Hoare Moves East

On behalf of my native state I am glad you think so--Washington wines are probably the one of the best values going right now. And the food here isn't so bad, either.

"Ian Hoare" that wandering HungaroAngloFrancoOenophile dropped in saying....

His Lordship will do no such thing, except to say that there are many more pleasant sights to behold in the late morning, than seeing a disheveled Hoare arise, grumbling "yum! yum! pigs bum!" when everyone else (including his charming [and courageous] wife) has been up and about for a couple of hours whilst wandering through Antipodean winefields.

To hear this gentle!!!!!man, on the phone, making appointments within hitherto untouchable establishments; to hear him and Professor Lipton in deep discussion on the effect of the third Carthaganian revolution on modern Hungarian literature; or the chemical composition of Agathis Australis leaf mould - is something no-one should miss.

Short tempered - I never saw any evidence! Impatient - compared to me, Hoare is a saint Knowledgeable - an encyclopedia Good Taste - well Jacquie had the good taste to find Ian! Warm & Gracious - I saw no evidence of grace whatsoever, when on Christmas Day, in the antipodean noon-day summer sun, Ian lay back, shirt unbuttoned to the navel, with a stomach full of prawns, avocado and Sauvignon Blanc, belched and said "Shit! This is the life!!"

I should of course have qualified this, to exclude Jacquie from these two characteristics.

True, which is one reason why I ban all mirrors from my life!

A vile canard. I was ALWAYS on time to visit winefields. On all other occasions, I most certainly do not see any virtue in early rising.

Guilty. And it seems to be working pretty well here in the land of the Bush and home of the "not quite free to send wines from Oregon to Illinois".

yesterday we spent an enthralling visit to Chehalem (pronounced shu_hay_lem) where the owner winemaker poured my eponymous Chardonnay "Ian's reserve" (my fame seems to have gone before me), which was glorious, some delightful Pinot Blanc & Pinot Gris, and a range of ever more excellent Pinot Noirs, explaining exactly why each was different, the clone, the soil, the barrels etc. Today, we had a similar experience at Lange. Barrels samples coming out of our ears! However the Hoare ingratiation technique worked particularly well at dinner last night at the Joel Palmer house, reputed internationally (meaning I'd heard of him before coming here) for the imaginative use of wild Mushrooms by the chef/owner mycophage "Jack". We had the good luck to have been gifted

9/10ths of a bottle of domaine Drouhin's excellent Laurene 2001 so we dropped it off at the restaurant to make ourselves known and check up that it would be acceptable to drink this wine. (4 hours later, it was showing like a dream!).

To cut a long rambling story short, we hitched up with a childhood friend of the chef's staying for a few days to pick up some wines, and before we quite knew what had happened, Jack had joined us and bottles were being cracked at a quite alarming pace. We repaired to his cellar, and discussed many points of higher philosophy before driving back to our humble Motel. Today was spent in a lower key than normal.

For those interested, the "special mycophage menu" ($62 each) consisted of

Risotto with bitter chocolate, porcini & parmigiani reggiano Pine Mushroom chowder Wild mushroom soup Braised chanterelles (with bell pepper & shallots) Heidi's three mushroom tart Filet Mignon with pinot porcini sauce (Jacquie) Lamb chops with hazelnut pinot sauce, Jack's mashed potatoes (Glutton) Assorted Desserts

All delicious and surprisingly, all very successful with the wine.

Your criteria, milord, are inaccurate.

Nope, it was a snore as I slept in front of the cricket match on TV and the coprophilic profanity was yours. I am well known for the delicacy and moderation of my language.

But it has to be said that we had right good tucker, and pretty fair booze.

Hoare of Scourbridge

Hey - I think I ate that at a truck stop outside Reims one day.....

Hoare of Scourbridge, again emerged from his slumberings in tlotfathotb, saying

You are probably right, Sir, but I believe that one should never let the truth get in the way of a good story !!!!

Continued happy wanderings to you both;