Bottle Shock Trailer

Alan Rickman stars as Steven Spurrier in the film adaptation of the Judgement of Paris. Here is the trailer.



Back in the Autumn of 2007, we reported that Spurrier was considering legal action against the producers of this movie as he was being portrayed as an evil mastermind, and also that he had given his approval to another film called "The Judgement of Paris". It would appear that the Spurrier endorsed movie is still stuck in production, likely never to see a cinema near you, so I will await with anticipation when Bottle Shock is released in the Autumn and will be interested to hear Steven Spurrier's opinions on it.

The tagline "The French never knew what hit them" is unlikely to do much for cinema attendances in France though...

Bottle Shock Official Website

By Peter Wood with No comments

Cross party opposition to raising the drinking age.

Today a chamber of MSP's got together to debate the newly proposed measures to combat alcohol misuse. A lot of positive issues were raised, and a lot of MSPs raised the fact that alienating all 18 to 21 year olds from being able to buy a bottle of wine, yet enabling them to get minced in a pub, is a flawed idea. It appears that the Labour party has joined the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Green party, in opposing the raising of the drinking age, but there are bigger issues to be addressed.

There also appeared to be cross party support for the opinion that if the current legislation isn't working, mainly through lack of enforcement, then any new ideas, particularly with the raising of the age you can buy alcohol, are pointless until the current laws are upheld.

I have included some key points below and then given my opinion on them

Raising the off sales age to 21 and underage sales

Pauline McNeill (Labour, Glasgow Kelvin) alluded to the fact that the SNP were throwing all the ideas in the air, and seeing what sticks. She also brought up the fact that Scots across all ages misuse alcohol, and there is no evidence that the 18 to 21 year old age group are the main proportion of people misusing alcohol.

Frank McAveety (Labour, Glasgow Shettleston) raised the point that if an 18 year old is capable of deciding who they want on their local health board, then surely they should be considered capable of deciding how they want to manage their own health.

Michael Matheson (SNP, Falkirk West) said that he was in favour of raising the age to 21, and did not support the view that being able to fight in a war or get married at a younger age was illogical, despite cross party opinion generally thinking that. He also said that, pertaining to the difference between off and on sales, he believes in pubs alcohol is controlled by the pub, whereas at home it is not. Obviously Mr Matheson has not been in a pub at 10pm at night, where he will see people of all ages drunk out of their minds and still being served.

Dr Richard Simpson (Labour, Mid Scotland & Fife) Suggested that using bans on people under 21 buying alcohol might have merit in certain areas, but these bans should be for antisocial behaviour reasons, not health reasons.

Opinion - There is nothing wrong with a debate, and raising the drinking age to 21 should be part of it. Comments by Michael Matheson that there is nothing wrong with having different ages where we are able to do something would have merit had the SNP not being considering lowering the voting age to 16. If you are considered an adult of sound mind and able to vote at 16, you should be able to make a choice on your health at 18. Also, if you are allowed to smoke at 18, which, and lets be honest here, there are NO health benefits of, you should be allowed to drink alcohol where there can be some health benefits when consumed in moderation, as was brought up by Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon.

Margaret Smith (Liberal Democrats, Edinburgh West) also asked how the raising of the drinking age would affect young people working in shops, and it was mentioned by several MSPs that a married couple, with jobs and children, could be in the situation that they couldn't buy a bottle of wine to drink over dinner. There is no doubt that raising the age has some merits, but the criticisms of it, and the problems of doing it, are greater. The main thing, and this was raised, is that if you are going to stop excessive drinking of young people, you need to allow them to drink in moderation and not alienate them. Educate them, don't just ban them from drinking. A compulsory ID policy would solve the underage drinking problem, and severe punishment for retailers breaking the law would discourage retailers and pubs from serving people without ID.

Excessive Drinking & Social Responsibility

Ms McNeill brought up the point that banning alcohol promotions wouldn't effect the sales of drinks such as Buckfast and alcopops, which are the drinks that young people drink on the streets, as these products aren't promoted. Also, Mary Scanlon (Conservative, Highlands & Islands) raised the point that just because 3 bottles of wine were bought for the price of 2 doesn't mean that people are going to drink them quickly. They just buy in bulk and drink them over time.

