Work through the morning and then in the afternoon the Martin family cooks their first roast dinner in their new home. It’s chicken, the failsafe option as we are still getting used to the AGA that seems hellbent on cooking everything within five minutes. Hey…there’s no rush man. The dinner is a success, in other [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: AGA, roast dinner, wold blass | Leave a Comment »
Into town with just Daisy, not Lily. Lily jumped on my head and I told her off and consequently she has disowned me forever. Still, it give me an opportunity to bond with my youngest daughter as we walk round the market. She starts moaning that she’s tired/dying after approximately 20 minutes. I get the [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: customer service, natwest, steak | Leave a Comment »
Up early to get down to La Mission Haut-Brion for nine and as usual I take the wrong turning off the Rocade. From there I drive up to Saint Emilion to visit the airport terminal that is Cheval Blanc, then over to Le Tertre-Roteboeuf, Bonalgue, Angelus and finally Chateau Ausone, where I share a sandwich [...]
Filed under: bordeaux | Tagged: alain vauthier, ausone, cheval blanc, tertre roteboeuf | Leave a Comment »
Wake up in my slum hotel and notice that the shower offers a dribble of tepid water at best. Anyway, there is no time to waste. It takes me an hour and a half to get to Chateau Margaux for nine prompt and a rendezvous with Paul Pontallier. I have an extremely tight schedule which [...]
Filed under: bordeaux | Tagged: bordeaux 2008, charles chevalier, lafite-rothschild, leoville las-cases, pulp | Leave a Comment »
Up at 6a.m. after too few z’s. At least it only takes 30 seconds to walk over to the Terminal, where I meet a few fellow chateau proprietors praying that the strike has not cancelled our flight. Result…the 7.15 to Merignac seems to be on schedule. I snooze en route, hurry out of the plane, [...]
Filed under: bordeaux | Tagged: jacques thienpont, le pin, petrus, tertre roteboeuf, vieux chateau certan | Leave a Comment »
Mental day. Up at 6.30, wash, shower, grab suitcase and…wait 30 minutes for a bloody non-existent bus. And when a bus does deign me with its presence, it is driven by yet another curmudgeonly driver with a severe attitude problem. Where do they drag these men from? The wrong side of bed each morning? RELATE? Anger [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, champagne, london tastings | Tagged: bordeaux 2008, bruno borie, ducru beaucaillou, moet et chandon, ugc | Leave a Comment »
Mentally busy this week. Today is the only day I have time to write, so I finish off more Bordeaux articles and set up last minute appointments for next week. The problem is that in Bordeaux, I guess you could say I carry a bit of weight (that’s reputation and mid-rift.) At most chateaux, the [...]
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I spend the morning cutting back the garden, a severe pruning to get it under control during the winter. Unfortunately my horticultural efforts are interrupted by Daisy vomiting all over herself indoors. Bugger. I have to strip off her sodden clothes and stand the tot in the bath to shower the puke from her matted [...]
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Into town to do some shopping. I manage to lose the wife somewhere in Laura Ashley and end up dragging my two moaning daughters to Sainsbury’s since they are threatening to collapse from dehydration. You would think we were treking across the Sahara instead of Guildford High Street. In the evening I try to cook [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: laura ashley, ocado | Leave a Comment »
A solid day at home working through a series of Bordeaux articles (Haut-Brion/La Mission back to 1978, Coutet back to 1943 and Gruaud Larose back to 1840.) I finally come to an agreement with my ex-landlady, which constitutes daylight bleedin’ robbery. I phone up Jacques Thienpont to arrange my visit to Le Pin next week. [...]
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