Today has been one of the best days on Lewis for some years so far as I can recall. It's been warm (just right at about 17ºC), there has been a breeze (not a wind) to keep the midges away and there has been wall to wall sun since 0420 this morning.
I started in the garden. We've had no rain since, I believe, the 11 May so I spent a good bit of time making sure that my plants were not stressed and that the Griselinia was well fed and watered (I'd hate to lose my new eventual windbreak in it's fourth year). I met a friend for lunch at The Woodlands (where else?) and this afternoon a friend popped in for coffee and a look at the garden. The rest of the time I worked in the sun in the garden and the polycarb. Dinner was late! After all sunset isn't until 2225.
When I finally finished outside I was thinking about all the years I'd spent holidaying in France where the early summer early evening drink is rosé wine. That is a wine I rarely drink. However it seemed very appropriate this evening. As luck would have it I'd anticipated this during the afternoon and had put one in the fridge that someone had brought some while ago.
When I removed it I noticed that it was Piat d'Or. Now this might mean nothing to anyone who is not of my generation and was around in The late Sixties and early Seventies. In Britain. This was the era when Brits started to realise that there was a drink called wine. The 'ordinary' Brits had not been wine drinkers. Suddenly it became part of the culture. Brits suddenly embraced wine. Key contenders were German, Blue Nun and Black Tower, Mateus Rose from Portugal and Piat d'Or rosé from France. Doubtless there were others but I can't recall them.
Regarding myself as a bit more sophisticated than that I decided to take a bit more interest in wines and fell in love with red wine. The rest of that story could take up a page or two so I'll not pursue it.
What I will say is that, despite its age and provenance, it tasted really refreshing and very pleasant and I enjoyed a couple of glasses very much indeed.
Wine and memories go well together.
ReplyDeleteThey do indeed, Debby.
DeleteI was a child in the 70s so I can't say for sure but I think the same thing happened here. Blue Nun ncertainly sounds familiar but it could have seeped into my conciousness from UK pop culture.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a really lovely day and having the right drink to finish up with was the icing on the cake. I like that
Thank you, Kylie. We absorb a lot subconsciously.
DeleteBlue nun was quite popular here.
ReplyDeleteRed, it seems to have spread everywhere.
DeleteI recall when Americans discovered wine at the same time you mention. My husband and I loved wine, made wine at home and went on to found a small winery. We only had it for four years, it was a labor of love.
ReplyDeleteGosh, Terra, that's taking one's love of something to a higher level!
DeleteMy wife often says 'we'd better have a bottle of pink in the fridge'. And there it stays, no-one seems interested. The drinks of choice here are G & T, sparking white wine, or a good local red. I always go for the latter.
ReplyDeleteCro, my tastes are catholic however I rarely now drink sparkling white although Samur was very popular with the friends I stayed with in France and I used to bring some home. It never tasted the same.
DeleteNZs wine drinking habits probably developed along the same lines and about the same time despite early immigrants having established a few vineyards around Auckland. I recall my uncle hosting a wine tasting evening which we thought was a bit highbtow (he had just come home from a few years in Aus and such things has been fashionable there already). F
ReplyDeleteTigger, Hawkes Bay (where I stayed) was very much a wine growing area but the first wines in the Gimblett Gravels were not planted until 1981 - very recently in wine producing terms.
DeleteOh my goodness Graham, what a trip down memory lane. Blue Nun and the other wines you mention were all that was around when I was growing up and I remember having friends to dinner in my first flat, must have been in our early 20's, thinking we were 'so sophisticated' with a bottle of Liebfraumilch!
ReplyDeleteJ. it's so good to see you back again. I always used to think that a wine called 'Sweetheart Milk' was always a little suspect. In the late '70s and early '80s we spent a lot of holiday time with German friends who lived in Berlin and who were real wine buffs and learnt to appreciate that there are many really lovely German white wines (but no decent red ones!).
DeleteAh, those were the days. A bottle of Blue Nun and a plate of cheese and pineapple on sticks.
ReplyDeleteJayCee, I recently served up amongst other things some pineapple and cheese on sticks followed by prawn salad as a reminder to those present of what we used to consider de rigeur .
DeleteI'll have to reassess my assumption of Liverpool. All I recall from my formative years was Long Life beer and VP Sherry. You were far more sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteAdrian I don't recall Long Life beer but I can vaguely recall VP Sherry. It was probably something drunk in a Yates Wine Lodge. Oddly I can't recall where there was on in Liverpool.
DeleteWhen I moved to Newcastle in 1972 Yates still had a men only bar and a women only bar. Some pubs also had men only bars in the city.
