Some Thoughts on Christmas Break
Hey Team,
I’ve had plenty of time over the festive period to study and read. I’ve been working on my Research Paper proposal, which is a much longer conversation, perhaps I’ll write a bit more on the process on the new year.
Here are a few unconnected thoughts, in no particular order.
Drinking the Good Stuff
There’s a strange thing that a couple of weeks off at Christmas will do, that suggests we start popping all the good stuff.
I think it’s weird that we save these wines for occasions where we’re getting together generally with family, and not so much, perhaps, like minded enthusiasts.
Does that mean sharing delicious, precious, mature, prized bottles with unwitting parents is a wasted enterprise? Yep.
There’s a common approach that says “Share good wines with anyone and they’ll appreciate them, you don’t need knowledge to appreciate a great wine…” etc etc.
Nonsense isn’t it?
Drink whatever dross you’ve been putting off with your family, and save the good stuff for attentive audiences.
Bubbles for New Year
This is an idea I can get well and truely behind. Bubbles are the best, personally I try and convince my wife to drink fizzy wine as often as possible, and I’m gonna do more of that into 2023.
But in the meantime, good bubbles are hard to beat.
I thought I’d quickly highlight a couple of fizzy wines I’ve enjoyed this year.
Graham Beck, Brut NV, MCC - This was a bit of a revaluation. It’s £12 in Majestic (!!), but it tastes amazing. Sorry if I sound surprised about that. I’m late to the party, it’s a Chard/Pinot trad method blend from South Africa.
Flint Vineyard, Charmat 2021 - Yes I work for Flint now, so yes I probably tasted this three times every week since April, but on Christmas Eve me and my wife had a bottle, then we had another bottle on Christmas Day. I think that says enough. It’s bright pink, fruity and joyously tasty. A clever blend of hybrid varieties done well in the UK. Buy it Here.
2002 Nicholas Francois Billecart - You can watch the video I posted back in April about this wine. It was really quite delicious. Rich, nutty, full bodied, toasty. £130 a bottle though, but seriously stunning.
Dom Perignon, 2006 - Alright fine, I haven’t opened it yet, I bought it for New Year's Eve as a treat. But I’m looking forward to it.
Blind Tasting Red Wines
I am terrible at this. White wine, I’m doing OK. Sparkling Wines and Rosé wines are getting easier, and then because we all fret about fortified wines I’m much more comfortable with now1.
So, how do I fix getting better at red wines?2
In my last newsletter about the Paper 3 Mock, I managed to argue against Beaujolais even though I kinda knew it was. I’ve spent some of my Christmas study hours dwelling on how to get better at red wine blind tasting.
My rough plan here is to, you guessed it, taste more red wines. I casually drink less red than anything, and when I do it’s usually modern, carbonic playful stuff.3
I need to brush up on classics. My plan is to do a combination of types of learning;
Lateral - This is where I’ll taste wines with similar characteristics, such as light bodied reds, or thick skinned varieties, or wines that commonly use oak. This will help me focus on stylistic differences.
Horizontal - These will be different qualities or styles of the same region or grape wines. Like comparing Chateauneuf du Pape to Cornas, to Vacqueras, or three Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva from the same Rioja Producer.
For Lateral & Horizontal tastings, I’ll probably do them knowing exactly what the wines are. It’s easier to learn that way. I can practice “perfect”4 answers, and build up a bank of dry notes to reference later.
Total Blind - As it sounds. Either lateral, horizontal or total free for all blind tastings. Lots of this. Identificatinon is the key for blind tastings. Using the things I’ve learnt and the notes I’ve taken to help deduce to the wines.
Some might say, that I should have been doing this all along, and I have. But, I think my point here is that I’ve neglected classic red wines, in favour of the periphery. Don’t forget the Classics.
A Wine to Pair with Christmas Dinner
Literally anything you want. Next.
Speak to you next year.
Dan
Further Reading
Another Substack Newsletter I read, Wine is Confusing, has started doing some blind wine tasting round ups. Which are fun.
And, another round up, some more esoteric, natural wines from Aaron Ayscough’s publication, Not Drinking Poison. One of the first writers I found who were already on Substack.
I also created myself a lovely flow chart for fortified wines, If you want a copy just ask.
I might elaborate on why I find red wines harder another day.
Like this wine I recently bought from Swig. Queue de Pressoir Segalin, Malbec, Clos d'Audhuy 2020
“Ideal” !!
Thank you for the shoutout! I'm glad you're enjoying my very humbling blind wine journey.