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Rubbish at Cricket
July 3rd, 2008

Our annual 24-over cricket match against the Veuve Cliquot-sponsored Moet-Hennessy UK started badly. Having been put in to bat, the first over began: dot, dot, dot, risky scrambled single to third man, wicket. Debutant Dave Walsh was given out LBW by own James Thomas who was on umpiring duty. Dave’s mood was not improved when the bowler later admitted he had been clearing his throat rather than appealing. One for one off one.

Worse was to follow as Captain Rupert followed Dave back to the pavilion in the second over, yorked from the far end for that solitary scrambled single. Two for two off two. Steady Eddies Joel and Ants steadied the ship and managed to see over the opening quicks but after a flurry of boundaries they too perished; Joel to a ball that didn’t bounce and Ants to a sharp catch by their ‘keeper. 24 for four.tony greig (or is it dan coward?)

Next in were the two Dans: Kane and Coward. They both played well with Mr Coward, tall and languid like a Gerrard’s Cross Tony Greig, hitting the ball hard to all corners. The scoreboard was ticking over, their spinner began to look more like Shane Ritchie than Shane Warne and, for once, the momentum was with us. With this pair at the crease, 100 – or even 120 – looked easily within reach. 48 for 4 off fourteen overs.

Then the mayhem started, Dan Kane lobbed an easy catch to mid-on and it was 48 for 5. Charlie, two days in to his Bibendum career went first ball to a wild heave, 48 for 6. Doug, visualising a straight six back over the bowlers head but actually seeing his stumps in tatters, followed two balls later. 48 for 7.

Still in the same over Gareth tapped the ball in to the on-side and Dan hared down the pitch. Yes! No! wait! Sorry! Gareth was run out and – even worse – our top-scoring batsman Dan was now down the wrong end as the Umpire called over. 48 for 8.

Five balls later it was all over. Henry skied his first ball to gully and after a couple of lusty blows from James was bowled. We were all out for 56. Our scorecard was a row of sitting ducks just waiting to be picked off.

At least, we bowled better than we batted. Charlie proved himself to be akin to Andrew Flintoff, following up his golden duck with some aggressive, fast bowling picking up three wickets (including a Frenchman who had only ever played once before). 22 for 3 and we thought we were in the hunt.

Unfortunately Charlie couldn’t bowl from both ends for the whole match. As soon we had to replace him, half a dozen boundaries followed in quick succession, including a slogged six on to the roof of a nearby house. 22 for 3 quickly became 55 for 3 and it was left to Dan C to face up to the inevitable. Two gentle medium-pace balls later and it was all over; MHUK had won by seven wickets with fourteen overs to spare. Not our finest hour but we will be back.

Our thanks to our hosts, MHUK and Fuller’s, whose ground we used, for their sporting hospitality. Defeat always tastes so much better after a sausage roll and a glass of Veuve.

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Ally, Ally, Aglianico
July 1st, 2008

Monday was Aglianico day at Bibendum HQ. The immaculately turned out Vittorio Zoppi of Bisceglia was in town with Marco Sabellico of the Gambero Rosso. Gambero Rosso to the uninitiated (it means ‘red prawn’ in Italian - not sure quite why) is the key wine reference book in Italy - a kind of Michelin guide to Italian wine. Marco is managing editor, so you can imagine he really knows his stuff.
First we had lunch with Jamie Goode of wine anorak fame, tasting through the brilliant range of wines with some hearty greek fare. You can read Jamie’s thoughts here.
Then Marco and Vitto put on a masterclass for sommeliers, Bibendum staff, and Tim Atkin MW. I asked Tim for his thoughts on Aglianico - see below. Best wine of the tasting? For me, the Gudarra 2005 Aglianico very closely followed by the extremely elegant 2001 Aglianico del Vulture Reserve - which although already 7 years old looked and tasted as though it will continue to develop for many more years yet. Anyway, here’s Tim…

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Quiztena Aguilera
June 27th, 2008

I love a bit of revisionist history. Only those who were upstairs at the Lansdowne last night know what truly went down. For the rest, they’ll just have to read this, the executioner’s tale. At the front of a room of baffled brains I ran the quiz with, well, not an iron fist…but perhaps a spongy fist. And without a microphone in sight my vocal chords got stretched to the limit trying to keep the rambunctious Bibendum quiz teams in place. In the end, the winning team stretched away and won it by 5 points. Yes, some of them came from marketing. Yes, some of them sit near me in the office, but that is where the intrigue ends. They won fair and square with that magical blend of different style minds full of diverse and random information. Well done to Harry Potter and the Prisoners of RPR…

