Food & Drink The Hangar Wine Thread! (posts moved from various locations)

[tesla1962]

In Bordeaux on the weekend, weather was cold but brilliant and no one to be seen in the Medoc, Pomerol and around Saint Emilion. Was lucky enough to drink some pretty decent wines from the Medoc, with price tags way outside my league, including the Pauillac grand cru Magnum below.

 

[Beerfish]

Who corked the wine?! What would that bottle be worth tesla1962?

 

[tesla1962]

Who corked the wine?! What would that bottle be worth tesla1962?

The wine wasn't corked Beerfish, in that there was no cork taint. It was just a little fragile when the host opened it. That was a pretty good vintage from them and 1.5L so worth around $600. I snuck over to Bordeuax to catch up with a good mate from aust who had been judging wine in Germany. He has a good friend in Bordeaux, whose family owns one of the big oak factories in the Medoc, and we spent most of the weekend with him. By the time I caught up with them around 10pm on Friday night in one of the bars in Bordeaux (one that looked like a 35+ pick up joint for the Bordeaux burgeoisie) I had missed the 2004 mouton de rothschild, which was opened earlier that night and would be worth something north of 1000 euros. in between dinners and lunches and bars in Bordeaux, we snuck out to check out the vineyards, which is what i was most interested in, and saw a lot of the vines that belong to 1st classification wineries. So the pics are from chateau marguax, chateau lafite, petrus, mouton de rothschild etc. The oak guy was fiercely parochial about medoc - when i asked him what he liked out of pomerol he said medoc! when i asked what he liked out of saint emilion he said medoc! and on it went. He laughed when we mentioned sauternes. in other news a cold mass of air from eastern europe has descended on sussex and it will be all white in sussex this morning and probably plunge the place into utter chaos.

 

[Beerfish]

Was just thinking it's amazing how many waiters baulk at a wine bottle with a cork in it these days. Especially when the waitperson is in their 20's or younger. Usually they plonk down a corkscrew and expect you to do it yourself yet still have the cheek to charge corkage. Now I know corkage is really just a tax for not ordering off their wine menu but ffs, call it that then. If you offer BYO but charge corkage then the least you can do is make sure your staff know how to use a corkscrew or make sure there's an idiot proof one in the place. /rant

 

[tesla1962]

Was just thinking it's amazing how many waiters baulk at a wine bottle with a cork in it these days. Especially when the waitperson is in their 20's or younger. Usually they plonk down a corkscrew and expect you to do it yourself yet still have the cheek to charge corkage. Now I know corkage is really just a tax for not ordering off their wine menu but ffs, call it that then. If you offer BYO but charge corkage then the least you can do is make sure your staff know how to use a corkscrew or make sure there's an idiot proof one in the place. /rant

IMO they should also be able to identify cork taint, at least in its extreme forms

 

[DERO]

That is one serious mass of cold air tesla1962 !

 

[tesla1962]

That is one serious mass of cold air tesla1962 !

I went out yesterday morning at 6 am and there was no ice on my car windscreen despite it being -2, so it is also dry.

A lot of snow about today and I am worried about getting home when it starts to get slushy and ice up the next few days are not looking good.

Pretty as hell but cold too

This is the old church just outside my office this morning

it is seriously going to descend into chaos in the next few hours

 

[DERO]

Stay safe!

 

[Doss]

I miss Chilean and Argentinian tinto.

 

[tesla1962]

Got back on Friday night (Sat morning Aust. time) from touring Champagne with my MSc students to the superb news about the 12 point win in round one.

Some snaps from Champagne including the UNESCO listed chalk cellars/caves under Epernay. Also, a mate working at Moet got me into a tasting in the same room that Napoleon used to drink Champagne in when he was kicking around.

 

[Beerfish]

You lucky bastard!

 

[tesla1962]

You lucky bastard!

T'was very cold and I was as sick as a dog - but I had to keep my commitment to the students

 

[DERO]

Fantastic!

I am intrigued by the troglodyte caves in France.

 

[tesla1962]

Fantastic!

I am intrigued by the troglodyte caves in France.

yeah, me too DERO - i am taking my daughter through the Loire Valley in July and I will check them out

 

[DERO]

I have travelled through the Loire. We hired a car from Paris and only had a few days but loved every minute!

Every village had its “thing”.

Saumur, Angers, Chinon, Amboise... loved it and wished we had two weeks!

 

[DERO]

Highlight was paying 90 euros to stay in the Chateau de montriou near Angers. The family that owned it had kept it in the family for 500 years! They were quite old and starting to struggle with the upkeep...
Lovely people but the husband despite knowing how to speak enhlish (he has worked for many years as an engineer where he apparently had to speak English) refused to speak it.
Imagine Two Aussie bogans drinking cognac with the owners in a lounge room filled with 300 year old oil paintings and other ancient paraphernalia trying to speak French and failing dismally. Despite the rumours of the French being unfriendly, I found them to be friendly and quite nice.

