I like a glass of wine with my evening meal - plus a top-up making my daily consumption a glass and a half. With the Old Bat drinking the same, we get through a bottle in two days. Steady, but not exactly excessive and certainly not binge drinking. It is normally French wine that we drink - not because we don't like other countries' wine but because we buy most of our wine in France (where it is cheaper than in England - considerably cheaper) and the range of vins etrangers in French supermarkets is very limited. You will gather that we don't go for so-called fine wines but are happy drinking the cheaper plonk. The particular supermarket chain where we buy our wine sells a very passable merlot for 2 euros (1.99 if you want to split hairs), sundry other reds such as Cotes du Rhone and fitou for about 3 euros and a very nice muscadet for less than 4. Occasionally, very occasionally, I might splash out and spend £7 on a bottle of "decent" wine, usually a New Zealand sauvignon blanc (it's where the best comes from in my opinion) or an Australian red (cabernet sauvignon or shiraz). I suppose it might be that my palate is insufficiently refined to recognise the nuances of more expensive wines, but I really don't think it necessary to spend £20 or £30 on a bottle. Imagine, then, my astonishment to read in the paper last week that somebody (Chinese, I think) had paid £180,000 for a bottle of wine. That works out at £30,000 a glass! Surely nobody can have a palate so refined that they are able to taste the difference between such an expensive wine and the cheaper (but still extortionately priced) wines that sell at nearly £100 a bottle? The truth is probably that he bought it because (a) he could afford to and (b) he wanted to let his friends and colleagues know he could afford to. I just hope for his sake that it doesn't turn out to be undrinkable when he opens it.
In vino veritas indeed: there's one born every minute.
3 comments:
There was a time when I'd have argued with you regarding New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs compared to California Sauvignon Blancs... and maybe even some other varieties and appellations.
However, now that I no longer indulge, the argument is moot. Besides, it comes down to personal preference anyway, doesn't it?
I'm sure there are plenty of very good Californian wines. Perhaps my view is tainted because all we usually see here are the bulk bottlings from people such as Gallo.
It's sad that Gallo is judged by their "jug" wines. They do produce some quality vintage wines, too.
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