The Merry Drinker
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Humagne Rouge 2005, Bonvin
One day I might write a book about wine fraud. It is almost as fascinating a subject as wine itself, and it has been going on for a very long time indeed. In the first century AD the Roman satirist Petronius described a banquet given by a man called Trimalchio. The occasion was lavish, for Trimalc …
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Artemis 2005, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
You often hear enthusiasts discuss a wine’s complexity, or lack of it. The term is seldom defined or even explained. Until the other day I assumed this was because its meaning was completely obvious. Now I am not so sure. My understanding is this: a wine is complex when it possesses not one flavo …
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Château D’Aiguilhe, Côtes de Castillon 2005
The other night I opened a red from Moulis en Medoc. It smelled like a rugby players socks and tasted like oven cleaner. Oh well, I told myself philosophically. Duff bottle. Cant win em all. But if we are to believe a story that ran throughout the British media last week, the fault was entirely m …
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Folly Syrah 2004, Montes
You will find plenty of stories and legends surrounding wine, but almost none about grapes. This is hardly surprising. A potent, aromatic liquid is mysterious, and therefore romantic. A piece of fruit has no mystery and is essentially dull, except perhaps as the subject of a still life. One of the …
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Chablis Premier Cru 2006, Joseph Drouhin
Sipping this wine the other day, I reflected on how dramatically tastes and habits change. In the 1970s I drank Chablis a lot. Nowadays I drink it once every four or five years. This is not because I like it any less. On the contrary, I am sure I get far more out of it now than I did thirty years ag …
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Tohu Pinot Noir 2006, Marlborough
I don’t suppose any country, not even Great Britain, offers consumers as great a choice of wines as the United States. A mile from where I live, an emporium the size of an aircraft hangar sells more than 8000 labels from practically every wine-producing nation on earth. As you would expect, its sele …
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Château de Cruzeau, Pessac-Léognan 2005
My name on the label is a guarantee of irreproachable quality, recognized around the world. André Lurton Immodest? Moi? But the maddening thing is, he’s right. Lurton is one of the big names of Bordeaux, and his wines are excellent. The family’s empire began with François Lurton’s Château Bonnet. …
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Founder’s Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Undurraga
Here is an idea for a parlour game. Each player must try to name the United States’ most unpleasant export. Chewing gum? Political correctness? Agent Orange? Nuclear bombs? With so many delights to choose from, hours of fun are guaranteed. My own nominee would be the Phylloxera aphid. This vicious …
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Yakut 2007, Kavaklidere
Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within the tent. Genesis 9:20-21 So the first man to grow wine was also the first flasher. Best not to linger on this unhappy coincidence; of greater interest to me is whe …
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Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano, Corte alla Flora 2004
The critics are somewhat sniffy about Vino Nobile. “The poor relation of Brunello Di Montalcino,” is how the Oxford Companion to Wine describes it. This seems a dismissive way to talk about a wine which has been around since at least the eighth century, was praised in the sixteenth as “perfect in bo …
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Chapelle de Potensac 2003, Médoc
From to time over the last year I have dispensed advice about buying wine during these times of economic woe. This advice was given only partly with tongue in cheek. The fact is, very many of us must now tighten our belts. Those of us who love fine wine must either drink less of it, or lower our sta …
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Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile 2003, Trimbach
A decidedly unfashionable grape, Riesling. A century ago it was held in much higher esteem. In those days Hocks – Rhenish Rieslings – were better known than white Burgundies, and they commanded higher prices. Nowadays the only people still keen on Riesling live in Riesling-growing areas. The res …
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Tokaji Aszu 2000, Disznoko
A puttonyio is a Hungarian hod. Puttonyios means not hods but hodded. So a 5 Puttonyios Aszu is a five-hodded Aszu. I trust that makes everything clear. It doesnt? Let me try again. Aszu (pronounced rather like a sneeze) is Hungarian for dried out or shrivelled. The word refers to grapes aff …
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Au Revoir for 2008
The Merry Drinker is taking a much-needed rest, and will return in January. Until then, best wishes to all my readers and advertisers. Have a peaceful, prosperous and merrily liquid 2009.
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Château Boyd-Cantenac 2005, Margaux
I have just been watching Lost Horizon, the 1937 Frank Capra movie. It is a delightful film - beautifully shot, charmingly acted - and it has prompted much rumination on my part. It tells the story of a group of travellers in Asia, led by a dashing British soldier-philosopher played by Ronald Colma …
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Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale Oro 2003, Ruffino
The most surprising thing about this Chianti is how much they make of it: around half a million bottles each year, shipped to more than 80 countries. You would not expect such a wine to be better than competent, perhaps like one of those high-volume Californian reds: clean-tasting, unobjectionable …
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Cabernet Franc 2006, Veritas
In the past I have poked fun at the European systems for classifying wines. As these offer no guarantee of quality, I wondered whether anyone really benefited from them and their accompanying bureaucracies (apart from the bureaucrats, obviously). I contrasted this system with the more relaxed appro …
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Château Talbot 2003, Saint-Julien
Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen’s only scourge, Your kingdom’s terror and black Nemesis? O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turn’d, That I in rage might shoot them at your faces! Shakespeare, Henry VI Part 1 Once upon a time a sizeable chunk of France lay in English hands, and it was the task of Jo …
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The Steading 2005, Torbreck
UNQUESTIONABLY ONE OF THE WORLDS FINEST WINE PRODUCERS The producer is Mr David Powell of Torbreck, a firm in South Australias Barossa Valley. I do not know who described him thus; the quote flashes up on the Torbreck website without attribution. Perhaps it was one of Mr Powells friends. Perha …
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Pinot Noir 2004, Alois Lageder
Many years ago some friends and I explored the Italian South Tyrol. I do not believe there is such a place as Paradise, but if there were, it would not look very different from what we found: Alpine mountains, fairytale castles, exquisite villages, a region whose highest altitudes remain snowy all …
The Merry Drinker
