St Hallett Old Block Shiraz

Three of us visited Craig's place last night. It was supposed to be night for board games, but since it had been a fair while since the last one, we had a bit of chat to get through. And the tour of his house. The tour ended with a visit to the wine fridge. Then we had to pore over the wine list and choose something.

Craig was fairly confident that the 1991 St Hallett Old Block shiraz (acquired at auction 6 years ago) would be past its best. That was just the excuse I needed to encourage him to choose it - no point waiting longer!

The cork was very soft, and less than half came out with the corkscrew. After some digging, the only option was to push the cork in, and to sieve and decant. The bottle was fairly free of lees, the wine was on the brickish side of red, and the scent was a cause for optimism. After decanting, we left it for about 30 mins.

The first tastes revealed a rather solid depth with central smoothness, although there were still some aromatics and a hint of acetic acid. But after it had warmed slightly in the glass, and perhaps with slightly recalibrated palates thanks to the Mersey Valley cheese, the tannic complexities began to reveal themselves, and worries about the wine being too old seemed to evaporate. No unripe peppery flavours here; it was just plums with a hint of barnyard. The only things I could have asked for more of would have been some touches of tobacco and a bit more length.

We concluded in the end that the wine may well have been better a few years ago, but it was definitely still on the delicious side of good last night.

Thanks Craig!

Two nice wines and Baguette

I don't have a very good way to record memorable wines. So let me note a couple here from the last couple of months before I forget them: 2008 Langmeil Orphan Bank and 2004 Reschke Bos.

And while I'm typing epicuriously, let me also note that two work friends and I had a great meal at Baguette this week. All three of us noted the complementary flavours of our dishes - the duck, the rabbit, and my pork belly, boudin noir, lentils de puy, and garlic snails. Can't wait to go back there again.

Wynns 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

I can only assume that a year away from Australia (with a particularly enjoyable focus on Bordeaux left bank!) has opened my palate to the delights of Cabernet Sauvignon. Previously, when tasting the more affordable Wynns wines, I wouldn't have hesitated to reach for the Shiraz, rather than the Cabernet or the more commonly found Cabernet Shiraz Merlot (with that famous red diagonal). Perhaps it's just the vintage, but on the Wynnsday release a couple of months ago of the 2007 range at my local, the Shiraz was about $15, and the Cabernet was $34. While there are occasional bargains, and people do have different tastes, there's usually some truth in "you get what you pay for". (Paul Keating said once that it was better to be an economic rationalist than an economic irrationalist!) I was tempted by a discount, and coming from Coonawarra one can expect greatness from the Cabernet Sauvignon.

I admit I wasn't ready for it. This wine was terrific, and I will be heading back to look for more. From the first sniff of the freshly opened bottle I was confident that I'd chosen well. No need for any breathing - the powerful fruity aroma with chocolatey oak depth was instantly attractive. The mouth feel was very smooth. Not too full bodied, just gentle and delicious, very fruit-driven. The pretentious writer might argue that a better wine (or perhaps one with more bottle age) would last longer on the back palate, and would have a fuller, more complex mouth feel. But I was too busy just enjoying the taste to think such things. It was certainly a good advertisement for Australian wine for our English guest - about to head off to New Zealand before going home.

Unfortunately, as I sit and try to remember enough to do justice to the wine, all I have to jog my memory is the still-mouthwatering scent from the empty bottle. Last night's storm made us contemplate the scented candle raffle prize that might be necessary in the event of a blackout. I have a slight reputation for finding such scents too strong. Now if we could only scent a candle with what's left in the wine bottle! What occasion can I save the next bottles for?

Willows 05 Cabernet Sauvignon and some older wines

Recently (about 6 weeks ago, so watch out for faulty memories) I opened some of the more affordable wines that I have been keeping for a while. In particular, a 2001 BVE Moculta Shiraz, a 2001 Peter Lehmann Shiraz, and a 2002 Church Block (I think). For much of the time I owned them, these wines lived in our laundry, which I like to think was about the most temperature-stable room in the house. And then for nearly 18 months they lived in guaranteed 15.4 degree humidity controlled commercial storage.

I would have to admit that these aren't wines that you buy to keep in the cellar. But having tasted some particularly scrumptious aged Barossa shiraz in the past, I have been quite happy to leave all sorts of wines sitting in their racks, hoping - or perhaps expecting - that they would all be getting better. You can tell there's a sad ending coming, can't you. And you're right, at least in part. The Moculta was well and truly gone. I don't want to say too many bad things about it, because I think it's a great value wine: I'll buy it again for sure. But I'll drink it sooner rather than later. More happily, though, I want to note that the PL Shiraz and Church Block (yes I know it's McLaren Vale, not Barossa) were still quite good. I can't say categorically that they were better than in their infancy: they were probably a bit thinner with less fruit, but smoother and more integrated. I won't leave wines like these that long again, I don't think, but two out of three isn't too bad, I suppose.

