tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25918848453434807822024-02-20T05:54:11.055+13:00THE WINE GUYSomeone who loves the wine and spirit industry having worked in it for a lifetime. Having worked in it for a lifetime I have met some wonderful people and have had great experiences. Also though, having worked in it for a lifetime I have met some real idiots and seen a lot of stupid sales, marketing and management decisions made (not all of them mine!). As a consequence I laugh at the 'innovations' that the 'bright young things' come up with thinking "been there, done that"THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-72971342499305426642022-11-29T18:42:00.002+13:002022-11-29T18:42:35.503+13:00RAMBLING<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1OG8HSc3UEA" width="320" youtube-src-id="1OG8HSc3UEA"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>Regular readers - I might need to rephrase that given the nature of the people who frequent this blog - irregular readers might recall that I've mentioned problems with my knee in the past: <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2018/04/things-i-dont-understand-part-2.html">HERE</a> , <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2018/05/knees-up-and-down.html">HERE</a> , <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2019/08/fit-for.html">HERE</a> , <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2017/11/golf-is-dangerous.html">HERE</a> , <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2018/10/kneedy.html">HERE</a> , <a href="https://grumpyoldmanreturnsnz.blogspot.com/2010/09/something-blue.html">AND HERE</a> although I admit that the last one was a bit gratuitous to regain your attention. These, I myself was surprised to discover, are just a small sample of all of the posts I've written about my knee. Aren't you glad that I've kept my blog history over the years and have used the excellent 'search this blog' function on blogger?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WAmQJe2Mz6K3cGSgAJIp3k3o_9PTlPplM2hzPfMEfYFqi4EaRNOkF3SIXFS69O6SGJyjB2xXL8-RTU05mX2mVZdkn7_FEfhp27LpirWNaDFgLNTlHpoBy-CMfUpo7SnfF8vc4dEh2QFPaFfgdwZ98O9inc0p65WZE_naHeOUBVzpb1yQbB_fhERyZg/s764/Screenshot%202022-11-29%20at%206.35.09%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="764" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WAmQJe2Mz6K3cGSgAJIp3k3o_9PTlPplM2hzPfMEfYFqi4EaRNOkF3SIXFS69O6SGJyjB2xXL8-RTU05mX2mVZdkn7_FEfhp27LpirWNaDFgLNTlHpoBy-CMfUpo7SnfF8vc4dEh2QFPaFfgdwZ98O9inc0p65WZE_naHeOUBVzpb1yQbB_fhERyZg/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-29%20at%206.35.09%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Anyway, the more observant reader will have noticed that my problem knee is my left knee. This is the one that I damaged indulging in extreme sport (golf) and had surgery on. For the last four years I've worn a knee brace when walking, and playing golf and tennis to provide support to the knee and, probably, to relieve my anxiety about it. The placebo effect if you will.</p><p>Just recently, over the last couple of months, this knee (the left knee) has seemed to be better and is not giving me as much 'gyp' as before. That's the good news. The bad news is that my right knee is now giving me the 'gyp' that the left knee used to. I haven't (consciously) damaged this knee but might have given it a hard time in the past with soccer and rugby, skiing, tramping and praying (when I was a Catholic as a youngster). When walking, golfing, playing tennis and doing gardening and household maintenance it's now the right knee that's the problem. What's that about?</p>THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-44270219754962861782015-09-12T07:34:00.000+12:002015-09-12T07:34:18.025+12:00MY MADELEINETonight I opened a bottle of Basedow's Barossa Valley Shiraz to go with the Spaghetti Bolognaise we were having (not normal Friday night fare for us but I didn't have the makings for home made fish and chips in the fridge and the local fish and chip shops are crap compared to what we've been used to).<br />
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Anyway, the Basedow's hit the spot amazingly well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Focus, orientation and the lean all due to the fact that the label says 14.6% alcohol with the reality that it's probably over 15%</td></tr>
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I bought it from Majestic wines under their new '6 bottle (mixed) discount plan'.<br />
After a hefty discount this wine was just over 6 quid a bottle. A bargain.<br />
To put it into context, at between 5 and 7 quid the supermarkets are offering some pretty ordinary wines from around the world and, in the case of Australia, at that price you get the insipid and rag tag offerings from Wolf Blass, Hardy's, and other big brands' irrigated region South Australia plonk. This wine was 'the real McCoy' from the Barossa with big, lipsticky and full-flavoured fruit with a serious amount of alcohol.<br />
