ctgm

I am not sure that I really like cask strength rums. I know that it is its purest expression and that you can add water, but I find that the de-mieralised water used to reduce in strength tastes a lot better than "tap" water. (I also prefer my rum/whisky non-chill filtered). I remember bottling a rum and it was at 75.6% (before reduction to 46%) which brought back frightening memories of Bacardi 151!!

Interesting piece in the newspapers here in the UK over the weekend about the Bordelais. Having for years and years criticised the wine making practices of the Americans, Australians, hell anyone who isn't French (even if they have vineyards in France) they look set to adopt a few of the New World practices. As JRs column said, they may be in all sorts of trouble (I have heard thru the grape vine that 2003 could either be like 1947 or 1976). The newspaper article said that for the first time ever they (IANO) are going to permit the Bordelais (and no doubt everyone else) to regulate the wine's acidity which for the past x many years the French have criticised other countries for doing.

Craig, I think that you might have something there!! It was the Eventail des Producteurs wines which I presume may be a co-op somewhere along the line (possibly just as a sales tool rather than production tool). Carema, my tasting notes are very brief and especially the wines that I don't like, which just get a big "X" with no explanation. I also agree that doing a tasting of 50 wines is not a problem and you can be subjective as long as you filter out (or rather don't dither) on those wines that aren't much good. Are you being serious about turning pink when you like a wine!!?

so that makes you taste an average of 6 or 7 wines every day of the year. How many days do you actually taste - say once a week which comes down to a tasting of 50 wines at a time. Personally I find it hard to taste 50 wines subjectively and any tating notes that I make (never very poetic at the best of times) become very brief. Do you think that perhaps this could be why you find only about 50-75 really good wines as I tend to agree with Craig on this point. Having said that I used to go to an annual Beaujolais tasting and have to plough my way through several different villages with a dozen or so examples. After a very short time I found that all of the examples from each village tasted the same and towards the end the villages all began to taste the same. Not a nice experience tasting hundreds of Bojos!! As for Sass, I recently went to a tasting where they had 1983, 1996-1999 and I must say that I was overwhelmingly dissapointed and personally thought that this was a very over hyped wine, which was a shame as I remember ahving a very agreeable bottle of 1987 about10 years ago.

Good but why on rare occasions? I don't decant my whites as I don't often drink them, but they act pretty much in the same way as a red and benefit from being opened up. However as most of us drink our whites far too cold, decanting it seems pointless.

1988 Giscours An easy drinking wine showing medium bodied almost violety fruit on the nose. On the palate there is ripe fruit with soft tannins and a slight lack of acidity with not a great length on the finish. Parker thinks that this wine is dreadful (78) but I disagree albeit I would not say that it is a great wine by any stretch of the imagination. The bottle that I had was quite pleasant and easy to drink although after an hour or so in the decanter the fruit was beginning to show rather badly 1982 Montrose Typically St. Estephe. Very fine fruit although it seemed a little closed and not fully mature. Still retains a very youthful colour; a nose of sweet fruit with very gentle oak and cigar-box aromas. Full fruit on the palate with an earthy, liquorice, cassisy fruit. Exceptional acidity and tannins - great length. 1964 Latour I have been lucky to have this several times, but usually in half bottles but this time in a 75cl bottle. The colour is fantastic for a wine pushing 40 years - a slight browning on the edges but still retaining a deep ruby colour. There is a fantastic amount of rich ripe fruit on the nose with full cassis fruit. On the palate the acidity and tannins are very soft (not really surprising for the age) but the wine fills the mouth gloriously. Still very elegant and a bottle that I really enjoyed (although I usually think that there is little point keeping wines for so long as they generally loose their fruit). 1975 Fonseca A really surprising bottle. I was under the impression that all the 75s were now thin and excessively spirity but this was still showing an acceptable amount of fruit. It was a little thin but was still very drinkable. I do not know what the bottle variances are with Ports of this ilk but it would be interesting to try again.

I know that it all comes down to personal taste but I personally feel that the Winston C is the most under-rated of the luxury cuvees (with DP being the most over- rated) and I would say that this is my favourite champagne.

A good deep ruby colour. fantastic blackcurrant and mint aromas on the nose - unmistakably New World cabernet. This is carried through on to the palate, which also had cedar box notes. Firm but soft tannins and very easy to drink. Well structured and a very enjoyable bottle to go with my game. The only criticism that I really have is that it lacks a bit of length on the finish Mr Parker says that the anticipated maturity is 2005-2013 but I am not sure that I can agree. Having decanted the wine, the fruit seemed to lose its power after an hour or so. To me this is a sign that it might not last a whole lot longer. Does anyone have any experience of drinking old (or anything 8 or 9 years old or more) South American wines? it would be interesting to hear any experiences as here in Britain, aging south American wines is not really very common.

