James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

Having waited this long for the English version, my copy arrived this morning. No great surprises to find Fabrizio Battaglino , Filippo Gallino and Giovanni Manzone listed. Well done to them! Fabrizio was also cited for especially good value for his Roero Arneis 2011 , the Gallinos for their Roero Riserva 2008 Sorano and the Manzones for their Barbera d'Alba Superiore 2009 La Serra . Fabrizio's 2010 Roero Sergentin was a Tre Bicchieri  finalist (I still think he should have pushed the 2010 Colla forward!) as was Gallino's 2008 Roero Riserva Sorano . Manzone had three in the final this year, including the 2009  Barbera d'Alba Superiore La Serra and two of their 2008 Barolo wines. So, what should I be drinking tonight to celebrate their successes?

On my recent trip to France, I came across an old copy of the Revue du Vin de France (from October 2009) which happened to include a review of Cahors wines. I'll come straight to the boast: two of the wines on our list occupied the top two spots (I know you're not surprised KW!) Which two? Both scored 18/20 but I don't know whether there were fractional points separating them or whether they were just listed alphabetically - the two wines were, of course, Chateau du Cedre' s 2005 "Le Cedre" and Chateau Lamartine' s 2007 "Expression". So, time for me to re-taste them (now that the antibiotics have all gone) - I think I will try the Lamartine first as I haven't had this recently so that makes it a good place to start. It is fully flavoured, as you would expect from a wine that has undergone a long maceration, but well balanced and the fruit is not over-powering as it so often is in its New World contemporaries. A modest 13.5% alcohol, acc...

A painless abscess requires attention it seems. I have been putting this off since December, refusing to take antibiotics over the Christmas period unless absolutely necessary but the absence of any nerve endings in the vicinity has let me off the hook until now. Christmas and New Year were very jolly - two weeks in the Vaucluse departement  in southern France and, for once, not even a bus man's holiday: I didn't visit a single vineyard whilst I was there (although I did buy a few bottles from the Caveau in Gigondas and stopped off in Burgundy on the way home but that's allowed, I think). Lots of brisk walks up and around the Dentelles de Montmirail  and across the rolling countryside still failed to halt the increasing pounds the seasonal stuffing insists on adding though. So, time to do something about this and the abscess. I had put it off as long as I could. Over Christmas with friends, it was clearly a non-starter but when they left and we had arrangements to get t...