Oeno-File, the Wine & Gastronomy Column

by Frank Ward

Archive for March, 2019

CHALLENGE BURGUNDY

Posted by Frank Ward on March 20, 2019

March 2019. In 2018 Andrew Jefford, one of our leading wine writers, published an article in ”Decanter” expressing a general disappointment in the wines of Burgundy. He added: “I am in fact a big fan of Burgundies which work; it’s just that the failure rate is much higher than in Bordeaux or Piedmont, and the lustre of the region is such that this [factor] is too often overlooked.” Of bottles he had recently purchased (a number of them from me), he wrote that some of the whites were oxidized while a number of reds were “fair, but didn’t open the door to the magical kingdom of Burgundy bliss.” [….].

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CHEZ KEITH & CLAIRE III

Posted by Frank Ward on March 9, 2019

March 2019. Another dinner, with accompanying wines, with our friends Keith and Claire. The food: a tasty soufflé-cum-vol au vent, duck breast in rich gravy, cheeses, and a sweet tart to finish. All of the wines were tasted blind. A note on blind tasting: a French vigneron once said to me, “blind tasting is often a lesson in humility.” “Yes,” I replied, “and sometimes a lesson in humiliation!”. He laughed uproariously. The aperitif, a 2012 Furmint from Hungary, smelled and tasted like a blend of grapefruit and cashew nut [….].

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