Life is too short to drink bad wine

Went to one of Stavangers "herlige" restaurants yesterday. Very good food and also a nice big selection of wine, but the prices?? Perusing the winelist for something good and reasonable was like searching for the correct seven numbers in the lottery. In France, the most expensive restaurants apply a factor of 2 or 3 to the purchase price which is OK as the starting point is low. In Norway with all the taxes and certain restaurants applying factors between 3 and 5 the wine prices become astronomical. I noticed that they had Chiroubles from Beaujolais at the "resto" yesterday, which is a simple red wine mostly used on warm days or at lunch time. Well yesterday it was cold and it was dinner time. A good Chiroubles would set you back around 6 to 7 € in France and maybe around 17€ in Norway at the local sales point for wine. The price yesterday at a well recognised restaurant was no less than 700 NOK or around 85€!!! 85€ for a Beaujolais who on earth in his right mi...

Sunny autumn day, visitors and birthday to celebrate. Lunch with fresh prawns, crab and the russian "konge krabbe" with a nice glass of Cloudy Bay "Sauvignon Blanc" . A rest on the terrace in the sunshine overlooking the still sea before opening a bottle of Taittinger Champagne while preparing dinner. The food and wine pairing had been investigated and the filet of deer was to be matched with the last bottle of the Gruaud Larose 1989 from St.Julien . The nerves were hitting a high when the cork was unveiled; wet cork all the way and particular wet at the bottom part. Uff, despite cool storage and upright position for a week... Anyway the filet of deer was prepared to perfection, wine decanted and kept just below 18c. The wine was then served and the perfect day was in creation. The wine was smooth and silky and just perfect after 20 years in the making and matched perfectly the deer that almost "melted" in the mouth. The perfect wine with perfect deer a...

A lot of goodies at the wine monopoly of Sandnes. This time an American Pinot Noir of Burgundy quality. No messing about, no sweet smell and aftertaste, just medium pale red colour with a nice raspberry / cherry nose. Nice fruity taste with well balanced acidity and tannins. Delicate female style just like Beaune.... The wine is made by Mendocino Wine company who also produces several other labels. The price in the US is 25$ and in Sandnes Norway around 30$ (not bad!!!) Sketchbook Pinot Noir , Mendocino P+ (burgundy in north California!) Meno c ino Wine Company

Its autumn, its wet, its cold, its windy. In need of summer, something hot and spicy, we turned to Portugal and the Dao district. Quinta de Saes Reserva is made from the Portuguese national grape Touriga Nacional. The wine is deep dark red and full of red berries, spicy, and "muldwine". Perfect indoor wine with a juicy firm soft tannic taste. Perfect wine in front of the fireplace! The wine is made by wine producer Alvaro Manuel Albuquerque Figueiredo e Castro (what a fantastic name!) who lives in Dao and also produces a Syrah based wine (not tried). Quinta de Saes 2007 , Dao , Portugal NOK 170 or 18€, P(+) YouTube - In Portugal's Dao wine region with Alvaro Castro

Barbera is a grape grown in Piemonte in Italy. It's a grape with lots of fruit and acidity and very little tannins. Perfect for many different variations of food. Cappelano is one of the great personalties in Barolo with its base in the town of Serralunga d'Alba. A small town with less than 500 people and located some 400 meters above sea level. Gabutti is one of the great vineyards in Serralunga (no classification exists) so you just have to belive this. Over 50% of the production here is Barolo, but around 8% of the land is used to produce Barbera. Cappelano hates people scoring his wines (he has a very good Barolo as well). He only produces 15000 bottles and you can in fact get some of his wines in Sandnes, Norway. He also apparantly dislikes spitting as he so correctly says: I've been working my butt off to create these wines and then some wine critic circle the wine in his mouth and then spit it out. Well we had his Barbera d'Alba from the excellent 2004 and f...