VERMENTINO

 

Richard posted that he's going to make rat and sparrow pie for his tea.

See: HERE

I suggested that Vermentino might be an appropriate wine accompaniment for such a delicacy, obviously a Nuova Lazio favourite, but I doubt that he'll be able to find any Vermentino in his local bottle stores . 'Ratshit to swallow', the byline for most of the crap offered in bottle stores of today is probably the closest he will come to finding a suitable beverage.

When Richard, Robert and I worked in a wine and spirit merchant store (a very large bottle store) in the 1970s the selections were much better encompassing a wide range of products. Most countries of the world were represented with wines, spirits, beers and liqueurs and it made our jobs very interesting (especially when we sampled most after work). Greek, German, Australian and various other brandies were on offer along with French brandies and cognacs * and just about every famous liqueur and spirit could be bought.

Portuguese Dao wines, wines from Sicily, South of France, Greece, The Lebanon, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Hungary and many other 'strange' countries were alongside the traditional and famous wines from France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Strangely enough the wines from Australia and New Zealand were minimal as at the time both countries industries were fledgling and there was a shortage of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir etc and sauvignon blanc had yet to be planted.

Anyway, we're talking about Vermentino.

I've never tasted this, certainly not as a varietal on its own but it may well have been blended into some Chiantis I've tasted (I don't drink Italian white wines).

I don't think I'll give it a try though and, along with Richard's rat and sparrow pie this will have to remain a taste experience that will remain a mystery.

* There was one bottled in the Wairarapa.

IN VINO VERITAS ........... NO, .......... IN VINO ARGUMENTUM EST

 I noticed that I haven't written a post as THE WINE GUY since July. 

Sorry about that.

There have been wine related comments made by me on some of my other blogs, usually as a response to the very silly things that Richard of Richard's Bass Bag (don't ask) has posted or commented. This is the guy who, back in about 1976 ruined a vertical tasting of Chateau Margaux by pouring lemonade into the glasses. 

An excerpt from a post dated Tuesday, October 29, 2013

As you can see putting Richard in close proximity to decent wine is like voting Donald Trump into the presidency of the USA.

As I said, Richard has said some silly things in his blog about wine. I guess that it's a good thing that he does drink wine instead of, say, bleach or methylated spirits but his choices are a bit prosaic. His preference in wine style or varietal is chardonnay. That's it, just chardonnay. Now, don't get me wrong, I love chardonnay and think it's the best white wine varietal that can be made into an interesting range of different style wines, from different countries, different regions, different microclimates and using different methods - barrel fermentation, new wood or old wood ageing etc. I like to experiment. 

Richard doesn't. He prefers his chardonnays to be in bottles with no labels, This could be due to the fact that the big words (in small print) that the wine marketers use confuse him but, I believe it's because the wines with no labels - cleanskins - are cheaper and he gets 'more bangs for his bucks'.  Maybe he has Covid ....

........ one of the side effects of Covid-19 is that infected people lose the ability to smell and taste.

..... moving along.

Oh, that's right, I was talking about Richard's recent vinous ramblings and The Curmudgeon's responses to those. How on earth are you supposed to respond to stuff like this?

Well, The Curmudgeon responded with these two comments:

Richard has written much worse stuff about wine  - believe me - or not, as you wish.  Maybe you could just visit his blog ........ but it isn't recommended.