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The Italians have arrived

It's always a wonderful thing to open cases from the new vintages of any wine so when twenty of so different new wines arrive together it's rather like being a kid with a key to the candy store. Actually, this surprises me as I always rebuff any notion that the pleasure in wine has anything to do with anything other than what is inside the bottle yet I  seem to be saying that the aesthetics of the packaging, and in particular the label, brings something to the table.

Yes, I was interested to see that the 2010 Broccardo is in a sloping 'Burgundy' bottle in contrast to the square-shouldered 'Bordeaux' bottle of the 2009 vintage and I noted the new look label which I admired for its more traditional look than the more modernist 2009 but what of it? I know the real enjoyment will come when, all too prematurely, literally, I crack open the first bottle for my first tasting of this magnificent vintage since I was at the winery back in April. 

One of the other wonderful things about new arrivals is that, according to a chap at DEFRA who pops along from time to time, I must test them for consistency with the wine tasted at the estate. I think they are really looking for alcohol content but there has never been any suggestion that I should buy an Alcohol Meter; rather, I am, apparently, obliged to crack open a bottle and perform that questionably scientific test known to those in the trade as tasting and to everyone else as drinking. Apparently you'll find out sooner or later what the alcohol content is that way! Oh well, at least it's tax deductible (well, the first sip, anyway).

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