whin.es weekly

New years eve.

The new years party I went to was great. Most years I moan that the typical NYE celebrations are a let down, but this year, I had a good time. Cool. Well, I took photos of the eight bottles of wine we polished off so I could remember them (I skipped photos of the Guinness, Aspalls, Carlsberg, Fosters and Morgans Spiced). Here is a chronological review of the wines and the evening as a whole.

Tim's Cono Sur Chilean Pinot Noir. I got a text from Tim at 4pm saying "Picking everyone up about 6, bring drinks and sleeping bags". We got to the party just before 7pm (the invite said 7.30pm - 8pm) and the girls were still doing makeup and straightening their hair (later on in the night Kev would try and do the same). So we got our drinks in from the car. Tim had bought a Chilean Pinot Noir because the label had a bike on the front and Tim likes bikes (no score as he wouldn't let me taste it, he seemed to enjoy it though). By the time we got back inside the table was miraculously filled with all manner of nibbles (some very tasty cheese straws), I decided to hang by the food table and watch Kev get agitated when people started to help themselves to the three pizzas he'd brought along for his dinner.

Cara's White Zinfandel and drinking games. Once we were all settled and we'd finished filling up on cheese straws for the night ahead, we'd all found a comfy seat and we were wondering what to do next. We (naturally) opened the box of 'Adult Drinking Games'. They were all too pointlessly complex and we found ourselves getting bored with the instructions without even attempting to play. Frustrated we decided on a much simpler game, but all togther easier to lose. The game was name a celebrity, any celebrity, but the first name had to begin with the first letter of the last surname (Matthew Perry-Peter Stringfellow-Simon Amstell-Anna Friel etc etc), the forefit simply being having to 'drink while you think'. It's actually pretty tricky to think of ANY celebrity when your downing glass of wine and are being chanted at.

Cara was drinking some sickly sweet American White Zinfandel Rose. Zinfandel is a red grape and White Zinfandel occurred by accident when the cast off, unfermented juice from a hearty red got fermented in to a sweet pink wine (Cara's cast off White Zin scores a pitiful 8/20). Cara couldn't grasp the game, panicked and drank far to much. She had to stop and open another bottle and refill her glass on one turn. Kev kept jumping in on other people goes, mostly out of shock for finding an answer and I was pretty good (naturally). Other games worth mentioning were Indoor Giant (medium) Jenga and the Best Pass the Parcel ever (you had to be there).

Two Champagnes at midnight. Q. Who knows the words to Auld Langs Ayne anyway? A. Max, apparently. Me and Tracy had our Champagnes at the ready, 10 of us avidly watching and cheering on the Hootananny countdown clock. My Champagne was a treat to my chums and was (predictably) the Adnams Selection NV Champagne (which scores 15/20), which is nice and lively, a little yeasty and generally pretty tasty. Tracy's was a Christmas gift from her boss and also (predictably) excellent. It was the Heidsieck & Co, Gold Top, 2005 Vintage to be exact (And scores 16/20), much more full bodied and bready with the obvious depth from the single vintage bottle ageing. I actually remember the difference well because I was secretly a little gutted about being out-champagned. (After a little research today I realised that it's currently on offer at Majestic at £20 a bottle if you buy 6, so now I know). I quite happily finished off my bottle after the worlds worst rendition of Auld Langs Ayne, as the only words we could manage went "Shhhhould ooooooooooold acquaintance be forgot and naaaa na na naaaa naahhhhh, lllaaaa la daaah da da for the sake of Old Lambs Eyes....." followed by hugs and kisses and "More cheese straws anyone?"

Esther's Lindemans Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz. This wine started with a challenge, me being the 'wino' of the group, I was involved in a bit of late night blind tasting, followed by a bit of late night blind spilling. Esther opened a new bottle of wine and I asked if I could try some and was asked to guess the wine, I guessed American Merlot. The wine was a bit of a tricky one really a Merlot/Cab/Shiraz isn't just unusual, its three pretty bloody different grapes all mushed together, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are a classic mix but throwing Shiraz in is just a producer throwing all his eggs in one basket (grapes in his bottles?) for the sake of, presumably, cost and production volume. At least I got Merlot? Anyway the wine was ok (Lindemans Mega-Mix scores 13/20) and it ended being spilt on the floor after an over enthusiastic rendition of Yellow by Coldplay on the Xbox game Lips and a denial from a guilty Esther "It's normally me, but this time, honestly, it wasn't....".

Asti at 3am. Nobody needs Asti at 3am, but it was the one I got given for Christmas and I was determined to drink it. We were (surprisingly) still awake and finding things to eat and drink (the quesadillas we ate were probably the nicest thing I've had in a long time, if only I could remember what was in them and how they tasted). Asti is underrated and everyone was apprehensive, but it just grows on you, the super fizzy sweetness was actually pretty refreshing after a night of Guinness and red wine. A winner all round.

The Cote du Rhone I shouldn't have opened. It was 4am by now, the Asti had all gone and the night was obviously drawing to a close, but I had an empty glass and was determined to fill it back up. I am a fan of CdR and I knew I still had a bottle hidden for just this problem. It was the Cellier des Dauphins, CdR 2009, somewhere in my collection of empty wine bottles at home, I have the 2007 and 2008 vintage of this wine, it's £5 and comes in a funny, dumpy little bottle, but it's my go-to value Rhone (the 2009 scores 15/20 because it's better than it should be for £5). Well, the glass I poured myself was still in the glass when I woke up and the rest was still in the bottle. Nobody had touched it, not because we didn't lilke it, but because we clearly didn't need it.

A bottle of Kiwi Curvee? The eighth wine bottle picture I have absolutely no idea about. According to the picture it is a French Vin du Pays Sauvignon Blanc called Kiwi Curvee and seems to fit, chronologically, somewhere between the Lindemans and the Asti and around the time Tom disappeared.

That's it for now, you can check out my website http://whin.es and follow me on twitter @whinesblog. You can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.