The quiz took no prisoners and left many bruises. The blind wine round contributed to the lowest combined round score. Never underestimate just how hard blind tasting really is. The boy’s own round confused even the boys and the girl’s round confirmed that metrosexuality is alive and well! Special mention must go to the Tarquinos who scored the only perfect 10 round score of the night in this one. Teams fared much better in the Bibendum, picture and pizza rounds and finished off with a tough quotation round. Biggest cheer of the night went to the entire room recognizing that the iconic, quasi industry-wide rallying call of “Get involved” can be attributed to the great Tim Marson. Perhaps spurred on by this, many got involved at the bar repeatedly and special thanks must go to all the staff at the Lansdowne who put a lot into the night.

And so I escaped, with only a few controversial questions and all my body parts intact. Bring on the Wikipedia for next year…

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Josh Jensen
June 25th, 2008

The extremely mellow Josh Jensen talks about rowing for Oxford - and predicts this year’s Wimbledon champ… nice shirt, sir!

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Hitting the Heights
June 24th, 2008

A fantastic tasting at Waterstone’s in London’s Piccadilly yesterday. Ray Kaufmann, a man for whom the word ‘avuncular’ could have been invented, had brought over a stellar collection of West Coast wines, including Blankiet Estate, Staglin, his very own Laurel Glen, Bacio Divino and many more. Legendary Pinot winemaker and all round gent Josh Jensen came and poured a breathtaking horizontal of his single vineyard wines. Forthcoming will be Josh describing his Boat Race triumph of 1967 - yes, really…
Steven Spurrier and Oz Clark

Steven Spurrier was there! He called it ‘an outstanding tasting’. Oz Clarke was there! And any number of top sommeliers… is it just me, or are sommeliers getting younger every year? (it’s just you - Ed)

Highlights of the tasting (in no particular order) were

Staglin, Rex Hill Pinot, Morgan Gary’s Vineyard Pinot, and ALL of Josh Jensen’s wines!

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Tutu Malarkey
June 19th, 2008

Until yesterday, the only time I went so see some ballet I was apparently privileged to sit through one of the greatest performances in London of the last fifteen years with “rare intense emotional depth” and “humbling performances” from the two lead prancers. The only problem was it looked like two people jumping up and down in time to some rather boring music to me. Clearly, I should stick to watching sport and writing about wine.

Or so I thought. After last night’s performance of Strictly Gershwin by English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall, I think I might even get to like this tutu-malarkey. The show may be more light-hearted and accessible than serious classical ballet (and that’s no bad thing in my book) but chuck in a cast of hundreds, a full jazz orchestra, a couple of celebrity dancers off the telly and a few bottles of Jean Leon Terrasola and you have a recipe for an entertaining night out. For what it is worth, the Terrasola Muscat was a perfect match for the frivolity of An American in Paris, while the fruity, grassy Sauvignon went better with the all-singing-all-dancing I Got Rhythm. Gershwin and Jean Leon, two Hollywood greats getting along like a house on fire.

And as I tapped danced back down to South Ken tube, humming Rhapsody in Blue as I went, I thought there may be hope for this old philistine yet.

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Chester came to town
June 13th, 2008

The great Chester Osborn was in town recently…

arms full of his staggering wines and a cheerful smile on his face - despite having endured food poisoning and generally feeling ‘a bit crook’. As ever, Chester was the model guest, and you can hear from the interview below how becoming a winemaker was a foregone conclusion for him ’since he sat on Len Evans’ knee’, how Tibet is a good place to find a bottle of d’Arenberg, and what ‘Beakis Twisterus’ is all about…

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The French Footballer, the English Rose and the Wine Challenge Medal
June 10th, 2008

What, you may ask, was a retired French footballer doing at the London Wine Fair the other day, comparing glasses of rose (that’s ‘rosay’ of course) in front of a phalanx of photographers?
Well, it was all a (nice) bit of publicity in aid of the International Wine Challenge. The footballer was David Ginola - not looking too shabby these days despite having dispensed with his leonine mane of yesteryear - (see right)

Anyway, Ginola had been invited along to the announcement of the results for the International Wine Challenge on the not completely spurious grounds that he has made some wine in his native Provence. And entered it into the competition. Where it won a silver medal! More excitingly for us, though, was that the mighty Balfour Brut Rose had won a gold medal in the same competition! And after a mad dash across ExCel (which to those who don’t know is about the size of Heathrow Airport), we managed to get Richard Balfour-Lynn, owner of Balfour Brut, up close and personal with Monsieur Ginola. As you’ll see from the video below, decorum was maintained, no punches were thrown, and DG had to admit that the English are getting pretty good at this game!

