A master class,from a master.

I am in touch with few people from my Secondary School days. Just three really and two of those were Masters at the College.
Both were my Head of Year, for two years apiece and both taught me History, for all of my time at Secondary.
We normally meet two or three times a year, for lunch and a catch-up. At these meetings, I can't help but argue about some historic event. Imagine, with the men who taught me the stuff, how stupid is that?

However, this month, one of the Masters, lets call him Sir, came up from the big smoke.
Sir came to give me a master class on spin-bowling and other cricket coaching tips.

We found an empty village green and spent the morning practising leg-breaks.

A Paschal Meal, with great wine

I remember going to a house in our road, when I was seven, with my parents and brother. I remember playing croquet, with my brother, in the garden before the meal and I remember us being the only children there.
I remember the symbolic dishes on the table and I remember a priest being there and breaking bread.

This was my first Paschal meal, a Christian bastardisation of the Jewish Passover. A meal to remember the last meal that Jesus ate, with his disciples. The evening, all those years ago, made a huge impact, because over thirty years later, I am still celebrating it.

Louis Jadot, a Beaune of contention?

Friday night rolls up and it seems another week has flown by. It saw me reaching for a bottle of Louis Jadot and to reward myself, I made it a Premier Cru. Let me explain...

Friday evening starts with "tidy Friday", which can scan, if you try really hard.  This is when the children argue about doing chores, while the adults use the time spent bickering by the children, to run around like mad things and the house gets clean.

The dog is moved strategically, from room to room, so that he is not afforded the opportunity to bite the hoover or chase the mop. Worse of all, is that he's let out into the garden and comes back in with muddy paws and a crazy wish to visit every room as fast as he can.

Tidy Friday is followed by "Homework Hour", where the older kids try to break the back of what ever work they have been set.

Puligny-Montrachet,Chanson 2007

Puligny- Montrachet, is a queen of wines. It comes from a small a small parcel of land, south of Beaune, in the region of Burgundy, France. This wine is produced by the house of Chanson, who have been vinifying in the region since 1750.

 I came across this producer, at an En Primeur tasting , back in 2008. Impressed with their skill, I bought a number of cases of whites for the Cellar at work. They were bought from Charles Taylor MW (master of wine), a leading authority on wines from Burgundy. What Charles doesn't know about the region, could be written on a grape.

We had my sister and brother-in law to stay, with their gorgeous son. I thought it would be a great occasion, once all the kids were in bed, to bring out a stunning wine.

Wine from the supermarket, this week Sainsbury's

 

A blog follower pointed out this wine to me, in his local Sainsbury's. So in my quest for the perfect glass, I made a bee-line to the aisle with wine.

Rioja seems to crop up, more than it's fair share, on these pages. I have to say I was not a fan two years ago, but had a road to Damascus experience, when I tried several reassuringly expensive and well crafted bottles.

Since then, I have been pleasantly surprised with the wines from this region. Today's offering is no different and at half it's regular price, looks like a bargain.

Quiz night, my compere's prize.

On Friday night, I had the honour of being master of ceremonies and quiz master at the local school's quiz evening. The audience was made up of both parents and children, with the hope that the latter would go off and watch a DVD after round three. The hope didn't come to fruition, so the compare couldn't tell any jokes from the blue book.

A fun evening was had by all. During my thank yous, the PTA surprised me by presenting me with a bottle of wine......and so to the blog.

The wine is called Marques de Carano, Gran Reserva, 2005, not surprisingly from Spain. It comes from the Carinena region, which is in the middle between Madrid and Barcelona. It is made up of a blend of Tempranillo, Granacha and Carinena grapes, typical of the area.

Wines from the supermarket, this week Aldi.

In my quest for the perfect glass of wine, I have had to dress down and dress up. This week my wife saved me the trouble and in her chirpy voice, informed me she was heading to Aldi.
My memories of Aldi, as few as they may be, are of the speedy checkout staff. They scan so quickly, that it is impossible to pack at the same speed and so much of what you buy, turns to puree before your eyes.
However, I had integrations to integrate, so I waved her off and made sure none of the bags had holes ( to catch all the puree, you understand?).

When my wife got home, she informed me, she had the perfect wine for my blog. "it must be good, the bottle has a wire cage around it" she said. After hitting my head against the desk, we decided to open said bottle, having wiped all the puree off. It was still early and so the wine was open and undrunk for nearly a full hour.

Waitrose's new own label range of wine.

Waitrose have a starter range of wines, I spied them the last time I was there. They are a very generic range, meant to typify a whole country in a bottle. This is like saying that you can do all regional accents in Great Britain, just because you can do a Cotswold lilt.

I choose their Italian Red, which at £5.00, seemed pretty good. It promised a wine that was both "Rich and Intense". Not to be confused with Arab Sheiks, some of whom are also rich and in tents.

The ruby red coloured wine, exhibits slow legs, the colour does not quite go to the rim, showing ability to age. I doubt anyone will be laying this down? It is a very "drink it now" bottle.