Now it just so happens that I'm on a work trip to Canberra, and I fortuitously ended up at a table for one in one of my favourite steak restaurants, the Charcoal Grill. Let me just mention that if you normally ask for your steak "medium rare", you should consider ordering a "medium" at this boutique establishment. Anyway, to the wines: they do have a few wines by the glass, but none particularly captured my imagination. I can't remember (I know what you're thinking) ever having ordered a bottle when dining alone before, but at a place like this, it's worth doing things properly. I normally choose shiraz with beef, but it was clear that this was a cabernet sauvignon house. I selected a Willows 2005, and even with the restaurant markup, am quite satisfied with the value. I have two or three bottles of 2005 Willows at home, including a Bonesetter and a shiraz magnum, that I bought at the cellar door with Jim once. I probably tasted the cabernet, but didn't buy it. Well I'm pleased to report that it was a good choice. The first sniff had me a little worried, with a hint of acetone, but that seemed to disappear by the taste test. And it opened up well during the wait for, and course of, my meal. The eucalyptus flavours promised on the label weren't as evident as the mint, and we could argue about whether there was too much acid imbalance, but the palate had quite a good length with a delicious oaky finish with some complex textures. I've saved most of the bottle for future consumption, so I might be able to offer more comments later.

Mothers Milk

First Drop wines is a fairly new Barossa "virtual" winery. The comic-style label for 2007 Mother's Milk caught my eye at The Wine Emporium the other day, and I decided that it was worth a try. James Halliday gave it 4.5 stars, and I can see why. It's definitely fruit driven: soft and smooth, but with a medium body, and that all important cigar complexity. The length is quite good too. Dangerously easy to drink! I'll have to try a side-by-side tasting against the 2007 Jim's Hill...

Shiraz Expo

You'll remember that I discovered Pol Gessner champagne was available at Dan Murphy's. Given that Hamilton is a little out of the way, you might be wondering how I found out. Well, there's a good answer: I was attending the 2009 Shiraz Expo there back in early May.

I thought it would be good to record for posterity some of the 30-odd Shirazes that I tasted there, and what I thought of some of them. First of all, let me mention the expensive ones, in no particular order:

• Penfolds Grange (2004) ($570) - exceptionally full bodied, cigar/tobacco tastes; very long.
  
• Kays Amery Block - deep fruity liquorice, no smoke/pepper.
  
• Elderton Command - powerful, but limited back palate length.
  
• Grant Burge Meshach - smooth, full bodied spice.
  
• Penfolds St Henri (2001) - dry, low tannin, not particularly fruity. I don't get this wine.
  
• Penfolds RWT - Full bodied to chewy! smooth with fruit/tannin balance, not too spicy.
  
• Saltram No. 1. All spice, where's the fruit gone?
  
• Wolf Blass Platinum - very long.
  
• BVE E&E Black Pepper - Nice complexity, again not too spicy
  
• Eileen Hardy - too light... no body.
  
• Henschke Mt Edelstone Good long tobacco & spices.
  
• St Hallett Old Block - Nice smoky/leathery flavours with good mouth filling body.
• Annies Lane Coppertrail. Light bodied but smooth.
  

Some of the under-$40 ones that I'd like to taste again:

• Henschke Keyneton Estate - balanced & fruity.
• Wolf Blass Grey Label - Chocolate & vanilla hints, medium body, with good length.
• BVE Ebenezer - Smooth, balanced, medium bodied peppery, with front palate length only.
• Leasingham Bin 61 - Light bodied.
• Brokenwood - Syrupy plums with good length and balance.
  
• St Hallett Blackwell - Smoky and smooth, medium body.
• Glaetzer The Bishop - Smooth with well-integrated oak, quite a good length.

Some cheaper (under $20) ones that are probably good value, but hard for me to judge effectively with the other competition.

• Charles Cimicky The Trumps - a medium-weight peppery Barossa shiraz.
• Richmond Grove Barossa
• Thorn Clark Sandpiper
  

 I only tried a couple of cheaper WA wines (Vasse Felix and Cape Mentelle). While I like Cabernets from that side of the country, particularly Margaret River, on this occasion the Shiraz didn't rate.

I look forward to attending another Dan Murphy Shiraz Expo. The value for money was excellent (it was free!), and it was great to find a place with such a big variety of wines. I just need to get to the Wine Emporium in the valley now to compare.

Spring and Champagne, Bordeaux, Clare, Yarra

There's a couple of things to talk about. I'm getting frustrated trying to get the latest spring/hibernate/jpa libraries to work together to do the whole hbm2ddl business. It seems to delete the tables for my entities, instead of creating them. I'll try the Spring milestone libraries next instead of the MyEclipse bundled 2.5 ones.

But probably more importantly, I wanted to let you know about some Champagne. Now Joanna will tell you that I'm really not a Champagne person. In fact I'd rather have a Rockford Basket Press than the (sparkling) Black Shiraz that seems more popular. When we have méthode champenoise sparkling whites here in Australia, I struggle to find much in them. But I do remember about 10 years ago my Auntie Barbara shared a Pol Gessner with us, and it was a revelation: a yeasty, almost nutty flavour with a very creamy smooth bead. Now the memory may have aged well, and it was a pleasant dinner, so I may be raving a little too much about it. But I've always thought that I'd buy some more if I saw some. And now I've discovered where I can get it - it's exclusively imported by Dan Murphy. They're not local, but my local Vintage Cellars people advised me to try a Dumangin Vintage 2000 or a Gimonnet Brut (both premier cru grand classe) which were only slightly out of my price range. But a birthday and good loyalty-scheme-points seemed like a reasonable excuse, so I indulged.

We tried the Dumangin the other night, at our local restaurant "Plum" for a late birthday celebration. The food was pretty good - my pork belly (no, the one on the plate!) was not as succulent as I might have hoped - but the champagne did take me back. I'm not quite sure that the flavour was as strong in the nutty line. Perhaps "biscuity" as the salespeople suggested was a more accurate description. Maybe I need to look for blanc de noirs with more pinot. But the creamy yeast was there, and perhaps that made it worthwhile.

We also shared a 2005 Chateau d'Aurilhac from the Haut Médoc in Bordeaux. It was my first Bordeaux for a while, and we saw the smooth subtleties, complexities, and some length. I find it's chiefly the subtlety that distinguishes these French wines from the "blockbuster" Australian ones. The wine complemented my pork, and by all accounts the beef and duck too, so I'm quite happy with that one. There's another bottle waiting for the next occasion. (Another positive review)

A few days later, we had another family meal with a lamb stew, and so another Cabernet-based wine was called for. I decided to try a contrasting Clare Valley Kilikanoon Blocks Road Cabernet Sauvignon. While there was still smoothness, the wine was certainly very fruit-driven and had much stronger flavour than the Bordeaux. I'm not sure that the violets (as advertised on the label) were there, but I admit I'm not particularly familiar with the scent anyway. The berries were there, with a very slight hint of liquorice. The length was good, but not exceptional. With various driving commitments to think of, we spread the drinking pleasure over two nights. The vacu-vin seems to have preserved the quality nicely.

And just to make you think that my life really is centred on wine (and to save me from trying to remember details for another post), I'll also mention that we matched a roast pork with a Yarra Valley Sticks Pinot Noir. Now I'm not in the Sideways class of pinot fans, but Sticks, for about $20, seems to provide a reliable if not earth-shattering one. There's a slight tannic savour in there that distinguishes it from the cheap strawberry-cordial flavours of some others. In summer, it would definitely need cooling, but we found that on our 5°-25° Brisbane winter days a room temperature was just right.

Cheers!

Bordeaux

When we first tried some French wines, I had my doubts. I thought that it might be a whole year of rather academic tastings, rather than particularly deliciousment. But it's struck me (on the eve of our departure from the Northern Hemisphere) that I am quite well acclimatised, and rather attached to the prticularly scrumptious Bordeaux wines.

I'm so happy to have had the chance to try wines from a number of regions, including Languedoc/Roussillon, Beaujolais, Vallée du Rhône, Val de Loire, Champagne, and Bordeaux. When I left Australia, I was particularly attached to Shiraz, and therefore expected that Rhône might be the most interesting wines. And maybe I haven't given them a fair go - trying perhaps only half a dozen, with little expert advice. I've tried at least a couple of dozen different Bordeaux wines, and I've taken to them. Wayne McCarthy at the Avant Garde cave in Margaux has provided some excellent advice (supplying us a dozen by post), and I'm afraid I'll miss these ones when we get back to the Great Southern Land. I had initially thought I might describe the wines as I tasted them, but given the likelihood of pieces of paper going astray, and the possibility that I'll enjoy the wines too much to write about them while I can remember the details, I thought it might be worth writing down here.

• Ch. Tour Haut-Cassan (Médoc) 2001 (€16)
• Ch. Penin "Les Cailloux" (Bordeaux Superieur) 2005 (€12.50)
• Ch Citran 2004 (Haut-Médoc) 2004 (€13,40) I shared this with some people at work on my last "Rumour: Wednesday Pub Lunch" at the Winterbourne Arms. Smooth.
• Ch Haut-Bergeron (Sauternes) 2002 (€24)
• Ch. Charmail (Haut-Médoc) 2004 (€16)
• Ch. Poujeaux (Moulis) 2004 (€20.50)
• Ch. Deyrem Valentin (Margaux) 2002 (€16)
• Ch. Des Graviers (Margaux) 2004 (€13.40)
• Ch. Moutte Blanc (Bordeaux Superieur) 2002 (€8.70)
• Clos de Bigos (Margaux) 2005 (€16.90)
• Ch. Potensac (Cru Bourgeouis Exceptionnel, Médoc) 2004 (€16.50)
• Ch. La Galiane (Margaux) 2003 (€13.20)

Tonight, we're indulging in the Château Potensac, and finding it particularly delicious. It's very well balanced, fruity and smooth, with lengthy tannins. It doesn't have the syrupy/jammy tastes that I remember (perhaps inaccurately) from some of my favourite Australian wines - like a Peter Lehmann Stockwell, or a Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz. But the complexity is there.

We've packed a few wines (within our duty free limit) to take back home. But not as many as I feel would do justice to Bordeaux.

So has my palette changed? Or will I find when I get back to Australia that I really do like those big Barossa shiraz wines (e.g. Rockford Basket Press, Wolf Blass Grey Label) more than these French ones? Time will tell!

How to buy wine in Bordeaux

Tasting wine in Bordeaux isn't quite like tasting wine in Barossa. In Australia, they know you want to taste the wine, so when you go to visit them, they give you a bunch of wines to taste. But on our visites to many chateaux in Bordeaux, the experience seems to be that you spend an hour being shown around the wine making process, and then you have an opportunity to taste one, two, or three wines. This might help convince opportunistic tourists not to go everywhere and taste everything - but then how do you learn what you like?

There is the Maison du Vin in each commune. They offer various courses, but not (in my experience) educational tastings. You can buy a whole bottle of most wines...

You can try tasting some wines with meals in restaurants. But (at the restaurants/price-brackets we chose) there wasn't a huge variety, and you can't get all the wines by the glass.

The only real option seems to be to go to a bottleshop or in the vernacular, a Cave. The salesmen will offer you a couple of things to taste, and then start pressuring you to buy. If you have a clear idea wof what you want to try, then you may have more luck. We found ourselves buying a couple of bottles just to get out of one place.

The best wine buying experience we had was at the Avant Garde cave in Margaux. Yes, it helped that the owner was an Australian - Wayne McCarthy. They had one wine open for tasting when we went in - it was nice, and we decided we'd buy that one. But Wayne suggested we should choose a dozen to send back to England. In practise, after we specified our budget (approx €15/bottle), he chose a dozen that he said were good value for money and a good variety. The postage to the UK wasn't too expensive (€29) and the wines arrived in good order in their wooden case.

Tonight we opened the first bottle, a 2004 Chateau Poujeaux from Moulis. It's fantastic - decent body, depth, & length! Apart perhaps from the Premier Cru Classe ones that were over €200/bottle, this one (at €20.50) is probably better than all the ones I tasted on the trip. Who knows what influences - the weather, the cooking, relaxing at home - might make the difference. But I'm convinced that Wayne really did help us get great wine at a bargain price.

It's a bit prohibitive to do it from Australia, but if you're in England say, and you wanted a case of delicious Bordeaux wine, I'd suggest emailing Wayne for some ideas and a quote.

For the record, the dozen that we bought were:

• Ch. Tour Haut-Caussan 2001 (Médoc)
• Ch. Penin "Les Cailloux"2005 (Bordeaux)
• Ch. Citran 2004 (Haut-Médoc)
• Ch. Haut-Bergeron 2002 (Sauternes)
• Ch. Charmail 2004 (Haut-Médoc)
• Ch. Poujeaux 2004 (Moulis) - tonight's delight
• Ch. Deyrem Valentin 2002 (Margaux)
• Ch. Des Graviers 2004 (Margaux)
• Ch. Moutte Blanc 2002 (Bordeaux)
• Clos de Bigos 2005 (Margaux)
• Ch. Potensac 2004 (Médoc)
• Ch. La Galiane 2003 (Margaux) - the one we tasted in the Cave.

Cheers!

Bordeaux to the Mediterranean

We're on a one week holiday in the South of France. Sophie, Joanna, and I spent the last two days driving from Paulliac (Bordeaux -- almost on the Atlantique coast) to the Mediterranean. We visited some nice wineries, including Pontet-Canet pictured, and saw some nice Chateaux from the road (Mouton-Rothschild).

In Sauternes, we found out just how ugly some of those prized grapes can be, and what the botrytis cinerea "Noble Rot" looks like up close. We saw the famous Chateau d'Yquem, and visited another Premier Cru Classe winery - Haut Peraguey, where the boss tried to explain the Sauternaise subtleties to us in French. We picked up 60%, I think.

We managed to find Chateau Roquetaillade, a big castle, built by Edward I when he lived there.

We spent a night in Langon, and then drove past Carcassonne to dip toes in the Mediterranean. Owing to an initial mis-reading of the "exclusive pour practique naturelle" sign, we neglected to remove all our clothes, although others on the beach clearly had. There were several oyster/mussel/sea-snail places at Leucat-Plage, so we (ie. Sophie) tasted some.

We then travelled through some of the surrounding Languedoc wine region, and visited two of the Cathar Castles - Queribus and Peyrepetuse.

With limited and conflicting geospatial intelligence, we relied on the electronic navigator, which took us the shortest distance back to Carcassonne. It was a very narrow and winding road, much slower (but also more scenic) than other possibilities.

Interesting links for the week

Interesting/amusing things I've seen recently:

• The Underhanded C Contest - a fun competition to make apparently good "security software" that is actually insecure.
• Michael Nielsen » The Future of Science - How can scientists cooperate easily & flexibly.
• audiveris: Audiveris Home Page - Open source software for optical music recognition. (And proprietary software.)
• Cheap Wine - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog - fancy people can tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine, but regular people can't.
• Severed USB cable is really a 2GB flash drive - Engadget - for real engineers.
• EclEmma - Java Code Coverage for Eclipse - generally nicer/simpler than CodeCover - an open-source glass box testing tool, but it misreports on Java 5 enums.
  

And old favourites:

• Version Control with Subversion

Frithwood and De Martino

Joanna wants you to know that she, Berenice, Steph, Helen, and Christopher went for a 4½ mile walk at Frithwood near Ledbury. Only one of the walking group appears to have had a non-fatal heart attack and collapse.

But no, I have to confess that the title of this blog entry is misleading. It's actually a wine article. We had a delicious roast lamb tonight. Somehow all the vegetables and the meat all seemed to be perfectly cooked, but it was complemented beautifully by a Chilean 2007 De Martino "347 Vineyards" Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite the youth, the taste was very round, with a very good fruit/tannin balance. It wasn't exactly the fruit flavour that you'd expect from a Coonawarra Cab Sauv - the fruit was a little more rounded, a little plummier, rather than "pure" berry. This was a bottle from the Virgin wines - I'm glad we have two more. My experience so far is teaching me that Chilean wine is much better than Spanish and South African, and possibly even French - but although perhaps coming close to Australian wines, not beating them. Maybe that's only because I've not invested sufficiently in them to find the best...

Raspberries

Some might say that Richard Branson is good at making raspberries - at conventions, or politicians, or competitors, or even dress sense. But as regular readers will know, I signed up to Virgin Wines a little while ago. I think cases come every two months or so, although I declined a recent offering, so I've just taken delivery of my second batch. It gives me a chance to waffle about some that I've tried recently.

There have been lots that I haven't recorded, so although I may have been lazy in my writing-up, I haven't been quite so lazy in the actual tasting.

The first that stands out in recent memory is the 2005 Peter Lehmann "The 1885 Shiraz". It had, compared to all the recent French vins, a most intense plummy flavour, with some liquorice, and a very long, lingering finish. Despite this length, the wine seemed to disappear remarkably quickly.

