It's feels like everything is passing me by

Just how important do I think I am?

I have this blog, my blog, and I have said before and reiterate again that it is written with the full expectation that no-one will actually read it. But when they do, well suddenly I get ideas well above my station. I start to believe that I really am the next Hemmingway, an hard bitten reportage hack who will re-write Death in the Afternoon for a 21st century audience.

After front line service in several European theatres of war Ernest took himself off with his Moleskine notebook and lost himself in the Spanish plains to reconcile the place of bull-fighting in the psyche and culture of the people. Me, well lets just say I have the notebook. I do drink Rioja and I have recently invested in a pipe, but a life lived and to write about - forget it... Who am I trying to Kid?

And this brings me to social networking sites. Can someone explain to me the what, why, and how? I'll use my recent experiences with Twitter to elucidate.

The Wine Gums Twitter Page was created last night with far less fuss than when I built this blog. I took the tour and get my head around the idea of answering the question "what are you doing?" and launched myself into it.

So my first Tweet was "Going to bed"

Well it was about 11:30 pm and I knew I had a busy day coming up. Then I stopped and actually thought about what I had done, and boy did I feel stupid.

I have two kids, a wife, a job, a mortgage, and 99 other problems so how does me telling some very kind people who allowed me to pester them that I'm off to my bed contribute ANYTHING to the development of society, the greater body of human knowledge and the literature canon? So I went to bed (because I am a man of my word) but couldn't get to sleep because I'm wondering why I've just told people that I'm going to my bed. The blurb says that:

"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"

Not being one to give up easily I thought I'd soldier on. Tonight when I went to answer The Question it struck me that I should really phone some of my fiends, family, and co-workers to tell them -wiping baby sick off the sofa. Its more personal and they get the message quicker. But I didn't. I stopped myself because I know the question they would be thinking whilst I shared with them this moment of domestic bliss would be "What did I say which sounded like 'tell me what your doing'?". My day to day doings are just not that interesting and I'm not that important.

This leads on to my final problem of how can one fit Tweets (and the rest) into your day to day routine without being sacked, divorced, or sectioned under the mental health act? Should I Tweet my boss to tell him, "I'm swinging the lead when I should be working"? It's a recipe for disaster.

I'm not important enough, and certainly not interesting enough, to make a living Tweeting and Blogging and I'm not bright enough to know how to weave it into the fabric of my life seamlessly and for the greater good of those who know me. It really does feel like everything is passing me by.

If, however, you have stuck with me to this point I sincerely thank you; when I have received comments (both electronic and in person) I am genuinely grateful and it does spur me on to do it again - its all your fault.

I'll stick to the wine.

FAUSTINO V WHITE RIOJA 2006

Taste Fine Wines £7.79 (tasted 12 February 2009)

Cork closer and 12%. New frosted bottle design from Faustino so I thought I'd stumbled across a real rarity before I was quickly put in my place by the merchant...

Made with the Viura grape (also know as Macabeo and which displaced the Malvasia and Garnucha Blanc after Phylloxera) together with Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. A clear pale, pale almost colourless white wine just touched with lemon green sparkle. Clean light bouquet with pronounced dairy at the front (due to the oak) that give way to vegetal and mineral notes. The palette is dry and acidic with a wash of tannins, but the mineral flavours remain which brought to mind a good Chablis, but this did pass as the wine warmed and opened up to leave a good long length.

Give it a go.

As a short aside regarding Rioja 'classifications' and oak which applies to both red and white Riojas. All Rioja must have a minimum of six months in oak, after which the following titles can be applied:

A further one year = Crianza

Two years = Reserva

Four years = Gran Reserva

Toot toot

My Center Parcs Wines

On Monday we're off to Stalag Luft Whinfell Forest for five days with the Murphs. Four adults and three kids; but in truth we really have three adults and three kids because Mrs T is somewhat pre-occupied with the impending delivery.  I know that every day the eternal battle between parents and children will be fought in the Cumbrian woodland: who will tire first?  I have no intention of giving in easy and intend to fight dirty through the use of performance enhancing suppliments.  Want to know what I've packed instead of my Speedos?

