Tonight's tipple

Hey there again. Tonight's tipple is a lovely South Australian Merlot - Vashon Estate 2004. A delightfully smooth drop from a single vineyard - perfect with lamb chops. It was a special through a wine group who periodically phone with some terrific specials. I will, however, wander through my local independent bottle shops in search of bargains and different offerings.

Reading an interesting new book - "World Wine - The Imported Wine Handbook" by Angus Hughson. Now, despite the silly talk about wine - "cat pee on a gooseberry bush" to describe the nose of a wine, and references to individual tastings being "masculine" or "feminine" it is a useful volume. It is written in an easy to read style with good hints on appreciating wine - right down to an Aroma Wheel to help you describe what you smell and taste, to how to read labels of imported wines. It has given me some suggestions to follow up, eventhough most of the wines he describes are beyond my price point.

Thanks to anon for his comment - enjoy the Chilean wine. A friend of mine spent quite some time there enjoying the produce of the vine. Maybe, this could start me on an adventure beyond the many, many good Australian and New Zealand wines I enjoy.
Cheers

23 Things & Wine

Evening sweeties - finding the best way to deal with technology is with a little grape juice - fortified of course. It's one of the great passions of my life - wine. Just savouring the delights of a 2005 Angel White - a semillon, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay blend from Western Australia. It's produced by the fabulously named The Wine & Truffle Co. Mmmmmm. Each blog, I'll try to share with you some of the lovely wines - mostly Australian - I purchase and share with friends and family, of course. Certainly interested to hear from other interested enthusiastic buffs. Don't really go in for the "errr, I think it comes from the upper slopes of the hill and smells of sweaty saddles and tastes of rambunctious berries, stepped through by prunes and finishing with a burst of starshine" type of appreciation. Piffle, I splutter ... it's bloody good grapejuice so enjoy. Yes, I can taste the differences in wine, but I try not to get carried away unlike some of the winetasters' notes in some of my favourite wine mags - obtainable from the local library.

Anyhow, cheers.