Life is too short to drink bad wine

Its Easter and its time for chocolate! In Norway all the kids (and some adults) get chocolate in their cute easter eggs every morning from Thursday to Monday. These are also the days all Norwegians are off work and in their cabins by the coast or up in the mountains. We tried red wine with chocolate at Waterford Estate on our South Africa tour which was very interesting. Dry Shiraz can be drunk with certain chocolates, but the best match is I must admit drinking sweet red wine! Up to now our favourite combination has been Recioto della Valpolicella, which is basically dried grapes on a loft (used also for Amorone strong big dry red) converted into sweet red wine. The wine comes from Veneto in Italy. On our wine visit to South Africa, we obtained some bottles from Lynx winery with no lable. These were "sweet Lynx" which was basically some Shiraz grapes that had been left on the vines. After some months they were more like raisins, but the active owner created some half bottle...

Boekenhoutskloof is a winery in Franschhoek South Africa. We went there for a bit of wine tasting on our holiday, beautiful place, tasting room and mountains. Their top wines are the Boekenhoutskloof Syrah which is listed as one of the top syrahs of the world in the American wine magazine Wine Spectator as well as the British Decanter. Rather pricy stuff at around 260 to 390 RAN (take away last number and reduce 20% and you are in euro) but fantastic wines. We tried the 2006 and 2003 both made of 100% Syrah; both filled with spicy blackberries, dark fruit and very long well balanced fruity elegant taste. The 2003 being just that bit longer and bigger than the 2006.  Anyway we bought the "Chocolate Block" to take home, a wine made of 5 grapes; Syrah 55%, Grenache 16%, Cabrenet Sauvignon, Viognier (white) and Cinsault. The wine has a nice perfumed smell (probably from the viognier) dark berries, wet wool, chocolate with very smooth tannins and a big fruity beautiful balanced af...

So on the same weekend we went to a big birthday party (Jan Terje) in Djupvik where the host came up up with imported french food, local shot products and a Mouton Rotschild 1983. Having been practising on the 1990 the night before we had a good basis for comparison and we all liked the 1983 much better than the 1990. The wine was drank in perfect "hytte" conditions (see picture). Gone was the sweetness and left was delicate red berry flavours spiced up with integrated oak and very well balanced soft lingering finish. Yummy yummy, although at 318€ per bottle the same question again rises: Is it really worth the price? and the answer is simple: of course not, but when it served on a big ocassion like this then it is the icing on the cake with the only recommendation being that its (as in this case) served well before the other wines and the vintage armagnac... According to La Revue du vin de France the change out of the wine maker in 1996 has improved the wines and they are...