Dentists – best stick to teeth…
Is it over? The south east of England has been blessed with dry warm weather these past weeks, providing for perfect BBQ weather and my all time favourite pork ribs in ‘mama’s homemade sauce’. With one toe on the hosepipe, watering the suffering lawn, what better way to while away the cooking hours with an array of rose and white wines to hand.
On the other hand, there’s always that ‘dodgy’ bottle that’s been knocking around for yonks that just-needs-drinking. Last night’s tipple was thanks to my good friend Jo, the dentist, who recently asked for an evaluation of some French 2005s she’d picked up some years ago. Now, dentists are renowned for enjoying the odd decent tipple, and so, anticipating a host of delicious Right Banks/Left Banks, it seemed that Jo had ‘cocked it up’ for want of a better phrase. Alas, none of the wines had any merit to them, other than the last hope of ‘reasonableness’ from a very good vintage.
I left Jo’s dentistry with a 2005 white in my clutches (yes, white!) and this was what we cracked open last night. A 2005 ‘vinifie en futs de chene’ – aka barrel-fermented Sauvignon/Semillon blend. I was semi-hopeful as much as fearful of the contents. Well, the colour was a very attractive psychedelic translucent yellow. Promising start… The flavours? An exaggerated oakyness, fuelled by an anticipated oxidative character and finally a hue of aged fruit ripeness. It was super-chilled (out the freezer) and all in all not bad. So thanks Jo, for turning my head on what I’d expected to be an inferior, knackered old Bordeaux. It wasn’t!
For more on unusual whites, follow this link>