Chȃteau Ducru-Beaucaillou 2001red Bordeaux Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growth)

We had some guests around for duck stew and I thought I would open a decent bottle of wine to go with it; in their honour; Chȃteau Ducru-Beaucaillou produce some of my favourite red wines from St Julien in the Medoc. I carefully decanted the wine before they arrived. The wine was excellent even if it was not one of their best years and it cost me a pretty penny: to buy a bottle now will cost you well over 100 GBP.

The wine has its own particular taste but it represents the terroir very well. If you tasted it blind you would easily tell that it is a Bordeaux wine if nothing else, and you would also tell that it is superior to most wines from across the globe. Whether it is worth the price is debatable as you are almost certainly paying for the name and some of the better years of this wine are held as investments. The wine went down great with the duck and I enjoyed it enormously.

After finishing the duck and the Bordeaux I opened a bottle of Alain Mathias Epineuil 2018 from Bourgogne. This is one of my favourite wines which comes from the north of the region. The soil here is almost unique to France and is based on limestone marls. My wife and I can recognise the wines from this area when we taste them blind. This is not because we are great wine tasters but because we have drunk so many of these wine, and some of my wife's family come from the area. 

https://www.carteblanchewines.com/alainmathias

https://domainealainmathias.fr/nos-revendeurs/

For me the Epineuil is of similar quality to the Bordeaux which costs much much more owing to its reputation as an investment wine. The Bordeaux will keep longer and will develop further in the bottle.

The Epineuil is exceptional value for money and its quality is easily comparable with the best of wines.

Alan Mathias produces award winning wines.

I can't decide which red wines I prefer Bordeaux or Bourgogne and I suppose that it depends on my mood. One thing is certain you can still find high quality wines at reasonable prices  provided to do your research , use local knowledge and visit the wine producers to taste their products. This is true no matter which country you visit.

https://domainealainmathias.fr/nos-revendeurs/

As an apéritif we drank 2013 Marques de la Concordia 'MM' Gran Reserva Brut Nature Cava. At 11 pounds a bottle this dry sparkling wine from Catalonia is a pure star and can hold its on against many Champagne brands. 

https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/marquis+de+la+concordia+mm+grand+rsrv+brut+nature+catalonia+cava+spain/2013/uk

It pays to look at the label before opening the bottle Chậteau Lagrézette Cahors 2017

 The other night I quickly grabbed a bottle of red wine from the rack without looking at the label and opened the bottle. I had opened a bottle of Chậteau Lagrézette Cahors "Malbec" 2017 AOP. The wine tasted superb but even at 5years old it still would have improved and matured in the bottle. The Cahors appellation is situated in the South West of France and they have been growing vines and producing wine since Roman times. The appellation red wines must be  produced from a minimum of 70% Malbec grapes, but producers can mix Merlot and Tannat  grapse into the wine. I suspect that  Lagrézette is produced from nearly 100% Malbec.  The Malbec grape produces well structured wines which have a high level of tannin which promotes the longevity of the wine.

This wine is superbe even though we should have kept it longer. Never mind the bottle was opened and we had to drink it. It had all of the flavour of the appellation and it lingered well on the tongue; it was fruity, concentrated and complex and had all the attributes of a great wine.

This is the first time I opened up a bottle of wine without looking at the label. My wife had finished cooking our chicken and expected to be served wine. Cahors goes well with rabbit stew and if you ever visit Cahors you will find at least one restaurant serving this delicacy along with the wine for excellent dining.

You will pay a good price of over £25 for  Lagrézette even if you can find it. Our wine was a present from France and it would be cheaper to buy it there. Whatever the price I can highly recommend this wine as good value for money. I really should have saved it to drink with the friend who gave it to us, but I think she will forgive me.

https://www.chateau-lagrezette.com/en/products/chateau-lagrezette

Wine and drought and other types of severe weather

 Winemakers in France and other countries are celebrating this year's hot weather and the very early harvest. This is especially true in the UK where the hot sunshine is also ripening the grapes early and providing a high quality harvest.

Wine makers should not be celebrating too soon, as the prospects for grape growing could be taking a turn for the worse in the near future. Climate change is happening faster than expected. We are all going to suffer the effects of severe weather owing to extreme weather. Not only is excessive drought bad for grape growing but also excessive rain.

