Right Place Wrong Wine

We caught up with our friends Bernie and June that we rediscovered on facebook the other weekend who we hadn't seen for more than 20 years , well if you must move to Africa then it's hardly surprising that you lose touch. It was a red wine evening and they brought some Wolf Blass Shiraz and Cab Shiraz. I opened a bottle of Domaine Chevalier 1996 which if you bought it today would cost around 5 times as much money as the two Wolf wines put together.
On an evening of shared memories of 1980's London clubs, squats and music, the Aussie wines were just great - quite sweet, rich, lots of fun. The expensive Bordeaux, a bit underwhelming and somehow out of place.

I have drunk the Chevalier a few times and really enjoy it - it has everything that I like about great claret because it's light dry wine without too much alcohol and has a smell that goes beyond fruit into nice cedary overtones. There's just no way that you would necessarily want to glug it that's all. It makes me think of how almost all wine producing countries divide drinks into every day and special occasion - Vin de Soif and Vin de Garde in France. In Italy if a wine is serious they call it Vina Meditatzione. Thinking Wine.
Well, sometimes you just really want fabulous non thinking wine and that Friday was one of them.

When we all lived in a housing co operative (squat to the rest of you) in the 80's I was working in a fine wine shop and regularly used to bring home half full bottles left over from tastings at work. I was all for extracting every last taste from each glass. They just enjoyed them.

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