The next one that deserves purchasing again was a Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada. I can't remember the year. It didn't have the intensity and length of the Peter Lehmann, nor so much of the fruit, but the liquorice was even more dominant. Casillero del Diablo seems to be the Jacob's Creek of Chilean wine - available everywhere. The regular ones are generally acceptable, but the reserve ones in each case seem to be worth paying for.

Today, we tried the 2007 Meillade from Chateauneuf du Pape. Mr Branson vicariously alleges (through his VW staff) that this is a sexy Australian-style full-and-fruity red. Must be one of those sensitive new age types of sexy, or perhaps waifish, rather than full-bodied & voluptuous. There's barely any depth, and the only fruit is raspberry. I would have been hard pressed to call it a Shiraz (or Syrah) - it tastes more like a light & berry-ful Pinot Noir. But, having said all that, it's not objectionable. Just like red cordial isn't objectionable, maybe...

Virgin Wines

Somehow I ended up as a prospective customer on the Virgin Wines list. It may have been something to do with a discount voucher that I got from an online book purchase through Amazon or Book Depository (which I recommend). Not that I'm complaining. I'm happy to subscribe to lists, as long as I can unsubscribe when it's no longer interesting.

So I received an email from RowanG, the founder of Virgin Wines, that started:

I am not a sensitive person by nature, but I have to say that I am feeling a little hurt. You came to visit our site, but as yet, you have not bought anything.

So, I’d like to make you an offer you can’t refuse.

For this week only, I'm offering you your first, trial, Discovery Club case HALF PRICE at just £39.99 (that's a ridiculously low £3.33 a bottle!). Plus, two FREE gifts, worth £35. That's an overall saving of £75.

and ended

Still not sure?

What is the worst thing that can happen? If you don't like the wines, I promise to refund you instantly, without any fuss whatsoever. If you agree that these wines are a big step better than you can get in the supermarket, you can look forward to a lifetime of feeling superior to non-members.

So, I signed up. A few days later, I had a case with 3 each of:
- 2006 "McPherson's Paddock" McLaren Vale Merlot;
- 2006 Du Clos "Les Garriques" from Coteaux de Languedoc;
- 2006 Tokerau Cabernet Sauvignon from Rapel Valley, Chile.
- 2001 Castillo de Anna "Gran Riserva" from Valencia; and

I've tried one of each of them now (in the order listed). I didn't take careful notes of the first two, but since there are two more bottles of each, there'll be a chance for me to add the details into this post later.

Last night, I opened the Tokerau. I'm not sure if it was just the bottle I chose, or the whole batch (I didn't open the other two), but I'm going to send it back. There was no body, and almost zero fruit. The only real scent was a hint of acetone.

I couldn't leave that taste in my mouth, so I opened the Castillo de Anna. What a contrast - body, fruit, berries... that bottle didn't last long at all. I'm not quite sure what the returns arrangement is going to be, but if they want to replace the Tokerau with three more of this one, I'll be satisfied.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Underdog

We went to see Underdog the movie in Worcester on Sunday. I was surprised how expensive it was - over £17 for an adult and two children in a multiplex cinema on a Sunday lunchtime. But we had a cheap lunch (eating a Subway and pasties standing on the footpath huddled out of the wind). The movie was entirely forgettable, but lunch, movie and train ride made a satisfactory diversion for three of us on a rather chilly Sunday afternoon. We were slightly careless about choosing our return train, and ended up on one that didn't stop at Malvern Link, so we had to walk from Great Malvern - not too far, though.

On Saturday, Stephanie and Helen both went horse riding, although it was slightly coincidental. Steph was riding as part of her Saturday morning school hobbies, and Helen had stayed at a friend's place on Friday night - they keep a pony at the stables next door. So they got to wave at each other in the distance.

Monday was my visit to Bristol University. It was another interesting discussion, with just one person this time. Again, there are possibilities for future work together, but some hoops to be jumped through before anything really productive occurs. We'll see what happens. Oh, and I found quite a good milkshake, although the viscosity would probably rule it into the thickshake category.

The scientific experimentation at work today was a determination that the tea room smoke detectors (if they exist) are not very sensitive. I took in the electric fry pan and beaters (along with my Australian power board with the UK plug!), and other sundry pancake making equipment and ingredients. I put a sign on the door, proclaiming "Hot Pancakes, 3:30pm here, don't make me eat them all". Fortunately, over a dozen people were able to help me. The remaining flour mix was consumed tonight for dinner, so I'm slightly over-mapled just at the moment, and I indulged somewhat in laughing-gas-propelled cream. But I also went to the gym this afternoon, so it should all be ok.

Now, I haven't mentioned wines for a while. There have been a couple of unremarkable ones, but it is important that I record my immense satisfaction with the 2003 Château Castera from Médoc, on the Bordeaux Left Bank (you know, Left Bank means more Cab Sauv, Right Bank means more Merlot). I'm going to have to order a dozen of these, but there are some hurdles: one place has the right label, but not 2003. Do I risk over £100 on a vintage I haven't tried? Another place has 2003 Château Puy Castera from Bordeaux Left Bank. My bottle doesn't have a "Puy" in sight, but how could they be different? Hmmm. The wine (trying to recall last night's adjectives) was nicely balanced, with good berry fruit and those all-important toasty flavours. It wasn't the longest finish by any means, but what there was was delicious. (Do we often write "was was"?) This winery was given the label "Cru Bourgeois Superieur" in the 2003 classification, but as you know, that classification was annulled by legal challenges from some people who missed out. I guess it's still a good sign, by any standard.

The only other news to report at the moment is that we've booked our airfares to Salzburg on Good Friday, returning Sunday 9 days later. In that time, the current (optimistic?) plan is to visit Budapest, Ljubljana, Venice, a West-Austrian ski resort TBD (pretty and pretty cheap are the primary criteria, good snow secondary), and the German Alpine Way road. Good Friday is one of the most expensive days to travel, but we don't have too many options.

Well, while I'm here, I might just mention that we're amazed at how often we need to replace light bulbs here. Maybe the power is a bit dodgy. Maybe there's too much vibration with kids jumping around upstairs. Maybe we're exceedingly unlucky, and it's coincidental. But some bulbs are lasting only 3 weeks.

Wine & song (inter alia)

I went to an Epiphany Carol Service at Tewkesbury Abbey on Sunday evening. It was packed! I do like the Cornelius Three Kings, but it was a bit unbalanced from where I sat - on the edge of the South aisle at the back! I got there almost 20 minutes early, and was still relegated to the cheap seats. I hadn't seen a lintel chalking before - an interesting ceremony. Other music included Buxtehude Prelude, Fugue & Chaconne in C, Messiaen Desseins Eternels, Les Enfants de Dieu, and Les Mages (all before the service), Bach Chorale Prelude on Das alte Jahr vergangen ist during the candle-lighting, and carols: Palestrina's Vespers responsory for Epiphany (where have I heard that before?), Richard Rodney Bennett's A little child there is yborn, Coventry Carol (arr Shaw), a modern Long long ago on a clear winter evening by Richard Shephard, Bullock's Love came down at Christmas, and Joubert's Nowell.

Wines. Unfortunately the recyclers chose today to take away the empties, so I don't have as much of a record as I'd like.

• Les Abeilles, Jean-Luc Colombo, Côtes du Rhône, probably 2004. Had this around Christmas sometime. Could have been the best wine to date. Definitely full bodied, although not as fruity as I'd have liked. Will have to try this one again some time.
• 2002 Chateau Bibian Cru Bourgeois from Listrac-Medoc. This was even more full bodied than the Les Abeilles. The flavour at first wasn't so good, but the second glass went down very easily. Again, the tannins were out of proportion with the fruit. But I don't know where the rest of the bottle went - it must have slipped down very easily. This was the first of the wines that I picked up from Calais.
• Winter Hill de Foncalieu, Chardonnay 2005. Nothing special. (It's lasted a few nights already.)
  
• 2004 Grand Arche St Emilion Grand Cru. Tried this one tonight with a beef & lentil stew. It was overpowered by the meal, so it could have been nice in a subtle way. Maybe my palate needs more subtlety! It (and the Bibian) maintain the pattern of wines from the Southern side of the Gironde river in Bordeux (e.g. St-Julien, St-Estephe, Margaux, Listrac) having more Cabernet sauvignon, and the wines on the other side (St-Emilion) having more Merlot.
  

Berenice left early this morning on the 5:30 train for Gatwick, to head over to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee & North Carolina. It seems the trains didn't quite connect as scheduled, but there was enough slack in the schedule, and she should be landing in Charlotte as I write.

It was so much fun going to the station in the dark, that I'm going to do it all over again tomorrow - off to London to visit people at City University. It will be the girls' last day of holidays - back to school on Wednesday! Helen's holiday essay is nearly finished, and Stephanie's violin practice is mostly up-to-date.

I should mention that I gave myself an Amazon Christmas present - I ordered the Carols for Choirs books 1 and 2. I've been meaning to add them to my collection for some years - they seem such a staple. And now I can play that B minor seventh with flat 5th in the Willcocks last verse to O Come All Ye Faithful!

Finally, I've started my ridgetop hills ride. I will do it all in one day at some stage, but this was just a taste, from . The nice people at Back on Track have given my bike a once-over, but they didn't put anti-ice tyres on! (There was a close call at Gardiner's Quarry, and the view was much whiter and sparklier than in the Wikipedia photo.) The new map showing all the paths should help now. I can see that home is about 80m altitude, and the Wyche is about 280m, and then Thirds Land and Perseverence Hill (the closest two peaks pictured) are both about 325m. The Worcestershire Beacon (in the distance) is the highest at 425m. I didn't attempt that one this time - I made it up there once before, but a significant fitness improvement will be required to do it with any style (ie. without stopping!). Getting there slowly...

Christmas Eve

Well it's Christmas Eve now, but this entry is really about trying to remember what happened since Friday.

I've spent a few sessions at the gym, which are rather overdue. On Saturday morning, I left home in the foggy seven o'clock darkness and cycled to the top of the Worcestershire Beacon - the highest of the Malvern Hills. It was odd to see the main beam and several side beams of my headlight stabbing through the fog, especially on our road where the streetlights aren't very bright. Even on top of the hill, where the potential visibility is over 20km and perhaps the wind might have helped dispel the mist, I could still only see about 10-20m. I called in at a couple of service stations on the way home, to see if I could top up the tyre pressure - but coins/tokens were required for the air at both places, and they both prohibited use on bicycles. Back to the home pump. There wasn't too much traffic at that time of day.

A little later in the morning, we went to explore the tower at Malvern Priory. As it turned out, this was mostly an opportunity to see the inside of the tower - the bellfry and the ringing room. But that was very interesting, and revived some latent curiosity about campanology, change ringing, and bell acoustics. It wasn't until we heard the 11 o'clock chime that we realised we were late for a girls' play-appointment in the park with Isabel. Although the atmosphere was still a little damp, the girls (and Christopher) had a good time, and we finished off with a hot chocolate at a local café.