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The thing that attracted me to it (after the price and the fact that it was a Barossa wine) was the fact that it had no marketing hype surrounding it. The label looks like it was made in the 1960's as if some guy thought to run off millions of them back then to cut costs and then for ever afterwards overprint them with updated vintages and other mandatory bits of information. It looks hokey but real.<br />
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Looking at the label tonight (no doubt through alcohol tinted spectacles, I was taken back to the early 1970's when I went to Oz with good friend Tony. We were working at the liquor wholesalers then and had a good interest in wine. At one point at the end of our trip we had virtually run out of money and were staying in a motor camp in Canberra shortly before our return to NZ.<br />
We bought the makings of a decent but simple meal from a grocery store (bread, cheese, tomatoes etc) and also the only bottle of wine we could afford.<br />
It was a Barossa Valley red (probably Shiraz and or Grenache) and cost us about $1.99. It was stunning.<br />
Huge, teeth-stainingly red/black, jam-packed with flavour and numbingly alcoholic it set us up perfectly for the end of our holiday.<br />
I remember that the label was a plain white background with, in bold red writing the words:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="color: red;">100% RED WINE</span></b></i></blockquote>
No brand name. No embellishment except for the region - Barossa Valley and no marketing bullshit on the back label.<br />
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I loved that wine and still remember it.<br />
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A couple of decades later wines like that, from the Barossa, made from 100 year old bush vines of Shiraxz and Grenache became trendy. They were no longer the poor cousins of the wine world and started to command prices of $50 to $100 a bottle. I am certain that the origins of our $1.99 bottle were the same as these modern 'show ponies'<br />
<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-21385784664425619882015-01-12T22:57:00.001+13:002015-01-13T20:59:53.004+13:00SONGS THAT HIT THE SPOT<a href="http://youtu.be/0vrDIFYuc4Q">http://youtu.be/0vrDIFYuc4Q</a><br />
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Good old Neil.<br />
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Simple lyrics that niggle a nerve.<br />
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That's what clever writing does to elicit nostalgia (in about a million words less than Marcel Proust used).<br />
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I thought about this song as I rode a train north from Toronto (Ontario) last year. We all have our favourites and to be honest Neil Young wasn't really one of mine but folk/rock/jazz/pop performers of one's generation carry the common cultural values that we grow up with in some form or other.<br />
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The song was evocative when I was young, meaningful when I was in that huge country last year and visceral when I listened to it tonight.<br />
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-91999727084897406762014-12-19T10:22:00.000+13:002014-12-19T11:37:40.834+13:00BUSTEDThe <i>Urban Dictionary</i> has this interesting description of a Wine Guy.<br />
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"WINE GUY</blockquote>
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Wine Guy ~ A horny, middle aged, divorced, wine importing, BMW drivin, botox shootin, poser who played the clarinet as an adolescent. He is adept at the use of wine adjectives such as robust, soft, with abundant red fruit and lashings of rose pepper enveloped by with a chocolatey oak aroma that adds a creaminess to the lifted finish. You know standard B S that most women go Ga Ga over. He is such a poser and just wants to get in my girl friends pants. "</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNwf_wRvQ5RzM6YVKF6qFIM58EThSGxzzyb4AjKDfMceVELVFjw7Pz9MLj09vopVUPvFsEzNPPzqEtIu4JTbfH4F7_EAvBq8VGJJ5IZQmP1erdQru4qUeiUiGSEnsF5eSLrKWRDYq7STG/s1600/creepy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNwf_wRvQ5RzM6YVKF6qFIM58EThSGxzzyb4AjKDfMceVELVFjw7Pz9MLj09vopVUPvFsEzNPPzqEtIu4JTbfH4F7_EAvBq8VGJJ5IZQmP1erdQru4qUeiUiGSEnsF5eSLrKWRDYq7STG/s1600/creepy.jpg" /></a><br />
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Yep, that just about sums it up.<br />
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THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-22946107025473471762014-12-13T21:39:00.001+13:002014-12-13T21:39:51.536+13:00DELI BELLYI went to <i>Federal St Delicatessen</i> tonight for a quick meal and a couple of glasses of wine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcAL7jj2aMfT1V9XFLUDZkt4XYZ7_XwvfGfaWhZsxoQ9YJ8J0dAsy_aiVZ0u75Ujse89HPCHQjcY5FniozOEXVZZfBS6Zl2Y5wTwKmaejXKFyYZXrYCnonHom6he5EG7jw0U0FCIdryFCW/s1600/c-nott-federal-dinner-restuarant-architect_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcAL7jj2aMfT1V9XFLUDZkt4XYZ7_XwvfGfaWhZsxoQ9YJ8J0dAsy_aiVZ0u75Ujse89HPCHQjcY5FniozOEXVZZfBS6Zl2Y5wTwKmaejXKFyYZXrYCnonHom6he5EG7jw0U0FCIdryFCW/s1600/c-nott-federal-dinner-restuarant-architect_0.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've been there before. The food is good and the wine list above average.<br />