With regard to drought, irrigation is not regarded as an ideal solution the vines may produce undesirable higher yields which reduce the quality of the grapes. Irrigation can also damage the soil itself as it often results  in excessive salinity which can only be cleared by natural rainfall. In fact, countries like France and Spain ban irrigation although this policy is now under review. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_in_viticulture

If, drought is a danger to viticulture then so is  persistent heavy rain which can damage the soil in the vineyard and damage  the grapes in the form of mold.

Extreme weather is also affecting the vineyards in the form of hail.

Viticulture requires a fine climatic balance of sun, humidity and rainfall. Frosts at the right time of year also help to kill insect pests in the vineyard.

About fifteen years ago I read a book by Fred Pearce, a climate journalist, called the "The Last Generation" which journals the dire consequences of human induced climate change.  I was rather sceptical then that I would see the his predictions come to fruition in my life time, but I was wrong. This book is worth reading. We could lose our fine wines altogether if we our not careful and be faced with the prospect of drinking industrialised wine made from grapes grown in gigantic irrigated cloches - no thanks.

The first page of Fred Pearce's book quotes James Hansen a climate researcher of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies - made in 2005:

"We are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption".

The heatwave and wine

 Recently ,we went to a wedding in the Champagne region of France; right in the middle of a heatwave. When we arrived at the château where the ceremony took place our car thermometer registered 38 degrees centigrade and it then got hotter. Can you imagine tending the vineyards in 38 degrees plus heat and which are much hotter in direct sunlight?

At the wedding ceremony,  I spoke to a champagne producer who is a friend of the extended family.  He said that the wine harvests are getting earlier owing to warmer temperatures and that the extra warmth is, at the moment, improving the quality of the grapes along with their sugar content. He is expecting a good harvest of high quality grapes this year. The harvest will probably be in late August.

Higher average temperatures are good for the wine industry at the moment especially in more northern climes.

But what are the prospects for the future? Our wine producer friend was not too happy for the future and within the next 15 to 20 years champagne producers will be considering the change to different grape varieties which are better able to withstand  the increasing average temperatures. Growers will increasingly face difficult decisions as average temperatures continue to rise.

It is time for everyone to consider what could happen as a result of man made climate change. It is not just the future of the wine industry at stake: if we are not careful there will be fewer wine drinkers chasing fewer and fewer wines. 

Bag in a box wine etc.

 Recently, we had a small party at our house and bought some bag in the box wine. I don't know why we bothered we had plenty of wine in bottles, perhaps we were thinking of convenience over costs. Needless to say, that this mistake left us with plenty of wine to drink with our food. As we don't drink too much the bags in the box seem to hold endless supplies of wine. The wine goes down OK with dinner but usually I have a glass to spare for drinking later on its own but this usually gets poured down the sink. Where is the value for money in this: have I been fooling myself? Yes, I have.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wine+in+a+tetra+pack&t=chromentp&atb=v314-1&iax=images&ia=images

I don't find wine in the box satisfying; the quality just isn't there: good quality wine is only found in bottles as far as I am concerned. The same can be said for wine in a can and wine in a  tetra-pack square box for convenient storage and serving. No thanks, I'd rather pay more but drink less, as long as it is wine of genuine good quality and real value for money. 

Côte Restaurant Sloane Square and La Reserve de Lucien Lurton 2017 Red Bordeaux

 My wife and I recently went to the Côte Restaurant on Sloane Square in London.  The restaurant chain offers very good value for money and decent food. It also maintains a very good standard of service. In fact, the food service and wine is about as good as it can get. It is not fine dining but it is close to it.  We had a two course prix fixe menu. Our main course was rib-eye steak cooked rare in French style and it was delicious. We drank a bottle of La Reserve de Lucien 2017 Red Bordeaux to go with it.  We were particularly impressed with this wine which was ready to drink. The wine was typical of the region and if I tasted it blind I would instantly tell that it was from the region. The wine was concentrated and had the typical aroma and taste of a good Bordeaux and at £26 pounds for the bottle in a restaurant was exceptional value for money. I am sure that I have paid more for a lesser quality wine.

I called the manager over to congratulate him on the food and very good service, the lady who served us was polite and friendly and left us to get on with the dining; as a matter of taste I do not like waiters hovering over me to serve the wine, as I like to do it myself. 

