Eat, Drink and Be Merry

I CAST the light on Chinon this evening, this example, Joguet's Les Petites Roches '05, coming from Waitrose. I am not normally a fanatic of still Loire Cabernet Francs, and this, though smart, will not sway me into suddenly swooning...

Beetroot mauve, with a smelly, 'gassy' nose and an unforgiving, drought-dry palate with buried fruit and almost indigestible tannins, one gets the impression there is too much grammar within - it is far from free-flowing passionately-professed poetry. In fact, so tough is it, despite an attempt at almost rude sounding carbonic maceration (as in Beaujolais, which failed here to force in flavour), that it feels like something splendid, left undercoated.

It is a well made product, however, and I like the fact that the portrait of François Rabelais, troublesomely hedonistic Renaissance writer born at nearby Indre-et-Loire, features on the label. Like so much in life, it needs time to gather itself into shape: you cannot expect to see sunshine at midnight, though that is often the demand.

Oak is not a concern here, although I have had a thought about its general useage: it should be like a pictureframe; structural, supportive, but not intrusive.

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I received a pleasant e-mail from Decanter's US correspondent, Norm Roby, who 'enjoyed reading' this blog. I approached him regarding the future of wine writing. More specifically, my future and wine writing. 'Wordy enterprises'. It seems we both have difficulties in seeing sunlight through the clouds on that one. The nightmare of the back room, order-office looms, perhaps...?

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Rabelais' last words: 'I am off in search of a great perhaps.'