Wine and Cheese

Time to actually blog again, and hopefully in a more interesting way! The other day I, my fiancée, and four very good friends decided to have a wine and cheese evening. It had been brewing for some time, as we had somewhat evolved into a dining (and singing) club over the previous few months. For a bit of variety we decided to replace dinner with canapés, and focus more on the wines.

I therefore, armed with a reasonable budget, went to the excellent and highly recommended Oxford Wine Company. We had decided to use this opportunity to learn a bit more about French red wine, and to also see if we could actually tell the difference between reasonably cheap wine (£20 per bottle), and more expensive wine (£45 per bottle). In the end, we purchase 3.5 bottles of wine, as follows:

1. Saint-Aubin 1er Cru ‘Le Charmois’, Château de Chassagne Montrachet (2006)

This wine is a Burgundy (a Pinot Noir from the Burgundy region), and was the lightest in colour and depth of the three red wines purchased. We all agreed that this wine was an excellent way to start the evening.

2. Château Jean Voisin, St. Émilion Grand Cru (2002)

This wine was a real treat. The tannins were first very noticeable, but after about 20 minutes of sitting in the glass and warming slightly, they dropped off revealing an exquisitely smooth wine, which went excellently with our varieties of cheese (see picture) and the end of the canapés. The primary grape here is merlot, with some cabernet sauvignon in the blend, typical of “Right Bank” Bordeaux appellations.

3. Château Dufort Vivens, 2ème Grand Cru Classé, Margaux

This wine was the most expensive of the three, and the oldest, being a 1995 vintage. This is a left-bank wine being a mixture of the same two grape varieties as the St émilion above, but this time with a higher proportion of cabernet sauvignon. This wine was really very very good, with a huge complexity of flavours throughout. The problem we found was that this actually made it harder to drink than the less complex St émilion. This is a wine I’d definitely want to try again, but this time with some tasting guidance and the ability to take some tasting notes. Wines of this style typically age very well (some only reach their best after several decades) and this was evident here.

4. 37.5cl Château Coutet, 1er Cru Classé, Barsac (1998)

A dessert wine to finish with, and only a mouthful each. This was a typical dessert wine with a thick syrupy colour and taste, but surprisingly refreshing. For a dessert wine, this is actually quite an early drinker (only 13 years old) and proved this by being very drinkable on the day!

The Cheeses

Just for the record, the cheeses consumed were a mature cheddar, some gruyère, manchego and some particularly excellent stilton.

I’d drink all the wines again, but the one I’ve bought another bottle of so far was wine no. 2, which will be excellent on its own, or with some Easter lamb!

My colleague is, however, on another engagement today, and so it’s one of those evenings where the only real option is to do a bit of work, put on the snooker, and order room service, which is terribly decadent and lazy, but I think better than sitting alone in a restaurant looking a little bit silly. I may be wrong though!

One of the plus sides of this job is that at the weekend I get to see my family, who are also of the Northern persuasion, living just over the Pennines in Yorkshire, so I’ll call in and see them tomorrow evening, before heading back to Oxford for the long weekend, and to meet up with an old friend – Simon MacHale of quasimodal fame no less – to show him what May Day in Oxford has to offer!

Another benefit of work related travel is that my hotel this time has a lovely pool, jacuzzi and sauna, so I’m feeling pretty chilled out this evening!

Looking out over the bow

My friend Helen lives on a houseboat, which is convenient, since like a snail she can take her home with her. The other weekend she decided to use the boat to get to a wedding, and requested some company/help returning home the day after. I dutifully took my car to Moulsford, a beautiful village just south of Wallingford, and joined her on a lovely sunny day for the 18 mile trip back to Oxford. Since it is an upstream journey, and there are four locks, this would take us the next 6 hours.

Fortunately, the sun was shining, and Helen had organised various suitable items for lunch – sandwiches, wine, chilled beer – and so we gently pootled up river at at least 3.5 miles an hour (when the current wasn’t too strong). The nice thing about a mode of transport which really can’t get above 5 miles per hour is that it is perfectly acceptable form to have a small glass of wine whilst driving it.

