasted it, only killed it.  But a hunter-type mate did.  He said:  "Yeah, letting it hang is normal, but only truly necessary in older, tougher birds.  This one is young."

He plucked it, gutted it, cooked and wolfed it there and then.  He said it was beautiful.  Admittedly he's used to Moose and Pike . . .

[Houdini]

This should be in The Culture forum.

[Houdini]

In the culture forum you say?


Right!   What do you think about this then Joe?  Sounds interesting.

I'd like to get my laughing gear around it (even though it does come a long way).



PS.  What's w/ the French?  Why do they pooh-pooh single grape wines?  J' Adore 100% syrah/pinot. 

[tlr]

Just a bit of a public service anouncement: Somerfield has Zontes Footstep Shiraz Viognier reduced to £6 at the moment. Perfect barbecue wine, and also brilliant with peppered steak.

[Joepicalli]

In the culture forum you say?


Right!   What do you think about this then Joe?  Sounds interesting.

I'd like to get my laughing gear around it (even though it does come a long way).



PS.  What's w/ the French?  Why do they pooh-pooh single grape wines?  J' Adore 100% syrah/pinot. 

I've yet to be convinced by any S.A. wines yet. Especially reds. There always seems to be a tarry too much sun thing going on. Plus there is still the minefield of the ethics of S.A. wine - what are the conditions for the (mainly black) workforce in any given vineyard. That said your choice does look great, I think I shall have to indulge in a bottle.

P.S. The French have traditionally pooh-poohed single variety wine in favour of the notion of terroir which means the understanding of your vineyard's micro-geology and climate and planting grape varieties accordingly. The resultant wine is then the blend of what has worked that year.
Notwithstanding the above A great many of France's finest are single variety- Red Burgundy is pinot noir. White Burgundy is Chardonnay. The great Northern Rhones are 100% syrah  (it is permissible to a some viognier, off the top of my head 10%, to some appellations).
Plus there are now a slew of VDP in the Languedoc happily doing really good single varieties.

[Houdini]

How about this then Joe?  €4.99 / ₤3.94



Not as austere as the Graves 2001; quite approachable, velvety to the point of losing its opaqueness, blackberried but still retaining that French woodiness.

Did I mention I've found a source of heavily reduced fines including this and the Graves 2001 for less than €5 plus other Cru's no more than €6.99?  Must've slipped my mind there . . . 

    

[Houdini]

Excellent.


A quick google reveals the Pauillac Baron Nathaniel 2001 is on sale @ €15 in other retailers in Hamburg and between ₤15 & ₤20 (4 to 5 time more) per bottle in the UK.


 

[soapy]

that's not a pauillac..

this is a pauillac..

[Houdini]

That cost a 4 squillion quid, soaps.

[Houdini]

Lord Soapy got me thinking. 

How much are people prepared to spend on their wine?  In the UK 15/20 quid a bottle is par for the course.  Spent more on Port than wine (but then I'd expect to) and in which country you buy makes a vast difference, I'd hate to be a Swedish pisshead. 

Personally I'd never spend more than 50 quid on any bottle of booze regardless of how flush I was on point of principle - there's too much stunning wine under than to bother.

[Joepicalli]

Lord Soapy got me thinking. 

How much are people prepared to spend on their wine?  In the UK 15/20 quid a bottle is par for the course.  Spent more on Port than wine (but then I'd expect to) and in which country you buy makes a vast difference, I'd hate to be a Swedish pisshead. 

Personally I'd never spend more than 50 quid on any bottle of booze regardless of how flush I was on point of principle - there's too much stunning wine under than to bother.

Spent £1608 on 6 bottles of Y'quem 2001 last year.

[Sloper]

When are you hosting the tasting?

[Duma]

 

[soapy]

my apols houd, but,


this thread was trending downwards to reeperbahn tramps piss...hardly living up to its title, no..?


myself, occasionally i know when i've tasted greatness, but the old palate just isn't refined enough, and i suppose tobacco doesn't help


so i take my hat off to joe, yoss and slopes, who certainly do seem to be endowed with taste buds capable of subtle differentiation

[Joepicalli]

When are you hosting the tasting?

In about 5 year's time and it will be me and my current friends (I will have gone out of my way to be a total bastard to everyone I know for months beforehand).

[Joepicalli]

  In the UK 15/20 quid a bottle is par for the course. 

Despite my previous post, £15-20 quid for an everyday (and I do mean every day) drinking wine is bloody steep. My "Fuck me there's a "y" in the day, I'd better celebrate with a glass of wine.", wine is between £5.5 and £9 a bottle.

[Houdini]

Spent £1608 on 6 bottles of Y'quem 2001 last year.

Joe you are fucking insane and you need your head seeing to.


Soapy, you have more money than I do.  It shows, you radge.  Reeperbahn bums drink corn or bad white wine from tetrapacks.   

Me, I just like getting drunk.   

[Houdini]

Oh sorry Joe I didn't answer the price thing, I'd spend 20 quid on a nice wine not everyday supping.  It's enough.  I sure as fuck wouldn't know the world's finest if it was offered, why on Earth would I want to kiss 10% of the arses so I could afford such bourgeois luxury?

I think there's an element of earnings-related snobbery from soapy's corner which I dislike intensely.

[Joepicalli]

Spent £1608 on 6 bottles of Y'quem 2001 last year.

Joe you are fucking insane and you need your head seeing to.

If I drink 1/2 and sell the other half in about 20 years I should have drunk for free or even made a profit; this stuff is a Robert Parker 100 pointer, the Chinese are getting richer and getting a taste for good wine, expanding the market etc. etc. Operatating a long way north is insane

[Houdini]

. . . sell the other half in about 20 years I should have drunk for free or even made a profit . . . 

Assuming you live that long  Sounds like your wife will do well out of your cellar, Joe.

[Houdini]

I'm somewhat narked by soapy:  some fortunate fellow who pops in once every 4 months, has posted here twice, drinks Tesco's Port . . .

This thread exists because I PM'd Sloper.  And it really should be about learning about wine, not pontificating on what one can afford.  This is a bouldering forum - a place where those that accrue experiences (not wealth/possessions) can spray about them.  If it was restricted to fine wine it'd be 6 posts and back on page 16.


Thanks to Joe for the Parker heads-up.  Never heard of him:  there's a background on him and his wine review here.  This is great reading: shows you just how much money/power/skullduggery and yes, hubris (quelle surprise!) there is in the French wine making industry. 


 

[Yossarian]

Houdini - I am tremendously impressed by your wine odyssey these past few months. You've jumped in at the deep end and appear to have tried such a wide range it makes me feel not a little bit inadequate.

Soapy is far to generous re my palate. I have been far too fortunate over the years, and have taste far better wine than my means and age would usually allow. I have also inherited a number of prejudices as well as favourites.

Personally, my favourite wines are white burgundies and red piedmonts. The latter because of a number of work contacts whom were generous to celebrate xmas by sending through bottles of Gaja Barbaresco. The former because the best white Burgundies are (in my opinion) incomparable with anything else I've tasted.

Wine is a fiendishly pompous kettle of fish, but that is partly what it's all about.

Perhaps we can raise a glass to quality and to interest, rather than drag all this down into a discussion about value vs. price?

PS - Just tried Inverleven 77 and The Golden Cask -Port Ellen 83 - both quite special