Sipping Snippets:
Rigged Grand Cru Rankings.We have had fake Sassicaia from Italy, Antifreeze in Austrian wines, now we have apparent rigging of the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classification. Hubert de Bouard of Château Angìlus and Philippe Castéja of Château Trotte Vieille have both been charged with "illegal taking of interest" by acting as both judge and jury in drawing up the Grand Cru list of Saint-Emilion. Unlike the Bordeaux 1855 classification, which is set in stone, the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classification is reassessed every 10 years. The case is creating considerable attention in French wine circles as it reflects so badly on a world wine measure of the reliability of methods of judging wines and the effects they have on prices. (23/09/21)
The Spectator Top 100 wines of 2020
Visit their
Wine Spectator website
to see videos, the tasting notes (and the prices!)
I can strongly recommend a visit to this website. The videos (albeit a bit slow occasionally)and tasting notes for the top 10 are excellent. By looking at the short videos for all of the top 100 wines you can gain a lot of general vinous knowledge.
Japanese Food and Drink
Ever thought that you want to know about the way that Japanese Food is prepared and the correct way to eat it?
Would you like to know how to use chopsticks properly? Well Chris and Yoko Gutch in a recent presentation to the Berkshire Branch can help you out.
First read the article outlining their talk. Then follow the links to many interesting facts about
Japanese cuisine and dining.
Wines of India
Many of you will have seen the excellent article by Chris Graham in a recent copy of the IWFS Magazine.
Here is an opportunity to to look at it through the Berkshire Branch's own web page. Just click here
A small addition has been made to the Magazine in the form of some links to websites that
tell you more about the Sula Winery and Indian Wine in general. (JF)