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This is another of Al Brown's outlets so you'd expect the standards to be pretty high.<br />
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To be honest, both times I've been there it was second choice after <i>The Depot</i> one or two doors along. This is Al Brown's primary establishment and it is always crowded. No matter what time of day you go there you end up queing. I don't queue so went next door.<br />
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Federal Street deli is loosely modeled after the North American city delis. I've been to various ones in Chicago, NYC and Toronto and tehy are generally great. Busy, cheap with reliable food.<br />
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Federal is reasonably busy (not as much as the Depot), the food better than the North American delis but not cheap.<br />
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What's been lost in translation is the value concept of the deli. They exist in USA and Canada because they are a quick and cheap alternative to restaurant dining. What is being done here is the 'romantic' concept of the diner is being presented as if it was fine dining which it's not.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mars diner Toronto</td></tr>
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Federal Street Diner is getting 5 star reviews which, on the food and service it deserves but:<br />
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When ordering a super premium wine at super premium prices - between $14 and $20 a glass do you want it served in this?<br />
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I know that it is all part of the deli style but, put bloody orange juice in it not a decent wine that needs to be savoured.<br />
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Also, being squeezed into a booth or pressed up against the cooking area ( a small perspex shield separates the diners at the counter from the chefs in the kitchen) might impart a sense of "being part of the action" as my waitress told me, but at normal restaurant prices I think I'd rather the action was being done elsewhere and I was given a bit of space and peace.<br />
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The wines I had tonight were pretty good - Kumeu River Chardonnay 2012 and Greenhough Nelson Pinot Noir 2012. They were both served in the ridiculous tumblers. The Chardonnay was properly chilled but the Pinot Noir was overly warm.<br />
If the resataurant/bar area is too warm from the exposed kitchen then why the hell don't they put the red wines in the fridge?<br />
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OK, those are the gripes.<br />
As said the food is pretty good - much better than a lot of the fancier restaurants around town,<br />
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Tonight I had Kawhai fish cakes and chips.<br />
Last time I had veal schnitzel and salad.<br />
I can't fault that.<br />
The food came out smartly and perfectly as I was wanting a quick bite before going to <i>Christmas in the Park</i> at the Auckland Domain.<br />
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Now, while I'm complaining about the price vs the ambience I have to say that while the US and Canadian joints are cheaper there are a few differences.<br />
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<ul>
<li><i>Federal Street Delicatessen</i> food is better</li>
<li>Prices include GST whereas the North american set-up is that taxes (up to 18%) get added to the bill</li>
<li>Tipping is pretty much mandatory which is 15% to 20%</li>
<li>USD is 30% more than ours</li>
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This means that the $52 I spent on food and wine, in USA/Canada might have been $35 plus 30% plus 15% plus 20% or about NZD 63.00 equivalent. Maybe it's not so bad after all.</div>
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-74124658978580180442014-12-05T18:43:00.000+13:002014-12-05T18:43:08.499+13:00CHRISTMAS CHEERChristmas and New Year are nearly here. This means that a fair bit of wine will be consumed.<br />
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To be fair though recently I've been consuming a fair bit even without the celebratory occasions.<br />
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I guess with Her Indoors away and living the bachelor life it's inevitable that I have the odd tipple.<br />
The problem is though that the tipples are becoming almost daily. There was a time when I made sure that Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays were drink-free days. I'm now finding that 'Thursday' has become Tuesday.<br />