It was also brought up that Supermarkets, which have a social corporate responsibility, need to be held accountable. Selling strong beer for the equivalent of 40 pence per pint. This could be stopped by a minimum pricing,

Opinion - All retailers, and I am one, have to accept responsibility for out part in alcohol misuse. Both from a health perspective and a social disorder perspective, we know that excessive drinking causes problems, but the cure for one isn't going to be the cure for the other. People being able to drink at 18 and multibuy discounts are not the problem. The problem is that the laws that are currently in place are not being enforced strongly. If bars and shops are not allowed to sell to intoxicated people, the number of people getting very drunk will be dramatically reduced.

Adding in a public drinking ban across Scotland will prevent people, young and old, getting drunk in public and causing social disturbances but this would prevent people enjoying outdoor picnics or barbecues in parks and on beaches, which could be very unpopular.

The social responsibility of producers and retailers could go hand in hand with educating young people into the problems of alcohol misuse, with part of the duty on alcohol going towards an education programme. However, raising the prices too high in Scotland will result in 'booze cruises' to England, and therefore make a lot of retailers in Scotland uncompetitive and be counter productive.

This debate has to go on, which is a good thing, but what has to be remembered is that it is society that needs changed, not the laws. The Scottish Parliament should have police enforce existing laws, the should educate people but not start blaming young people and businesses for the minority who misuse alcohol or break the current laws.

Whatever happens, we cannot make the headline grabbing elements of this debate (for example the raising of the drinking age) to dominate the real reason for the SNP's proposals. We have a drinking problem in Scotland that needs addressed, and while I don't agree with the methods the SNP have proposed, everyone - including those campaigning against a specific element of the proposals - need to look at the bigger picture and work together to reduce alcohol misuse and the social problems it causes.

By Peter Wood with No comments

Il Banchetto - House Wine Heaven or Hell

House wines are bottles that are made to provide a simple choice of a red and a white if you haven't a clue about wine when you're sitting at a restaurant. They are packaged the same, they are always cheap, and they should always be drinkable. I'm not asking for a brilliant wine, I'm asking for something that doesn't make me want to spit it out or start to gag.

First up - Il Banchetto Red & White. Firstly, the packaging isn't bad, it is not traditional, but in a steak house or an inexpensive restaurant, they won't look that bad. They are sold by Bibendum wines, should retail at around £5 in shops or £15 in restaurants (yep, roughly divide the price you see in a restaurant list by three to see what the wine costs in a shop). The 2007 Trebbiano Chardonnay is clean, has a light orange flavour and a little bit of grass. Not the sort of grass you attack every few weeks with a Flymo, but the stuff you light up in a back room at a party with a Rastafarian called Ziggy. There is pineapple on the palate, a little alcohol but a creamy texture. It's pretty boring, not unpleasant, but dull. 6/10

The 2007 Sangiovese is pretty similar. It is quite confected on the nose, with a slightly over ripe strawberry aroma and vanilla. There is a dark earthiness that comes through, but not enough to balance out the fake fruit. The palate has cherry stones, firm tannins which then disappear very quickly. The finish is ok at first, with nice fruit, again more twiggy, earthy flavours, but it leaves your mouth claggy, so it drops points on that. 5.5/10

Verdict This one is stuck on earth! Not really a good one to start with as it doesn't give a simple answer! It is alright, it delivers a drinkable, simple wine. It just doesn't generate any emotion at all.

By Peter Wood with No comments

Crap of the week - Wine Chain Cradle

Initially you may think "wow, that's cool", but after the initial cool factor has worn off, should last around thirty seconds, you will realise that this will sit in your cupboard and never see the light of day until you drop it off in a box to the local charity shop. Apparently, it "amazes your guests at your swanky dinner party", except for one small thing. If you are having a swanky party you wouldn't put this anywhere near your guests... unless it was a swingers party and then it might fit right in...

If you want one to go alongside your handcuffs and riding crops, you can get it from drinkstuff.com and it costs £19.99

By Peter Wood with No comments

Cune Rioja - Baffling entertainment

I’ve never understood QI. Presented by Stephen Fry, it gathers together four celebrities who have a higher intelligence level than the average ‘celebrity quiz show’ panellist where they are asked questions where if they give the most obvious answer, they lose. The host then awards points with absolutely no consistency and random facts come spurting forth from all the people on the show, such as a woodlouse doesn’t wee, it emits a vapour instead.

This programme is the perfect vehicle for Fry’s great intellect and quick wit, and paired with the only regular panellist, Alan Davies, their upper/lower class, Oxbridge Graduate/school of hard knocks dropout, their relationship enriches a rather strange experience.

Despite rarely knowing what the hell is going on in this televisual experience, I actually enjoy wasting half an hour watching it. If I miss an episode I really don’t care that much but when I catch it I have fun. The same applies with Rioja. If drinking it at a dinner party or over a meal, I quite enjoy them, but I never find myself thinking “I quite fancy a Rioja tonight”. It is a pretty safe wine to choose in a restaurant if are presented with loads of unfamiliar producers and when you venture to a supermarket and your only source of advice is a spotty sixteen year old shelf stacker, you can always rely on a big producer such as Marques de Caceres or Faustino.

And wines from Compania Vinicola de Norte de Espana (CVNE or Cune as it has become known) were shown to me on Friday. I’d initially thought that Cune was a medium sized company, large production but not in the scale of Caceres. Wrong! Cune is massive. A huge producer, but where they differ is that they have a lot of their own grapes in their wines. Having that sort of control benefits these wines as I was very surprised and pleased at the quality of their products, but would they make me want to go out and buy them?

Having said that, they have five brands which could possibly confuse things. So often when one big company has multiple brands, what you get is the same stuff just repackaged. Again, not so with Cune. Stealing the analogy from both Cune’s website, the Cune brand is more Bordeaux-esque, whereas the Vina Real wines are a lot more Burgundy like. But we started with a wine that is doing everything it can not to be what it is. A white rioja.

The 2007 Monopole white rioja is in an Alsatian flute bottle. It has the word ‘Monopole’ pinched from Burgundy emblazoned across the label and when you initially stick your nose in the bottle it smells nothing like white rioja usually does. And that is a good thing.

Not anything like a normal, fat, oaky fruitless rubbish that you usually get, this is light and clean with more fruit than a greengrocers and is as far from white rioja as you can get! Green leaves, a bit of peach, lime and garden peas. A little apple on the palate, quite dry, with just a little creamy element. This hasn’t seen any form of wood, isn’t the usual oxidised crap that you normally get from this region. I’d be quite happy drinking this. 8/10

2005 Cune Rioja Crianza gives bubblegum initially, then a little herbs and a tiny bit of cherry but that is it. The palate is tight, a bit of green, dark, slightly tannic wine. It’s got tobacco, a dark chocolate bit to it. Strange on the finish, all secondary flavours and smoky oak. 7/10

The 2004 Cune Rioja Reserva is a rich, raisiny wine. Vanilla sweetness coming through and a bit of toffee. Smoked cheese on the nose as well. Dark spice, my brain said ‘smoked cinnamon’, despite never having ever sampled smoked cinnamon before! Dried cherries and a leafy finish. It’s got bundles of liquorice too, superb. 8.5/10

If the Cune wines are Bordeaux like I’d have expected to prefer them being a claret lover. I didn’t, the Vina Real Rioja Crianza, 2005, was much better. A lot more balanced and elegant. Brambles and cinnamon with a bit of mint and dark leafy fruit. Plum on the palate and it has so much finesse with a long spicy finish. 8/10. I like this a lot. The big brother to this wine, the 2001 Imperial Rioja Reserva, is stunning. Sour cherries, sweet cherries and then vanilla, chocolate and a little rosemary all leaping out of the glass. A spicy palate, with raisins, black pepper, then softened up by tobacco, milk chocolate and more vanilla. Not much tannin, just all fruit, spice and tobacco. A stupendous wine. 9/10

Finally, the 2004 Contino Reserva Rioja. It has gentle, ripe fruit and chilli chocolate giving a sweet spicy heat. The palate is firm, tannic with a little dark berry fruit. Too much alcohol and spice, quite closed on the palate but quite smoky. It’s got an under ripe cassis flavour to it too. Way too young but given time should be really tasty. 8.5/10

I like Cune’s wines. They are well made and while the style of the Cune brand is not my cup of tea they are good wines, and the Vina Real and Imperial brands are more my thing and I really like them. Would I go out to buy them? Have they convinced me that I should be concerned that I am missing out on great Spanish wines by not really caring about Rioja? No. The wines are lovely but they just don’t generate any passion in me to go and explore Spain more. I’m not certain if that is a failing in me or a failing in Rioja as a whole, but it is not a failing of Cune. Rioja really is like an episode of Qi, I still haven’t a clue what is going on.

