Crappy weather today, although I still traipse through the drizzle to renew my driving license at the post office. Is this to be the highlight of my day? No. In the evening we take Lily and Daisy for an early morning meal at Pizza Express, in the middle of which Lily demands to go to [...]
Filed under: dining | Tagged: eurovision song contest, pizza express | 1 Comment »
Another day writing. I stop at 4pm to spend some quality time with the Lily and Daisy with a kickabout in the back garden. Lily and Daisy actually have a fine touch with the ball (a Cinderella one, not FIFA approved.) Lily’s volley is coming on nicely and I suspect should could find herself in [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: 1964, lafitte, ledbury, meursault, pigeon | Leave a Comment »
Three days of solid tasting and it is time to write, since that is what a wine critic should be judged upon, not how many tastings they have been to, notwithstanding the fact that the backlog is accumulating to unprecedented proportions. So today it is back to the Mac, the one with the clear perspex [...]
Filed under: margaret river | Tagged: margaret river, vasse felix, virgina willcock | Leave a Comment »
The tastings continue relentlessly: today 50+ German 2009s in the upstairs tasting room of Bordeaux Index. Gareth (Who Are All The Pies) Birchley complains that I did not mention his peerless organization of last week’s Egon Müller tasting, so now that’s out of the way, the Rieslings are generally splendid although the old adage: “You [...]
Filed under: london tastings, Uncategorized | Tagged: donnhoff, felix da housecat, quiche, silver screen (malibu mix), the million pound drop | Leave a Comment »
Today: Crotian wines. Bring it on! There is nothing like expanding the palate’s horizons and to be honest, I can count the number of Croatian wines I have tasted on one finger. Now I will need 77 fingers, which would make me look rather stupid (although maybe I could type more quickly?) The wines range from [...]
Filed under: london tastings | Tagged: croatian wine | Leave a Comment »
I work feverishly throughout the morning and then, a fabulous feast chez “The Square” with a veritable smorgasbord of lovely vino including Trimbach’s Clos St. Hune ’01 and La Conseillante ’89. I return mid-afternoon after buying ”Villagers” new CD ”Becoming A Jackal” at HMV. I work past midnight, tapping away at the keyboard when most people are tucked up under [...]
Filed under: dining, london tastings | Tagged: becoming a jackal, clos st hune 2001, just the way you like it, sos band, the square, trimbach, villagers | 1 Comment »
What a blissful day, the sun bathing the country in refulgent light and letting it simmer and sizzle for the entire day. I spend the morning tidying up the garden: mowing the lawn, uprooting weeds, cutting down a thorny hedge that has got completely out of control and is now attempting to break the altitude for a thorny [...]
Filed under: dining, lily & daisy | Tagged: guildford, haut rian, min jaing, peking duck, school fete | Leave a Comment »
Phew, it’s tropical here in Guildford and it’s only May. It seems only yesterday that we were suffering a coda to our Siberian winter. It is difficult to work in the dining room with the sun streaming through the patio windows; the garden enticing me outside to come soak in the rays rather than stare like an automatan [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: guildford, house hunting | Leave a Comment »
I take a day off from the London Wine Trade Fair. It is not conducive to taking tasting notes professionally, although I must say, I never regret attending even if it is increasingly focused towards more consumer-orientated fare. But it is well organized, I always enjoy unexpected encounters and the eclecticism of the wines is [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, london tastings | Tagged: david mitchell, london wine trade fair, pavie 1970, simon tam, the arches, the thousand autumns of jacob de zoet | 1 Comment »