DeleteRachel, that's interesting. I don't recall any 'men only' bars in Liverpool although there may well have been some.
DeleteYou can't ever, ever, ever have been that posh. Long Life beer came in tins and didn't have bits in like beer in the pubs did.
DeleteDid you not have mild beers? The buggers emptied all the slops into the mild barrel and had a gutter running under the taps to catch the rest.
Yates Wine Lodges were right swankey as were Berni Inns. We all went to a Berni to celebrate my first anniversary business launch. I couldn't afford Yates and they didn't do food. I struggled to pay the Berni bill.
Had to borrow a couple of pounds and another ten shillings for the tip from the secretary. Ended up marrying her her........Big mistake but not Berni's fault.
Adrian, as a youngster I drank draught beer in pubs and always bitter, never mild and never cans. I still don't drink canned beer but I do drink bottled beer occasionally. I almost never go to a pub bar these days unless I'm on holiday. If I'm having lunch out with the Last of the Summer Wine Club those of us who are driving all drink non-alcoholic beer which I'm sure that you regard as a travesty only suitable for people of a strange disposition. I happen to like it but then I probably am of a strange disposition.
DeleteHirondelle was always a safe one to buy as I remember although I had no idea about the tastes of wine and apart from Blue Nun it was the only wine I had heard of. At home in the '60s we had a neighbour who was managing director of a company with South African connections and would give my parents two bottles of South African wine at Christmas. They were left in the sideboard unopened. They would turn to vinegar and my mother would eventually pour them away.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I grew up in a household where the only alcohol in the house was a bottle of sherry at Christmas. If one wanted a drink one went to a pub (or had a glass of wine in a Berni Inn).
DeleteMy father had a bottle of whisky for if he had a cold or if his friend called (rarely) and they would have water and whisky, the water placed in a small jug on the table by my mother. She was not invited to join them.
DeleteAnother interesting point, Rachel. You have reminded me that the cupboard in the end of the sideboard had a bottle of sherry in it and my grandmother did like a sip occasionally. My mother never drank alcohol. I don't recall Dad ever drinking at home either. He went to meet friends and play darts on a Thursday night at a pub though.
DeleteWine makes life tolerable. Of course I remember those old drinks we drank here too...we were oh so fashionable. I am sure most Mateus wine bottles ended up with a candle stuck in their necks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that reminder, Andrew. That's exactly what happened to them.
DeleteWonderful post. Your garden must be very happy.
ReplyDeleteThe straw around Chianti intrigued me in a hippie sort of way. An empty bottle was the iconic candle holder. Mateus felt like an exoctic drink of pure philosophy.
Memories.
Maywyn, I think my garden was ecstatic yesterday. It's looking pretty happy today as well. Yes. the raffia bottles were very popular candle holders.
DeleteHere in southern Canada, when wine became the sophisticated choice of the ever more affluent masses, a disgusting concoction called Baby Duck was the choice for many, followed by Mateus and Chianti in a wicker basket to be converted to a table lamp. Thank goodness we progressed and now have a quite acceptable palate for this heavenly nectar. For a couple of years my choice has been Malbec from Mendoza in Argentina. They have some very fine wines in my opinion. And very reasonably priced. Australia and New Zealand have done well too, and here in southern Ontario very acceptable wines are produced. The star of the show is Ice Wine, but it’s not for me. Pancake syrup would do as well!
ReplyDeleteDavid. Your comment was in 'spam'. I'll say more about that later. I've done a 'wineries tour' in Ontario many moons ago but I can recall little of it to be honest (and not because I partook too much but because it was so long ago). Ice Wine is popular in parts of Germany but I've not tasted it for many years and can recall nothing about it to be honest.
DeleteMateus Rose, I remember it well. We took a couple of bottles on a weekend ski trip and thought we were so sophisticated!
ReplyDeleteJill, I wondered whether Mateus Rosé is still available. It is. If I can find a bottle I might buy it for old times' sake.
DeleteMight want to check your spam folder, Graham. I left a comment earlier.
ReplyDeleteOddly, David, I had read your comment on my phone but forgot when I came to answer the comments. Oddly there was a weird selection of comments in Spam. There were only eleven but they went back to 2011 and included some of my own comments. I had checked Spam after the previous post and it was empty. Blogger is a very weird entity these days.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it, I'm not a wine drinker, too many bad experiences with it as a teenager, these days I think I'd rather have a cup of tea
ReplyDeleteAmy, I had too much to drink on one occasion when I was 17(ish) and said 'never again'. I've kept my promise to myself and have never been drunk from that day to this. The idea of being out of control and very ill is beyond anything I'm prepared to experience again.