Once home, there wasn't much time to fill in before departing for Coventry Cathedral for a performance of Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur. A spur of the moment decision led to travel by train rather than by car. I guessed that I could get from the station to Cathedral in 5 minutes, based on a quick Google Maps check. As it turned out, that wasn't to be: the Birmingham New St - Coventry train was 17 minutes late, so I was about 25 minutes late, and missed the first four méditations. I enjoyed the rest of it though, and have a new goal for next year! I got caught up in a little shopping frenzy of the high street area, before training back to Malvern Link. I enjoy the train experience - it seems very civilised, even if they're sometimes late. So different from Australia, where there's essentially one train a day between Brisbane and Sydney.

We decided that Sunday would be a good day to visit Leicester. The Cathedral had some nice music programmed (Sumsion in F, Vaughan Williams This is the truth sent from above, Palestrina I look from afar), and we enjoyed meeting Dean Vivienne. After a brief exploration of the city centre, we headed off to the National Space Centre for the afternoon. It was quite interesting, with the simulator ride being the highlight. And we nearly missed it! We would like to have visited Taylor's Bell Foundry museum which was nearby, but it was closed for the Christmas break.

On the way home, during some accident-induced motorway congestion, we decided that I should be dropped off at Worcester for the Carol Service, as it would be too late for the others after a long day. I should mention that we heard the Leighton Responses on the radio - they're everywhere! Worcester's choir performed superlatively, with a nice range of newish music: Grieg's Ave Maris Stella, and new arrangements of Adam Lay Ybounden, Past Three O'Clock (Carter), Coventry Carol (Lucas), and Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Oxley). There was an arrangement of one of Warlock's Capriol Suite movements was sung to Come to Bethlehem, and a section of Bach's Weinachts-Oratorium. The Jacques tune for Away in a Manger was the last piece from the choir. O Come all ye Faithful was, as usual, the last of the congregational carols, and this was exploited with an impressive double-organ rendition of Naji Hakim's Fantasie sur Adeste Fideles. It was a little odd to be at a carol service where people didn't need to fan themselves with their programmes to cope with the heat.

I've missed most of the festivities for Berenice's birthday today. I'll have to have my McDonalds another time. I bought some croissants and jelly babies in preparation for my boss's visit today. He wasn't hungry, so the croissants were a nice lunch just for me. That's the end of my lunch hour, but the office is Marie Celeste, so I'll probably head gymwards shortly. And now it's just ticked over to "Merry Christmas" for those in Australia! The lasses and Christopher went to a Christingle family service at the Priory, and we lit them with the birthday cake for dinner.

Two wines to report. The best French red I've tasted so far has been a Bordeau 2002 Les Abeilles from Saint-Émilion. It was wonderfully rich and complex, with a decent length. That was on Friday night, after I'd visited the Wine Rack to restock. Tonight for the birthday party, we tried a 2005 Alsacian (Alsatian?) Gewurztraminer from Cave de Turckheim with our vaguely oriental/Indian dish (in accordance with the label). We could, as directed, taste the lychees and honeyed ginger, even if it took a small pinch of imagination. There are probably others to try before getting that one again, but I'm keen to get some more bottles of Les Abeilles, unless I can find something in the same family. I'd like to know more about whether the 1855 classification (which divided vineyards & wineries into different classés) is still a reliable indicator, or just a guide about how well things were going back then. Another lesson we'll seek from Géraldine next week.

No catchy title today

Well, I suppose I need to apologise for going 4 days without posting. It sounds a bit lame to say that we've been busy at this time of year, since everyone else says the same thing. But Wednesday saw the Carol Service at the Colwall Church, being the Christmas breakup. Joanna and I joined a few of the other Community Choir people helping out with some of the carols etc. Thursday was the work Christmas party at The Nags Head, which was good too. And in the morning, I was inducted into the gym at work. The explanations and program design took some time, so I didn't get any exercise: that meant that the treadmills called me back for Friday morning. Thursday and Friday mornings were frosty - white roads, sometimes sprinkled with salt and grit. Thursday was also playgroup for Christopher in the afternoon.

Today Berenice went for a walk with the Footpath Society, and the rest of us went for a drive to Cirencester. We didn't get a lot done, but found the Corinium Museum rather interesting. Stephanie and Helen took turns trying out Roman soldier accessories. Adults could spend longer, but the combination of 9, 7, and 1 year old didn't have quite the longevity. And I should mention that we didn't really find the Black Horse Inn to be a very good place for lunch - very slow service, and fish fingers and crumbed fish both very overcooked, and peas cold. The worst part was when the barmaid protested she'd warned us that the food would take 40 minutes, when in fact she'd told us 20 minutes. Presumably others will have better reports, but left a bad taste in my mouth (figuratively, at least).

Tomorrow (Sunday) four of us will leave home at 4am to get to Bristol Airport by 6am to fly out at 8am to Saariselkä for our 3-day/2-night Santa Magic experience in Lapland. (Or should it be Lappland?) The laptop isn't coming, so we'll have to save up all the pictures and stories for Tuesday night or afterwards. Anyone have any last minute (final week?) requests for Santa?

I found myself in an interesting discussion yesterday about writing Eclipse plugins - in particular, for extending an ontology editor that's built on top of Eclipse, using the Jena toolkit. Didn't get into any programming, but might one day.

