The first draft of Salt & Old Vines will be submitted on May 14th. That's ten days from now, and I've an awful lot of writing to do in the meantime. The whole publishing schedule has been laid out - it's exciting and scary and soon. Which means that the stack of tasting notes and reports from both Burgundy and the Rhone will have to wait that little bit longer.
I've continued to drink wine and enjoyed some things that have really blown me away of late. I went to Danny Cameron's remarkable Big Fortified Tasting and, though I didn't have much time, was utterly impressed by not only the wines available to sample, but the extraordinary enthusiasm of both the exhibitors and the attendees. I tasted as much Sherry as I could, grabbed a sneak peak of the 2011 Vintage Ports (Graham's "The Stone Terraces" was rather nice, as it should be), and managed to get hold of a signed copy of that new Sherry book that everyone (who's a total nerd about sherry) is talking about. Old Madeira was, as usual, amazing. People should drink fortified wine more often.
In the non-fortified universe, I've been enjoying Guy Farge's Saint-Josephs from both 2010 and 2011. Mas Brunet continues to do wonderful things in the Terraces du Larzac. Look for both those things. A half dozen native oysters at Ivan's in Howth matched perfectly with a bottle of basic Picpoul de Pinet. I've forgotten the producer as it was an off-duty lunch. But I'm pretty sure great oysters and good Picpoul won't ever let you down.
Back to sherry: had some of Lustau's Old East India with a slice of warm ginger cake. Not quite as harmonious as the Picpoul and oysters, but pretty bloody close.
Sampled a whole bunch of stuff on the enomatics at Hedonism. Ygay Gran Reserva 2004 stands out among them all as being true class.
I tried a whole bunch of shitty Chiantis and Super-Tuscans. They're not imported into the UK. Crossing my fingers it stays that way.
I'm really loving wine at the moment, just in general. If it didn't have that terrible tendency to make me drunk and sleepy, I'd be drinking even more of it. I'll just have to settle for writing a book about making it instead.
Become a patron of my book on wine-making in the Roussillon, Salt & Old Vines.
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2 comments:
Maj : baisse de prix de 50 centimes ^^. un coffret bien être pour faire passer l'exaltation des soldes! ^^ livraison gratuite a partir de 20€, sinon 2,99€ de frais de port. (cumulable avec les coffrets cuisine par exemple) composition de l'huile bio anti-stress : citrus aurantiumdulcis (citrussinensis) peel oil, citrus nobilis(man.
Richard.... been a patron of Unbound since its inception and found your book project there! Strange the Universe delivered this as I'm just about to fly out to my house in the Aude ( Cabardès wine region, Cathar country). Would love to visit your vineyard in Collioure and meet your cat sometime.
My uncle is coming to look after my cat Monty for me while I'm away.
So great that you are following your love of wine .. your blog about Manzanilla... mmmmmmm LOVE that stuff and also super-chilled Fino. Thank you for such an entertaining blog!
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