What Was Your Most Recent Bottle of Wine?

[Nick Armstrong]

By which time it's perfect for making vinaigrette.

Mais non mais non... it's pretty robust.

And for Messrs hinton and pee... Moderation is the motto at Ch. Cali



Well, usually... (Just having the last glass of a bottle opened on Tuesday. Delicious still.)

[ahinton]

And for Messrs hinton and pee... Moderation is the motto at Ch. Cali

I cannot speak for Mr Pee but I would not personally have assumed otherwise!

[vinteuil]

There will be a shudder and a sigh and who knows what else from vinteuil, but the screw cap is a boon... it means a small glass can be taken when required with food, and the bottle can last a week

... o, i think screw-caps are fine!

We use vacuvins here - so you can have several bottles on the go at once, take a glass or two when wanted, re-vacuvin the bottle, and it'll keep for days.

Trying to keep to half bott per person per day at the moment. But high days and holidays of course can be an exception..

[Thropplenoggin]

... o, i think screw-caps are fine!

We use vacuvins here - so you can have several bottles on the go at once, take a glass or two when wanted, re-vacuvin the bottle, and it'll keep for days.

Trying to keep to half bott per person per day at the moment. But high days and holidays of course can be an exception..

France encourages one to be bibulous.

Something tells me you're a man with a cellar with the odd vintage bottle of Cheval Blanc and Château d'Yquem gathering dust for a special occasion, Vinteuil.

"The finest wines available to humanity..."

Am I right or am I right?

[Richard Tarleton]

It would be a shame if the demand for cork ever diminished - fortunately it doesn't seem to be doing so. One of the most precious anthropogenic ecosystems in Europe - cork-oak savannah, black pigs grazing on the acorns to produce the world's finest ham, azure-winged magpies flitting among the trees, snake-eating short-toed eagles floating overhead, last stronghold of the Iberian lynx and Spanish Imperial eagle....the by-products of cork production are immeasurably precious.

[Nick Armstrong]

... o, i think screw-caps are fine!

We use vacuvins here - so you can have several bottles on the go at once, take a glass or two when wanted, re-vacuvin the bottle, and it'll keep for days.

Yes, vacuvin facilities are available here too

[vinteuil]

Something tells me you're a man with a cellar with the odd vintage bottle of Cheval Blanc and Château d'Yquem gathering dust for a special occasion, Vinteuil.

... sadly only two half-bottles of ch d' yquem left - and they're pretty young (1995) so will have to wait a bit. And no cheval-blanc at all (tho' there are various nice bottles of left-bank clarets quietly "gathering dust for a special occasion" as you accurately put it )...

Yes, it was France that encouraged the bibulousness - bibulosity? - but I suspect the tendency was there already. Will have to check whether Calabash's drinking habits were accentuated by his French episode

[Keraulophone]

...sadly only two half-bottles of Ch d'Yquem left and they're pretty young (1995) so will have to wait a bit.

Thought the 1997 (a few more halves left!) was drinking very nicely atm, so you could carpe diem, if a significant one came up, notwithstanding the wine's extreme ageability. R Parker describes both these as 'accessible' now, but sends us back all the way to 1990 for one that's 'ready' (v.fine, but £320/bt in UK!).

[Thropplenoggin]

... sadly only two half-bottles of ch d' yquem left - and they're pretty young (1995) so will have to wait a bit. And no cheval-blanc at all (tho' there are various nice bottles of left-bank clarets quietly "gathering dust for a special occasion" as you accurately put it )...

Yes, it was France that encouraged the bibulousness - bibulosity? - but I suspect the tendency was there already. Will have to check whether Calabash's drinking habits were accentuated by his French episode

My caviste had some Château d'Yquem in last time I called: a '96, I believe. I'm not such if this was an especially good year, but the price made me wince all the same. I quickly moved him along to the 15 euro shelves. A wealthy former colleague of Mrs. T, whom we knew socially, upon relocating to the US, left us an astonishing bottle of Sauternes before he left - it made the perfect partner to foie gras one Yuletide feast. He also left me some wonderful 'sipping' tequilas and vieux rhum, including a bottle of Ron Zacapa Centenario XO - Christmas came early that year.

[Nick Armstrong]

Will have to check whether Calabash's drinking habits were accentuated by his French episode

Not so much accentuated as learnt. I didn't grow up in a 'wine with meals' family (ça va sans dire, we're talking the Midlands in the 70s ).

I recall the first ever trip to Paris with a schoolmate during the summer between the two years of 6th form: we had a picnic in the Tuileries and shared a bottle of wine - I vividly remember that consuming 37.5cl of red at lunchtime seemed the height of hedonistic self-abandon

Then my year out was spent living with a rather classy branch of the family near the Invalides in the 7th, there was always a litre of the 'house' red (delicious - chosen by 'Monsieur' and bought en gros from the grower, and bottled at home) on the go at meals - the joys of Saturday lunch (filet de boeuf & frites & more than a little of the red... with more to accompany a virtually-liquid Camembert and fresh pains de 400g) imprinted themselves on the adolescent Calibrain, and remain indelible today

[Barbirollians]

1996 Yquem is very good .

2001 is meant to be awesome. The prices reflect this.

[Thropplenoggin]

When Vinteuil eventually deigns to unbolt the cellar door at Chez Bibulous to allow Thropplenoggin's palate to experience the florid joys of the grape - for deign he must, eventually - I trust he will select a dust-opaque bottle commensurate with the occasion.



Well, he surely knows that Thopp-du-Noggin is no 'Lambrini girl', so it'll probably be a bottle of Blue Nun. 2012 is drinking very nicely just now.



Of course, Calibosh will be there, having popped over in the Maserati (natch), a couple of screwtop bottles from Waitrose in hand. At which point, Vinteuil will unleash the hounds.

[amateur51]

Not so much accentuated as learnt. I didn't grow up in a 'wine with meals' family (ça va sans dire, we're talking the Midlands in the 70s ).

I recall the first ever trip to Paris with a schoolmate during the summer between the two years of 6th form: we had a picnic in the Tuileries and shared a bottle of wine - I vividly remember that consuming 37.5cl of red at lunchtime seemed the height of hedonistic self-abandon

Then my year out was spent living with a rather classy branch of the family near the Invalides in the 7th, there was always a litre of the 'house' red (delicious - chosen by 'Monsieur' and bought en gros from the grower, and bottled at home) on the go at meals - the joys of Saturday lunch (filet de boeuf & frites & more than a little of the red... with more to accompany a virtually-liquid Camembert and fresh pains de 400g) imprinted themselves on the adolescent Calibrain, and remain indelible today

It all sounds blissful, Caliban

[Nick Armstrong]

When Vinteuil eventually deigns to unbolt the cellar door at Chez Bibulous to allow Thropplenoggin's palate to experience the florid joys of the grape - for deign he must, eventually - I trust he will select a dust-opaque bottle commensurate with the occasion.



Well, he surely knows that Thopp-du-Noggin is no 'Lambrini girl', so it'll probably be a bottle of Blue Nun. 2012 is drinking very nicely just now.



Of course, Calibosh will be there, having popped over in the Maserati (natch), a couple of screwtop bottles from Waitrose in hand. At which point, Vinteuil will unleash the hounds.

I'm past attempting to dismantle 2Gongs's 'Maserati myth'... Let it stand. I once had a Lancia. Close enough....

[amateur51]

I'm past attempting to dismantle 2Gongs's 'Maserati myth'... Let it stand. I once had a Lancia. Close enough....

Did you ever have a Citroen DS? There was a Maserati version of that, even closer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_SM