• Azienda San Martino Barolo 2000
  
• Clos de L'Oratoire Des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2001
  
• Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie 2000
  
• Mas Belles Eaux Sainte Helene 2005
  
• Mas de Daumas Gassac 2002
  

I'll let you have the tastings when we get back.

"A gallon of goat's milk equals two pairs of knickers Margo"

THE AVENUE PEA-POD BURGUNDY 1975

Surbiton £priceless (enjoyed most evenings on UKTV Gold)

Created with passion by the master vintner Tom Good this particular vintage has more attitude than the Geraldine the goat.  On the nose we get masses of legumes underscored with petrol (one is instantly reminded of some of the best 2002 Margaret Valley Rieslings). With the full body of Margo Ledbetter yet tighter than Felicity Kendall's bum, it's obvious sharpness will continue to mature and delight with age.

Highly recommended after crawling over London Bridge in Jerry Ledbetter's Volvo.  We live wine, we live The Good Life.

Christmas in September?

A large proportion of wines tasted to date have been sourced from the Wine Society, an institution I cannot recommend highly enough.  I am especially fond of my membership as it was a leaving gift, together with a rather nice deposit in my account, from my last company.  Their service, choice, and knowledge is second to none and their mixed-cases are a great route to new wines.

As I have previously mentioned, I am (still) ploughing through their Christmas Ideas Mixed Dozen which arrived at Townend Towers just in time for the festivities to begin and me finishing work.  It is only now, however, that I realise that I should have ordered the case in June giving me sufficient time to taste ALL the bottles by September to ensure my Christmas wines are selected in good time.  To be fair to the Wine Society the clue is in the name of the case...

Picking Christmas wines in September?  Well I suppose it coincides with the switch-on of the Christmas lights.

I know what I'd be doing if I had the cash

At a time when household budgets are getting tighter and everyone is being far more prudent with their finances I would say that Berry Bros & Rudd are acting in a cavalier and reckless fashion in offering fine claret at these prices.  For example:

1999 Ch. Leoville-Poyferre @ £49.40 per bottle

2003 Ch. Lynch Bages @ £53.56 pb

2005 ch. Talbot @ £40.75 pb

These are drinkers' claret - this is not for investment but for enjoyment.  And all are marked down by at least 20%.  If you want to really push the boat out there is a whole swathe of 2005 classed growths with a similar level of discount including my desert island claret the 2005 Ch. Figeac @ £70.65 pb, thats  a whopping 23.5% discount!

Berry Bros & Rudd is a London institution and a key part of our wine heritage and industry. For nearly ten years I worked  around the corner in Carlton House Terrace,  and Berry's was there to fuel my growing passion for wine.  Loosing Friday lunchtime in Crown Passage enjoying the Davy's house burgundy before popping into Berry's would always set me up nicely for the weekend.  And back then you could slip into Dunhill's for an havana cigar (Cohiba Siglo no.III please) if you just couldn't face the afternoon in the office!

Binge drinking is often touted in the press as symptomatic of our failing society, with the low cost of alcohol being identified as fueling this trend.  I think Berry's deserve to be taken to task and asked to justify their own prices which are encouraging weak-willed wine-pips to 'binge cellar' often with long term implications to their families and financial well-being!

Questions should be asked in the House, because they already are in mine!

Long live Berry Bros & Rudd!

He's back with a Mac!

Almost a month to the day since my last post.  Technology conspired against me;  after the last post the Dell desktop I've been running into the ground over the last six years gave its hard-drive a final waltz before dying completely.  My last post was it's last post.

Around Christmas time I'd started to see the "blue screen of death" and, after shelling out £25 for the privilege, the nice lady from Dell explained that the two error codes related to a hard disk which was about to fail and a motherboard with a short-circuit.  Now I'm no IT monkey, but this sounded pretty terminal to me.  My first concern was to (i) make sure I didn't loose the 5000+ photos I've amassed even though only twelve are any good, and (ii) rescue iTunes for the sake of my sanity.  One new external hard-drive later and everything of value was safely decanted off the dodgy Dell.  We struggled on till February when, with a faint popping noise, the Dell threw in the towel and stopped responding.