 

[tesla1962]

Highlight was paying 90 euros to stay in the Chateau de montriou near Angers. The family that owned it had kept it in the family for 500 years! They were quite old and starting to struggle with the upkeep...
Lovely people but the husband despite knowing how to speak enhlish (he has worked for many years as an engineer where he apparently had to speak English) refused to speak it.
Imagine Two Aussie bogans drinking cognac with the owners in a lounge room filled with 300 year old oil paintings and other ancient paraphernalia trying to speak French and failing dismally. Despite the rumours of the French being unfriendly, I found them to be friendly and quite nice.

The French are fine. Just make sure to preface any conversation with Je suis Australien so you are not assumed to be English (and no jokes about Agincourt).

 

[Lore]

The French are fine. Just make sure to preface any conversation with Je suis Australien so you are assumed to be English (and no jokes about Agincourt).

I've heard that before, but didn't realise it was as much of a thing as it seems to be. Like I've heard they don't like to speak English if they think you're from England, but if they know you're an Aussie they're much friendlier and more willing to attempt to speak English to you? Not exactly sure why that is, obviously there's a lot of rivalry between England and France but it seems to be part of the national culture...

 

[Howard Moon]

Have had friends from the USA staying with us this week, I was tasked with supplying wine for dinner last night. My brief was , red, bold, I want Australia in a glass.

I spent a week, I wanted it to be perfect.

Ended with 2 bottles, a 2013 Shiraz from McLaren Vale (serafino) and a 2010 Shiraz from the pyrenees (taltarni)

The McLaren Vale knocked his socks off! He loved it, Australia in a glass, bold but refined, velvety, perfect.

The next one was more subtle but hung around on the palette for ages. We had it with a dark chocolate cake from bubkas on Brunswick St, kicked it up about three gears!

In the end I think I won him over, he's keen to delve I to what we have to offer. Job done.

 

[Jade]

I miss Chilean and Argentinian tinto.

Sometimes I just want to punch you in the throat...

 

[citizen-erased]

Have had friends from the USA staying with us this week, I was tasked with supplying wine for dinner last night. My brief was , red, bold, I want Australia in a glass.

I spent a week, I wanted it to be perfect.

Ended with 2 bottles, a 2013 Shiraz from McLaren Vale (serafino) and a 2010 Shiraz from the pyrenees (taltarni)

The McLaren Vale knocked his socks off! He loved it, Australia in a glass, bold but refined, velvety, perfect.

The next one was more subtle but hung around on the palette for ages. We had it with a dark chocolate cake from bubkas on Brunswick St, kicked it up about three gears!

In the end I think I won him over, he's keen to delve I to what we have to offer. Job done.

Serafino are excellent. Not heard of taltarni.
2012 and 2013 in Barossa and MV have been my favourites years of late.

I love chocolate cake and wine. And cheese and wine. And steak and wine.
And wine and wine.

 

[citizen-erased]

The French are fine. Just make sure to preface any conversation with Je suis Australien so you are not assumed to be English (and no jokes about Agincourt).

i found them very accomodating. Esp in Bordeaux & St Emillion. Can't recommend this area enough.
Food, people, wine.
I want to live there.

 

[Howard Moon]

Serafino are excellent. Not heard of taltarni.
2012 and 2013 in Barossa and MV have been my favourites years of late.

I love chocolate cake and wine. And cheese and wine. And steak and wine.
And wine and wine.

I dunno, I tried to grab the McLaren Vale over the Barossa for him because the Barossa seem to be a full on mouth explosion whereas the McLaren are a little more refined, who knows maybe that's just my take on it but def 2013 a good vintage .

I was never really Into pairing food and until I went to scotland and did a scotch pairing thing. Since then I'm all for the cigar or the cheese or the dark choc of the cake, so much more fun (and adult

 

[citizen-erased]

I dunno, I tried to grab the McLaren Vale over the Barossa for him because the Barossa seem to be a full on mouth explosion whereas the McLaren are a little more refined, who knows maybe that's just my take on it but def 2013 a good vintage .

I was never really Into pairing food and until I went to scotland and did a scotch pairing thing. Since then I'm all for the cigar or the cheese or the dark choc of the cake, so much more fun (and adult

My top 3 aussie reds come out of MV. Certainly nothing wrong with the region, even if Barossa is lauded more.

 

[Beerfish]

My top 3 aussie reds come out of MV.

Go on..