Had some 63 Cockburns not so long ago and really didn't like it. Tasted of boiled sweets (pear drops to be exact). Also had some Taylor's 63 but I think that the bottles had been stored badly as it was astingent and devoid of juicy fruit.

Pimm's in the UK is 25% not 20%. I can't remember what it was before they dropped the strength but think that it was 35%. I generally add a bit of extra gin to make up for what they took away!

Bristol Spirits don't use abbreviations. they have the name of the still and under that the geographical area of origin and then the age statement.

As we have been experiencing temperatures higher than normal here in the UK, beer consumption has grown by 40% and beer supplies are running out. Carlsberg have had to ship lots in from Scandanavia......

Had over 3 nights Taylors 1960 Quite brown at the edges. Really beginning to show its age, with the bulk of fruit and acidity having faded. Still a nice and easy port to drink but should have been drunk some time ago. Grahams 1966 Much more youthful than the Taylors 1960 - still retains a good colour and the nose has much more fruit. However if being over critical, it was a little spirity. Still has excellent length and fruit. Should still be OK for a few more years although I feel that the fruit might begin to tail off. Taylors 1966 The best of the 3. Still very youthful and should still drink for quite a while yet (longer than the Grahams). Still fat and full with very well balanced fruit/acidity. To me almost perfect although it doesn’t have the vigour and vivacity of the 1970/77 but a truly wonderful port.

Good deep colour and not showing age too badly with the edges only beginning to brown. Nose was packed full with black fruit aromas. Body has full of ripe juicy fruit but I found that the tannins were very soft. Parker says that this should be good for another 20 years but in my humble opinion this wine is at its peak and will not improve that much. Still it was a very nice bottle indeed.

My favourite rumS are those from the Bristol Classic Rum range. I like them all but my favourite is the Monymusk 21/23/25 (all from the same batch but bottled 2 years apart). Also very partial to their Versailles 18yo.

I had some Schwepps Indian Tonic (in those mini cans - 15cl?) with some Mount Gay the other day and found that it was excessively bitter unless I laced it with shed loads of rum (ie killing the bitterness of the tonic). Quite nice though and might try again tonight as I need something to cool down now that London has got a little hotter!

Good to see that CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale (a group that we have in the UK) - is trying to persuade the Czech government not to sell Budvar, as more likely than not to Anheuser-Busch who would then close down, what CAMRA call, a unique "brewing gem". http://www.camra.org.uk/SHWebClass.asp?WCI...owCat&CatId=370

best to take away what I wrote I think before some moderator comes down on me!!

I've had the Goats du Roam and found it very disappointing. I seem to remember (although time has faded the memory) that it was over alcoholic, lacked elegance and sophistication and was one of those wines that you would be hard pressed to drink a whole bottle of.

Still waiting for a photo, which I have been told will be arriving "soon" ! By the sounds of it these could be the ones that EH is talking about as they ar the right size and packaging.

I've a great picture of the Lamb's 1939 on e-mail but do not know how to post it. Distilled 22/6/1939 but can't see when bottled.

PM = Port Morant I am not sure that the initials are from the individual distilleries but from the individual stills. For example VSG comes from the Enmore distillery so VSG would be the still that made the rum.

Some years ago (prob about 6 or 7 now) I was speaking to a highly respected wine journalist in London, who has written numerous books on Bordeaux and he had a very interesting outlook on the 1990 vintage. He said that a lot of the 1990s were at their peak (remember that this was about 1996) and that many were not going to improve. He did quantify this by saying that the big chateaux would go on for longer but ultimately that they would not last as long as everyone made out. From personal drinking, I do not think that I have had enough 1990s to pass judgement, but of the ones that I have had I do find that they are a little lacking in structure and therefore may not last as long as one thinks. I think that in the long run the 1989 vintage will prove to be better. As for the first growths I have only had Mouton 1990 and this was a cask sample in 1991. I remember it being very easy to drink then and wondering how long it would last. I have a friend who also had it 1991 and had similar views.

what were you thinking!!!! never been able to drink Bundy ever since me and another had 1 litre of OP to 1.5 ltres of Coke. Why not put it in a rum punch. I make a very simple one. Plenty of rum, gomme syrup, lime/lemon juice, bitters and a bit of orange juice with plenty of freesh ground nutmeg. Crushed ice and away you go. I managed to get shot of a bottle of Lamb's cheap stuff this way. PS has anyone had Bundaberg Black 1987?

Reading the Sauternes thread, go tme thinking about a conversation I had at lunch with my old boss. He pulled out a bottle of 1990 Gewurztraminer VT and he said that he hoped that it would be OK as it had been in the fridge for quite some time. The wine was fine but has anyone come across a problem with keeping a wine in a (normal) fridge for too long? For your information I like my white wines (sweet and dry) to only visit the fridge for about 20 miuntes (from room temperature). The way to hide all the faults in a wine is to drink it cold.