Newsletter No. 27:
29th November 2006
|
|
Change of Plan; A Postponement
|
|
It appears that, in planning our London tasting, we
managed to settle on a day that is almost universally
booked up for Bowes Wine clients. We have therefore
decided to postpone this event until the New Year.
Our London tasting will therefore be held at the
same venue – the Stationers’ Hall –
on 23rd January. I hope that, at that
time, potential tasters will a) have a post-festive
dearth of social commitments and be clamouring for
worthwhile after-work activities and b) be back off
the wagon following a reasonable gap for the liver to
recover from the rigours of crimbo and the New Year.
I will send ‘round a reminder nearer the time,
but please book in when you have a clear view of your
2007 desk diary. We intend to show the same wines,
along with any additions I think worth bringing
along.
|
|
New Drinking Wines
More a gentle massaging than wholesale alteration. We
have added some fantastic replacements for wines that
have sold through.
»
Click here for
our list of Winter Drinking Wines
|
|
Burgundy Trip
I am off to Pinotphile
nirvana in a fortnight and will be tasting the 2005 vintage.
Reports thus far speak of delicious, forward white
wines and thunderously fine, long-lasting reds. I am
planning visits to favourite restaurants, too (all
work and no play making Jack a dull boy, as they
say). A full report, including photos will follow
and, of course, an offer thereafter. Keep
‘em peeled!
|
|
Christmas Gifts (Or a Little Self-Indulgence!)
We have been quietly amassing a small collection of
interesting, wine-related glassware, including a
number of antique items. These are being placed on
the website and can be delivered to a mainland UK
address in time for Christmas if required.
|
|
An E.P.B.M. mounted cut glass claret jug
|
|
I am finding it very hard to part with some of these,
but Château Bowes only has so many flat
surfaces for storing/displaying the stuff.
» Click here for
the full range of antique glassware and wine
accessories available
|
|
In addition to the glassware, we are continuing to
offer smoked salmon and sea trout from the Isle of
North Uist. Bereft of
trees as they are, they smoke their fish using peat.
This gives it a rich, really smoky character, with
aromas not unlike those found in the Islay malt whiskies (for which
the fish makes a very fine accompaniment, by the
way). The fish themselves are quite different to the
lardy, pellet-gutted examples grown in the still
waters of the sea lochs. These are reared in cages in
the full flow of onshore currents, forcing them to
swim continually. This results in firm musculature, a
denser texture and a lack of the greasiness one finds
in the cheaper stuff. Okay, this isn’t cheap,
but should be, as ever it was, a treat and, as such,
worth spending some cash on.
» Email
us if you would like more information or
prices
|
|
Wine of the
Week
What could it be but a couple of bottles of 1989 La
Tâche: the
exceptionally kind provision of a Hong Kong-based
client who not only invited me to a splendid
barbecue, but also wined me lavishly (the evening
also included 1981 Grange Hermitage).
To my lasting regret, I have misplaced my tasting
note, hurriedly scribbled at the time, but the memory
lives on quite clearly.
As befits fine Pinot, the ’89 La Tâche was really quite
pale, but the sort of beautiful colour one only finds
in wine and nowhere else. Aromatically, the wine gave
up staggering complexity. How does “the
domaine” (as it is often referred to) wheedle
so much fascination from a bunch of grapes? Nuts and
blackcurrants; black cherry and bonfire smoke.
In the mouth, a surprise. Knowing how forward so many
‘89s are, whether from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the
Rhône or any number
of other European wine regions, I was amazed to find
this still firm, full of youthful intensity; sitting
bolt upright and staring one in the eye, as it were.
This is one extraordinary wine, with 20 years of life
left in it. I was overwhelmed by the kindness of my
host.
N.B. The ’81 Grange Hermitage (as it was then
known; now simply Grange) was fully mature, lush and
full; brambly and quite delicious. No hurry here
either!
|
|