By Peter Wood with No comments

Specogna - stunning wines.... simple as that really!

My trip to Vinitaly was an eye opener, but looking back, I didn’t do one producer justice. While I was attempting to wax lyrical about Allegrini, Bruno Rocca and Pieropan, I omitted an important producer. Specogna.

Christian Specogna, who showed me the wines in Italy, looks like he should be in a boy band. In a suit that looked as though it has been bought for him to grow into, this youngster had an enthusiasm for his family’s wines that was so infectious you couldn’t help but like them. I didn’t write them up though, deciding that there were other producers I wanted to focus on and that Pinot Grigio, regardless of how good and popular it was, wasn't really interesting.

I was a bloody idiot! Specogna are so much more than Pinot Grigio, and trying some of the wines from this producer today – in the less glamorous surroundings of a back room at work!

The 2006 Specogna Ribella Gialla is really good. Light, lemony with beautiful minerality on the nose. A lot of alcohol hits you, but settles down with crisp, vegetal elements and wonderful acidity. It confuses me. I can’t figure out where I would drink it, but it is very very good. I’d give it 8/10 despite it costing £13.

The ’06 Pinot Grigio Ramato is getting a little tierd. I will tell you that the tank sample of the 2007 vintage I had in Italy was brilliant, so look out for that. This vintage however is good, a little lime pith and under ripe red berried. Then orange kicks in from somewhere. The wine has a cleanliness of Cillit Bang proportions. Brilliant with just a little charred wood on the finish. 8.5/10 £13

Tocai Friulano 2006. This is where things start getting really interesting. Lychee sweetness on the nose with a little barbecued smokiness coming through. A little nut – almond? – coming through too. A wonderfully dry, minerally palate, fresh and stunningly clean. Long lasting nut flavours and a little peach skin on the finish. A fun wine and deserving of it’s 8.5/10. £13

Then it gets more crazy! The 2006 Verduzzo Friulano is a wine you must try before you die. Not because it is one of the greatest wines ever made, though it is very very good, but because it is SO interesting. Gentle honey and lemon on the nose, but quite closed. Then when it hits your palate you get tannin mingling with sweet honey and lemon. A Thai spice element too, before it dries up with toast and warmed honey and some fruit tea flavours. It is a bizarre single varietal wine, that won’t go with many desserts, but for some reason I really want to try this with a custard slice! It is a wonderful wine, one of those that the experience will live with you despite it only costing twelve quid. 9.5/10

Finally, the 2004 Pignolo is another strange one! Cherry and herb lawns, a lot of plum skin, leathery, dark liquorice aromas. A lot of spice and quite hot alcohol coming through. Firm tannin and a lot of the dark, secondary flavours. It is lacking a bit of fruit, but with a selection of olives, salami and bread for your lunch in the sunshine, I can think of few wines I’d prefer! It is a food wine, pure and simple, and it has to be with strong flavoured food to work. This is not a wine for drinking on it’s own. 8/10 & £21

I like Specogna. I like the people, I like the passion and I like their wines. They have mastered the art of making beautifully clean wines. They are all affordable, and if you have more than a passing interest in Italian wines, give these a go. It is money well spent.

Specogna Website

By Peter Wood with No comments

Open email to the Scottish Parliament

Proposals to combat underage and binge drinking are being put forward by the SNP this week, which includes raising the age that someone can buy alcohol from a shop to 21, yet they can go to a pub and get drunk at 18. I wrote this open email and sent it to every MSP. Any replies I receive will also be published.

To all Members of the Scottish Parliament Sent Monday 16th June

From a very young age I have seen first hand the problems that alcohol can have on individuals and their families, and despite of this, I have worked in the alcohol retail trade for seven years, for two companies. I agree that there are many problems with alcohol misuse in Scotland, which must be dealt with, I do not believe that raising the drinking age will solve these at all, and may make things worse.

There are two main alcohol related problems in Scotland, underage drinking and binge drinking. I will address each of these in turn.

Underage drinkers
A policy should be introduced where anyone, regardless of age, is compelled to show either a driving license or passport to be able to buy alcohol. This would dramatically reduce the number of underage people being able to buy alcohol. Irresponsible retailers would be the ones that are punished, and would easily be caught, rather than a responsible retailer where one underage sale may 'slip through' the net. I grant you, it might appear ridiculous for a pensioner to have to produce ID to buy a bottle of gin, but everyone will soon get used to having to do it, much in the same way as people got used to having to fasten their seatbelt in the early eighties.

