Wine

On a recommendation from a very nice member of bar staff in a good bar in San Sebastian, I found myself drinking this: https://www.decantalo.com/en/ube-miraflores.html

I thought it was absolutely outstanding, I don't know that I fully understand the process(es) by which it's made but I think it's kind of manzanilla without the fortification process, which winds up with a v dry white with lots of sherry notes but also amazingly fresh and zingy.

(This comment not in respect of natural wine, just a bottle of wine I was excited about. the natural wine stuff is v interesting but I don't have much to add.)

Great recommendation! I know v little about sherry, and have only really drunk the sweet stuff (which I enjoy a lot) - I’ll keep my eyes peeled...

If you find any in the UK (and particularly SE15/ SE22 :)) let me know.

sherry is so good and such a great way to get legitimately high quality wines at very reasonable prices (due to its relative unfashionability (in the mainstream))

here is the pet nat we had: https://dzwonsemrish7.cloudfront.net/items/2b0Q3i2T0w1a2a3Q3Q0M/IMG_8581.jpg

warning my wife likes ipas and kombucha

^^^That label is so charming.

I am going to be on the lookout for the Ube or a similir wine from that region. Dry sherries used to freak me a out a lot because I thought they tasted like bone broth. That salty umami.

I always think of sherry as something I should avoid because of its association with with a local bus station legend who was known as QC Mary. Might try some out this week, under the dodgy pretext that it is needed for a risotto!

I was into tawny port for a while a few years ago, but have drifted away. Good with many cheeses. Hardys (Australia) was one I liked that was affordable, US$12-14.

Tawny is my preferred port, particularly 40 yr OF COURSE

xpost There are some nice sherry cocktails.

The uk supermarket premium sherry brands aren’t bad at all. Sainsbury Taste the Difference and Morrisons’ equivalent are both made by Lustau which is a reliably good maker. In both cases the dry oloroso is decent and I like the fino too. Tesco’s was Barbadillo iirc but they’ve stopped stocking that at the local big Tesco.

I haven't had a cream sherry in decades, sometimes I wonder whether it's nice.

The folklore regarding cider armadillos is long-forgotten around here but that is what comes to my mind whenever anyone mentions sherry cocktails (I've tried a few proper sherry cocktails at reputable places but I can rarely detect the sherry involved).

Yeah, a lot of people still associate sherry with Harveys Bristol cream from the 1970s.

Sommelier cheating scandal!

http://www.laist.com/2018/10/10/sommelier_cheating_scandal_23_master_sommeliers_stripped_of_titles.php

Some of them already took the tasting retest and passed.

My boss was one of those stripped of his MS status after the scandal--my heart hurt so badly for him! We had congrats banners hanging in the restaurant...general jubilation and then the title got yanked away. CMS fast tracked a new tasting trial a few months later which he didn't pass. He's going again this fall.

oh damn. I know some people opened and drank once in a lifetime bottles, printed up new business cards, accepted $$$ gifts and higher speaking fees related to the new title. SUX.

Gruner Veltliner is the best white wine grape.

Cancel me if you want, this is my opinion.

It's okay I like Napa cabs more than Bordeaux so you can judge my suburban mom or shallow businessman tastes to make yourself feel better.

If someone wants to buy me some 1er cru to try and sway me, please do!

In recent blind tastings organized by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, Grüner Veltliners have beaten world-class Chardonnays from the likes of Mondavi and Maison Louis Latour.[1]

Gruner Veltliner is a good, cold picnic wine and I like that most bottles are actually liters and not 750ml

I know there are high-end Gruners but I've mostly quaffed the sub-$20 bottles, which are nice and crisp