Watching and drinking Perseides concurrently.

Being British, I am obliged to comment on the Provencal weather this summer. Mostly hot with the occasional Mistral wind and, a few weeks ago, a threatened storm which yielded some highly unusual clouds, identified by a friend’s meteorologically talented daughter (moments before one of my own clever clogs) as being of the mammatus variety, these being, in effect, upside downclouds which, said expert explained occur when the cold, moist pockets of air sink rather than rise. Pic included of clouds over neighbouring property (would you believe me if I said it was sunny over us? No?). 

What I can’t give you a picture of because (a) it hasn’t properly occurred this year yet (a brief flirtation last night but that’s all so far) and (b) my technological wizardry has yet to master how to take a still image of a (literally) flying circus, is tonight’s extravaganza of shooting stars, known as Perséides. (Some of you will, by now, have figured where this is going.) The useful people who tell us everything we need to know, and much we probably don’t, at Wikipedia enlighten us that the Perseids (Perséides to the French) are ‘a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail lies in the constellation Perseus’.

All well and good but I will still need to revert to the clog’s expertise to find Percy in the sky, my knowledge of the stars being restricted to the frying pan known to more serious watchers as the Great Bear or Big Dipper (which always put me to mind of the roller coaster at the Great Yarmouth funfair for some reason). Still, if meteors are to be seen whizzing about the skies, no doubt I will be in for an impressive light show this evening… clouds and light pollution permitting.

Anyway, one thing is clear: there is only one wine to drink this evening and that, of course, is Chateau Juvenal’s very own cuvee Perséides. Ah, but red or white and which vintage? I have in my local stash 2016 and 2017 of the red and 2018 and 2019 of the white. Decisions, decisions… Always tricky when the alternatives are all rather splendid.

Of course, I know the answer really. There is half a bottle of Riesling in the fridge so that lets out the Blanc and the 2016 Rouge is in a fantastic place at present - more Grand Cru Burgundy (at £24/bottle? That's not even Village level for anything decent!) than you can reasonably expect from Ventoux grown Grenache, this variety was gorgeous in this vintage and only a vinous criminal could be expected to make a hash of such good grapes. The good people at Chateau Juvenal are anything but.