Wine, Brandy and an Open Fire.

It’s been some time and some wine since I last posted on here but I suppose a post for the New Year is in need. Last night I spent a rather enjoyable time with Family OTW, where we ate great food and drank very good wine. Thud, Lord Roby and I had tucked into two fantastic bottles of wine, one new world and the other old. And what a difference, I refer to Vinogirl and Vinsanity as she very recently met the producer of one of these very fine wines and through just reading her blog my mouth began to water at the thought of opening a bottle of the Smith Wooton Cab Franc. A bottle that I’m sure is a very hard wine to come by over here, so much so that Thud had brought this back from the Napa Valley and with it Napa Valley in a bottle. We spent some time Thud and I comparing it to the Cab Franc of Chateau Liles, and although Chateau Liles being an extremely good Cab Franc with its rustic feel the Smith Wooton just snatched it. With its precision and refined levels of taste you get a history and a stiff upper lip. Which would I prefer? Well you would think the Smith Wooten with the elegance and smooth lines but I’m not over sure. There is a lot to be said for the rustic and edginess of the Chateau Liles Cab Franc.
The second wine of the evening was a long awaited sample of the Chateau Chasse Spleen from Bordeaux; this was completely different to what I had just sampled and needed time to reset the buds. There came age with this wine and you got that in the nose, It gave the impression of experience and maturity over the Smith Wooton, you could say that it stood there with its Top Hat and Tails compared to the more preppy style of the Napa Valley. I got Roast Dinners and open fires compare to the mountain sunset and Californian sun, a complex wine but in a way that feeds your interest and begs you drink on until the bottle is empty. We ended our evening in a way that seemed highly appropriate, with a Cognac and not just any. It had to be the type that would follow such class and sophistication and in true Thud style he supplied the very best, Hine Antique XO.
Overall the evening was a success from scouse pie to the wine babble, drinking two fantastic wines to bring the New Year in gave me the spirit to want to try more, and the Cognac? Well that just opened a whole new taste.