B is for birthdays
The bad thing about having a birthday at the end of the year is always running a risk that one gets one present for both Christmas and the birthday. But as one gets older, good thing about having a birthday at the end of the year is that one could almost be a full year younger than everyone else. The view from the bottom of a wine glass is, as always, a little different.
I have two uncles who have birthdays very close to mine (one on the same day and the other the day before) and as each of them used to live with us for a time before they got married, we used to celebrate our birthdays together. When times were good, we would go to a cheap steak house and order vulcanised pieces of meat served with tinned peas and frozen chips with ice cream to follow (don’t get me wrong - those were some of my happiest childhood memories).
The real trouble always started when the waiter suggested some wine and as it was invariably a special occasion, we would always have a few glasses of the "promotional" wine which, sadly, due to the time of the year, would invariably turn out the be the very nouveau Beaujolais and of which I would be allowed a few sips. Not only has this experience, of half fermented juice mixed with leaves, twigs and trodden upon by the bare feet of French peasants, put me off the Gamay grape for life and for a good few years, I suffered under the inexplicable delusion that I didn’t actually like wine.
The rather more recent tradition of my birthday wines started about four years ago. Rather unexpectedly, I had found myself single again that year - David and Hallie were determined that I should not spend my birthday on my own and kindly took me along to a dinner they had been invited to. It was the night before Ritu sold her interest in our (then) favourite Indian restaurant north of Delhi and a full celebration was in full swing. Apart from the bizarre experience of being seated next to Mrs David Dimbleby and trying to eat tandoori crab without using fingers, a special birthday dessert was concocted for me, especially - one thirds each of kulfi, ras malai and fresh fruit with a sparkler on top. It was brilliant.
My one and only regret from that evening was that as I had to drive home (I was living in Maida Vale then), I had to limit myself to half a glass each of the Masi Amarone 95 (the Vaio Armaron not the cheaper Costasera) and the 91 Crystal. The very next year, I decided to make amends and for my birthday, I took the lovely Fiona to lunch at the same restaurant and afterwards, shared a bottle of the cheaper but most excellent Masi Amarone Costasera 1997 (what a year it was for Italian wines!) and followed that up with bottles of Roederer 90, Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle 90 and Billecart-Salmon 91. Last year, celebrations were split between London and Rome (grazie Anna) and we started with the much honeyed Laurent Perrier 95 in London and followed up with an exquisite Tignanello 99 in Rome.
This year, we started with three bottles of the Laurent Perrier 95 (one of which seemed to have travelled somewhat poorly) and went on to a Les Gondats Marquis du Terme 01, a Masi Amarone Costasera 99 before ending up with a Frescobaldi Nippozano 2000 (previously reviewed in the main blog). The Les Gondats was and remains remarkably good value with more fruit than one should expect from a second wine from a fourth growth Bordeaux estate. Reasonable finish and suppleness also makes this Margaux cheap, cheap, good, good and plenty, plenty value for money in a year which will not go down as a stellar year by any measure. The Amarone was described as “smelling of salted preserved vegetables” and really needs more time in my wine fridge so I’m looking forward to next year.
Next year, well - apart from the Amarone we could all look forward to, I had been given a bottle of Tignanello 2000 as a leaving present this summer and if the alignment of the stars are correct, we shall open that on the day (or evening, even). Only remains to be seen who amongst us all will be there to partake in the wine and I wouldn’t mind some vulcanised pieces of meat served with tinned peas and frozen chips with ice cream to follow either.
I have two uncles who have birthdays very close to mine (one on the same day and the other the day before) and as each of them used to live with us for a time before they got married, we used to celebrate our birthdays together. When times were good, we would go to a cheap steak house and order vulcanised pieces of meat served with tinned peas and frozen chips with ice cream to follow (don’t get me wrong - those were some of my happiest childhood memories).
The real trouble always started when the waiter suggested some wine and as it was invariably a special occasion, we would always have a few glasses of the "promotional" wine which, sadly, due to the time of the year, would invariably turn out the be the very nouveau Beaujolais and of which I would be allowed a few sips. Not only has this experience, of half fermented juice mixed with leaves, twigs and trodden upon by the bare feet of French peasants, put me off the Gamay grape for life and for a good few years, I suffered under the inexplicable delusion that I didn’t actually like wine.
The rather more recent tradition of my birthday wines started about four years ago. Rather unexpectedly, I had found myself single again that year - David and Hallie were determined that I should not spend my birthday on my own and kindly took me along to a dinner they had been invited to. It was the night before Ritu sold her interest in our (then) favourite Indian restaurant north of Delhi and a full celebration was in full swing. Apart from the bizarre experience of being seated next to Mrs David Dimbleby and trying to eat tandoori crab without using fingers, a special birthday dessert was concocted for me, especially - one thirds each of kulfi, ras malai and fresh fruit with a sparkler on top. It was brilliant.
My one and only regret from that evening was that as I had to drive home (I was living in Maida Vale then), I had to limit myself to half a glass each of the Masi Amarone 95 (the Vaio Armaron not the cheaper Costasera) and the 91 Crystal. The very next year, I decided to make amends and for my birthday, I took the lovely Fiona to lunch at the same restaurant and afterwards, shared a bottle of the cheaper but most excellent Masi Amarone Costasera 1997 (what a year it was for Italian wines!) and followed that up with bottles of Roederer 90, Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle 90 and Billecart-Salmon 91. Last year, celebrations were split between London and Rome (grazie Anna) and we started with the much honeyed Laurent Perrier 95 in London and followed up with an exquisite Tignanello 99 in Rome.
This year, we started with three bottles of the Laurent Perrier 95 (one of which seemed to have travelled somewhat poorly) and went on to a Les Gondats Marquis du Terme 01, a Masi Amarone Costasera 99 before ending up with a Frescobaldi Nippozano 2000 (previously reviewed in the main blog). The Les Gondats was and remains remarkably good value with more fruit than one should expect from a second wine from a fourth growth Bordeaux estate. Reasonable finish and suppleness also makes this Margaux cheap, cheap, good, good and plenty, plenty value for money in a year which will not go down as a stellar year by any measure. The Amarone was described as “smelling of salted preserved vegetables” and really needs more time in my wine fridge so I’m looking forward to next year.
Next year, well - apart from the Amarone we could all look forward to, I had been given a bottle of Tignanello 2000 as a leaving present this summer and if the alignment of the stars are correct, we shall open that on the day (or evening, even). Only remains to be seen who amongst us all will be there to partake in the wine and I wouldn’t mind some vulcanised pieces of meat served with tinned peas and frozen chips with ice cream to follow either.
posted by porcorosso at 9:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home