Sympathy wine

On Zuzula's blog recently she asked Nick for some 'sympathy wine and cake'.

Now I am presuming there was a comma missing but then it got me thinking ... what would sympathy wine be like?

I'm thinking a very gentle rose (the most talked about wine on this blog at the mo!), fruity but without too much punch, maybe a slight sparkle but not too much fizz, and immensly quaffable.

Manzanilla Sherry

Having just spent two and a half hours cleaning the oven, I felt it was time for a little constitutional.

After the weekend's overindulgence, I decided that wine wouldn't be a good idea. If opened, it wouldn't keep and before you know it ... another bottle is packed away. Well, it would be rude to leave just half a bottle.

Looking around the room and what do I see? A cute birthday present - a tapas soiree kit including a bottle of Manzanilla sherry.

So here we go:

Solear / Manzanilla / Andalucia, Southern Spain / 15% / Produced by Barbadillo

Um ... it has to be served chilled - it is, tick. It is pale in colour, toasty on the ol nose but I'm not getting much else (damn that lime scented candle). Palate-wise ... fuck, it is EXTRA dry (definitely a taste of Spain) and it does something a little bit odd to the front of the tongue. I have absolutely no idea what flavour I'm getting from this bad boy, maybe yeast? It is suprisingly short in length; the flavour is fuller on the finish and yet non-descript.

Now, let's be honest, it is harsh and would probably only be suitable to drink with olives. Ah, so that's why it appears in a tapas soiree kit. Needless to say, I think I'm going to struggle to neck this one.

Just checked the gurus guide and apparently with Manzanilla there is a distinctive taste of iodine. I have no idea what iodine should taste like.

This is a low scoring 4 out of ten ...

Always Swallow - Never Spit

Saturday night in West Hampstead - a wine tasting with a dear old pal and 7 of his friends who I'd never met before. God, what a night.

When I first arrived it was like a lesbian book reading club. A hostile, cold, closed rank of dykes on sofas. After the Prosecco aperitif, however, they did begin to thaw.

We sampled 14 white wines - the brief being 'Summer Wines'. I have absolutely no idea what we tried: Riseling, Chardonnay, Viognier and ... er ... some others - I will get the full list, promise.

Our amateurish tutor did her best to read from a wine guide book but I felt that despite her valiant efforts, she fell just slightly short of the mark. As we are all amateurs connoisseurs (but professional drinkers), I felt she should've got everyone more involved by asking what they could smell or taste in the wine. I'm definitely not being ungrateful though, it was good fun.

After the 'formal' tutored tasting, we (read: I) ploughed in to the remaining wine. Now I remember why I don't drink white wine. Cut to 4am and I'm still pouring out my heart about life, the universe and everything to the gathered lesbotic psychotherapists. I cringe when I retrace the path that my drunken conversation took.

And the hangover, well ... I'm STILL feeling the aftermath.

White wine is from the devil.

It's Mateus Rose!

Mateus Rose. Isn't that wine in the same league as Black Tower and Liebfraumilch? I always thought so too. What with the funny squat, round-bellied bottle ... and it's ROSE for fuck's sake. Surely one is supposed to sneer?

Anyway, thanks Mum and Dad (again), bottle of rose here I come.

Mateus Rose / Portugal / 11%

First impression: as I released the cork, it fizzed. Mmmmm *scratching head*.

Guess what ... bright and clear. Unsurprisingly, it's pale pink in colour and getting paler on the rim. I'm getting a citrusy, fruity whack - almost elderflower - on the nose followed by strawberries, maybe even a bit of body odour (the fairground pikey type). The wine has legs too but that might be due to the slightly dirty glass. And the palate? Ripe pears, pear drops even, a little bit acidic but very nice on the finish. Yes, it IS balanced.

Oh my God, not only am I drinking and enjoying rose wine ... it's Mateus!!

Measly Portion of Booze

Last night at my birthday drinks soiree, I only managed a contemptible TWO glasses of wine all night - both glasses, a cheeky Malbec from Argentina.

Imagine ...

It wasn't because the invited guests were being tight. Indeed, I was offered many glasses of vino. The problem: I simply couldn't navigate my way around the table to talk to everyone and concentrate on wine at the same time. Ridiculous situation!

Rest assured that I will be making up for the measly portion of booze at lunchtime today AND this evening.

happy days

Why it's good to be a wine junkie (as if we needed an excuse!)

On the edge of 32 ...

So in the last few minutes of my 32nd year, I join the ranks of the 'bloggers'. It's a strange and interesting world - especially the 'We Love Wine' blog but I'm pleased and honoured to be able to contribute ...

Parents are curious creatures - it's official. Visitation rights were granted last weekend in order for them ('the parents') to bring my birthday card. They know full well that I'm (almost) strictly a red wine drinker but decided to bring me two bottles of ROSE wine anyway. Now, I know rose is the in thing - at least it was LAST summer - but why on earth did they decide to purchase rose from their local Tesco superstore? Anyway, who's grumbling? As a wine lover, it is essential that I broaden my rose wine drinking repertoire. Without further ado, I give you wine notes for (ta-ta-ta ...)

