Grand Enclos, du Chateau de Cerons 2006 from GravesIt is a beautiful evening here in London, so much so that work has ground to a halt and I have been forced by the blinding light of my own decadent will to open a bottle of something chilled.   So here it is, a Grand Enclos, du Chateau de Cerons 2006.  This is a blend of semillon and sauvignon and has a very distinctive nose.

The red from Graves are famous for good reason.  They are delicious and exude tonnes of terroir.  This wine is distantly straw like in colour and has a very complex and pleasing aroma.  There are slight hints of oak, butterscotch, lemon and even a bit of banana.  Weirdly lovely.  The acidity has softened with 6 years in the bottle but the flavours in the wine are very well integrated.  It is a joy to drink.

To help the transition of mood from work to play I am playing Stravinsky's 'The Firebird'… the music is electric and setting the wine fantastically.  So it is all high life, pleasure and movement here at the moment.  The door will open shortly and Ch will return and the evening's outcome will depend on her mood.

Grand Enclos, du Chateau de Cerons 2006 from Graves

£15.99 exclusive to M&S.

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Climate change podcast

Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces. 

 

As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.

 

 

Britain’s lamentable exit

On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.

I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!

 

Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.

 

Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.

 

The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.

 

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