The remains of lunch - which included Strawberries and cream

Upstream locks make for particular fun; since you are entering from the bottom of the lock, the lock sides are often well above you! For two of the four locks, the sides were reachable by a reasonable leap from the roof of the moving boat in order to get ropes around the bollards. For the other two, we needed to aim for the steps at the centres of the lock. In one case this involved what was effectively a race between my ability to get up the steps (which faced downstream) in the opposite direction of travel to the boat, whilst getting to the top before i ran out of rope length and got yanked back down them – I just made it.

Travelling through oxfordshire on the Thames really makes you appreciate the beauty of the area – Oxfordshire is not renowned for exciting landscapes, but there are many beautiful ones, often containing old and rather large houses! There are also several beautiful bridges – for the railway to London and roads too.

So, in all I had a fantastic day, and when I eventually got a lift back home, it was in a convertible MG too. Fab fun, fab company, fab day!

A view from the river

Small traffic jam as we approach the bridge under the main line to London Paddington

The beautiful road bridge at Clifton Hampden

The Thames at Moulsford

Another day, another Quasimodal gig. This one, however, was a little different. For a start it took place on my birthday (woohoo!), and it wasn’t late in the evening in a dark basement – it was at 6pm in a cafe! Piedescalso is a very bizarre little café on Thomas Street in Dublin. It’s long and thin, and the walls serve as an art gallery. The emphasis is on relaxation and smiles. Simon and Alon and their unplugged guitars fit the chilled out atmosphere perfectly, and they played on and off for nearly 2 hours, mixing up their usual programme of their own songs with a few other bits and pieces. Hearing the music of Dowland and Ravenscroft accompanied by guitars in a gig setting was unusual, but it fit their programme perfectly.

Their quasimodal style was adapted to form a pastiche of Radiohead (who had played in Dublin the night before the gig), using some translated Hebrew text (of all things). Worked a treat. Whilst it was not quite like being at Croke Park or Malahide Castle, it made those of us who had missed out on Radiohead feel a little better about ourselves!

Following the gig, I joined the musicians to attend another gig at the Button Factory. A slightly random (but in places perfectly good) German electronic group called Notwist were playing, but more importantly, Simon’s housemate Sinead’s band, Half Set, were playing before them, and we went along to support. Thank you to Simon for the ticket as part of my birthday present!!

Second Test

The Second test starts today. England name an unchanged team and it is hard to argue with that. It would have been interesting to give Tremlett a go on what is likely to be a very pacy pitch, but which of the bowlers would you cut? They all bowled fairly well (if not brilliantly) at Lords. Sidebottom’s place is rightfully secure as he continues to enjoy the form of his life; Anderson produced some magic deliveries, and Broad is a vital cog at number 8 in the batting line up. Panesar has an excellent record at this ground and is indispensible in the current set up, although perhaps batting at 10 is a little lofty for him!

If England were to make any changes, perhaps a little shuffle in the batting line up, but it is also hard to see who to drop. Collingwood is terribly out of form at the moment, but his bowling and fielding more than support his place in the side, and with his temperament, the runs will surely come.

What England really miss in the absence of Trescothick and Flintoff is a top quality slip catcher; if this is not rectified soon, then it will continue to cost England. Strauss looked very fumble-fingered at slip in the first test, and England will not want to throw away chances.

New Zealand make only one change – with Southee dropping out after his illness this week and Iain O’Brien slotting in in his stead.

Latest News – New Zealand win the toss and opt to bat. An interesting decision on this pitch. England’s bowlers will look to make early inroads, whereas New Zealand will hope to bat long enough that the spin of their captain, Daniel Vettori, will become very testing on a quick, bouncy track.

Their music draws a large influence from the modal harmonies of the music of Restoration England, and in mood generally ranges from sad, through somber and into melancholy. The poetry set is often the work of Simon’s sister, Catherine MacHale, mainly in English, but there was also an Irish text. The set also included two songs in Hebrew.

The texts and music are not all gloomy, however. Or particular note was an excellent upbeat setting of a Shakespearean sonnet, including a recorder solo in the style of the time!

All in all an excellent evening’s entertainment. I look forward to hearing more from Quasimodal.