My youngest daughter lives on the island in Victoria and just loves it. She works for the BC government so has no worries. They abslotutely love the island and actually go camping and hiking a lot.
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I agree, the better wines come from BC. I don’t often buy Canadian wines as they are just not good value for the money. I know there are some decent Ontario wines, but again, I can get wine that tastes much better, for 30% less, even tho it has to be shipped 5 or 10 thousand miles to get here.
Hell, I could walk to some of the Ontarion vineyards …
I love the interesting flavours that a nicely-aged Barolo presents. One of my favourite styles.
We arrived on a Friday afternoon the pub in the bay had oysters a $ each and cheap beer. 
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Berry’s have the 2014 St Henri at £56 IB according to Wine-Searcher so duty and VAT to add back would take it north of £80, so not huge appreciation. The only Penfold I sold was the 2010 707 cab - acquired at £150 IB on release and sold a couple of years back for £300 - I just thought how much vinous enjoyment £1800 could buy - or approximately 30% of the NSC222.
Can I steer you in the direction of this - L’antidote from Domaine des Grottes. It’s an alcohol free sparkling Gamay juice infused with about 15 herbs. My daughter brought some round yesterday and it is delicious. More importantly, it’s not too sweet and went very well with food. Although it’s made from Gamay juice it’s not pretending to be wine and it’s all the better for it. It’s not cheap at £14 - £17 a bottle but that seems to be the way with many No/Lo drinks, despite the absence of duty for alcoholic drinks
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Supper with my Dad this evening. It’s become a regular Tuesday night gig where I drive round to his place. I get the Charlie Bigham’s out of the fridge and heat it in the oven.
Ungraciously, I was a bit nonplussed on arrival to see the Waitrose cheapy, left, on the worktop. He then made great show of bringing the Medoc up from the cellar (read: out from the cupboard under the stairs). My partner had bought it for him for Christmas. He then insisted on decanting it and proceeded to break the cork.
But I must say that despite being served imo too cold, he barely puts the heating on these days after Mum’s death last year, this was a very enjoyable wine. Good fruit, nicely balanced and just a bit of soft tannin. Went well with our beef casserole. Plus it loosened him up and we talked of the journey he, Mum and me had, driving back from Malta in their brand new Ford Anglia estate in 1963.
Sorrento was a highlight, staying in a nice hotel above the town. There was a decent baby sitting service apparently, and I sense they enjoyed a night of peace and freedom together.
Thanks Dad for sharing a good bottle.
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always nice to hear stories like that. good wine or bad.
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Thanks, I’ll have a look for that.
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Phantastic choices. I am sure you and your family enjoyed the tasting. As to the Cos d‘Estournel: In France it happened to me several times during holidays that I stumbled upon extraordinary Bordeaux wines in supermarkets for an eye watering low price. Last time in the South West two years ago. I went to buy some food and checked the wine shelfs. Upps, Cos d‘Estournel 2007 for 70 Euro. Even for a bad year which 2007 was, this was cheap, given the reputation of the chateau. 5 bottles were left. I brought them all - and didn‘t regret the decision. The taste was excellent. Still two bottles left in my cellar.
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I am sort of at the same place. 3700 bottles and I feel like it’s a reasonable quantity to maintain the collection and have a reasonable width of options. At 50, this gives me about a 15 year run. We pull probably 300 bottles a year. I replenish at about the same rate which gives the stuff that needs age time to rest space to do that. While at the same time keeps the drinkers section of pop at release Napa, Chablis, Chardonnay and Champagne with reasonable variety to not get redundant. I’d guess at 60 or so I’ll stop replenishing bottles to age at the same pace.
I think a lot depends on the breadth of varietals you prefer to put age on and how long you like to hold them. If I was into older burgundies I could see having to add another 2000 bottles just to have a reasonable depth of 30 to 40 year old wines.
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Thanks Matthew, similar thinking. Re: Breadth, it’s primarily Italian (with a bias to Piedmont), French (with a bias to Rhone Valley and Burgundy, and aged Bordeaux’s). The rest is a mix of German/Austrian’s, Oz, SA and California. While I used to buy en primeur, I have hardly bought any this year. What I do enjoy is checking out the broking list and watching for the bin end sales – for those in the UK, check out Justerini’s broking list and watch for their and Lay and Wheeler’s sales. Particularly on the broking list you can find some great deals on older wines approaching or just past their drink by target dates. The one exception is champagne. I find we run that down quicker than I plan so now need to build that stock up for the future.
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An instance of the wine delivering far more than just a lovely palate or nose - tapping into family memories like that is so precious and a thing of the moment. My biggest regret is not having more stories of my parents’ lives and their experiences; you are left with a box of photographs that you rescue from their loft and then have no clue of who many of the people are or the stories behind them. May you have many more memory triggering glasses of wine with your father.
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Changing topic to “What Wine is my Wife Drinking” – dry Thursday for me but the better half enjoying a favourite of ours sharing with our son’s partner. Highly recommend this Umbrian white although it has gotten pricier over the last decade.
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This is perfect wine for a warm summers evening. It’s a more subtle take on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and all the better for it. It is flinty with jasmine, white peach, rock melon, preserved ginger, lemon and lime. It is rich in the mid palate but has a saline crisp finish like a Chablis. Utterly mouth watering. FWIW Suckling rated it #10 in his top 100 wines of the year. Well worth a try.
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That certainly looks inviting and reasonably priced, might pick up a bottle in Sydney next week. Cheers.
Hopefully it doesn’t taste like Cloudy Bay.
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Hi Pete. It’s not as “in your face”. More grown up I guess. We bought a case as it goes with seafood so well. It’s as enjoyable as flash European wines three times the price.
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It’s a rather good NZ Sauv Blanc Pete I can second what IDAK is saying
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It’s only around $29, that’s quite manageable.