I like wine, me. I'm not an oenologist, which is a shame because I like that word. I often like words with diphthongs.
I know what I like, and when I'm not sure, I can take a reasonably good guess by pricing alone. Trip to Oddbins today. Ten bottles of wine, came to just over £70. I would have liked ten bottles to come to £150, but one has to draw a line.
I love the sound of the cork being pulled - pop! I love the glug glug as the first few drops enter the glass. I love to smell the cork, smell the wine, let the first sip tumble over my lips. I know by the smell when it's going to taste tart. When it tastes tart it does something to the nerves in my mouth that feels like I have a steel rod in my jaw.
I generally avoid anything that says Chardonnay on the label. Not because I dislike the Chardonnay grape. Far from it - Chablis is Chardonnay. What I try to avoid is mass-produced bottom-of-the-barrel troisieme cru vin de table distilled from grapes grown in a soil unsuitable for the chardonnay grape being passed off as potable. I'm probably missing out on some good wine there, but I would rather miss the good than piss good money on the piss-poor.
Is there anybody who can honestly say that they like Chateauneuf de Pape and Liebfraumilch?
