Mount Mary Quintet 2002
An April Sunflower. The image, five days old and taken before the arrival of the Autumn rain. The tasting notes were written last night. I keep adding more words and then stripping them away.Before the Mount Mary a humble and widely available Char...
Domaine du Collier La Charpentrie 2008
I've been sniffing for most of the night and I'm still not sure that I've found the correct set of words. . . It does smell like a Loire white. It's clean but at same time there is something damp and microbial. . . it smells a little like my wine cabin...
Hudelot Noellat Bourgogne 2009
The greatest pleasure is at the start. Fresh, bright and blemish free; phloem bundles, ginger spice and cherries. It smells and feels slippery and light. Red satin. A hint of metal, meat and boiled sweets with a sappy and stalk like finish. Convincing ...
Oakridge 864 Chardonnay 2010
A second encounter with something remarkably beautiful, intense and complete. . . Perhaps I am being too hasty in wanting to leave the comfort of my well worn furrow. . . Flint and grilled peach on the nose, there is little hint of what is to follow. S...
A pig in new mud
is how I feel at the moment. My case of mystery bottles, known unknowns arrived today. . . if it is possible for bottles to look delicious, then these do. . . The Burgundies are ruby red when held to autumn sun and the foils on the Loire whites seducti...
Peanut butter ice cream
Peanut butter ice creamA partial success. The flavours were fine, but I wonder if I over whipped this, it tasted too clumped and granular, though my children were more generous and forgiving. 300mls of full cream milk 300mls of cream 2 egg yo...
Ch. La Patache 1995
Pomerol, Bordeaux, France. Merlot. 12.5%. Cork. Source: Cellar.A very modest bottle which I had purchased long ago, before my wine obsession had fungated. The store I bought it from is no more, gobbled up by one of the retail behemoths. It's been gathe...
Dawson & James Chardonny 2010
Derwent Valley, SE Tasmania, Australia. Chardonnay. 12%. Screwcap. Approx $A45A new wine from a pair of old hands.Though the White Burgundy book of tricks has been well used, this manages to avoid caricature and excess; it remains tight and brisk with ...
Chocolate and red wine
Though I'm slightly partial to chocolate with a sticky fortified, I remain mostly unconvinced about red wine and chocolate. . . The pictured granita is based on a Heston Blumenthal recipe, the only modification being that I used a food processor to pu...
Cullen Diana Madeline 2001
Margaret River, Western Australia. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot. 14%. Cork. Source: Cellar.A family dinner with a roasted beef fillet and a creamy mustard sauce.The cork was tight and a third stained, it divided on exit, but eventually both parts were ex...
Children
Memorial by Alice Oswald juxtaposes images of comfort and familiarity with bloodshed and death. It's disturbing, unsettling and yet extraordinarily beautiful.The following stanza, in isolation, a meditation on childhood; follows and contrasts one in wh...