At the end Quentin Wilson turned up too - no doubt sniffing a good photo opportunity (and Clarkson nowhere in sight). Yours truly swiftly did the rounds with a nice chilled bottle of the Gold -medal winning wine, and everyone agreed that Balfour Brut was very deserving of its gong.

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Cheval Blanc? Oui, merci…
June 4th, 2008

The great Pierre Lurton was at Bibendum HQ yesterday for an absolutely stonking tasting. This man, who has the (let’s face it) fairly enviable job of managing two of the world’s greatest wine estates, was presenting two each of Cheval Blanc and d’Yquem, along with ‘Y’ de Yquem and Petit Cheval 05 - which was pretty damned good too.

A very full complement of sommeliers came to taste and listen to the great man. All the wines were on fine song, but pride of place must surely go to Yquem 2001, the legendary ‘100-point Parker’ wine. If ever a wine was built for seduction - this must surely be it. I managed a sneaky sip as the glasses were being collected up, and can attest to the fact that I could still taste the wine about 10 minutes later. Now that is class.
Below is Pierre reliving some highlights of the tasting, and explaining why sommeliers are great ambassadors for his wines. ‘It’s a tough job etc…’

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Speed Dating in the Wine Industry - problems with an archaic Wine Show system
June 2nd, 2008

Tom ‘you call that a knife’ Hogan, our man in Melbourne has been busy again, delving into the murky world of speedy seductions. The Aussie industry has been (too) wine show crazy for a long time now…it must be said that the attraction of a bronze medal from the Cowra Wine Show can lose its lustre after a while. [ed]

A close single friend of mine, in a moment of desperation and with the recent celebration of her thirty-eighth birthday, chose to attend a speed dating night at her local pub. For the uninitiated, speed dating involves five minute meetings between equally desperate individuals, in an adult musical chair scenario where the prize isn’t a bag of lollies, but a possible date.

At the same time I was dealing with the latest results of the wine industry’s own form of speed dating – the wine show system. The latest results of a previously unknown wine show, the Syrah du Monde, had just been released with a similarly unknown winery, Witchmount Estate from the famous Australian region of Rockbank, taking the ‘gong’. Punters throughout Melbourne were suddenly affected by ‘wine show fever’, where the only prescription is more Witchmount.

The wine show system involves the ‘blind tasting’ of a range of wines, where ‘experts’ decide upon a winner or a standout. This decision is based upon a snapshot of the wine (usually a 30ml pour). The majority of wineries who enter the wine show are those who need the added exposure and marketing points that winning a trophy or medal or show provides to sell more wine. Speed dating participants are usually those who require some extra some help selling themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the wine show system has played an integral role in the development of the Australian wine industry. It developed a blueprint for aspiring wine makers to follow. Within this framework of wine shows, Australian winemakers became the most sought after in the whole world – instigating the idea of the flying winemaker (it could be argued that someone like Michel Roland owes much to those Australian flying winemaking pioneers). However, I would have hoped that the maturing of the wine drinking public of Australia had mirrored that of the winemakers. The result of ‘the Second Annual Syrah du Monde’ has proven that the majority of the Australian wine public are still wearing nappies.

My friend, whom shall remain nameless, met eighteen men in her first speed dating experience, of which she ‘selected’ two to possibly meet again. Luckily, they had also selected her and thus details were exchanged and dates organised.

The first date (to be known as Man I thus forth), made a great first impression and a great companion for the first date, but was obviously a womaniser. Showy, upfront and lacking substance, Man I was not for the long term.

The second date, Man II, looked fantastic – chiselled, muscular and well-dressed on both the initial encounter and the first date. Personality, though, was completely missing.

A week later, at a bar, she ran into one of the ‘eligible bachelors’ whom she decided against meeting again. Man III was quiet, reserved – perhaps, a little boring. After a number of hours of drink fuelled yabba, he opened up. My friend has been seeing him more than regularly since their chance meeting; a possible long term relationship has formed.

A 30ml pour is not long enough to establish a relationship, let alone develop an understanding of the soul and future of the wine in front of you. The wine public should understand the results of wine shows are determined by a snapshot of a particular wine. That first impression often does not accurately reflect the true identity of the wine – which needs to be studied over a longer period of time; for me a whole glass, with food, with people. Remember this when you are dazzled by gold stickers in the supermarket aisle…

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