Binge Drinking
The culture of drinking in the UK is one of excess, and no matter what the legal age to buy alcohol is, there will always be binge drinking. Binge drinking is just as much of a problem with people in their late twenties as it is with people in their late teens. By not raising the drinking age to the on trade, you will still see people going into pubs and getting hideously drunk. The notion that is being bandied around that young people are going into a supermarket and buying massive amounts of discounted alcohol every night is laughable, but even if it was true, the raising of the drinking age for off sales will simply put those wanting to get drunk into bars rather than in their own homes. This will mean that there will be even more drunk youths on the street last thing at night, causing trouble and breaking the law.

Proposed plans to prevent the off trade from promoting alcohol will achieve nothing either as retailers will simply lower the single unit price. Instead of selling a can of beer for one pound and a case of 24 for £12, the single unit price of that beer will become fifty pence, with no discount for buying bulk. I sell a lot of wine on a 2 for £10 deal, where a customer can save between 99p and £2 per bottle, I will simply lower the price to £5. Add into the fact that the popular drinks consumed by people in their late teens and early twenties are the likes of Buckfast, Lambrini and alcopops, which rarely, if ever, are price promoted, proves that this proposal would not change excessive consumption in the young.

Any attempts to price young people out of being able to buy alcohol by taxation is only punishing responsible drinkers for the minority's indiscretions. Instead of taxing or raising duty, introduce minimum prices that retailers have to charge. For example, no bottle of spirits can cost less than £12, wine no less than £5 and beer no less than £1 per bottle or can. Doing this will not alienate people who care about what they drink as they will generally be spending more than these limits anyway, but will prevent supermarkets from offering beer at 20 pence per can. I grant you, the retailer or the producer may initially benefit from minimum pricing, but it will almost force companies making cheap alcohol to increase quality as they will realise that if they are producing an inferior product, but have to charge the same as a superior one, people will stop drinking their products and choose alternative brands. Therefore, more money will be spent on producing good products, for responsible drinkers to enjoy. Also, with vat being a percentage of the price, more tax could be raised to spend on public services.

There are two solutions to prevent binge drinking, particularly for the young. The first is to limit what they can buy. If an adult is between 18 and 21, they should be restricted in the off trade to a bottle of spirits, two bottles of wine or twelve cans of beer. In the on trade, they should be limits as well based on consumption per hour, but this would be difficult to police, therefore I propose that there should be tougher laws on bar staff selling to visibly drunk people in a bar.

The second solution is one of education. Teaching children in schools with graphic images of what alcohol abuse can do to you will stay with that child. I remember seeing a person getting knocked down and killed on a television show when I was five years old, and that has always stuck in my head and I look both ways every time I cross the street. Show video footage of an alcoholic dying or an autopsy on a person who has died. It might be graphic, it might be uncomfortable and unpopular, but it would work.

A person at 18 can get married, have children, fight and die for their country, pay taxes and buy a gun, yet with these proposals, they cannot buy a bottle of wine to have with their dinner at home, but they can go to a pub and get drunk. I agree that things need done to prevent misuse of alcohol, but the proposals put forward are akin to stopping speeding by removing the tyres from a car. It might make it a bit more difficult for the minority you are targeting, but will simply annoy the majority that adhere to the law and use common sense.

I appeal for sanity to prevail in the Scottish Parliament.

Peter Wood

Official Scottish Parliament petition against the raising of the drinking age
CARDAS - Campaign against raising the drinking age in Scotland
BBC 'Have your say' on this subject
The Wine Conversation article on this subject

Replies

John Park MSP, Labour, Mid Scotland & Fife 16th June
Thanks for your very thoughtful comments Peter. I will pass them onto the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and ask that he responds to them one by one.
I'll be back in touch soon
Regards, John

Derek Brownlee MSP, Scottish Conservative & Unionist, South Scotland 16th June
Thanks for your email. I think this debate will run for a while and it is helpful to have your comments.
Derek Brownlee

Karen Gillon MSP, Labour, Clydesdale 16th June
Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted. (Sounds like an automated reply to me)

Mike Pringle MSP, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Edinburgh South 18th June
I am sure you own MSP Ian smith will respond more fully, but the Lib/Dems are against this proposal.
Mike Pringle

Maureen Watt MSP, Scottish National Party, North East Scotland 19th June
Thank you for your views regarding binge drinking. I also feel that binge drinking is a blight on our society. I take your views into consideration and I welcome the consultation which is currently taking place.
Yours sincerely
Maureen Watt MSP

Stewart Stevenson MSP, Scottish National Party, Banff & Buchan 20th June
I have received a postcard from him which states "Stewart Stevenson MSP ackowledges with thanks the receipt of your communication of 15.6.08, the contents of which have been noted."

