CAC*

* [Bugger in Gaelic]

We're going overseas for a couple of years and have been packing stuff away in a storage locker - you know , the things that can keep for a few years more. We've drunk, given away and sold most of the wines but there are a few old cognacs and whiskies that are worth keeping.

I wrapped them up and packaged them carefully before storing them in the long term rental locker.

Today, when taking some more packages of artwork and boxes of books I discovered that one of the stacks of boxes had collapsed. I saw quite a few boxes scattered across the floor when I opened the door. "don't be the booze" I thought as I approached and guess what - it was. I quickly checked boxes and two of them rattled. Bugger (or Cac)! On opening, the XO cognacs were OK but ..... some of the old whiskies had been broken.

McLeay Duff 'Antique'

Munro's King of Kings

Buchanan's The Royal Household

Plus an old Lord Calvert Canadian whiskey (over 40 years old) and a litre of Drambuie.

Now the Calvert was probably worth about a hundred bucks and the Drambuie about eighty but the others were worth a bit more.
I think the Munro's might have been a couple of hundred dollars.
The going price for the McLeay Duff Antique (about 40 years old) is about five hundred dollars.
The one that really pisses me off (cac) is the The Royal Household which is circa 1940's and the going rate for this is between a thousand and two thousand pounds (about two to four thousand dollars).

Bummer.

I should have drunk them.

WINE SNOB?

Am I a wine snob?
A dictionary interpretation is:

Snob
- noun
1. A person who imitates, cultivates or slavishly admires social superiors and is condescending or overbearing to others.
2. A person who believes himself or herself to be an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field: a musical snob


(I reproduced this faithfully - the musical snob reference was in the dictionary explanation).

The above seems reasonable apart from the fact that it says "admires social superiors", which I don't understand, having never met one.
I have a lot of knowledge of wine and like to think that I can pass on some of my vast knowledge to others without being "condescending" or "disdainful".
I do however feel sorry for people who waste their money on crap wines because they don't know any better. A friend who came to stay recently left behind a bottle of Saints South East Australian 2008 Shiraz.
I opened it tonight as I was cooking a Bolognaise sauce dish and needed a drop of red wine. On tasting it I immediately noticed that it was crap. I think my palate was OK and discerning as I hadn't had any wine ( or any alcohol) for a week. (I believe in only drinking when you feel like it and for the last week didn't feel the need). You should only cook with a wine that is worth drinking so I opened another Shiraz that was readily to hand. This was a 1993 Eileen Hardy Shiraz. This wine was superb. It is nicely developed, still rich but with the age having softened it out to make an even, smooth and almost silky wine. Great. A decent dollop of this to the sauce made for a great pasta dish.
Is this snobbish? I don't think so. I had the better wine to hand. The first one was crap and not worth putting in the sauce let alone drinking so why not? This got me to thinking though that there are many wine drinkers out there that drink crap because they don't know better. They haven't  yet experienced the great or even better wines of the world. This doesn't make them dullards. It doesn't necessarily make them cheapskates as I know that for the money my friend paid for the Saints wine I could have found a different wine at the same price that is much better. It is all about experience and inside knowledge. I know that I pay money for music, computers, household goods, cars etc. that an expert would scoff at. Are they snobs? No. They just have a better knowledge of their field.

I'LL 'AVE AN 'ALF

IT'S NOT FAIR

I've written before how in our household we always have one or more bottles of wine open in the fridge. Modern wine, especially New Zealand, Australian and American wines are generally made in non-oxygenated styles and benefit from being opened to the point where we keep wine open for up to a week and it is still pleasant drinking.

This of course means that, red or white, they are kept in the refrigerator, not on a warm kitchen bench.

We're finding that we don't have as many visitors dropping in now, especially since we've relocated to a remote area so the opened wines are more likely to be just one or two variants, not the three or four of the past. In addition we aren't drinking as much as we used to which is I guess just another one of those things that happen as you grow older.

What I would really like is to have a comprehensive selection of half bottles of wine so that wine tasting drinking can be more enjoyable without the commitment to imbibing full bottles of the stuff.

