Wine Diary

I’m starting a drinking diary because I just don’t have that many profound thoughts about wine to write proper pieces on themes and hot issues in the wine world, like real wine writers do. But that was the original point of my blogging adventure in the first place, so I might as well give effect to it. Consider me a vinous Chris Gillett, the opera singer who photographed every meal he ate for a whole year and then exhibited his 2000+ photographs in a gallery in Bradford-on-Avon. Except that, sadly, I don’t drink every day, nor do I photograph the bottles. So I’m not really much like Chris Gillett at all. Anyway, this week’s adventures (plus other stuff I’ve drunk so far this year, noted retrospectively):

Friday 4 January 2008
2005 Yves-Boyer Martentot Meursault (£20)
Here’s a stunning wine. Golden. The only way I can describe the flavours that come out is that they form a “perfect score-order release”. That’s a musical term. It’s what an orchestra aims for when it finishes playing a sustained note: high instruments like piccolos stop playing a fraction of a second early, while tubas and double basses cut off last, so that to the listener the finish sounds in proportion. Like a pyramid of tumblers, you want the ones on top to jump off first, otherwise the whole thing collapses. This wine opens with high level delicate flavours – minerals, lemon, dried apples, white flowers, then blossoms into bigger things on the palate – stone fruit, vanilla, toasted marshmallows, integrated oak, and a lovely toasty finish. Highly complex – every mouthful offers something new. Could age for 2-5 years and be even better.

Saturday 5 January 2008
My parents were in town, from Sydney. In Sydney, you can take your own wine to restaurants, so you can actually drink something decent with your meal without paying an extortionate markup. You can’t do that in London (well, not usually), so rather than go out for dinner and keep the bill to a minimum by supping Kelly’s Revenge, I had them over for dinner, where I daresay both the food and wine would be better than anywhere within winter walking distance of my house.

2001 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtropfschen Spätlese Riesling (£12)
Bright light gold, tinge of green. Delightfully aromatic nose of lime, green apples, white flowers and orange. Spritz on the entry, lemonade/sherbet sweetness, a slightly greasy hint, and fine acid on the finish, if not quite enough of it for my total satisfaction.

2001 Delas Marquis de la Tourette Hermitage (£16)
I had the 1999 of this wine a couple of weeks ago when my pupil master took me out for lunch. Mid red, brickish rim. Opulent nose of spicy oak, leather, chocolate, dried fruit, ground coffee, warm bricks, white pepper at times. It evolves in the glass, but always with a brandy/lit Christmas pudding streak. Palate is warm and rich, rounded, with supple tannins. Classic Hermitage. The 2001 is a completely different story. Bright translucent red, its colour is pinot-like. Forward nose, energetic, jammy, with roast meat aromas too. The palate is hyper-savoury, with white pepper and minerals, but quite restrained.

Sunday 6 January 2008
I had some very optimistic Rioja out of a tumbler at my local pub. They do fantastic food there. I’m not going to tell you where it is because then you might go there and ruin it.

Then I went to work for 4 days and didn’t drink at all. It was awful. There was the possibility of going to a Burgundy tasting on Tuesday but I don’t pay to go to wine tastings (only the gullible do that) and the person I was going to go with (the deal being that he would pay for my ticket if I talked him through Burgundy for the evening) apparently forgot, or decided not to go, or something.

Friday 11 January 2008
1999 Chateau Les Coustets Bordeaux Superieur
My cousin Tom gave me this for Christmas. He has worked in a bar so I trusted his judgment and didn’t immediately give it away as gift to someone I don’t like. But I’m afraid I won’t be praising this wine from the rooftops. It’s so pale that I probably could have passed an eye test reading the bottom line of the chart through this wine and still not needed to have my prescription increased. Similarly half-arsed fruit on the nose and a rather dilute palate, finishing with an offensive metallic aftertaste just in case you had any lingering doubts. Still, I only gave him a bottle of margarita mix, so it was a nice thought.

Saturday 12 January 2008
2005 Eugene Klipfel Cuvee Louis Klipfel Pinot Gris (£11)
I came across a cute little wine stall at the farmers’ market in Canterbury today, with a small but interesting range. They had the 2006 Loimer Gruner Veltliner there which I’ve been looking for ever since I tried it at Upper Glas (a Swedish restaurant in Islington that I recommend in its own right). It’s got a bright colour, hint of green. Very pure nose showing soft pear, grape and lime. Palate continues through with Tinkerbell delicacy, precise, razor sharp acid and a chalky finish. I think I’ll make this my house white this summer – Gruner has to be the next big thing (although the drinking public still has a lot of catching up to do with the many other “big things” that I have benevolently pointed out, all of which continue to be ignored), and I’ve tried some great ones recently. The 2005 Huber Gruner Veltliner, which you can get at any Oddbins (not usually the greatest advertisement for a wine) has a nose of lime, orange rind, white pepper and a hint of liquorice. Palate is very clean and austere, showing lemon and grapefruit flavours and great length. And the 2004 Loimer Kaferburg Gruner Veltliner is a really serious wine: reluctant nose – hint of minerals, lemon zest, apricot sherbet; peppery palate, really interesting. Anyway, back to my bloke in Canterbury. Since he had the Loimer I trusted his judgment and picked up as many whites as I could carry home (6 as it turns out), including this Pinot Gris, which I opened with dinner. The nose takes time to open up, and shows honey and hay when it does, along with an animalistic sweaty smell. The palate has some nice smoke and pear features, apricot, honeycomb and a bit of weight too. There is some interest here, which is welcome, but it’s not a wine to remember. Still, worth a try.

Sunday 13 January 2008
NV Chapel Down Downland Dry
Neil’s local pub in Canterbury, the Dolphin – a fantastic pub, incidentally – serves this English wine for about £11 a bottle. It’s a blend of Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner and Muller Thurgau, but before you go turning your nose up at it, it’s a perfectly acceptable pub house wine. The nice thing about it is its crisp, refreshing acidity – such a welcome change to the usual cloy that cheap wine has (or so I’m told). There’s not much else going on – some fresh white fruit flavours, but it’s otherwise pretty forgettable. But I was more interested in other things – the log fire, the free board games, the dishy waiter, the immense length of the guy’s bum crack sitting at the next table (I just couldn’t stop looking at it – it must have had its own gravitational force) – oh, and the delicious prawns on toast with lemon mayonnaise. Delish.