Valley Oaks Syrah Rose / 2004 / 13.5% / Fetzger Vineyards / California

Surprisingly enough (not) it IS bright and clear and ... er ... pale to mid pink in colour.

It's young and 'clean' with low to medium intensity on the nose. I got a snoutful of youthful fruitiness (raspberries) and a whoosh of strawberries on the palate (sadly, I didn't get wood tonight but I'll find a way of solving that particular issue).

This wine was quite drying on the finish and after the entire bottle, I felt the need to have a glass of water to prevent my tongue from sticking to the roof of my mouth.

That said, I am extremely pleased to say that it is BALANCED.

For the wine geeks out there, the closure is a screw top. At first I thought "tight parents, a cheap bottle of plonk" but then I remembered that screwtops are the way forward. The label reads that "screwcaps are ideal for this style of wine to preserve its fresh fruit flavour just as the wine maker intended".

Phew ... we can all sleep easy.

As we pass midnight, I'm not so pleased to confess that it is the last bottle of wine of my 32nd year ...

Cheat or be cheated

In order to combine our wine drinking with some more intellectual pursuits the Handbaggers went to a quiz night yesterday. After much debate and wrangling we managed to elect a team captain and secretary and eventually come up with a name. Then we were all set ... with our hopes firmly pinned on the £200 jackpot.

We stormed through the general knowledge round, the gemstone round (yes really) and the top ten. We scored nearly full points on the film round and there we were in second place with just the wipeout round to go. The wipeout round consisted of 10 questions, you got a point for each question and a bonus 5 points if you got all 10 questions right ... however if you got just one question wrong then all of your points got wiped out and you went back to zero!

Temperatures were rising with the excitement of it all (probably fuelled by the 7 bottles of vino consumed) and then we entered into a moral debate with 3 handbaggers wanting to play fairly and the other 3 wanting to utilise the help of their learned friends via texting and phone calls, essentially cheating. Moral highground won the day and so we lost, coming in third place but only 3.5 points behind the winner.

But then instead of just claiming the £200 jackpot, the winners had to choose one of four envelopes (each with a different prize) ... and so they won a £25 bar tab! They left so quickly that they didn't even bother to collect it. How harsh is that?!

Paranoia

My hypochondria has got the better of me once more. After watching an episode of CSI last night which featured a suspect who couldn't distinguish colours because of a vitamin A deficiency, I am now convinced that my slightly strained and 'scratchy' eyes are caused by a lack of vitamin A and that I may go blind.

The deficiency can apparently be caused by excess alcohol:(

Am going to eat some dried apricots now.

Olympics-schmpics

And so it has been announced that London will be hosting the Olympics. So we will be swamped by loads of sports mad fans which will completely collapse our already inadequate travel infrastructure and our council tax will be raised to cover the privilege.

At least we've pissed the French off.

reality check

I've just been asked what my top tip is for staying healthy. To my horror, I actually don't have a single word of advice! My lifestyle includes absolutely no efforts to look after myself at all. I don't even take multi vitamins! oh dear...

Weekend of joy

This weekend I went to the wedding of my beloved cousin. The day was gorgeous, she looked stunning and all was well.

Or nearly all ... as I am now the last of the girls in my family to be married I was expecting a little bit of grief at the wedding. I was, however, not quite prepared to be spinster sacrifice on the altar of wedded bliss.

It all began with the 'so are you courting yet' comments and the 'got yourself a little boyfriend yet' (stress is always placed on the 'yet' aspect of the question) which I deftly parried and laughed away with 'oh no not yet' ... however by the end of the day (and after answering this question 19 times - yes I did count) I had this final conversation with my Aunt C:

Aunt C: So, are you courting?
Me: No, not at the moment
Aunt C: No, special man in your life
Me: No theres not that many of them around a ha ha ha
Aunt C: ... Hm. Well you've still got time
Me: Yes, I ...
Aunt C: Well actually not that much time
Me: Eh?
Aunt C: Not much time really

At which point my Aunt H (mother of the bride) turns up

Aunt H: So ... are you courting yet?
Aunt C: No she's not
Aunt H: What no special man
Aunt C: No, noone at all

At which point my nan chips in

Nan: I'd like to see you settled before I go
Me: What? Go where??
Nan: I want to see you married before I die
Me: Well you're just going to have to live a few more years yet aren't you

Best bit is, both these aunts are divorced as both husbands ran off with younger women! Still it could have been worse, I could have been my gay cousin and his partner ... who were surrounded by comments made within earshot (loud enough to have been heard in Wimbledon) as to what a shame it was about the two nice looking lads who weren't interested in girls and they can't 'help what they are' and anyway, he always did like playing with dolls as a kid (accompanying by knowing looks).

Marvellous.