Confessions of a Wino

I haven’t managed to get a ticket to see Connie in the hottest show in town just yet.  Connie Fisher’s prize for winning a BBC talent contest was the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic at the London Palladium.

But I thought I would get in the mood anyway by trying an Austrian wine whose reputation seems to be growing faster than The Sound of Music revenues.

My Grüner Veltliner came from the Wine Society’s “Exhibition” Range.

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Everyone who knows me, knows that I think that Malbec is the best thing to come out of Argentina since news of Maradona’s (drug abuse enforced) retirement.

On my last Malbec post, Denis requested a recommendation for a good starter bottle.  This prompted me to think about both ends of the value spectrum.

I have just tasted a superb Malbec from Asda (UK subsidiary of Wal-mart), at time of writing on special offer at just four of our English pounds (I think it’s still less than a fiver at full price!).  The wine is Malbec Reserve, Famatina Valley 2004 which the label says is produced by some outfit called “La Riojana”.  I guess it must be blended from a variety of sources then, but no harm in that if it tastes good.  And my hand of god says it does!

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In 1988 I was at the cafeteria of a motorway service station buying a sandwich and I asked where the corned beef was from.  I advised the assistant that I hoped it wasn’t from Argentina.

“Oh, you’re not still sore about the Falklands are you?” she retorted.

“No, actually it was Maradona’s 1986 Hand of God goal.  I’ve boycotted Argentinean products since that day”

Wind forward several years and with the self righteous ban a distant memory, I had occasion to visit the Gaucho Grill on Chancery Lane in  London.  An Argentinean “Grill” restaurant and probably the best steak I have ever tasted.  During that meal I ordered a bottle of Malbec and was wowed.

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