A Wine Drinker's Diary
Martin FieldQuotes "The unthinkable in pursuit of the undrinkable." Martin Field, on the filthy rich who bid ridiculously high sums for ancient wines at auction. (Apologies to Oscar Wilde.) A Wine drinker's diary I thought everyone was hibernating during the Southern Hemisphere winter - like me. But a sudden rush of invites got me out of the cave to taste a few offerings. Here are some highlights from the last week and a half. Lord mayoral aspirants argued the toss at a Melbourne Press Club breakfast at the Grand Hyatt. I'd have stayed in bed if I'd known there was nothing to drink except coffee and fruit juice. Adam Wynn presented his Mountadam range matched with superb Chinese food at Fortuna Village. I particularly liked his '98 Mountadam Chardonnay - unobtrusive barrel-ferment (Troncais oak) characters supporting a seamless and elegant fruit structure and clean acid at the finish.
At the Viticultural Society of Victoria we tried a selection of masked wines over lunch. Standout was the Guigal Cote-Rotie (Cotes Brune et Blonde) 1990. A powerful wine showing development appropriate to its age, a faint tarry edge on the nose and a beautiful balance of secondary fruit and tannin on the palate. Peter and Margaret Lehmann presented a vertical tasting of their Stonewell Barossa Shiraz at Vue de Monde, the vintages from 1987 to 1996. The older wines still showed fruit richness and firm tannins. My pick was the latest, the '96, a fuller style of ripe fruit, redolent of chocolate and roasting coffee beans. Over lunch at Circa, Paolo Battegazzore poured the new Danzante range from Luce della Vite in Tuscany. Luce being "a joint venture between the Robert Mondavi family of Napa Valley and the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi family of Tuscany." I enjoyed the Danzante Sangiovese IGT Delle Marche. Mid black cherry in colour, youthful and fruit driven, dry and firm at the finish. Wine etiquette "Dear Editor, Whenever we order champagne at a restaurant my husband usually wrenches the bottle and glass out of the sommelier's hands and pours the bubbly like he would a beer. In other words he holds the glass at a 45-degree angle and trickles the wine down the inside. His excuse is that it's quicker (he's known for his raging thirst) and maintains the fizz in the wine longer. This is embarrassing to me. Is he right? What can I do?" From "Sober" of North Fitzroy. Well Ms Sober, my heart goes out to your husband - he knows what he wants and how to get it. Damn snooty wine waiters always take an age to serve a decent glass of bubbly. They hold the bottle about a foot above the glass and pour vertically, naturally creating a great deal of froth whilst flattening the wine. Nobody is surprised when it takes three or four goes to revisit each glass on the table before the wine reaches a consumable level. If you're embarrassed by your husband's style excuse yourself from the table while he performs and then stick to still white wine. Meanwhile could you please send me his phone number, I'd like to have a drink with him and swap tips on technique. Wine Media moves Until his recent and untimely death, winewriter Tony Hitchin wrote a long-running wine column in the Sunday Herald Sun. The column has since been taken over by Stuart Gregor of Liquidideas. Wine myths My thanks to a recent discussion on newsgroup alt.food.wine re wine myths:
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___________________________________________________________________ An occasional commentary on the world of trivia, wine and alcohol distributed free of charge to wine enthusiasts, wine media and the food and drinks industry. Letters and input welcome - no payment entered into. Freelancer Martin Field has written about wine since 1978. See past Articles in the Alsop Review. Permission to quote is freely given as long as acknowledgment is made. No responsibility is taken for the content of linked sites. Copyright ©Martin Field 2001. Melbourne, Australia. ____________________________________________________________________
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