Life is too short to drink bad wine

Apparantly Nicolas is giving 20% off on Champagne before Xmas! So if you are in need of bubbles for the festive season, now is the time to go shopping! My personal favourites in ranked order; Henriot  (vintage especially) Billecart-Salmon  (especially the rose) Bollinger  (Special Cuvee) Ruinart Krug  (luxury stuff very smooth) Larmandier- Bernier Moet Chandon  (sells 25 millions bottles a year, including  Dom Perignon !) Pommery Roederer  (Blanc de blancs) Taittinger  (vintage ones) Veuve Clicqot and remember; Blanc de Blancs means Champagne from just the white grape Chardonnay. Otherwise Champagne is a mix of Chardonnay and the red grape Pinot Noir. "Come I am tasting the stars!" --Attributed by legend to Dom Pérignon (1638-1714)

I normally don't drink Bordeaux wines this young, but I just had to try this Paulliac from 2005. Lynch Moussas has been underperforming for a long time but has in recent years managed to improve the quality.  Although 2005 prices are ridiculously expensive I got this one for a mere 22€ at the recent wine sale. The wine has a deep dark red purple blue colour with a massive bouquet of cedar, coffee, chocolate and red berries.  The taste is wonderfully smooth with firm tannins and very nice structure thanks to the 30% Merlot used in the blend. On top of that it is long and delicious! For 22 € this a real bargain for the 2005 vintage. I guess the price will as always in good years just increase with time....

The colour of this wine is very pale red. Volnay, the commune just south of Pommard, are normally delightful wines that are elegant and delicate with a very feminine expression. This is in stark contradiction to its neighbour Pommard which is possibly the most masculine wine in Burgundy. Funny to think that they are both Pinot Noir and that this effect comes exclusively from the terroir which is lighter in Volnay than in Pommard. The Premier cru "Clos des Ducs" is just north of the town Volnay and the producer Marquis d'Angerville has monopoly on this parcel. The wine is very delicate and feminine with a smooth velvety finish with a medium light body but a long aftertaste. 2000 is generally a very good year, but perhaps not the best for Volnay or the wines from Cote de Beaune. All this thanks to a thunderstorm on September 12 that year that brought between 25 to 75 mm of rain in the Cote de Beaune. The price is around 30 to 35€ which makes this a P (worth the price but...

Big event coming up weekend of 21 and 22 November at Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. One day ticket to go around and taste the wines of several different producers and chateau's from all over France cost 18€. Booking and programme can be found on link below. www.grandtasting.com ~ accueil

Henriot makes some beautiful champagne. Henriot Souverain is the basic one based upon 40% Chardonnay and the rest Pinot Noir. Beautiful stuff at only 30€.

Vinforum has an article in their latest magazine where they complain about the increase in Bordeaux prices from 2005 and onwards. Some of the best Bordeaux nearly doubled their prices for the 2005 vintage and have not been very much reduced in the lesser vintages 2006 and 2007. This observation on increased prices I totally share and it has forced me to buy more of the second label wines from the top Grand Cru Classe for 2005 and onwards or invest more in the 2003 and 2004 vintages for the top chateaux. There is still a lot of very good 2003 and 2004 to be found with wine merchants and supermarkets with prices ranging from 15€ to 30€ here in France! So if you don't like the revised (higher) prices I urge you to buy these vintages now before they also increase in price! Part of the problem for Norwegian buyers though are that the price level in Norway seems to be too high for god Bordeaux. Normal tax duty to be paid for one bottle is around 5 € per bottle. I have checked some prices...

Pécharmant is a wine appellation in the hills to the North-East of the market town of Bergerac , France. Pécharmant is the best known of the wines from the Dordogne subregion and the wines have been classified as AOC since 1936. The identification "Pécharmant" dates from 1946 and new AOC since March 13, 1992. First produced in the eleventh century, Pécharmant is the oldest collective of vineyards in the region of Bergerac. "Pécharmant" comes from the words "Pech" ( "Hill") and "Charmant" (Charming), thus meaning "the charming hill." Pécharmant vineyards are well exposed to the sun and the soil consists sand and gravel from the Perigord, and containing a deep layer of ferruginous clay called "Tran." Pécharmant is a blend of at least three varietals predominantly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Côt, and Malbec. These varietals produce a wine suitable for holding from four to ten years, typically tannic...