When I first stated in the industry New Zealand and even Australian wine was not as popular and available as it is today and (I'm talking 1970s here) good stuff was very hard to find. The predominance of wine was European and most brands  and styles had offerings in 375ml bottles along with the 750ml ones.

This all changed in the 1990s with supply chain and production  efficiencies driving down costs while increasing volumes and one of the casualties was the disappearance of the 375ml quality wine. Today it's almost impossible to find a chardonnay, pinot noir or indeed any decent varietals in 375ml packaging, the only consistent offerings being sweet white wines, champagne and sparkling wines.

Producers have decided that consumers (or not enough of them) are willing to pay the premium that production of smaller size bottles demands. It's not just the cost of the volume of wine or the tax that makes up the cost (half) as the cost of the bottles, labels, packaging and bottling labour costs are nowhere near half of that of the 750ml variant and in the case of small production runs can be more expensive. Bottling lines are configured for 750ml runs and anything outside of this is a costly hassle.
Furthermore, wine retailing is stacked in favour of big chains whether supermarket or not to a factor of 80:20 and these customers just want to move as much product as quickly as possible so can't be arsed about fiddly other sized packaging. Bugger what the consumer wants.

There have been many wine column's  and wine blog posts written about how half bottles of wine are the 'next big thing' but I challenge anyone to try and find any decent half bottles that are available with continuity of supply. Doing internet searches and trawling in-line retailers offerings is a fruitless endeavour as is going to individual winery websites. I know that Thorndon New world in Wellington has a small selection of half bottles but their website won't show these. I've purchased Te Mata Elston Chardonnay there in a half bottle but Te Mata's own website makes no mention of this.

As soon as I find a supplier, at a reasonable price (and I'm prepared to pay a premium) of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot gris I'll happily buy cases of the stuff. The frustrating things is where.

i'll keep trawling and will update this post should I find any.

Please comment if you know of any.

WHISKY GALORE!

Today has been a day of jobs around the house (Her Indoors is back). One of them was making concrete bricks with ceramics embedded for a garden. I had to fossick in the basement for a mould and for some quick drying cement which involved moving a few boxes and crates. A few of these contained some of my whiskies. Now I knew I had them but had kind of misplaced them in or move North. I recently wrote a post on tasting some of the Malt whiskies I have. These are additional to those.
When I was travelling in my job I used to buy a Malt whisky or Cognac at duty free on return. Some I gave away as gifts, others I just put in the wine cellar. Years ago I attended a whisky auction when United Distillers got rid of a lot of their old stock. There were some amazing bargains to be had and I still have some bottles left. Many years ago, I uncovered an old cache of spirits at a now long defunct liquor importers. I have a few old bottles from this.
In random order the bottles I dragged out of the basement today are:

Scapa 12 y.o. Malt from Orkney

Hugh O'Donnell Glen Mist whiskey liqueur from Ireland. (circa 1940's).
Highland Park 12 y.o. Malt from Orkney (old bottle shape).
Highland Park 12 y.o. Malt from Orkney (new bottle shape).
Cutty Sark blend (circa 1950's).
Tullamore Dew 12 y.o. Malt from Ireland.
Long John MacDonald Royal Choice 21 y.o. blend in wade decanters (3 bottles).
Antique 'extra special' blend (Mcleay Duff circa 1950's)
Macallan 12.y.o Malt.
The Royal Household blend (James Buchanan circa 1940's).
Haigs Dimple 12.y.o. blend (circa 1950's)
The Mill Burn 12.y.o. Malt (McLeay Duff circa 1950's)
Lord Calvert blended whiskey (Kentucky circa 1950's)
The Glendronach 15.y.o. Malt
Usher's 'extra' blended whisky ( circa 1950's)
The Macallan 'twenties' Malt (recreation of the 1920's style).
The Glenlivit 15.y.o Malt
Munro's King of Kings deluxe blend (in stone jug)
Chivas Regal 12.y.o. blend.

I should have dug these out earlier in winter but  we will enjoy a tipple with discerning friends. I'm sure that TSB would appreciate the taste of some of these.