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It doesn't men that I get smashed 5 days a week though but I invariable have a bottle of wine open in the fridge and sometimes two - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - so that while cooking and eating dinner I will have two glasses at least.<br />
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If Her Indoors was here then combined will might win out but on my own I succumb to temptation and even look to justification. As I work in the wine industry I can say that I'm keeping up with the opposition, wine-styles, new vintages etc. etc. etc.<br />
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Whatever the reason the fact is that I must be drinking about 20% more than in previous years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg3JXOikyAd9Xz5YzzZKMzP8BKv5JL8wuLf91zx6OkgOyh-STU_o4GWxIOrw34__2ywviacBiq3MD5aDV0eY4NeC7rizuz6J-n8ZxOkfEOTpA4RS5GjpS-wrKebYG3hvLM4rZsjrHWNWs/s1600/monk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg3JXOikyAd9Xz5YzzZKMzP8BKv5JL8wuLf91zx6OkgOyh-STU_o4GWxIOrw34__2ywviacBiq3MD5aDV0eY4NeC7rizuz6J-n8ZxOkfEOTpA4RS5GjpS-wrKebYG3hvLM4rZsjrHWNWs/s1600/monk.jpg" /></a><br />
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I hardy ever drink beer though and virtually never drink spirits unless a monthly tot of a good Cognac or Malt whisky counts.<br />
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I must be a saint then, really.<br />
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-34499400767211707732014-11-13T06:55:00.000+13:002014-11-13T06:55:03.432+13:00MERDE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdH-kLW3CnpxI29X8dPBLZPm5GNPeK3yW8mM_yKY-Zl_7ocwlLwhUVdGeiSl4VfI9ru0Z14LJZHRxbpiK5XBNiGreYvu8PsOx7V1Ts_NFQ21Ny5f6ULULu38FnXnq_cGVG-Jy49hHYYN2/s1600/burg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdH-kLW3CnpxI29X8dPBLZPm5GNPeK3yW8mM_yKY-Zl_7ocwlLwhUVdGeiSl4VfI9ru0Z14LJZHRxbpiK5XBNiGreYvu8PsOx7V1Ts_NFQ21Ny5f6ULULu38FnXnq_cGVG-Jy49hHYYN2/s1600/burg.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In his book <i>BURGUNDY</i> Anthony Hanson said:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"Great Burgundy smells of shit. It is most surprising, but something the French recognised long ago, Ça sent la merde and Ça sent le purin being common expressions on the Côte. Not always, of course; but frequently there is a smell of decaying matter, vegetable or animal, about them." </span></span></blockquote>
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There's some truth in this but perhaps it's due to wine making faults and poor winery hygiene rather than any pure expressions of the Cote. Brettanymyces, over-cooked fermentations and the smell of gumboots can also be found in Pinot Noirs from Oregon to Yarra Valley although, thankfully, better wine making practises are eliminating these characters.<br />
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Nowadays the 'merde' is more likely to be the horseshit that's written on the back label rather than the wine inside the bottle.<br />
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Tonight I tried a Vidal Reserve Pinot Noir 2013.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaX1PUdwzSk40REZ_pw5JpZhvygor_Qm3_FF_WVuqc_mABKs7Tsk0_6cNMcjVxln04v3jj0OmrUgcY4RuvBUrVw3vjJcKI6jMb37ZFQpabTT3hGNCdj7pFT1Z7z7PLOVW3rGPWnERfmCI/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaX1PUdwzSk40REZ_pw5JpZhvygor_Qm3_FF_WVuqc_mABKs7Tsk0_6cNMcjVxln04v3jj0OmrUgcY4RuvBUrVw3vjJcKI6jMb37ZFQpabTT3hGNCdj7pFT1Z7z7PLOVW3rGPWnERfmCI/s1600/images.jpg" /></a><br />
This is from the Villa Maria Stable with fruit from Marlborough (Vidal, the company is based in Hawkes Bay). There's no indication that the wine was made in Marlborough at Villa Maria's excellent winery which has a great reputation for Pinot Noir or whether the grapes were shipped to Hawkes Bay for processing. I imagine the former as this makes more sense. The wine in this case is most likely not batch-made for Vidals but part of the tiered range of wines that Villa Maria produces.<br />
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I've no problem with this as the wine is pretty good in the classic simple berry-like Marlborough style.<br />
No, my problem is more in the marketing hype (horseshit) that accompanies it.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"This elegant and distinctive wine offers exceptional quality and true regional identity"</span><br />
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screams the opening statement on the back label after the mandatory wine identification.<br />
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Hyperbole?<br />
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Certainly and I think that if it was true then why would Villa Maria put the wine in a lesser label and one that commands a much lesser price than their Villa Maria Black label Reserve wines.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"Beautifully fragrant red berry and floral aromas combine on a silky finely textured palate'</span></blockquote>
is the follow up statement.<br />
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What?<br />