It is not possible to congratulate the wine buyer personally when dining in a chain restaurant, but often they are the unsung heroes of dining out. They have to find the best quality wine at the best price and match the wine to the customers' expectations and to the food. All I can say is well done and thank you.

The following week again we dined in the Côte Restaurant in Sevenoaks in Kent, and  once again the service , food and wine were excellent. We particularly liked the French house wine - White Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was excellent and its dry style matched matched our chicken dishes perfectly.

Needless to say, we shall be going back many more times while Côte Restaurants maintain their high standards for food, wine and service from knowledgeable and friendly staff. The post-Covid world has seen a general fall in service across service outlets. Côte Restaurants have defied this trend and long may this continue.

https://www.cote.co.uk/

Les Hauts de Lestac 2013 Red Haut-Medoc Bordeaux

 We had a little gathering last Sunday and somebody had the good sense to bring along a bottle of this red Bordeaux. Everyone was opening bottles without my presence so I hid the best bottle that was brought along. My guests only drank a third of a bottle  maybe they were driving because they missed out on a great wine. We had two thirds of a bottle left to drink with roast chicken the following evening. The wine tasted and smelt fantastic. It had matured well in the bottle and had all of the flavour and character of the Haut-Medoc. Instantly I could tell where the wine was from; if not identify the vineyard. I am astounded that that the bottle was left unfinished. 

When I looked up the reviews for the wine the drinking public were not giving the wine favourable reviews, perhaps they were drinking the wine too young, as it needed to be kept to develop its full potential. This was one of the best wines I have drunk in the last few months. Les Hauts de Lestac 2013 Red Haut-Medoc Bordeaux is a real bargain if you can still find it. It also goes to show that you do not have to pay big bucks for a decent wine if you chose carefully. Haut-Medc wines are generally better than varietal wines labelled, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz etc. as they are not subjected to industrialised wine making processes.

It was not just wine that was brought to our house because three people tested positive for the dreaded c19 virus but they were vaccinated and were not ill for long. I caught a bad cold which testing revealed was not c19 and my cold was worse than the c19 symptoms which our guests were reporting. Luckily, I did not lose my sense of smell and I was able to enjoy a glass or two whilst I was recovering. Drinking a glass of wine does not relieve cold symptoms but it sure cheers me up.

Pheasant's Tears Saperavi 2019 - Georgian

 We tried a bottle of this wine the other day with food: beef steak. This Georgian wine well made from grapes indigenous to the Kakheti region. The grapes are well suited to the soil and climate. The wines are fermented in amphorae which are buried into the ground and lined with beeswax. The wine is produced by a superb wine maker, and you can tell that the traditional methods of production come through into the wine. The wine has a taste and character of its own. It is of full body and is concentrated and complex and has a deep fruity flavour. The wine remains on the palate for a long time. It is a wine for drinking with food and it should be savoured and not sloshed back.

We drank our wine too young it will improve in the bottle for ten years. We will search out this wine and buy some bottles for further keeping.

Georgia was probably the region of the world where wine was first produced in Neolithic times more than 8,000 years ago. Wine production in this area is fully entwined in the culture of Georgia. There are not many wine production areas which ferment the wine in amphorae. 

At around £20 a bottle it is not cheap, but it is worth searching out. It's a delight. 

https://www.vinvm.co.uk/pheasants-tears-saperavi-2019

Dry January 2022

Once again my wife and I did not participate in dry January 2022. Why is that? We do not drink so much that we feel the need to cut down on on drinking. We do not like being manipulated by health authorities or anyone else for that matter.

During January we had a period of 6 days when we did not drink., and that is because the thought did not cross our minds to open a bottle. This is a way life for us; we don't feel obliged to drink or not to drink.

Last Sunday, we had 7 people for dinner and drank two bottles of Champagne, a bottle of Prosecco, two bottles of red and a quarter bottle of sweet white wine. That meant that on average we each drank about 3/4 of a bottle of wine. This is more than the health recommendations. The next day we did not have a hangover and we didn't feel any sense of guilt. We didn't feel the need to go on the wagon for the rest of the month. Our drinking habits mean that over the course of the month we don't drink too much.