Now, when the current Mrs T was pregnant with our first I went out and bought her a Mac Book so that she could keep in touch with the wider world and maybe start the novel she's always been threatening to write [What novel? - Wife].  What I hadn't bargained for was the capacity for internet shopping one post-natal woman was capable of.  After three months I was scared to leave the house because by the time I would get home John Lewis would be reversing another tail-lift Luton up the street with the next delivery to their best customer.  But I did like the Mac.  Indeed, I coveted it - badly.  The death of the Dell was the opportunity I was waiting for.

It took a while to get here and longer to recover all my data to it than the time spent by those Herberts at CERN have been mucking around with their big magnet, but at last I have it.  All 15" of my shiny new MacBook Pro.

I'm loving the way it all works and hangs together. I'm working on that sanctimonious moon-faced expression all Mac devotees have when they watch PC users curse their grumbly IT, a state to which I return to whilst working for the man.

But, no more macking about, I've got a wine-blog to write if I am to  justify all the wine drunk over the last month.  Without the blog it would have served no purpose other than to satisfy my own greed and on-going quest for early on-set gout.

Toot toot!

Keeping up appearances

I started writing this blog with three main purposes in mind:

1. To taste more wine;
2. To start to get under the (grape) skin of the wine world;
3. As a kind of therapy.

Looking at the above list, I now believe that this blog is also in part a response to the general www (world-wide-woe, see what I did there?) running through January 2009.

I work in an industry which has been particularly badly hit by the recession. Having to focus on the contents of my glass in order to pin down an elusive flavour makes it easier to forget another disheartening day chasing increasingly scarce work. Reading, and engaging with, other far more capable wine bloggers has taken my wine appreciation and educaton in directions I would never of considered e.g. I didn't realise there were fifty Portuguese wine produced let alone fifty great ones. I then have to sit down and write this thing- I task far harder than I ever imagined. I have to concentrate, try to write something which is interesting and stimulating, and be creative. It is flattering when you know someone has taken the time to actually read what you have written, but I'm now moving away from the anxiety of wondering if it is actually being read to just enjoying the creative process. my new mantra is 'write for yourself'. Can you see where the therapy idea fits in?

But this is a blog and we're all crazy for fame and ratings, so I think I need to raise my game if this blog is to contribute anything to the world-wide-wine community. I do not want it to become just an electronic depository of my amateur tasting notes (I can do that on Snooth). Therefore my new blog check-list includes the following words:

• tasting
• reading
• direction
• structure
• record keeping
• enthusiasm
• interest
• curiosity
• encouragement
• ulterior motive

And just one other promise: I promise to stop making up other meanings for the acronym www.

Toot toot!

Got to start somewhere

According to Vinography there are over 500 English language wine blogs (even more if you add the pod-casts and videoblogs) and I haven’t even mentioned the Spanish, French, Italian and other international bloggers out there. So one has to ask why do I think we need another?

Well, apparently the most blogged wines are: Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot; whilst the most blogged wine regions are: Napa, Sonoma, California, Wine Country (wherever that is), France, New Zealand, Australia, and Washington. Can you see a West Coast theme developing?

Whilst these US blogs are an invaluable source of information their relevance to my quaffing and collecting is somewhat tangential to say the least. There are, of course, some fabulous UK wine blogs and web-sites produced wine enthusiasts (both amateur and professional) and these, together with many of the sites run by UK retailers, are in my opinion an invaluable source of information and advice. But this is the Blogosphere (I promise to only use this hateful phrase only once!), and I have an opinion which I want to share with the world.

I think others could benefit from joining me as I chase around the UK seeking out good wines and the retailers who provide them. So like it says at the top please feel free to encourage, chastise, ridicule and celebrate with me as I pursue a dream of taking this hobby and turning it into a life’s work.