Shona Robison MSP, Scottish National Party, Dundee East 20th June
I have received a letter from her which says "Dear Mr peter Wood. I am writing to acknowledge your recent letter sent to Shona Robison regarding raising the drinking age to 21. A reply will be set to you as soon as possible. Yours Sincerely Kimberly Meikle"

By Peter Wood with 4 comments

Baron Ladron de Guevara Rioja

YouTube is fantastic. I love watching old adverts for cigarettes that, to all intents and purposes, say “Smoking is Good For You”. They wheel out ‘doctors’ who tell you of the benefits of the odd fag or, in some circumstances, use Flintstones characters to promote Winston cigarettes.

In days gone by an advertiser could pretty much say anything they wanted and get away with it. If you need an ‘expert’, find one, chuck a few hundred pounds towards them and they would say anything that you wanted to. Then regulations came in to make sure that any claims made were accurate. Long gone are the days of “This MG car will make any women fall in love with you” or “A bottle of Vodka a day improves your liver functions”. You can’t even imply something that is not provable, and campaigns such as the Lynx deodorant “The Lynx effect”, which implies that using their product will get the attention of the female sex, could be deemed to be skating on very thin ice.

Aside from cigs, alcohol advertising is severely restricted. Using Micky Mouse to promote a beer would be a severe no no, as it could appeal to children. Suggesting that any booze can make you more physically attractive to the opposite, or same, sex is prohibited and you simply cannot promote excessive drinking.

Today I was shown some wines from Spain that said “sod it” to the rules. In pidgin English, the back labels said:

WINE IS –
Blood Vessel Dilater
Soothing
Diuretic
Fattiness Absorption Helper
Good Cholesterol Stimulant

THEREFORE WINE PREVENTS OR REDUCES RISKS OF THE FOLLOWING DISEASES –
Alzheimer
Cancer
Heart Attack
Cardiovascular Pathologies
Ocular Diseases
Hypertension

Brilliant! As a man who is not unfamiliar with the odd pie and who is short sighted, these wines might be my saviour. I could have my fattiness absorbed and my eyesight restored. Throw in the fact that any stress I might suffer from work will be prevented by this wonder wine, and I figure I shouldn’t drink any other liquid ever again. The producer was Baron Ladron de Guevara and aside from the miracle cure capabilities of these drinks, the wines are quite good!

A 2007 White Rioja was lovely. Not the usual oakfest you get, but pineapple chunks, quite a floral nose with a lovely grassy softness. A little fruit sweetness comes through with good minerality and good acidity.

The 2007 Red Rioja had a lot of rich, sweet cassis on the palate. A menthol element kicked in too, with a nice, dry dark fruit flavoured palate. Warm alcohol, nice spice and black pepper rounded this off. Nice stuff.

Both priced at £7.99 and imported by Raymond Reynolds Ltd. I'm off to drink a few barrels worth. Who needs the Atkins plan?

By Peter Wood with No comments

Dom Perignon 2000, 1995 Oenotheque & 1985

People love lists, compiling them, reading them, arguing over them. If a human being can find something to write a list about, they will. “My top ten actors”, “my ten least favourite books”, “America’s 10 most wanted”, “top ten sausage producers in the UK” . Doesn’t matter what the list, people lap them up. I’m not going to bore you with my top ten wines, but if I did, at the top of the list you would see 1966 Dom Perignon. It still, five years after I had it, remains the best wine I ever had. I think that I may now be looking through rose tinted glasses at it now, as I have had some stunning wines since, so I’d like to try it again, just to make sure it is as good as I recall.