Without being sanctimonious or finger pointing, my opinion is that if you drink so much that you feel the need not to drink for the month of January then you might be better off not drinking at all. Lots of people indulge in dry January because of peer pressure or blandishments from the health authorities and they are not problem drinkers. There is, however, a substantial number of people who cannot control their drinking, if you are one of then the best advice is to quit altogether, as you can still enjoy your life by just drinking water, tea or coffee - this is what we did on our 6 day abstinence.

Covid19 Loss of taste and smell - a disaster for wine lovers.

Just before Christmas my wife and I caught the dreaded Covid 19 virus. I was rather shocked. The symptoms that we experienced were so mild that it was almost impossible to believe that we had a respiratory disease. I just had some nasal congestion and my wife had a bout of sneezing. Our symptoms  lasted one day only. Because my wife was due to meet someone who was medically vulnerable she took an antigen lateral flow test, which was positive, so I took one and got the same result. We immediately informed all our personal contacts for the previous week, but none of them subsequently tested positive.

I believe that I caught the virus at the vaccination clinic for a "booster" injection which was overcrowded and there were plenty of people coughing. I then passed the infection on to my wife. Masks did not protect me and we probably caught the Delta variant rather than the more infectious Omicron one.

I believe that we had a re-infection because I fell ill to an infection in January 2020 which had all the symptoms of C19, but no-one was being tested at that time to prove it. My symptoms then were more severe including a loss of sense of smell and taste. I recovered quite quickly from a continuous dry cough which made it felt as if my lungs were on fire. I also had a fever which I recovered from overnight. My wife also caught symptoms from me which were less severe. During my sickness which lasted for about 7 or 8 days not a single drop of wine passed my lips. I have to be really ill to not drink at all.

I believe that our previous infection helped to reduce the severity of the subsequent one, but in co-operation with being vaccinated twice.

After the positive lateral flow test we confirmed the diagnosis with a PCR test and filled in all the forms listing our symptoms. After the PCR test we felt that we were in grand form. We could not confirm that we had any symptom related to Covid 19, so we would have been recorded as asymptomatic. Then all of a sudden I felt that I had lost my sense of taste but not completely. I could smell my wife's Eau de Cologne with my nose 1cm above the open bottle but no further. However, I could taste mouthwash an hour after spitting it out. I could taste all the components of my evening wine, but I could hardly smell the wine from the glass.  The flavour of a wine is not just tasted; your taste buds can only detect, saltiness, sour, sweet and bitter, however, the full taste and flavour of a wine or food is detected by your sense of smell which complements the basic four tastes on your palate. I could still appreciate my Alain Mathias Epineuil but not to the full extent and so could my wife. 

We also detected a change to our sense of taste. The taste of slightly burnt toast was acrid to me. The loss of a sense of smell worried us a little and we installed an extra smoke alarm as we could not smell our dinner cooking even if we could taste the food. I have a possible explanation as to why we could taste our food and wine but not smell it. It seemed to me that our noses could not detect odours being breathed in through the nose only, but that odours emanating from the mouth could be detected by smell receptors at the back of the nose. The loss of our sense of  taste lasted all the way through our ten day quarantine, and this was disquieting until I remembered that my mother lost her sense of taste when she had a cold and she eventually insisted that we paid a visit to the seaside. The sea air helped her recover and she too was disturbed by her loss of this vital sense.

The day after our quarantine was over, we celebrated by going to Whitstable on the north  Kent coast to breathe in some fresh sea air and to eat their famous oysters. Yippee, we were able to smell a glass of muscadet  and savour it without washing it around our mouths. We could both smell and test our food and our coffee afterwards. Our trip to Whitstable had been worth it and our noses were cleared of congestion into the bargain.

The next day, on a walk ,we could smell a petrol engine and the school dinners being dished up in the cantine. However, my sense of smell had not completely recovered. It took almost three weeks to recover completely  and I only noticed that it had returned completely when I could smell the chip shop from 300 metres away, albeit down wind. I can now smell my wife's Eau de Cologne from a considerable distance. I have read that some people take weeks to recover their sense of smell after a bout of Coved 19 infection and they too are very disturbed by it.

Apart from getting very ill,  keeping your sense of smell is a very good reason to avoid getting a C19 infection but this is easier said than done without isolating yourself, and it is difficult to enjoy a good glass of wine without good company - especially if you can't smell it.