Wine

[Bruce Rioja]

Ice Wine. I'd never heard of it before tonight. A bit of me would like to try it but most of me cannot stand sweet / dessert wines. Maybe with a bit of blue cheese perhaps? Anyone?

Don't know Ice Wine. But sweet wines and blue cheese are an outstanding match for each other (was LK that first pointed me this way, and I'm very glad he did).

Preferably port and Stilton. I'm not sure what is this Ice Wine, but the German equivalent, Eiswein, has been around for many years. I have had it and enjoyed. It isn't made every year but only when an early unexpected frost freezes the grapes on the vines. I suppose that, since it have been a success, it may be made every year through artificial means.

Apparently Canada is one of its major producers.

Yes, I've seen it in the stores along with Ice Cider, but I've never tried it and no nothing about it except it seemed to me to be overpriced.

Most unlike you to "no nothing" about something,Monty.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Most unlike you to "no nothing" about something,Monty.

Ate too much. Drank too much (not Ice Wine). Not operating at 100%. Most unlike myself at the moment.

[William the White]

I am currently enjoying - very much - a Portuguese red from the Upper Douro, made with traditional grapes, and by a cooperative founded in 1955.

It is £5.95 a bottle. It is a total, total steal at that price. Medium bodied, fruit, a little nice tannin for the finish, 13.5 ABV. It is simply the best 'everyday' red I've ever had.

Would work well with lamb, I think - but perfectly with fresh sardines.

It is called Old Vines in Young Hands and is sold by The Wine Society, claiming a new generation of Portuguese wine makers is reviving a traditional cooperative.

Heads up to the Portuguese aficionados on this one.

You awake, Bruce? You will want to try this!

[Lord Kangana]

Ice Wine. I'd never heard of it before tonight. A bit of me would like to try it but most of me cannot stand sweet / dessert wines. Maybe with a bit of blue cheese perhaps? Anyone?

Don't know Ice Wine. But sweet wines and blue cheese are an outstanding match for each other (was LK that first pointed me this way, and I'm very glad he did).

Preferably port and Stilton. I'm not sure what is this Ice Wine, but the German equivalent, Eiswein, has been around for many years. I have had it and enjoyed. It isn't made every year but only when an early unexpected frost freezes the grapes on the vines. I suppose that, since it have been a success, it may be made every year through artificial means.

They spray the grapes with hoses to encourage the process, or something, don't they?

Its just another way of dehydrating the grapes to produce sweet wines. Noble Rot (Sauternes), Passerillage(Jurancon)/Late Harvest (Vendange Tardive)(Alsace) and Passito (Amarone) pretty much all do the same thing, but with slightly differing results (I prefer Paserillage because it seems to preserve the acidity of the wine as well as sweeten it).

I'd try Canadian Ice Wine more often, but its ferociously expensive because the yields are so small.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Ice Wine. I'd never heard of it before tonight. A bit of me would like to try it but most of me cannot stand sweet / dessert wines. Maybe with a bit of blue cheese perhaps? Anyone?

Don't know Ice Wine. But sweet wines and blue cheese are an outstanding match for each other (was LK that first pointed me this way, and I'm very glad he did).

Preferably port and Stilton. I'm not sure what is this Ice Wine, but the German equivalent, Eiswein, has been around for many years. I have had it and enjoyed. It isn't made every year but only when an early unexpected frost freezes the grapes on the vines. I suppose that, since it have been a success, it may be made every year through artificial means.

They spray the grapes with hoses to encourage the process, or something, don't they?

Its just another way of dehydrating the grapes to produce sweet wines. Noble Rot (Sauternes), Passerillage(Jurancon)/Late Harvest (Vendange Tardive)(Alsace) and Passito (Amarone) pretty much all do the same thing, but with slightly differing results (I prefer Paserillage because it seems to preserve the acidity of the wine as well as sweeten it).

I'd try Canadian Ice Wine more often, but its ferociously expensive because the yields are so small.

On price and method I note in wiki:

In November 2006 the Canadian producer Royal DeMaria released five cases of Chardonnay icewine with a half-bottle price set at C$ 30,000, making it the world's most expensively priced wine.

In Austria, Germany, the United States, and Canada, the grapes must freeze naturally to be called ice wine. In other countries, some winemakers use cryoextraction (that is, mechanical freezing) to simulate the effect of a frost and typically do not leave the grapes to hang for extended periods as is done with natural ice wines.

[thebish]

[Bruce Rioja]

I just sent this round the office to a collective response of "You don't wait until 6, do you?".

I've trained them well.

[Bruce Rioja]

Here's a little dilemma, brought to us courtesy of The Wine Society, and I'm just wondering what you good people would do in this instance.

Your dinner guest has brought a bottle you’d rather they hadn’t. To open or not to open?

a: Open: more mouths for it to go around now!
b: Don’t open: you’ve worked too hard on the food to spoil it.

