holiday wine survey

We enjoyed 1971 Volnay, Wine Society labelling sans producer details,

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Hi all Scandinavian traditional fare calls for beer and aquavit - and that's what I had :-) However, today there was salmon (gravlax - cured with a salt/sugar mix with lots of dill, for two days) and we had a Zeltinger Schlossberg Halbtrocken Riesling Spätlese 2002, 12% alc., from a minor grower in Erden, Mosel, whom I know (a Franz Krämer) - straw yellow, lots of small bubbles in the glass, slatey in nose as well as in taste - a nice drink with a gold medal at a mere 5 Euro a bottle... I've also set up a Graham's 1970 port to be opened quite soon and maybe a Sociando Mallet 1996 or even a Leoville Las Cases 1982 for New Years Eve. Will report later - for now only wishing all a continued merry Christmas and a happy new Year. Anders

] On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 20:18:40 +0100, Emery Davis ] wrote: ] ] >Well, the moment is upon us, as we've popped at least a few corks ] >for the holidays... ] >What have you had? ] ] We enjoyed 1971 Volnay, Wine Society labelling sans producer details, ] 1988 Givry (Clos Salomon), 2000 St. Aubin red (Henri Prudhon), 1999 ] Monthelie white (Bouzerand-Dujardin), 1990 Champagne Cuvee ] Saint-Vincent (R & L Legras), Champagne Blanc de Blancs (R & L Legras) ] plus, at other times, several glasses of my home-made vin chaud in a ] failed effort to get rid of my cold! ]

Hi John,

Sounds festive. I wonder where that Volnay came from, and what was in it? :) Was it OK?

] We've just trying to put some plans together for next year - late May, ] probably. Are you likely to be around? ]

Love to get together, too early to tell exactly what we'll be doing. Much depends on Adele's treatment schedule. Do you plan to be in our neck? Odds are we will be around, just can't make guarantees at the moment. Best to email (or call) some time in april....

cheers and best for the new year,

-E

A quiet time as we all had a code in de dose.

Taitinger NV, nice mouse, biscuits, but finished a little short Tesco 1998 Champers, very pale, good mousse and wet cardboard, quite long for a cheapy Beaucastel 1997, two bottles with main dinner. As usual deep garnet, bright ( for an organic wine), very pleasant spice, and fruit, some vegetal aromas, good entry, long............try again next year, not a long liver? Coutet 90, with mince pies and blue cheese, ( not together!!!), stunning bright viscous straw, barleysugar nose, very unctous and with a little acidity to stop it being cloying.......very nice.

Chablis, 2001, by Foxon, a village wine with great finesse, could be prem cru burgundy, long. Buy it at Majestic @ GBP 9.59

From a very stuffed up JT Happy New Year, we are off to Pembrokeshire, the cliff path will blow away the colds.

Yeeeak!

M.

Would you mind to enlighten the relationship of organic farming of the vineyard and brightness of the wine in the glass?

M.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that fining a wine organically was not as effective as artificial means, .

Sorry about the mouse brain still in Xmas mode:-) JT

My impression was that egg whites are quite commonly used by both organic and traditional growers.

And what about filtration, btw?

M.

Hi John,

In France there is no legal basis for calling a wine organic. The ruling bodies for the "bio" label only control viticulture, not winemaking. Hence you will at most see mentions like "wine made from organic grapes" but never "organic wine" (it would be illegal to mark it so).

Logically a good winemaker that is AB certified should be as careful in the winemaking cellar as he is in the vines, and many are. But nothing in AB rules prevents these certified growers from using harvesting machines, slave labour, and every weapon in the oenologist's chemical arsenal (and some do not hesitate for a moment).

I suspect the reason for this state of affairs is that if you allow some to label their wine as organic, you are giving the customer the impression that 95% of wine production is not organic or somehow less healthy. A weak legislation on bio keeps everybody happy, including the unsuspecting customer.

Mike

Hello Emery,

It was superb. No idea who the producer was but I do recall that, in those days, the Wine Society used to drop all sorts of hints about whose delisted wine they were offering. The trouble is that I didn't pay attention or take notes. 8-)

Had a 1989 Chambolle Musigny (Roumier) this evening with dry-hung Aberdeen Angus roast sirloin. (There is something magnificent about beef like that.)

On the nose, the first thought was of raspberries. In the glass, it had that lovely brown brick edge that I like. Long tears. It disappointed in the mouth, though. On first tasting, it lacked the sensual feel of yesterday's Volnay and also its balance. The most obvious characteristic was acid although this became less pronounced with food. Yesterday's Volnay was far finer whilst yesterday's St Aubin was fruitier. I have a few more bottles of this Chambolle Musigny in the cellar. I think I'll drink them up rather than keep them any longer.

