Tuesday 22 February 2011

To Bordeaux and Back

I am a lucky, lucky thing!


Last week, on Valentine's Day, as it happens, it was mine and Daniel's two-year anniversary. It was a Monday and I had an interview (which was unsuccessful, sadly, but more on that soon) and so I hadn't really been expecting much. I was delighted with a bouquet of flowers, a lovely card (and poem) and an absolutely delcious homemade curry; I must say it was much more special than I had anticipated, and I was all a-glow the following day.

Then, on Thursday morning, I came downstaires to find an envelope on the breakfast table. Inside was an invite to a 'Carbernet Sauvingnon Around the World' evening at my favourite restaurant in the world ever. Oh my!

I love wine; of this much I am sure. But in all honesty, I know absolutely nothing about it, other than the fact that a glass of chenin blanc is often all I need to put my world to rights. I rarely drink red wine, mainly because I have no idea what I like and what I don't (sometimes it's amazing, sometimes I want to spit it out, but I can't work out the correlation between these two poles of taste), and so an evening of tasting red wines, learning about oak and sweetness and grapes, was the best and most enjoyable way I ever could have learned that, actually, I absolutely love an oaky red from the soils of South Africa, whereas Bordeaux is much too complex for my naive palate.


A picture speaks a thousand words, so I will spare my fingers of any further typing and let my below-par photography tell the tale. All I can say is: eight wines, two incredible courses and the most delicious coffee to finish off the evening left me with a smile not even the merriest of Cheshire cats could manage. And no hangover, to boot!







(The wine I am drinking in this flattering picture is a second growth £100 Bordeaux. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would get to taste something of such calibre! Anyway, it sort of tastes like...red wine. Luckily for me, I left the evening with a certain fondness for an £8.99 South African wine - still pretty expensive in my book, I must say!)

1 comment:

  1. What a very educational and enjoyable evening.
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete