Wine around the world

Haha! There IS a God!

Last night, Bf was out with his old friend from Uni (the aerospace engineer). Before he went out, he told me he'd call to say goodnight, and implied that it wouldn't be a heavy drinking session, as he'd been up working since 4:30am... I had my doubts, since he and this particular friend never take it easy, but wasn't prepared for the night in store.

As you know, I received bad news from a friend; whose husband (another pilot) has ended their relationship over what she thinks is a drunken liaison with a woman... She heard him in his hotel room with at 4am the previous night.  I texted Bf at about midnight telling him about it, and telling him that I could really do with some reassurance and love, as it was late, and the news had really unsettled me and put me into an insecure mood... He immediately responded with a nice message, and I felt much better.

After this though, I had expected him to call reasonably quickly telling me he was hitting the sack. I could not sleep; thinking about my poor friend... I started clock watching and by 1am, I decided to ring Bf to say goodnight. His phone was either off or out of reception. I rang the hotel room, but they weren't back yet. I rang the hotel to ask what time the hotel bar closed and they said it was already closed.

It totally put me in a funk for a few hours, and I sent him a few pissy texts telling him that he was insensitive not to tell me where he was going as I had an early start. I went to bed feeling irritable and cranky.

• 3am - I got a call from him, but could barely hear him over the loud music of the club they were in... He shouted to me that he was fed up, and wanted to go 'home', but was staying for his friend (yeah right, you're such a martyr).
• 3:15am - he rang me and slurred that they were on their way back to the hotel and that he'd call me when he got back to say goodnight (why did he ring to tell me this? I don't know!)
• 3:30am - he rang to say there was a change in plan, they were going to go and get fish and chips (I think I murmured something about needing to get up at 7:30 and told him goodnight)
• 3:44am - He rang to tell me he had just climbed over a wall or fence or something, to be different, that he thought he knew where the hotel was, and would probably be back soon (my patience was wearing VERY thin by this point)
• 4am (approx) - He rang to say 'goodnight' I think I managed to hiss something about making sure that he'd be getting a nice early morning wake up call from me when I had to get up; to which he replied "Oh don't be horrible!"

I hung up and lay there for a while struggling to get back to sleep. I remember hoping that he'd get woken by the fire alarm at 6am or something as payback!

• 7:45am I rang him, he answered, feigning an 'I'm okay, not at all hung-over really' tone...
• Literally within a minute of this charade, I heard a loud, piercing 'WAHWAHWAHWAH' noise which was inter cut with a booming voice saying "PLEASE VACATE YOUR ROOM! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!" followed by: 'WAHWAHWAHWAH! PLEASE VACATE YOUR ROOM! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!'

I heard him groan and the pretence dropped as his head must have felt like it wanted to explode! I roared with laughter! (Proper belly laughter) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I heard the phone cut off; and laid in bed for a good five minutes, unable to do anything, completely helpless-as I was laughing too hard!

It was not the kind of alarm you could sleep through-SOOO shrill and piercing and loud! I'm such a cow for this, but I thought to myself, please don't go off, it would be SOOO funny if he had to get out of bed and evacuate with what MUST be a hangover from hell!

I rang back about 10 minutes later "Hi Darling, is everything okay?"

He groaned, but I couldn't hear what he was attempting to say over the noise of all the mayhem: sirens and hotel staff trying to do a roll call, etc... I chuckled again; though he didn't seem to see the funny side? Funny that eh?!

I swear, that was divine retribution! ...Either that or I'm a witch! ;)

We all understand the power of brands. There was likely a time for most Americans alive to day when we used "Reynolds Wrap" when we meant aluminum foil. Some of us still say Kleenex instead of tissue and Xerox instead of photocopy. When one company pioneers a product that becomes so ubiquitous and common, it's likely that the name will stick, even when we're no longer using the original product.

There was a time in Japan's history when sake was more easily referred to as Oyamazake, for exactly the same reasons. In 1882, the Shogun commanded that a sake brewing operation be established to feed the growing thirst for rice wine at the court, and like most of the time when the Shogun asked for something, he got what he wanted.

At it's height, the brewing operation that sprang in the town of Oyama occupied almost fifty separate breweries arranged side-by-side on the Shonai plain in northwestern Japan. The amount of sake produced at the height of production is unknown, but it must have been truly staggering.

Today, several sake breweries call he town of Oyama home, but only one brewery can trace its history back to that massive brewing operation begun more than a century ago. Named Ohyama, or "big mountain," this modest brewery continues to carry on the traditions of sake brewing much as they were established before the turn of the century.

Ohyama makes several sakes, but perhaps one of their best is this very special nigori, or "unfiltered," sake. Unfiltered in the world of sake means much the same as it does in the world of wine. The process of making sake eventually yields a big soup of mushy fermented rice and alcohol in the same way that the end of fermentation for grapes results in a big tank of grape skins, wine, seeds, etc.

In order to get sake out of the mash, the sake must be pressed off of its lees (the solid bits of rice and yeast that are left). This usually involves putting sake into canvas bags and then squeezing those bags in a pneumatic press so that the sake squirts out and the rice and such is left behind. The resulting sake is a milky, cloudy color as it still contains a lot of rice starch and yeast in suspension.

At this point the sake is usually cold filtered through charcoal or other mediums to clarify the sake, but occasionally, brewers will simply stop here, and this cloudy, sediment filled sake is known as nigori. The rice starch gives the sake a milkier, slightly sweeter flavor which makes nigori a nice aperitif, as well as a good match for stronger flavored foods.

Interestingly, if you were to travel back in time, say, to 1882, when Ohyama was busy making sake for the Shogun, all the sake would have been unfiltered because they hadn't invented the filters yet. Clear sake is quite a modern phenomenon.

Unfortunately while nigori sake is also an increasingly popular phenomenon, much of it is extremely low in quality. In some sake drinking circles, nigori sake is the equivalent of white zinfandel, an entry level brew that is easy to drink and doesn't take much to appreciate. As a result most nigori sakes are made from relatively low quality rice, are often fortified with alcohol, and in some cases, are just downright nasty tasting.

Increasingly however, there are some breweries that are making extremely high quality nigori sake, and Ohyama happens to be one of them. This sake is a "tokubetsu" junmai nigori, which means "very special" junmai nigori. The Haenuki rice has been milled to less than 60% of its former mass (enough to qualify for ginjo status), and no additional alcohol has been added in the brewing process. These two facts, coupled with the extra care taken in its production have made for one of the finest, most delicate nigori sakes available on the market today.

Tasting Notes:
This sake looks like watery, fat free milk in the glass, and it smells very pretty, with aromas of rainwater, flowers, and faint hints of bubble gum. In the mouth it is smooth and creamy, with flavors of...well...cream, wet cedar wood, apple, floral notes, and a beautiful stony quality that lasts through a surprisingly long finish. This is one of the most refined, elegant nigori sakes I have ever had.

Food Pairing:
Even though it is refined in quality, this sake has the robustness of the nigori style, which means it is not so easily overwhelmed by stronger flavors (like many delicate sakes are). I'd happily serve this sake with any non-spicy south or east Asian food. It would go beautifully with a mild Vietnamese curry, for instance.

Overall Score: 9/9.5

How Much?: $15

This sake is available for purchase on the Internet.

INT.  LITTLE TONI'S PIZZA, NORTH HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT

A group of stunningly gorgeous people gather for a birthday party. Really - they shouldn't be allowed to look this good. Even in Hollywood.

The tables are drowning in pizza and red wine. An intense conversation is underway.

RACHEL: "It's DINK DINK."
GINA: "No it's not. It's more guttural. DUHNT DUHNT."
RACHEL: "No way. It's not that low."
GINA: "Look, I watch the damn show every day. I'm telling you, it's DUHNT DUHNT."
SEAN: "Gina's right."
RACHEL: "Oh who cares anyway! It's a stupid sound effect."
GINA: "STUPID SOUND EFFECT?! Are you kidding me?! It starts the whole show! It's, like, the most important sound effect on TV!"

Suddenly, the doors of the restaurant burst open. Three men charge in, wielding big guns. They're wearing g-strings over their heads to conceal their identities.

MAN #1: "There he is!"

Read the rest of this entry »

I was on the web the other day, and I read a story about some company attempting to buy Anheuser-Busch, the company that brews Budweiser.  Now you don't have to be a beer drinker to realize that Budweiser is one of the most recognizable American brands in the world. Now this company, better known as InBev, a Belgian-Brazilian company, has made an attempt to buy Anheuser-Busch. So far the Budweiser brewer has rejected InBev's offer, but the company has left the door open for a purchase by saying that "it was open to consider any proposals that would provide full value to its shareholders. "

Personally, I am insulted by the fact that the powers that be at Anheuser-Busch would even consider the fact of selling the company to some "international" company like InBev. Budweiser is an American staple. For that matter even the design of the Budweiser can features the colors red, white and blue. If you are a beer drinker, what is more American than drinking a cold Budweiser while eating great bar-b-que on a holiday like the 4th of July. I am offended by the mere thought of Budweiser being owned by a foreign company! It is already bad enough that most of the items in our homes are made somewhere in China, Taiwan, or Korea. It is even more sad that some of the most famous brands and landmarks in the United States are now owned by some foreign corporation, but the Budweiser situation should raise the question of, Is anything sacred anymore? 