I’d have liked to try it for my 30th birthday this week, but sadly I couldn’t find one. So I decided that I’d have to settle for three Dom Perignons, the 1985, 2000 and 1995 Oenotheque. Oh it’s such a hard life…

When Jay Zed and Fifty Pence were rapping about Cristal, my crew and I were bigging up D.P. It’s a stunning wine, the Julia Roberts of the champagne world. When young, Dom Perignon is ‘Pretty Woman’ Julia, sexy, yet fun and quite bubbly, zesty and lively. Then when older, both the champagne and Ms Roberts becomes more sophisticated and gently elegant. They both entice you to explore them more and yet, when they choose to, they can both become the bubbly fun filled, yet still very sexy, experience they were in their youth. I never tire of Dom Perignon, and, as you may have guessed, never tire of Julia Roberts!

Dom Perignon 2000 is good. Light, citrussy and very minerally. A lot of apple and biscuit flavours. Dried lemon rind and a lot of biscuit on the palate. A long, spicy finish with a lot of pencil flavours! Very good and very clean. It is exactly what I thought it would be, and if you are used to trying young DP, this is the sort of wine under the heading “Textbook Dom Perignon”.

The Oenotheque 1995 was a surprise. It was very mature and was a very very nice wine. Rich, nutty aromas with a lot of honey and toast. I got a bit of distillery washback from it too. The palate is rich, a lot of heather honey and then a salty, dry Jacobs cream crackers flavour. A lovely lemony finish, and a brilliant wine was over. This isn’t a cheap champagne, but if you want something really good for a special occasion, buy this.

Finally, and all to soon, was the 1985 Dom Perignon. A wonderful wine that is exactly at the point I want DP. Very rich, so much heather honey, cheese and yet very floral. The palate was intense with a lot of woodland mushrooms, lime pith and a malty element to it. Bitter pencil and bundles of spice. So good….

Add in a barbecue and it wasn’t a bad birthday at all….

By Peter Wood with 3 comments

Crap of the Week - Barrel Drink Dispenser

For those of you who think that the height of sophistication at a dinner party is cress in an egg mayonaise sandwich, this might be the ultimate gift for you.

The ultimate drinks dispenser comes in the fetching shape of a wooden wine barrel with a hole in one end. You push the bottle in and the neck through the hole, and then attach the rubber bung tap into the bottle. Then you can serve the cheapest crap you can get your hands on and you won't be judged on your taste of wine. Just on your taste of useless tack...

It costs £19.99 from drinkstuff.com, just one problem. Mateus bottles are not compatible!

By Peter Wood with No comments

Rauzan Segla 99 - the best a man can get....

Gillette has just launched a gentleman's razor with five blades on it. It no doubt has a vibrating function, rubber fins to stretch your skin to get access to more hair and it probably has a moisturising strip that not only smooths your skin but injects botox into your face to make even the most wrinkly Sid James look like George Clooney.

Why does a man need all this? My Grandfather shaved for seven decades with one blade, no moisture strip and the only fins in his life came from the fish he had for dinner. But there again, he was a proper man, not a preened metrosexual. The razor blade has been complicated for little or no reason but to sell new razors.

The same applies with HD television. I was wandering through Woolworths and saw that a high definition DVD cost twice as much as a regular DVD. Does the picture really need to be that sharp, and the sound so clear? If you watch the Italian Job, not the remake with Marky Mark in it but the original Caine and Coward movie, the sound is poor, the picture is that pale 1960's quality, yet it is still a bloody good film. I don't need to see a brace of Mini's running around Turin in Hi-Def on a twenty inch screen. Again, the complication of a TV screen doesn't mean that movies or TV programmes are better, it just means that terrible shows and films starring Angelina Jolie are in crisper quality.

Which is why I decided to drink Rauzan Segla 1999. I have been looking at wines from Italy, The Rhone, Germany, Alsace, America... any region really aside from my first love, Bordeaux. So, realising I had not tried a Margaux in a while, I opted to open up this wine.

Uncomplicated, simple but brilliant. This is a beautiful wine, perfumed with an abundance of cherries and a little mint and wild raspberries. The palate is soft with grippy tannin with a lovely pipe tobacco sweetness, whole peppercorns injecting a little spice, plum stones and a stunning clean finish. Certainly, it was a bit young, it was a bit tannic and not the best year, but it was a black and white movie with mono sound whilst shaving with a cut throat razor. Stunningly simple and all I could ever need.

