To the Ledbury for the end of year Bordeaux bash. Yes, the tasting season is coming to a close and wine-lovers are gathering with their finest Clarets to drink. I am proffering a bottle of Chateau Pape-Clement 1976 because I feel that we need to take a few more risks and I am rewarding by [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, london tastings | Tagged: bordeaux, cos d'estournel, frederic emile, latour, ledbury, pape clement, trimbach | Leave a Comment »
I am worried. I am worried because my calamitous house move is just the opposite. It is going TOO smoothly. Nobody is trying to ruin my life. This afternoon we go to visit the house to measure up and what d’ya know…we have only gone and bought a house with an AGA. It’s probably worth [...]
Filed under: alsace, house move, london tastings | Tagged: frederic emile, jean trimbach, sketch, trimbach | Leave a Comment »
A lovely day today. First we drop Lily off at Spectrum leisure centre for her friend’s party in the soft-play centre. They crack team of 5-year old pig-tailed girls march off in single file, hands on the shoulders in front like prisoners-of-war, barely able to contain their energy that is about to explode in a [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, lily & daisy | Tagged: bee, daisy, elton john, guildford, lily, spectrum, trottevieille 2005 | Leave a Comment »
Drive down to Waitrose in the morning. For some reason, whenever we physically visit the supermarket we spend more than visiting Ocado. And this is despite me sacrificing my 99p gingernuts! In the evening I rustle up some nifty lamb chops with a bottle of Calon-Segur 2006 and then I am so knackered from writing [...]
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Today is Lily’s last day at school, her final day in reception year that has passed in the blink of an eye. I do feel some sort of poignancy as she blithely skips to school and enters Ms. P’s “Owls” class for the final time. She gives her teacher a small Japanese themed gift, which [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: daisy, last day at school, lily, poo | Leave a Comment »
Spend the entire day working on my Pomerol book, transcribing an interview with ober-oenologist Michel Rolland that I did way back on a freezing Monday morning last December. In order to feel like I am making tangible progress, each chapter is printed off and files in its own clear plastic folder. Sounds anal, but it [...]
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The whole day is devoted to Pomerol, researching, writing, editing and stressing. I work solidly for hours and then bail at 5.00pm to attend a tasting of German 2009s in Victoria. The wines are impressive, full of minerality and personality, although it will be remembered more for a tirade against French AC laws by Dirk [...]
Filed under: germany, london tastings | Tagged: 2009, christian ebert, german wine, max ferdinand richter, riesling, schloss saarstein | 1 Comment »
I drive down to Basingstoke as I have arranged a morning to inspect Berry Brother & Rudd’s purchase ledger from the 1930s as research for my Pomerol book. It is fascinating looking through the entries all written in fountain pen, notes of wines, prices and comments. Particularly interesting is the old champagnes: Krug 1928, Pol Roger 1929 [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, dining | Tagged: berry brothers & rudd, mortgage, natwest | Leave a Comment »
This week I am focusing upon my long-overdue book on Pomerol that has been delayed due to the sheer amount of work that Wine-Journal consumes. Therefore I spend most of the day translating J.A. Garde’s “L’Histoire de Pomerol” looking for nuggets of useful information. There are a lot of technical French words last used around [...]
Filed under: bordeaux | Tagged: french, j a garde, l'histoire de pomerol | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes it is difficult to stop working. At the moment I am taking traveling hiatus in order to try and catch up on my mountainous backlog, also pre-empting a house move that may or may not take place in the near future. So these days I keep finding myself at the Mac and this morning is [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: georges roumier, lyndhurst, new forest | Leave a Comment »