For what it's worth, I went with (a).

[thebish]

Here's a little dilemma, brought to us courtesy of The Wine Society, and I'm just wondering what you good people would do in this instance.

Your dinner guest has brought a bottle you’d rather they hadn’t. To open or not to open?

a: Open: more mouths for it to go around now!
b: Don’t open: you’ve worked too hard on the food to spoil it.

For what it's worth, I went with (a).

b) then give it away to a local charity needing raffle prizes...

[bobo the clown]

a). Open it .... and ensure you serve it to THEM.

They either know no better .... so it won't matter, or hey did it deliberately so it's no more than they deserve.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Here's a little dilemma, brought to us courtesy of The Wine Society, and I'm just wondering what you good people would do in this instance.

Your dinner guest has brought a bottle you’d rather they hadn’t. To open or not to open?

a: Open: more mouths for it to go around now!
b: Don’t open: you’ve worked too hard on the food to spoil it.

For what it's worth, I went with (a).

c: Thank them profusely, say 'Let's try this' and accidently drop it in the sink breaking the bottle as you open it.

[Bruce Rioja]

a). Open it .... and ensure you serve it to THEM.

They either know no better .... so it won't matter And you therefor wouldn't want to waste your decent stuff on them, or hey did it deliberately so it's no more than they deserve.

Exactly.

[Bruce Rioja]

Conversely, I once took a very nice bottle of Amarone round to dinner, only to be thanked for it by the host as he put it on the rack and poured me a glass of Turner Road Merlot, the c*nt!

[Montreal Wanderer]

Conversely, I once took a very nice bottle of Amarone round to dinner, only to be thanked for it by the host as he put it on the rack and poured me a glass of Turner Road Merlot, the c*nt!

I share your pain (and have indeed shared it). In a number of years of trying I have failed to find a bottle of Amarone that wasn't very nice. Almost certainly my favourite Italian red.

[Bruce Rioja]

Conversely, I once took a very nice bottle of Amarone round to dinner, only to be thanked for it by the host as he put it on the rack and poured me a glass of Turner Road Merlot, the c*nt!

I share your pain (and have indeed shared it). In a number of years of trying I have failed to find a bottle of Amarone that wasn't very nice. Almost certainly my favourite Italian red.

Most definitely mine. The thing is though, Monty, I'd been served this particular Amerone in a restaurant a few weeks before. It was so utterly divine that I went against one of my own strict maxims (getting a phone out at the table) and photographed the label so as to be able to track a bottle down, with the specific intention of taking the one I took to the dinner party. Deflated doesn't even begin to describe it. Should I ever be invited there again I'll be turning up with a bottle of Merlot, at best!

[Worthy4England]

Anyone got a lager?

[Lord Kangana]

Conversely, I once took a very nice bottle of Amarone round to dinner, only to be thanked for it by the host as he put it on the rack and poured me a glass of Turner Road Merlot, the c*nt!

I share your pain (and have indeed shared it). In a number of years of trying I have failed to find a bottle of Amarone that wasn't very nice. Almost certainly my favourite Italian red.

Most definitely mine. The thing is though, Monty, I'd been served this particular Amerone in a restaurant a few weeks before. It was so utterly divine that I went against one of my own strict maxims (getting a phone out at the table) and photographed the label so as to be able to track a bottle down, with the specific intention of taking the one I took to the dinner party. Deflated doesn't even begin to describe it. Should I ever be invited there again I'll be turning up with a bottle of Merlot, at best!

Not Barolo Bruce? I'm a little disappointed....

[Bruce Rioja]

Not Barolo Bruce? I'm a little disappointed....

I hear you, Kangana, I hear you. There is, without doubt little finer than a good Barolo - it's just in securing a good Barolo I find difficulty. I've never known any other wine vary so much from year to year. And simply chucking money at a more expensive bottle is no guarantee, I find.

[Lord Kangana]

True, it's a bloody minefield. And an expensive one to boot.

The problem you may be encountering is that Barolo takes an eternity to age. The last but one I had was a 2008 - I decanted it for 7 hours, and it was very nice, but still young. 2006 as a vintage is going to take forever to soften. And to be frank, there's little worse than a sour, metallic young Barolo. Makes you feel ripped off.

The insiders tip at the moment for drinking quite young is 2007 and possibly 2011 ( I hope so, as I've bought a few). '97 is drinking perfectly at the moment, but where you'll find one for less than a month's mortgage payment is anyone's guess.

[Lord Kangana]

Oh, and as an aside, I think it's Lidl (might be Aldi) that knock out a generic Barolo at a tenner. At the moment, they've been punting out the 2010 and '11 vintages - both viewed as excellent to outstanding ones that frankly you or I could have made a decent fist of making good wine in. They're really good.