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Grammar aside, what the fuck does this mean?<br />
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Berries being fragrant?- Check. typical Marlborough fruitiness.<br />
Floral aromas? - Check. There is a hint of violets.<br />
Combining on a finely textured palate? Well, maybe, but what about the taste, really?<br />
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The wine is good, don't get me wrong. I bought it on special at one of those bastard supermarkets and will buy more next time that I see them ripping the heart out of one of New Zealand's better winemakers but how the hell does the above description tell me what the wine will taste like?<br />
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Just like almost all other New Zealand Pinot Noirs this one is well made, clean, fault-free and a delight to drink.<br />
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The 'merde' is not evident at all, at least not in the wine.THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-49284570704250632292014-10-19T19:06:00.001+13:002014-10-19T19:06:28.077+13:00JEREZ ENDETH THE LESSON.....OK. it's a bit of a pronunciation joke but never mind.<br />
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Sherry. Why is it becoming popular again?<br />
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Centuries ago it was an elegant drink for posh people and for wine drinkers who had special drinks for different times of the day or occasions.<br />
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Over time it as a category degenerated into a cheap drink that gave more bang for the buck because of the high alcohol (fortified) nature.<br />
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Excise men soon wised up and charged double tax for anything over 15% and, in the case of New Zealand (Jim Anderton's fault) buggered up the equation by classing it the same as cheap spirits and basically priced it off the market.<br />
In the case of New Zealand the category is dead.<br />
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But, it may be coming back albeit in a minor and specilaised way.<br />
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It won't be the huge market that allowed wine producers to pump out all sorts of sweet and diabolical shit and which had a big market share.<br />
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This was the favourite tipple of the little old ladies who gradually turned yellow from the effect of the alcohol and the colouring additives.<br />
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I wonder what they drink now?<br />
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Funny enough it was old Richard of RBB when he was a young man who boosted sherry consumption statistics. This was unusual in that he was in his early twenties when he was drinking Findlater Dry Fly and Williams and Humbert Walnut Brown - definitely non-demographic.<br />
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He wasn't really the classical figure of elegant sherry sipping though.<br />
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No, his consumption style was a bit different and certainly not the way the product was adverised and promoted.<br />
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With a slight resurgance of sherry consumption a few of the better importers and retailers are stocking interesting and fresh product.<br />
I mention fresh because the best sherries are not those over-sweetened and cloying ones with 'cream' and 'milk' in their names. These are generally oxidised to hell and held up by high alcohol and sugar.<br />
No, I mean the Finos and Manzanillas that are very dry and have low alchol (for sherry) at about 15%.<br />
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Like White Port though they don't last very long in the bottle whether it's been opened or not. You need to know when it was bottled and hopefully buy it within a couple of months of this.<br />
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I bought a couple of half bottles of the excellent La Guita Manzanilla from Glengarry recently.<br />
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This classy sherry (15%) was imported by Glengarry's sister company Hancocks Wine and Spirits and they thoughtfully have the bottling date printed on the back label - in this case 10 July 2014.<br />
The wine is crisp, fresh and with a lovely nutty finish (no jokes please). It is a classic example of why we should support speciality and experience importers and retailers and avoid the mass market booze peddlars. Admittedly New Zealand's backward liquor laws don't allow supernmarkets to sell fortified wines like Port and Sherry but even if it did they'd more likely stock this.<br />
