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LGTrotter wrote:I must say I have paced up and down fretfully wondering if my life would be complete without the 904 Gran thingy. So far I am coping without it. It is a good price though.

If you manage to haul yourself out of the marsh again sometime soon I'll bring a 904 along for you to satisfy your wonderment

And I hope it's OK but I need to get something off my chest about bordeaux 2014. It is sort of the same thing I always say but please look on it as an illness to be indulged.

Have you seen the rubbish coming out of the chateaux at the moment? The first one I came across was Mr Pichon Baron (he of Noval) explaining that nobody who bought the Baron en primeur had ever lost money. I would reply that anybody who bought the 09 or 10 would be in a position to contradict this. Then came the bloke from Palmer saying the same thing and that really bordeaux was well priced. There were several others all saying why 2014 was a good wine and that a good wine deserved a increased price.

They are all insane. Even the most cursory glance through the back vintages suggest that 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 (with about 3 exceptions), are about the same price now, or substantially less than on release. I saw a piece suggesting that even in 2005 there was no real financial advantage to buying en primeur. A few negotiants going phut (not that they deserve it) are going to be needed before the chateaux get it.

DRT wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:I must say I have paced up and down fretfully wondering if my life would be complete without the 904 Gran thingy. So far I am coping without it. It is a good price though.

If you manage to haul yourself out of the marsh again sometime soon I'll bring a 904 along for you to satisfy your wonderment

Of course I'll be back. Can't get rid of me that easily.

LGTrotter wrote:And I hope it's OK but I need to get something off my chest about bordeaux 2014. It is sort of the same thing I always say but please look on it as an illness to be indulged.

Have you seen the rubbish coming out of the chateaux at the moment? The first one I came across was Mr Pichon Baron (he of Noval) explaining that nobody who bought the Baron en primeur had ever lost money. I would reply that anybody who bought the 09 or 10 would be in a position to contradict this. Then came the bloke from Palmer saying the same thing and that really bordeaux was well priced. There were several others all saying why 2014 was a good wine and that a good wine deserved a increased price.

They are all insane. Even the most cursory glance through the back vintages suggest that 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 (with about 3 exceptions), are about the same price now, or substantially less than on release. I saw a piece suggesting that even in 2005 there was no real financial advantage to buying en primeur. A few negotiants going phut (not that they deserve it) are going to be needed before the chateaux get it.

All fair comment as far as I can see, and the main reason why I have a self-imposed ban on buying Bordeaux younger than 2005.

I attended a ten-bottle Pichon Baron vertical last week (1996 to 2010), every one being described as "an exceptional vintage". Hmmm.

Yes, and I remember your comments on some of those 'exceptional' vintages.

Lidl are doing 2009 La Lagune for £40 a bottle. Not a bad price (but not great either). Interestingly they rate it at 93 points on the Lidl scale while Parker rates it 95. Is Lidl the Neal Martin of supermarket scoring? I shan't buy it, I am not fond.

Do they still have the Sociando Mallet?

I did not venture into the shop, I saw the Lagune in the Christmas catalogue (mother is devoted to Lidl and I have a wheelbarrow of assorted screwdrivers to prove it), so I am not sure.

I have heard tales of these deals but have so far resisted the temptation to search one out. This is obviously some sort of idealistic communist plot to tempt the lower middle classes to break with tradition by stop buying their staples from M&S and Waitrose and venture into the world of cut-price, good value, very-tasty-but-slightly-the-wrong-shape grocery shopping.

They won't fool us - stand firm.

DRT wrote:I have heard tales of these deals but have so far resisted the temptation to search one out. This is obviously some sort of idealistic communist plot to tempt the lower middle classes to break with tradition by stop buying their staples from M&S and Waitrose and venture into the world of cut-price, good value, very-tasty-but-slightly-the-wrong-shape grocery shopping.

They won't fool us - stand firm.

Massively off topic but I have been tempted by Lidl; fellow workers in my collective, knowing of my weakness for fig rolls have bought me several packets at 39p a go and they are blummin tasty.

