Tomoko and Daisy have an appointment with Natwest to make our formal application for a mortgage, which is rather nerve wracking given that my case is fairly complex and I am still mentally scarred from the debacle in 2006 (see previous diary entries.) I have the disconcerting feeling that banks are there to trip you [...]
Filed under: house move | Tagged: jonathan ross, mortgage, natwest | Leave a Comment »
Dinner with my friend Toby and his wife Ilya back at Chez Bruce. I have known Toby since we were four or five years of age, having growing up in the same run-down seaside town and attended the same schools. We have not seen each other for a couple of years but keep in contact. He works [...]
Filed under: dining | Tagged: chave, chez bruce, hermitage, westcliff high school for boys | Leave a Comment »
Lunch with Phillip Schofield today. I watch him on “This Morning” with the comely Holly Willoughby and think it strange that millions of people up and down the country are watching him now and in a couple of hours, I will be meeting him for lunch at Chez Bruce. I catch the train to Wandsworth Common arriving [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, london tastings | Tagged: bob geldof, chez bruce, haut brion 1989, la mission haut-brion, live aid, phillip schofield, the silence | Leave a Comment »
Into Chiswick for a quick pre-prandial meeting and then lunch at La Trompette with a fantastic line-up of Claret: VCC 89, L’Evangile 89, Rauzan-Segla 85 and a triumvirate of Haut-Brion 83, 85 and 86. The most sobering comment is when we realized that you could buy bottles of those last three for less than a single [...]
Filed under: bordeaux | Tagged: 1985, 1986, bordeaux, haut brion 1983 | Leave a Comment »
Nip down to Leigh-on-Sea co-operative to procure this morning’s catch from the Thames Estuary. On the way down, I listen to the free Prince CD given away by yesterday’s Daily Mirror. It almost brings a tear to the eye. I remember cycling back along this very road with a cassette of ”Sign of the Times” in my [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: come, daily mirror, prince, priory park, southend-on-sea, world cup final | Leave a Comment »
Today, down to Leigh-on-Sea as I have not been down to see the parents since…ooh…beginning of April? I load Lily and Daisy into the Clio with their pastel pink bikes (with stabilizers) and enough clothes to last them until adulthood (so long as the do not grow another inch.) They both snooze in the back [...]
Filed under: family holidays, lily & daisy | Tagged: benfleet, germany, hitsuji, leigh-on-sea, uruguay | Leave a Comment »
Phew it’s hot and I’m here strapped to my dominatrix…a.k.a. my Apple Mac, writing a series of in-depth articles on Burgundy. I reluctantly forego a Spanish tasting in London. An important part of the job in balancing tasting with the nitty-gritty task of composing articles that are more than just a series of ho-hum tasting [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: fifi-forget-me-not, lily and daisy, writing | Leave a Comment »
A solid day working in the morning and then off to Berry Brothers & Rudd offices for an intimate vertical of Clos Blanc de Vougeot from Domaine de la Vougeraie. Upstairs in their offices we taste through ten vintages from 1999 to 2008 tutored by the ever erudite Jasper Morris, who once was the solitary [...]
Filed under: burgundy, london tastings | Tagged: 1919, berry brothers, clos blanc de vougeot, domaine vougeraie | Leave a Comment »
Today: Slovenia! People assume that I taste First Growths and Petrus 24/7. Well, maybe 23/7. But much of the time is spent seeking out new countries hitherto unexplored by my inquisitive palate and chancing upon an exciting new grape variety or producer is just as satisfying as writing about iconic wines and/or ancient vintages. The [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, london tastings | Tagged: pape clement, rebula, robert gorjak, slovenia, uniqlo, zelen | Leave a Comment »
