Last Saturday was the first anniversary of a very dramatic moment in my life. Probably not as earth-shattering as TAbbott ever saying something worthwhile, not to mention believable. Definitely not as staggering as Yoda losing his power to split infinitives. But on Saturday, July 30th 2011 at about 7pm, my smug world as I lived it came to a crashing…
Category: Wine
Mammoth problems in the high Sierra
Two trips to the Sierra Nevadas fifteen years apart prove that the core message expressed in Split Enz’s refrain “history never repeats” is a load of crap. The Sierra last millenium One January, in the fag-end years of the last century, then-partner Michelle, and long-time mate Ding and I left the fleshpots of Las Vegas and set a course for San Francisco.…
Beaujolais Cru Wines
A few weeks ago I posted a Beaujolais day trip, exploring the 12 appellations (wine producing regions) making up the overall Beaujolais “brand”. Following is a brief summary and tasting notes, in alphabetical order, of the ten Beaujolais Cru (grand) appellations that I suggest that all lovers of wine should investigate. Despite their basis on the “humble” Gamay grape, these…
Beaujolais & penne Alfredo
My experience of Beaujolais wine was, for a long time, restricted to the cheap, fruity low-alcohol plonk in the floral-labelled bottle marketed by Georges Dubœuf. The stuff we naïvely labelled “Beaujo” and would lug to barbies and student pissups as a ‘sophisticated’ alternative to a sixpack of stubbies. Geez, those were the days. Over the years I focused my attention on the…