I know that feeling. 8-(( Our initial thoughts are to spend some time in the Loire valley and then in Paris some time in May. We also want to visit the Macon wine fair, as usual. Our "want to do" list also includes visits to the middle Mosel, the Dordogne and the Cevennes and to the Southern Rhone. We spent a long weekend in Colmar at the beginning of December, so now Barbara has decided she wants to spend more time in various parts of Alsace next December. While we're there, I'd like to nip over the Basel and visit some friends there as well.

The complication in all these things is that I can't finalise anything until I've managed to book one of my sons into respite accommodation for the duration of my visits (he is disabled.). The planning usually starts in November/December but it takes until the following summer before things are finalised. So little time and so much still to do... 8-)

I'll drop you an e-mail some time in the next week or two. Regards, John

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][]

Hi John,

] Beaucastel 1997, two bottles with main dinner. As usual deep garnet, bright ] ( for an organic wine), very pleasant spice, and fruit, some vegetal aromas, ] good entry, long............try again next year, not a long liver?

Surely she's got a few years left in her!

I echo Mike's comment about the confusing state of the "organic" label in France. I know an "organic" farmer who thinks Roundup (glyphosate) is OK to use because it's based on a "natural plant hormone!!"

] Coutet 90, with mince pies and blue cheese, ( not together!!!), stunning ] bright viscous straw, barleysugar nose, very unctous and with a little ] acidity to stop it being cloying.......very nice. ]

Good stuff.

Coincidentally one of our favorite places, and on the coast path I proposed some

-E

Hi;

A Canadian family Christmas turkey dinner featuring a cast of dozens (at which I was finally a guest and not a worker bee!). My vinous contribution consisted of 2 bottles of dry Vineland Estates 2000 Riesling Reserve. Lovely citrus highlights without edginess and a nice medium mouth feel. Reisling being the biggest bargain in the wine world today, these lovelies only cost about C$12.00.

Family dinner last night at my brothers featured a 14 lb. prime rib (with lots of succulent rare slices). My vinous contribution here were 2 1998 Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve Meritage (black cherries, smooth medium mouth feel and long slow luxurious finish) and a NCT 2001 Chardonnay (buttery nose and taste, another full mouth feel and lovely clean finish).

The plan for an intimate New Years dinner ALONE with SWMBO calls for some kind of Iberian treatment of shellfish and scallops along with a nice Sauvignon Blanc from Peninsula Ridge winery..... report later.

Hi Chuck,

Think I'll go out and try this one. Long smooth finish is what I love!

Looking forward to your "report later".

Got an interesting present from my wife. She usually buys me one nice bottle of wine each month (anniversary thing). For Christmas, she's arranged for a winery near St. Catherines, to send me two bottles of their premium wines each month for six months.

With all her shopping and ebaying she FORGOT to take down the name of the winery. She says to wait for the phone bill and take down the number then. I'll let you know what I received sometime in January.

At least it will get me drinking some Ontario wines for a change.

Larry Stumpf, S. Ontario, Canada

Ahem, not all Scandinavians have beer and schnaps for X-mas dinner; I believe that most Danes actually prefere wine for Christmas Eve's dinner. We had roasted goose and 2 bt. Amarone: 1985 Allegrini and 1988 Masi's Campolongo di Torbe. A muscat d'Alsace as aperitif, and a fortified nice red from Southern France after dinner....

Salut/Hi John Taverner,

Just noticed this:-

le/on Sat, 27 Dec 2003 10:50:37 -0000, tu disais/you said:-

What a coincidence. We had the 95 (2 botts) and '96 (1 bott) with rare roast ribs of beef on Boxing day (that's the 26th of December, when traditionally the aristocracy would take round Christmas boxes to their underlings - hence the name).

The '95 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand and was showing very nicely inde3d, plums/prunes and all sorts of good things. The '96, on the other hand was an emergency bottle, in case the 10 of us needed another bottle. We did! That meant that we only decanted it just before drinking it. It was a little lighter on the noser I felt, with the fruit more prominent. Actually, a number of us preferred it.

long since sold out. Give their Delaine vineyard offering a try though.... this is the vineyard owned by Mrs. Triggs and it is now in its first release.... again, AFAIK available only at the NOTL winery. Well worth the trip.

Aha - M. Oh-arr.

Home in time for New Years Eve, Huh?

The champagne is on ice - the fireworks primed.

Guests arrive in half an hour for an alfresco evening celebration.

Kindest wishes to you and yours.

Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight

St.Helier

Gee, why are you drinking that _old_ wine? Can't you get something *new* at the store? ;^D (Paraphrased from a Steve Martin movie; I don't remember which.)

Happy New Year, all!

Tom S

_The Jerk_. "Waiter! There are *snails* on her plate!".

Dana