The Merry Drinker
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Château Chasse-Spleen 2003, Moulis
Version 1: On his way to Spain, Lord Byron stops at the Grand-Poujeaux estate in Bordeaux. He tries the estate’s wine. He is enchanted. “It is,” he declares, “a medicine to drive out spleen.” From now on the wine is known as Château Chasse-Spleen. Version 2: The poet Baudelaire visits a frien …
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Chateau Figeac 2003, St. Emilion
Last week I discussed a winery that has been in business for about 10 years. This week???s was founded over 1800 years ago. Ch??teau Figeac is by far the oldest property of St Emilion, in Bordeaux. It was originally called the Figeacus estate, and its early history is veiled in fog. We do not kno …
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Estate Merlot 2004, Raphael
What does this remind you of? I asked Mrs Merry Drinker the other night. She took a sip, then looked at me doubtfully. Not . . .? Go on. Uh . . . Margaux? Margaux is my wifes favourite wine,??and I could understand her hesitation. What we were drinking was definitely not Margaux. It wasnt even a …
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Proprietors’ Grand Reserve Meritage 2002, Jackson-Triggs
On the face of it, Canadian wine would seem as improbable as wine from Siberia or Greenland. But Ontario is just across the border from the New York???s Finger Lakes region, which boasts plenty of successful winemakers. The same goes for British Columbia, hard by Washington State. All these place …
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Mukuzani 2004, Kakheti
I once found myself in Leningrad, in what was then the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev had only lately come to office, and it was easy to see why he was demanding reform. The place was shabby, the people ill-dressed. Long queues snaked out of the few shops that sold anything worth buying. And th …
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Clos Des Mouches 2002, Joseph Drouhin
More than once in these posts I have voiced doubts about the stories surrounding the names of certain wines and grapes, most recently Ch??teau Chasse-Spleen and Pinot Meunier. Enjoyable as these tales are, they often sound more like marketing inventions than genuine traditions, and even the more pl …
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Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier 2005, Carneros
Some wines are worth trying merely for their curiosity value. Ripassa is one such; this is another. Pinot Meunier is one of the obscurer grape varietals, though it ought to be better known, being one of the three grapes permitted??in Champagne. means to legend the grape was so named because …
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Rustenberg John X Merriman 2003, Cape Province
A little over twenty years ago, a friend took me along to a family drinks party. The host was his uncle, an English lawyer who for many years had served as a judge in Rhodesia. After Rhodesia became Zimbabwe the uncle returned to the UK. Now he was lecturing at a British university. The uncle was …
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Ch??teau P??trus 2005, Pomerol
For once I am breaking my own rules. I am discussing a wine I have only read about and may never have the chance to enjoy. If this distresses you, by all means write to complain. The weeks liveliest news story was the resignation of New Yorks governor, Eliot Spitzer, who was caught frequenting pros …
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Firesteed Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2004, Oregon
Until recently Howard Rossbach grew no wine. He bought grapes from had someone else vinify these??grapes to his own specifications. In other words, Mr Rossbach was what the French call a n??gociant. In France this is considered a perfectly honourable calling, requiring business acumen and fine oe …
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Ch??teau Chasse-Spleen 2003, Moulis
Version 1: ??On his way to Spain, Lord Byron stops at the Grand-Poujeaux estate in Bordeaux. He tries the estate???s wine. He is enchanted. ???It is,??? he declares, ???a medicine to drive out spleen.??? From now on the wine is known as Ch??teau Chasse-Spleen. Version 2:??The poet Baudelaire v …
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Caro 2003, Catena-Rothschild
Funny grape, Malbec. It was once popular in Bordeaux, but after the 1950s it fell from favour. The only part of France that still uses it extensively is Cahors. But Malbec thrives in Argentina: at one point the Argentines had 50,000 hectares of the stuff. Most of the resulting wine was putrid. Th …
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Blaufr??nkisch 2004, Gernot Heinrich
The story of modern Austrian wine begins with a chemistry lesson. Diethylene glycol is a clear odourless liquid which will mix with water, alcohol or ether. You can use it as a disinfectant or as antifreeze in your car. You can sweeten food with it too, but you shouldn???t, because diethylene gly …
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Le Cigare Volant 2003, Bonny Doon
People need something to fret about. Today they have climate change; in the 1950s they had UFOs. All over the US people claimed to have seen flying saucers flashing through the sky. There were similar sightings in Britain, prompting the government to appoint an official Flying Saucer Working Part …
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Standing Stone Gew??rztraminer 2006, Finger Lakes
If you have come across Gew you probably know the Alsace version. Other places do make the stuff: the Italian South Tyrol claims to have invented it, and there are interesting variants from Spain, California and New Zealand. But these wines could never be mistaken for the Alsatian model. Their ar …
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Le Cigare Volant 2003, Bonny Doon, California
People need something to fret about. Today they have climate change; in the 1950s they had UFOs. All over the US people claimed to have seen flying saucers flashing through the sky. There were similar sightings in Britain, prompting the government to appoint an official Flying Saucer Working Part …
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Rosso Piceno 2004, Fattoria Laila
Hannibal pressed further down the Adriatic coast. He ordered that his cavalry horses be bathed with old wine, which was plentiful in that area. This quickly healed the ulcers that had made the horses unfit for service. area??? was Picenum, in the part of central Italy now called the Marches. Hann …
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Standing Stone Gew??rztraminer 2006, Finger Lakes, New York
If you have come across Gew you probably know the Alsace version. Other places do make the stuff: the Italian South Tyrol claims to have invented it, and there are interesting variants from Spain, California and New Zealand. But these wines could never be mistaken for the Alsatian model. Their ar …
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Naoussa Grande Reserve 2001, Boutari
Greek wine used to be the stuff of jokes. Whenever the subject cropped up - not often, admittedly - people would screw their eyes shut and make nose-blowing sounds. According to the general consensus, the best you could say for Greek wine was that it was a fitting accompaniment to Greek food. The …
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Rully 1er Cru Rabourc?? 2003, Domaine Marc Morey
Suppose you are a sucker for white Burgundy. Suppose also that the subprime loan crisis has left you bust. The days when you could afford Montrachet are over. Meursault is beyond your reach. The New World alternatives are pleasant enough, but they lack the finesse you are accustomed to. What ar …
The Merry Drinker
