OT so, you want some wine

Yes. It's "ok", but not great, but then again I'm not a great fan of
Tarrangos anyway.[/QUOTE]

it's particularly unpleasant served as suggested i.e. chilled.

[snip]

I'll look out for it.

 

It was the middle of the night. Perhaps they were doing some maintenance.

 

heh. Thank god for gmail's superb spam filter.[/QUOTE]

Gmail filters won't stop the frequent mail shots. Although, I tolerate
direct mail as I reckon our door to door postal service would've
disappeared decades ago without it.

 

The way deliveries are around here, the shite will never get here.[/QUOTE]

I almost mentioned that, but thought I'd let you have the opportunity,
again.

 

We went on our first Laithwaites wine-tasting evening last week. The
lesson we learnt was EITHER drive there so you can't drink too much OR
leave your credit card behind.

 

this it?

http://www.everywine.co.uk/every-wine/30870-brown-brothers-everton-red-victoria.html

just over 6 quid a bottle.

 

Mines still full from the accumulation of the last 6 months worth of
not being able to drink while my migraines were sorted out..

I can now (in moderation) so it's starting to reduce. I do like my
Rioja. Or even the odd Pinot Noir.

Phil.

 

Seconded. And when I have had a wine that I didn't like they refunded
the money with no questions asked.

Oh - and when they had problems earlier this year setting up their new
distribution centre one of my orders was delayed by a week or so
(6-case of Port) so they sent me a £20 voucher..

Phil.

 

Like my Reds of Spain 3 month plan?

<Surveys 30-odd bottles of Spanish red wine>

Phil.

 

I got a pretty good - free - guide from Waitrose a few months back -
it's led to me buying stuff I'd never have thought of trying before,
with generally pretty good results.

Obviously, it's only a guide to the wines Waitrose actually sell, but
even with this limitation I've found it educational and enjoyable.

 

Quite. This was a present from one of Pat's daughters, so I don't know
what it cost. But you could have as much as you wanted of all the
wines and spirits. Fatal.

 

Phil Launchbury secured a place in history by writing:

Yes. Exactly that one.

 

@news.individual.de:

Just buy mixed cases. Laithwaites do them obviously, so do Majestic. The
Tesco's Italian one I tried to order is pretty good value, too. You'll soon
learn the grape varieties you like and their synonyms away from their
traditional homeland. You'll learn the names of large producers in South
America that make remarkable wines at a great price. You'll also get a few
bottles that you dislike, which is itself an education, for relatively
modest outlay.

I used to buy mainly generic Australian plonk from supermarkets. I got
bored with this and ordered the odd mixed case. Over time I have developed
a much more diverse taste in wine. I was never a big white wine fan simply
because I was not buying the right stuff. Now, half of what I drink is
white wine: sauvignon blanc from Chile, white Burgundy and Orvieto being
favourites. On the negative side I've found that I really don't enjoy
Chenin Blanc from S Africa.

I've become a pretty confident wine buyer now. I rarely buy stuff I don't
like and it's very rare for me to spend over £5 a bottle, unless dining
out. I'm even brazen enough to post recommendations on here when people
seek advice...

 

Indeed so, utterly fatal. I never used to go with the intention of
getting spannered, it more sort of just happened, in a Keith Floyd style
"this wine is an excellent accompaniment to ... *this* wine!" type way.[/QUOTE]

"Which of these two do you like best?". "Can't remember - what about
you?" Can't remember either - better check again ...".

 

**** me you're a sodding star!

Although it need aging a bit - IIRC the ones I was on were 1998 ...
but still, many thanks for that.

Now watch as we buy some and find it's not all that Interesting
it's in the "medium-bodied" section; the stuff I had was fairly
"huge", but I'm going to try some again and see.[/QUOTE]

I've just looked up that wine on BB's own website. They have released the
2006 now, and the advice says "this wine is best enjoyed when young".

Perhaps in the 90s they produced other wines with the Everton appellation,
intended as "keepers". The website does say they had a big marketing push
in 1999 so perhaps they shuffled their brands about? What you write in the
last paragraph may prove correct...

http://www.brownbrothers.com.au/ourwine/product.aspx?vintageid=966

 

The indifferent bottles are perfect for those times when you have drunk a
bottle of the reasonable stuff, finished off the bottle someone else opened
and decide you are still thirsty.

Anything that is truly horrible I give to my teenage niece when she asks
for a raffle prize for her u14 football club.

The only time I have asked Laithwaites for a refund is when I've had a
corked wine. Perhaps twice in 7 years or so. Most wines seem to come with a
synthetic closure nowadays (if you include those corks that look like
plywood with a real cork veneer at either end) so corking seems to be a
thing of the past. Either I have a catholic taste in wine or their buyers
keep doing a good job. Bit of both, I suppose.

 

<wine ponce mode>

It's all in the terroir.

</wpm>

BTW, if you haven't been watching it, the BBC2 series featuring Oz Clarke
and James May in California is very entertaining. UKNova has it.

 

Yeah, that's me, that is!

Would this officially make one A Sad ****(tm)?

 

Ooh no I've missed that.

<opens UKNova>[/QUOTE]

Many thanks for that Wessie

As I don't watch conventional TV as such, I don't get to hear of
anything until someone mentions it (most often here), so well batted
and ta [/QUOTE]

there's only 1 leecher on the three torrents, so I guess it's you poncing
my bandwidth!

 

Why would it?
cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/uk.rec.motorcycles/msg/7221a3dd37ac40b5

It's simply efficient, that's all.[/QUOTE]

And so it starts.

with typing on a screen, plus it takes up less space than a wine
tasting journal would.

"Ever gone a whole day without a rationalisation?"