A Drink Called Wine

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.

If You Can't Beat Them ......

I recently bought a bottle of wine when I was in Bishopbriggs. I thought, when I picked it up, that it was a New Zealand wine. I think you would probably make the same assumption.

I didn't look at the back of the bottle and took it on face value noting that, as is the habit in New Zealand, it was a Sav Blanc and was therefore being sold to be drunk young.

When I got it back to Anna's where I was staying I noticed that it wasn't a New Zealand or even a New World wine. It was a French one.

This is an on-line product sales description for this wine:

"Get the best of both worlds with this crisp and easy-drinking French-Kiwi wine. Made in France but with New World modern know-how, this fresh, zinging Sauvignon Blanc is great with any kind of salad: green, pasta, fruit, tabouleh, you name it! 

So here's a turn-up for the books: a French wine that looks just like a New World one. The kiwi in question refers to the fruit rather than the geographical location."

Please excuse me if I sound rather disbelieving. The French have obviously realised that there is money to be made in misleading people into believing that they are buying a Kiwi wine instead if a French one.

Don't get me wrong. This was a very acceptable Sav Blanc. And it was (almost) good enough to have been a New Zealand wine but at less than the usual price of a New Zealand wine. 

I suppose that one has to hand it to the French and this particular deception if a pretty flattering 

Heaven

Yesterday I spent much of the day having scans at Ayr hospital.  In the evening we settled down to a wee treat ending with a little bit of heaven:

Rioja and a rather ripe Epoisses and a few other cheeses.

Some Carry Water

and some carry last night's left over wine:

In the railway station at La Spezia in Italy when we were on holiday.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

I woke to sunshine this morning.  Well it was sort of now you see it now you don't but it gave me hope.  When I then watched the Scottish news and weather at 0730 the weatherchappie said something like '.... and for those of you in the West who are enjoying the sun don't worry the rain will be back by lunchtime.'  He was correct!  I've moved back from the Study where I started off the day into the cosy warmth of the living room.  Such is our weather this May.  Yuk.

After having had Pat's PC in the Study for about a week trying to replicate the problems she was having and having no problems at all it eventually decided that it could behave no longer and displayed symptoms I've never before seen in a PC.  Whether it's a hardware or software problem I have no idea but I think a re-formatting of the hard drive and re-installation of Windows is the next step.  More yuk.

New Zealand produces some splendid wine.  It's just a shame from the economic point of view of New Zealand, that the NZ$ is such a strong currency at the moment.  It's also a shame that the country has increased wine production so much over the last few years.  There is now a glut of wine worldwide caused by overproduction on one side and economic hardship of consumers on the other.  So NZ wine which had enjoyed a sort of boutique wine status is now being sold more cheaply in competition with lots of other wines.  For example a splendid South-East Australian Shiraz/Grenache  going under the name of Firetail Estate Selection is selling for half price at the moment - £4 in the UK - making it as cheap as any wine but a lot better than many and almost anything I have ever tasted at considerably more than that price.  It's a good time for wine drinkers!  For managing to buy a good supply deduct a big yuk!

My emails to my brother, CJ, have been going to his spam folder; those to a friend in New Zealand have been marked as phishing as have emails to Pat just across the valley.  I'm not sure how many other potential recipients have been experiencing that.  The problem is that if someone doesn't get an email I'm unlikely to know and so is the intended recipient. Another problem to be solved.  Another yuk. PS If my emails to you are going to spam please do let me know.

This actually started as a two-paragraph post. The first paragraph was to have been as I actually wrote above.  I've still not recalled what the second paragraph was to have been.  All I can recall is that it was to have been a non-yuk one balancing things out.  Ah well. C'est la vie.

Of course the second I've posted this I shall recall exactly what it was I was going to say.  Ho hum.

Have a good day or sleep well - depending upon when you read this.

A Study in Rosé and Turquoise - 2

A Study in Rosé and Turquoise

Must Diet

Many years ago when I was actually reasonably thin I walked into the bedroom one day and my partner looked up and said "Do you know, a pot belly on a thin person looks silly!"  My psychie never recovered.  I was scarred for life.  

Since I got back to the UK I've managed to put on nearly 3 kilos and it's all gone onto my tum.  Which is exactly where, at my age, it would go, of course.    I was beginning to think that I'd better do something about it when, after a day in the garden today, my next door neighbour offered me coffee.  As she passed the chocolate biscuits she said "It's good to see you're putting on weight.  You were thin when you got back.  You've got quite a tum now."  ARGHHHH.

So I am about to take my further scarred psychie and my aching body into the spa with a glass of chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to ease the mental trauma.  The diet can start some other time!

Someone Who Knows Me

Yep. There was a time when I laid wine down. Now I just down it.
(The card is one of a super range by paperlink.co.uk)

Such a Disappointment

There was a time when I knew my wines reasonably well in that I was aware, for example, of the best years for a Barolo that I could afford. To be honest as my wine consumption and the breadth of wines available in the supermarkets has increased my knowledge has decreased. and I rarely get my wine from a specialist wine merchant any more. However I still hanker after (origin Scriptor?) the Barolos I used to drink. Barolo is generally regarded as one of the 'safe' wines from Italy that is consistently good. I have to say that the ones I have bought in the last few years have been a disappointment. Anyway Gaz and I were in Oddbins yesterday and I saw a single bottle of Barolo remaining on the shelf. I always think that a single bottle is a good sign. So Gaz bought it.

We drank it last night. Oh dear. Of course it was acceptable. But not special. Certainly not worth its £22.

But, hey, if that's the greatest disappointment one faces in a day life can't be that bad.

Just To Open A Bottle

I'm in the process of clearing and cleaning the house. Now I suppose it's pretty obvious to everyone who knows me that I'm not oenophobic but my apparent desire to get into bottles surprised even me when I was sorting the kitchen and utility room drawers:

The array of bottle openers and related items from the drawers. No one would believe that I had a bit of a clearout last summer too. Actually only eight of them actually draw corks and that doesn't count the one on my pocket knife. Given that many New World wines (even good ones) have screw tops perhaps this could be seen as a little excessive. The big blue monster on the left was a gift from Gaz some years ago and is reserved for the most stubborn of corks. Note that I only have one pair of nutcrackers left (Mum and Dad's original pair from my childhood). But then I never buy nuts in their shells.

The top one was presumably for hunting picnics when a hip flask would have been totally inadequate!

The simplest is often the best. This one's opened a few bottles in its time.

Many of the wine accessories I've acquired have been from John and Sue - I wonder why.