I am ze pahty pooper...

I did a quick run around the Beacon quarter earlier today, first stop was a "bazzer" (that's Cork slang for a haircut - get your mind out of the gutter) and then onto Dunnes. We are having the usual suspects over for dinner tomorrow to celebrate BigHead's 40th and I wanted to buy some wine to go with the slow cooked lamb shanks.

I had to buy some veg. in Dunnes so I deciced if I could get find decent wine there, so be it, otherwise it was across the car park with me to O'Briens. Luckily they had lots of this - Art de Vivre Saint Chinian 2008, Reserve de Gerard Bertrand. I loved it last time and at €8-99 it's good value. I also picked up an Arthur Metz Gewurztraminer 2009 (€9-95) which I have just sampled and to be honest , I'm not loving it. It's perfumed, sweet, peachy/apricotty and a little syrupy, perhaps I'm just not in the mood for that style of wine tonight.

On the red front I picked up a Chateau Pennautier Terriors D'Altitude 2006 (€9-00). Way back when, (July to be precise) Lar from Sourgrapes turned me onto their basic red (€6-95) which was delicious and a steal at that price. At the time I noticed the Terroirs D'Altitude but didn't try it. Tonight is the night.


Lastly, we'll be starting the wines tomorrow with the Meursault at left, it's the last of several bottles I got for my birthday last November, and I'm looking forward to it. The shame (or the joy for us wine drinkers) is that three of the attendees tomorrow don't really drink that much wine and will (probably) not partake. More for the rest of us, I guess.

**Update** I enjoyed the Meursault, but I think I was the only one, and to be brutally honest I enjoyed it somewhat because it tasted the way it should taste, rather than the fact that I liked it hugely. I should explain; at the last couple of tastings I have attended (and I don't get to many) I have tried some expensive (mostly Aussie) Chardonnays and they have quality of flavour that was amply present in the above wine. Leading me to believe that a good chardonnay ought to taste this way.

So, while this was undoubtedly a very fine wine; a) it may not be a wine to impress non wine buffs with and b) at this stage of my wine education I don't think I'm getting enough out of wines like this to justify buying them.

Site News and some fine Wines

Well, it's finally happened. From tomorrow I'll be commuting a lot for work off to parts foreign. I expect that I won't be able to blog as much as I have been doing (on average twice a week) for the last few months. Given the commute, family time will be at a premium so if I can get one post a week out I'll be doing well.

The content of this blog normally comprises budget, supermarket wines with the odd fine wine thrown in just to mix it up a bit. This is one of these times. The Occasion was a significant family birthday and the food and wine (apart from Herself's chocolate cake) were supplied by various other family members. A great time was had by all and special thanks to Big Sis for hosting.

The wines on the night were as follows:

Louis Roederer Cristal Brut 2000 - Much better than the last time we had this back in June. Crisp, toasty with lots of zing.

Domaine Hubert Bouzereau-Gruère et Filles 2006 Meursault - From a small family operation, this was buttery and very smooth. We had this with some hard-carved leg of Iberico Ham brought back from Spain, yum.

Chateau Lynch Bages 2004 Pauillac - An old family favourite, I had not had the 2004 before and it was very good. It had a hard job against the peppery beef main course but it held its ground.

Cru Barrejats 1996 Sauternes Fantastic, I'm really getting a taste for Sauternes, pity I can't afford to buy any.

Lastly Big Bro had brought a tincture of Armagnac from 1940, yep 70 year old Armagnac, in honour of another family occasion. YHB and Herself were the only ones who really liked this, surprisingly.

Anyway, I'm off now - I'll see you next time I see you.