DeleteAs you may (or may not) recall from my blog, O.K. and I drink wine almost every weekend, and while we enjoy red mostly in autumn and winter, rosé is the kind we can drink all year round and with as good as any food. White is more my preference than O.K.‘s, but with certain meals - risotto, green asparagus, fish etc. - it can be as perfect as on its own on a balmy summer evening.
ReplyDeleteSo 17 Celsius is considered warm on Lewis? It sounds pleasant enough with the sun, but anything below 20 does not really feel warm for me. Of course, I live way further South than Lewis, and days of 30+ C are easil too hot for my liking, especially if I need to work.
A much belated Happy Birthday to you, Graham! I actually sent an email on the day, but checking my sent folder, can‘t see it having gone out for some reason.
Yes, Meike, what I can't recall (probably because I've always assumed that it would not be a German Red) was what sort of red you might drink. I know from when I spent time in Berlin with friends who had a huge wine cellar under the house (I thought it was huge because it had the floor area similar to our kitchen on Lewis) but who said German red wines were light and for quaffing rather than accompanying food. I seem to recall only ever having it on a couple of occasions just to try it. It wasn't to my taste. My favourite white wine (which I don't drink very often) is a Gewurtztraminer but my usual is Sauvignon Blanc (usually from New Zealand.
Delete17ºC is warm for me on Lewis if there is no breeze. It got up to the dizzy heights of 20ºC yesterday and I wore a short sleeved shirt for the first time on Lewis since BC (Before Covid).
Thank you for your Birthday thoughts.
I have no idea where that notion about German red wines comes from. In fact, there are some really delicious ones, perfect for autumn and winter dishes involving game, pork, beef (or no meat at all) or hare. They tend to be on the "heavy" side come in the most beautiful shades of deep, dark, velvety reds. We have a few winter favourites such as a Syrah from Gengenbach, and only last winter, I discovered that I actually really like a certain Merlot from Durbach.
DeleteMeike, my experience was in the 1980s and and era when I knew nothing about German wines other than that which I learned from my friends. Things have obviously moved on since then and German red wines in the UK are very expensive and, presumably, equally good to drink. I shall see if I can find some and explore.
DeleteBy the way, it was in a Yates pub in Barnsley that Steve proposed to me.
ReplyDeleteMeike, I shall pass no comment on that 🙄 😂
DeleteMy parents kept a few bottles of spirits, but they rarely came out, and hardly ever had wine. We were clearly unsophisticated. People did not drink at home then, except for an occasional bottle of beer or a jug of ale fetched from the pub.
ReplyDeleteThat's my experience too, Tasker, except that we weren't close enough to a pub ever to see a jug of ale fetched!
DeleteFunny, I was just thinking this morning about when I stopped drinking alcohol (1994) and realized that it's been almost 30 years! How time flies!
ReplyDeleteGosh, Ellen, was 1994 really that long ago? I retired from government service in 1995!! Arghhhhh
DeleteHey there, Graham...I've explained the reason for my light-hearted post in my blog re "George, the Ghost". I hope that eases the confusion! :)
ReplyDeleteTake good care. :)
Thanks, Lee. I had returned and been enlightened.
DeleteSo glad the warm weather my daughter has been experiencing on her highlands walk has reached as far as your isle. Heat and humidity on the third day of the walk was the last thing she expected. I remember the appearance of Blue Nun and Mateus Rose but Piat d'Or rosé must have been a bit too posh for we Aussies. I think asti spumante may have been served at my wedding. I didn't like any of them, preferring a good old fashioned cold beer - until I discovered Pims. And then nothing else would do. Strange because I've never liked gin. Years later I discovered whisky. Red wine came much later. A bit sad but I can more or less date my aging (I'd like to say maturing but that could be pushing it) by which alcohol I preferred.
ReplyDeleteSome pics of your garden would be lovely to see!
Oops. Pauline
DeletePauline, Pims was really popular at one stage. You've made me think. I'm sure I have a bottle. I have. Pims No 3 (Winter). It's unopened. It must have entered my house in the last 30 years because that's how long I've lived here. But when? That we will never know. I must taste it next winter. Please remind me. I shall oblige with garden pics soon.
DeleteGraham, Most people know it's not wise to ask me to remind them about anything, my memory is more like your forgetory. That's your expression, isn't it?
DeleteIt is indeed, Pauline. Thanks for reminding me 😂
DeleteI tried Blue Nun once - never again! X
ReplyDeleteJules, you are obviously a lady of discerning taste.
DeleteThis is the time of year that I enjoy a nice chilled glass of a white wine like Pino Grigio, but a Rose would do just as well.
ReplyDelete