We tried a couple of vins blanc with our salmon cutlets and rice last night. The 2006 Cave des Vignerons Chablis was quite an acceptable Chardonnay: not as much malolactic buttery/peachy characters as I like, but full of flavour nonetheless. The £12 half bottle of 1999 Château Filhot à Sauternes was scrumptious. It didn't have quite the same marmalade flavours as my favourite sticky at home (whose name escapes me just at the moment), but that's not to say it wasn't as good. I'm not sure that I can compare from this distance, but the full citrus flavours in a smooth liquid gold certainly made for a wonderful finish to the dinner. I wonder if there will be any Finnish wines to taste?

Ahhhhh

Yes, ok, I confess, I did it. I hadn't planned to, but, well, I didn't have that much choice really. There I was in the wine shop - the same one I've been in a few times now, looking over the same twenty or so French wines. Some were £3, so I didn't imagine there'd be anything of value there. I've already tried the interesting looking ones. And then it leapt off the shelf, making a desperate bid for freedom. Not an Old Block admittedly, and not even a Blackwell. But it was a 2005 St Hallett Shiraz. Yes, I succumbed and bought an Australian wine for the first time since we've been here.

Normally I would try to have shiraz with a big juicy red steak. Perhaps it's even more important when it's a Barossa shiraz. And we were "only" having pork tonight. (Nothing wrong with the pork - except that it doesn't suit shiraz so well!) The scrambled egg didn't really help either. But there it was. And it took only milliseconds to put my mind at ease: my taste buds haven't been seduced away from the one true wine. That big oaky Barossa body and complexity was evident immediately.

Now I'm not trying to suggest that this is magnificant wine: it was not at all balanced, the acid being far too overpowering. Joanna could hardly drink any. She blamed its youth, but I'm not sure it has much longevity. I don't want to buy any more (although a Blackwell or Old Block might be a different matter). The point is only that there is something remarkably distinctive about big Australian shiraz that nothing I've tried so far even comes close to.

I still want to try more French wines, and I'm looking forward to visiting "La Belle France" at the end of the month, and seeing some of her better wines. If what I see of Australian wines in the UK is any predictor of the quality of Franco-vin, then I shouldn't be too surprised. A work colleague has suggested that French wine is twice the price in the UK as in its native land. So we may have to hire a trailer.

Well I suppose you think I have a one-track mind. But I don't: the Emperor concerto has just appeared (?) on the radio, so I'm off to do some air conducting. And before you draw any conclusions, I only had one glass.

Decorating, Walking, Nagging, Bombing, Drinking, Bowing.

We didn't accomplish everything scheduled for yesterday - there wasn't much time left for swimming. The puppet show was fun, and the library visit productive. And we did manage to acquire a Christmas Tree with some bonus lights. We thought that the splashing might fit in today (Sunday), but we didn't manage that either.

We did successfully fulfil Stephanie's long held desire that we should all go for a walk along the cross country path near the school. There were showers about, but we didn't get wet while walking - not from above anyway. The track was very muddy, and in some places one had to step very gingerly to avoid boot submergence in the big puddles. We walked up Brockhill Lane, and then up another lane to the right, before taking to the footpaths and stiles. The stream was very babbly, and there were lots of contented sheep, and a cow and two calves enjoying the green green grass. Christopher's backpack weight added a little to the challenge on the way up, and over the stiles, but we all made it back to the school, where we explored the railway tracks and the duck pond, before piling into the car to go home. Hope the mud washes off all the trousers!

As soon as we got home, four of us turned around to go off to the best pub in the UK (no really), which happens to be in our street, just 150m up the hill, for lunch. We hadn't booked, and that was a Bad Thing, but they did say that we could use a table as long as we vacated it by 1:20pm. That was ok, even though there was a "Caution: Slow Food" sign on the wall. Helen's expectations were raised when she heard that sausage and chips may have been available, but dashed when the choice was reduced to roast pork/beef/lamb/veg, or fish pie. We chose one of each meat, and the yorkshire puddings were devoured eagerly - before any of the vegetables and meat, though. The girls didn't quite manage to finish theirs (the time pressure didn't really help), which meant that I had the enormous plate of steamed vegetables almost entirely to myself. It was delicious, but we almost rolled home down the hill.

The afternoon saw children playing on the common (more muddy/wet trousers), and some general relaxation around the house with reading, and then a Monsters Inc showing. I employed Google Maps directions to get myself to Evensong at Coventry Cathedral. The responses weren't Leighton - it was Ayleward tonight, with Howells in G Canticles, Bruckner Locus Iste introit, and a non-Purcellian Rejoice in the Lord Alway for the anthem. (There was no shortage of Howells around the Midlands today, with Collegium Regale at Gloucester's eucharist, and A Spotless Rose at their evensong, and New College service at Hereford's evensong.) Without taking anything away from the delight of the older Cathedrals, it was inspiring to see a twentieth century realisation: clearly not removed from the older themes, but certainly modern, and poignantly integrated with the remains of the older cathedral, damaged in WWII. The organ featured rather dramatically - almost like a concert hall. It was good to be able to repent to the clergy for having stolen an organist.

I can report on the latest wine: Perrin & Fils Côtes du Rhône Villages from Château de Beaucastel. The (50/50) Shiraz Grenache blend was certainly very smooth, and it slipped down very easily (finished the bottle in one sitting) although perhaps a little without being noticed. The acidity was not quite balanced by the fruit and tannins, but I suppose I'd probably be happy to pay the £8.99 again, until I find somewhere better than the local Threshers.

We're now practising Jota in preparation for Steph's performance for her class tomorrow. Perhaps we should have started before this evening!