LGTrotter wrote:

DRT wrote:I have heard tales of these deals but have so far resisted the temptation to search one out. This is obviously some sort of idealistic communist plot to tempt the lower middle classes to break with tradition by stop buying their staples from M&S and Waitrose and venture into the world of cut-price, good value, very-tasty-but-slightly-the-wrong-shape grocery shopping.

They won't fool us - stand firm.

Massively off topic but I have been tempted by Lidl; fellow workers in my collective, knowing of my weakness for fig rolls have bought me several packets at 39p a go and they are blummin tasty.

Adam thought the apple was tasty. Temptation does not always result in a good outcome.

As an aside: does anyone know whether or not the Fortnum and Mason loyalty card points can be converted to air miles?

DRT wrote:As an aside: does anyone know whether or not the Fortnum and Mason loyalty card points can be converted to air miles?

Just listen to yourself. I was in there last Friday and it was like some upper middle class dystopia, where the post holocaust scenario could only be survived by fighting for glass teapots and jam made with specific varieties of obscure fruits. The only semblance of calm was in the wine department where they had half bottles of 99 BOB vintage port for just under a tenner.

You two are clearly delirious. But it's very amusing.

LGTrotter wrote:Just listen to yourself. I was in there last Friday and it was like some upper middle class dystopia, where the post holocaust scenario could only be survived by fighting for glass teapots and jam made with specific varieties of obscure fruits. The only semblance of calm was in the wine department where they had half bottles of 99 BOB vintage port for just under a tenner.

I wondered who that familiar figure in a tweed three-piece was. I was busy buying macaroons (F&M's macs are particularly good). Just like I hadn't realised it was Thanksgiving on Thursday, I also failed to realise it was Black Friday and did wander about Fortnum's wondering what on earth was going on with the pandemonium.

LGTrotter wrote:I was in there [Fortnum & Mason] last Friday

So this is the reason you didn't come along to the British Museum?

AW77 wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:I was in there [Fortnum & Mason] last Friday

So this is the reason you didn't come along to the British Museum?

I promised to look for Emma's books in the Piccadilly Waterstones. I managed to totter down at about midday, there was very little activity before then.

Spot on about those macaroons Alex. Or +1 for those that prefer such things.

Authors eh? Always only interested in their own books. Terrible. Like artists, who only flick through the back of the magazines to see if they've had a review.

Owen, if you just put a lid on the Fortnum's macaroon habit you'd be able to afford those 1311 bottles of port in no time. You're so self indulgent.

A few odds and ends have been picked up recently on BidForWine.com...

2 x Cantemerle 1970 (£21 each)
1 x Ducru Beaucallou 1985 (£46 - woo-hoo!)
10 x Fonbauge 1989 (one opened - lovely jubbley) (£20 each)
2 x Marbuzet Saint-Estephe 1994 (one opened - ropey old stuff) (£15 each)

Plus 6 x Charlemaigne 1995 from somewhere else. (£18 each) - I really like this stuff.

uncle tom wrote: but I have (and have opened) hundreds of Bordeaux bottles from the seventies and eighties, and there is no noticeable difference in cork quality to those bottled before or after.

I suspected as much. And yet you still allow us to flounder around in the dark with only the firm hand of Alex to guide us.

March is bonus time so I have had a bit of a splash...

12 x Sociando Mallet 2000
6 x Gloria 2000
12 x La Croix de Beaucaillou 2005
12 x Pichon Baron 2005
12 x La Croix de Beaucaillou 2009
12 x Potensac 2009

Anyone for cheese?

DRT wrote:March is bonus time so I have had a bit of a splash...

12 x Sociando Mallet 2000
6 x Gloria 2000
12 x La Croix de Beaucaillou 2005
12 x Pichon Baron 2005
12 x La Croix de Beaucaillou 2009
12 x Potensac 2009

Anyone for cheese?

This purchase was brought to you with the assistance of the Scotch Whisky industry.

djewesbury wrote:This purchase was brought to you with the assistance of the Scotch Whisky industry.

I have no idea what you mean