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-31808730324771948432014-10-09T21:04:00.003+13:002014-10-09T21:04:50.973+13:00IF WINE BE THE MUSIC OF LOVE, PLAY ONA recent study by the Heriot Watt University (from who knows where) got subjects to sort music into categories of '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;">powerful and heavy' e.g. Carl Orff's <i>Carmina Burana</i>, 'subtle and refined' e.g. Tchaikovsky's <i>Waltz of the Flowers</i>, 'zingy and refreshing' e.g. Nouvelle Vague's <i>Just Can't Get Enough</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"> or “mellow and soft e.g. Michael Brooke's <i>Slow Breakdown</i>.</span></span><br />
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Another group then drank either a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Chardonnay while the previous music played.<br />
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A third control group drank the wine but without any music being played.<br />
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The second group were asked to categorise the wines they tasted into the same categories that the music group categorised the wine. The music was on in the backgound. When the second group listened to <i>Carmina Burana</i> while drinking Cabernet Sauvignon most described the wine as being '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;">powerful and heavy' but when drinking the same wine with <i>Just Can't Get Enough</i> they described it as 'zingy and refreshing'.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 36px;">The control group raated the wines entirely different.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;">This makes me wonder if The Prowse Boy's will serve up wine at their concerts.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;">The concert-goers will form different impressions of the wines depending on what music is played.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;">This probably won't be a bad thing though as the wines served up will probably benefit from a bit of enhamcement so that the $7.00 Pak n Save special chardonnay will variously taste 'elegant and refined' or 'funky and high spirited' depending on the song.</span></span><br />
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<!--EndFragment-->THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-43117305807994960582014-10-08T18:13:00.002+13:002014-10-08T18:13:57.989+13:00KEEPING UPGood friend Richard enjoys a drop of wine, usually Chardonnay. He can start out talking English and end up, after a bottle and a half talking Italian ..... or he says it's Italian ....a kind of archaic version derived from the early Roman settlers of Nuova Lazio.<br />
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I also like a drop, usually Chardonnay or Pinot Noir and, after a bottle and a bit end up talking gibberish.<br />
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If I drink too much, normally 7 glasses or a bottle and a half, I can't stand drinking the next day and usually go another two days before having any more.<br />
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This is why I was gobsmacked when I read about the drinking habits of Gerard Depardieu.<br />
We know that he likes booze having heard about his pissing in the aisle of a plane and other boorish antics but in this latest report he's quoted as saying he drinks up to 14 bottles of wine a day. Fourteen bottles! That's more than a case of wine. Admittedly it's French wine with maybe some German and other European wines so maybe not as high in alcohol as American, Australian and New Zealand wine but is still likely to be between 10 and 12 and a half percent alcohol. He also says he intersperses the wine with whisky, pastis and vodka.<br />
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Encroyable!<br />
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I saw Depardieu in a film titled Mammut (mammoth) which is a pretty good description of this boozer taking in his girth and woolley-headedness.<br />
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591884845343480782.post-21920217727055588642014-10-07T18:52:00.002+13:002014-10-07T18:52:46.959+13:00I'M BAAAAAACK!<br />
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Old Granny Google won't let me access my original Wine Guy site.<br />
Apparently, because I've been trying to log in from new Zealand instead of Canada it/he/she assumes that I'm a scammer or something.<br />
Its verification system wants to send me a text message to the phone I had listed. This was a Canadian cell-phone number which I cancelled when I left Toronto. Their system doesn't seem to make provision on this.<br />
In the next step it wants me to verify without a cellphone by telling it exactly when I started up the account - day, month, year. WTF! who remembers that? I tried by putting in the date of my first blog post. No go.<br />
I just have to start a new blog.<br />
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I've put a link in to all the old stuff basically for any readers out there who want to revisit old times.<br />
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<br />THE WINE GUYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18084196453421911751noreply@blogger.com0