Truncated notes
could of course be the alternate name for this blog. . . Sipped over a long lunch, the first two wines were known and the final two were tasted blind.Pommery Louise 1999. Oh Louise, how I wanted to like you more, with your long thin neck and creased mi...
Orange blossom water
For a wine obsessive who is happy to pay increasing amounts for what ultimately are very small differences, it should be no surprise that these two examples of orange blossom water, though both from Lebanon, are not the same.The bottle on the left, rea...
A cup of wine?
A glass stem attached to a teacup with superglue??http://feeds.feedburner.com/WinoSapien
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The extraordinary scent of chipotle
Grown and smoke dried in Mexico these strange jalapenos have made their way to Australia to be encased in plastic. They look crinkled and old, the seeds rattle inside and the flesh feels like an old boot or a dried and hardened leaf. They look and feel...
Candied orange
I started the day with simple objectives. A shopping list with 5 ingredients. . . Chilli (16 and red), lamb racks (Frenched, cap off, 6), a pomegranate (still to be obtained), prawns (10) and candied citrus peel (100g). . . Somehow and somewhere I spot...
Scorpo Aubaine Chardonnay 2009
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. Chardonnay. 13.5%. Diam. Approx $A33The wrap around label, complete with vulture dressed as super hero, has this to say of the name: Aubaine is an historic Burgundian synonym for Chardonnay. It means amongst o...
Tamar Ridge Kayena Reserve 2007
Tamar, Northern Tasmania, Australia. Pinot noir. 14%. Screwcap. Approx $A60.After a string of hot days, a relatively mild 31.2 (88 degrees F) and time to open something red. . . the pleasure and form were enhanced by an hour of tactical refrigeration.A...
Baba ghanoush
I've been thinking and trying to make baba ghanoush since tasting a deliciously smoky and creamy version last year at the Prophet.This attempt is closest I've come. . .Take one aubergine and pierce 6-7 times with a fork and placed on a stove hob and ch...
The middle?
We started in 2010 and after 18 months perhaps we are at the middle. Appropriately knights, pawns and bishops are doing most of the fighting and thankfully I have not (yet) had to mutter zugswang.http://feeds.feedburner.com/WinoSapien
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Snake + Herring High and Dry Riesling 2011
Porongurup, Great Southern, Western Australia. Riesling. 12%. Screwcap. Approx $A29.A beautiful label and evocative name, this particular wine reminds me most of the Cherubino Riesling. Coming from the same patch of earth, it has a similar aching inten...
An unkindness that is not forgiven
My children have been protesting at the unfairness of collective nouns. Why is it, they complain, that a group of Ravens should be called an unkindness?Unrelated image: Tonight's bottle. . . Do you prefer a knot or a bed of snakes? And should it be a g...
Riesling?
A line to vapour cutting through a warm sky.Image: ? A fresh Great Southern Riesling.http://feeds.feedburner.com/WinoSapien
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