By Peter Wood with No comments

Ham Shanks and High Alcohol - Planeta Wines

My trip to Vinitaly in April gave me one of the best meals of my life. At a restaurant in Verona called Pompiere I had a slow roasted pork shin which was stunning. This peasant cut of meat, but cooked with skill and attention was outstanding, and that is the sort of Gastronomy that I like simple food prepared in a way, and preferably by a person, from the region I'm eating in. And that pork shin was gorgous, preceeded by a load of pickles and sliced meats and superbly cooked pasta. To misquote the great thinker Homer, "mmmm, pork shin...."

But food doesn't have to be cooked in a great restaurant in the home of Romeo and Juliet. I love tripe, and when it is served cold, on a polystyrene plate, saturated in salt, white pepper and malt vinegar on a rainy market day in Yorkshire, I am equally as happy. And haggis around a fire in a Scottish cottage has to be one of the greatest culinary experiences. Food is not just about what is on your plate, but where you are eating it.

An invitation to an Italian wine dinner in an Italian restaurant had me excited, the fact that it was in Edinburgh, made my excitement less so. Certainly, there is a large Italian community in Edinburgh, and therefore a lot of Italian food, but without knowing the restaurant, it could be hit or miss. Vittoria, just off Leith Walk, was Italy the second you stepped through the door. A larger than life owner, Italian being spoken by customers and staff alike was a good thing. A huge plate of Antipasto, Calamari and Meatballs as a starter, got the wine flowing (will get onto that later) and everyone was abandoning "Thank you" and using "Grazie". Then when everyone appeared to choose steaks or veal, I made the choice of trying to revisit my great Veronese meal, and opted for the most peasanty thing (outside of pasta) on the menu. A ham shank with a bean and tomato sauce, slightly spicy, with mashed potato. It arrived, and it looked big.

Firstly, you need a degree in knee surgery to dissect this monster! With a big thick bone running down it, you carve away at the meat , hoping it doesn't fall off the bone, splatter into the tomato sauce and go all over your shirt. Taste wise - stunning. Texture - stunning. Status after devouring this monster of a meal - stuffed! It was quite salty, but this was tempered by the lovely tomato sugo and mashed potatoes, all balancing together very well. The meat was succulent and fell of the dinosaur sized bone. OK, so it wasn't as good as the pork shin in Verona, but it was nearly there. If you go to Vittoria, this is the dish to get... just don't eat before hand!

The reason for the dinner though was to try Planeta's wines. Francesco Planeta is a lovely man. With a slight similarity to Ken Dodd, with much less teeth, he loves talking about his wines. Admitting that he is particularly partial to his Merlot, I was pleased that we would get a chance to try this wine. We started with his La Segreta white from the 2007 vintage. It was clean, nicely lemony with a dry pithy flavour. Quite vegetal though with a metallic element to it A bit crude on the mid palate with quite a lot of alcohol. A nice wine though, and scored 7.5/10.

The new Rose was next. The '07 is the first vintage of this wine - 100% Syrah - in it's "fashionable" packaging, is like a bag of chips. It's alright but that's it. You will enjoy it when you are consuming it, but it won't stay with you, and if it does, it will probably be because you wish you had bought a salad or a different rose! But that's what I think, and others disagree with me so go to Planeta's website for other views.

The 2006 La Segreta Red is all about cherries, herbs and chocolatey tobacco. A dark, bramble jam flavour, but without the sweetness, and a lot of bitter liquorice. A long, clean finish but so much liquorice it could be a bit big. Having said that, with the food I was eating it was nearly perfect, with the bitter elements of the wine mingling perfectly with the sweet tomato sauce.

We then tried the 2005 Merlot which despite being a very nice wine, I thought it was a bit pricy. Minty, menthol and a bit of cherry on the nose, with a firey alcohol element dominating the soft bramble and a strange, but nice, dark and white chocolate flavour. Very vegetal. It is not a sophisticated wine and beats you up a bit. The finish however is good, dry with tobacco to it and it is nicely clean. Shame that it is a bit of a bruiser. 8/10

Finally, and somewhat rushed, was the Muscat. It was nice, clean with a lovely honey and lemon flavour. Lots of buttercup syrup and a clean orange flavour. Good acidity with a balanced finish that cleans up beautifully. 8.5/10

Like most Italian wines, these are supposed to go with food, but the wines are as I remembered them from 3 years ago, slightly alcoholic and a bit 'new worldy'. These are good wines, and Francesco is a great person to sit down and have dinner with. The wines just aren't really my thing.

Planeta Wines
Vittoria Restaurant

By Peter Wood with No comments