A good whine

Those that know me also know that I’m very fond of my wine (another reason behind my France move) from a rough and ready vin ordinaire with my baguette and cheese lunch to sampling the great vintages of all time (when I can afford it which is not often).

I mentioned in a previous post about having recently dined at a rather super Normandy restaurant ( Le Manoir in Balleyroy). As I perused the extensive wine list (I settled on a Bourgogne Aligote 2000 and a nice St. Emilion 1997) I noticed a familiar name a Chateau Calon Segur for 550 Euros! I think it was a ‘97. Way too pricey for a family luncheon, or at any time for those of us of modest means.

New or Old wine?

This brought back happy memories of when, behind a hidden panel, in an old wine cellar I discovered 4 bottles of the same wine but of the renowned ‘61 vintage. I kept the last one for a long time and shared it with a fellow winebibber (he paid for the meal and I supplied the last remaining bottle) and it was just one of those special moments in the life of a wine lover.

Imagine my shock then when the Sommelier at Le Manoir (who seemed a pretty knowledgeable chap) reckoned that if that wine was on his list today it would be priced at over 7000 Euros!

That’s more than I paid for my last car! Ah well - happy memories.

PS When you are asked to serve an ancient bottle of wine from your employer’s cellar do NOT wipe off the dust and give it a polish to make the bottle sparkle. This is regarded as a grave faux pas! An employee of mine once did this with 6 bottles of a fine vintage - he was distraught when I explained why he shouldn’t have done it and my heart went out to him as he was so upset about the whole thing - the client kindly laughed it off.

Moral: Don’t assume that your idea of what’s best IS actually what’s best!

Our first Butlercast

Yes we’ve gone all 21st Century on you - we’re on the air (online podcasts) hurrah !

Check out the inaugural show here and let us know what you think (contact details are provided at the tail end of the show).

Spent the best part of 3 days finding out how to do it and pulling it all together.

Still not 100% with everything so please forgive the technical hiccups in the first show. We’ll get better!