For me, Budweiser is more than a great beer, it is a symbol of a great country. It represents the spirit of the kind of work that built this country, good old-fashioned, blue-collar, hard work. For many, Budweiser is as American as apple pie, hot dogs and baseball, and most of all it represents American pride. So I caution the executives of Anheuser-Busch to think long and hard when deciding to whether to sell the company or not. While you may please the few shareholder who are raising hell, it would be nothing compared to the scores of millions that you will insult that are the reason you have a company to consider selling in the first place.

At the end of the day, do not confuse this as a rant about beer, as it is much more about keeping America American. Sometimes leaving a legacy is much more important than earning a few extra dollars, but then again that is just one man's opinion. What's Yours?

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol. When Ethanol is used as part of the fuel, by blending with petrol, for a motor vehicle, it is called fuel-ethanol. Using ethanol instead of tetraethyl lead or MTBE which acts as anti-knocking agents prevents dangerous and poisonous emissions containing lead or MTBE from petrol. Many states in the US have been using 10% ethanol blend in gasoline (petrol) for use in their cars. Brazil has been using up to 24 % ethanol in petrol. Engines of cars do not need any change to use petrol with up to 24 % ethanol in it. Thus using Ethanol in Motor Fuels helps to serve the environment without incurring any cost or effort to modify the engines. Ethanol is produced in two ways. One is through the hydration of ethylene, as a Petrochemical and can also be produced biologically, by by fermenting sugars with yeast. The economical cost of both the processes is dependent upon the prevailing prices of petroleum and of grain feed stocks.

I had earlier thought that WINE, the (not) emulator that allowed Windows programmes to be used in Linux, was not advanced enough to use on Dreamweaver 8 and so I opted to work with  Crossover 6 for Dreamweaver and Photoshop installations. I had been experimenting with Crossover 6 on my Ubuntu and PCLinux with basic success. But recently, on my newly installed openSUSE 11, I thought I'd try a direct WINE install of Dreamweaver 8, and guess what? It worked. Basically, I clicked the setup.exe file using WINE and the installer did the rest.

Then I decided to install Crossover anyway... why let a license go waste... but I was disappointed that it didn't integrate the WINE install onto it's own menu. So instead, I have my Dreamweaver installed in the WINE directory, while my Crossover remains installed but empty.

So, if WINE does the job, why keep Crossover? Of course, I do need to install Photoshop 7 as well... so I'll wait to bury Crossover only after I install Photoshop 7 (though I have a feeling that I won't have problems with Photoshop 7). And hold on... my reference to the necessity of Crossover is for programmes like Dreamweaver and Photoshop alone... not other programmes like MS Office or Windows games that I have not tried nor intend to test.

Of course both WINE and Crossover have a buggy implementation of Dreamweaver 8... but that doesn't mean that I can't use the programme. For instance, both using Crossover and WINE I find Dreamweaver acting strange... sometimes the menus disappear and setting up sites becomes a bit of a pain with no options to view.. but still there are plenty of workarounds. Then also, <F12> is the command in Dreamweaver for previewing in browser. But now <F12> launches Beagle Search and I have to make my main browser the secondary browser and preview pages with <CTRL> <F9>. Like I said, no big deal.

I was particularly happy that I could continue to use my openSUSE home directory for all my website development rather than the virtual "C" directory that is in some hidden galaxy on my system.

And before I get any comments about this, of course I've tried using NVU and Quantas for website editing. And both are good programmes. I haven't used Blowfish recently (and I actually should install that too)... but I'm sure it's good too. Blame it to old habits and an expensive license (for Dreamweaver)... I don't think I want to change habits in a hurry.

ps. I must add however that NVU seems to have improved significantly since I last used it and is more powerful as a web-developer package than I had previously thought.

LUNES

Cuando me preguntan que es lo que más quiero en el mundo, no lo dudo en responder. Yo, Serafín Zubiri Artesa, alcalde por el Partido Popular de Licorera, el pueblo más corrupto del país, tan solo anhelo una cosa por encima de todas, y es pegarme un revolcón con IBB. Que nadie hasta ahora me había rechazado, ni Aznar ni Acebes, todos habían sido complacientes... Como se nota que IBB es un socialista... Pero lo adoro tanto que no me importa que lo sea... Es mi cuchifritin, una perita en dulce...

MARTES

¡Ya llegan los reyes vagos! Y diréis, ¿no serán los reyes magos? Pues si, pero como la costumbre es que vengan en navidad y no ahora, pues son unos vagos, vamos, más vagos que todos mis concejales juntos. Aunque tal vez sea que los de Campas del Librero los secuestraron para que no pudiéramos recibir nuestros regalos, lo que sería típico de ellos. El caso es que como yo les pedí la presidencia para el país del PP, tal vez la semana que viene cuando lleguen en el AVE podamos ver como mi querida Esperanza Aguirre sube al poder aplastando la democracia. Mis anhelos más profundos...

MIÉRCOLES

Un fiscal ha osado levantar su mano acusadora y llamarnos corruptos. ¿Nosotros corruptos? Por dios, si somos unos santos varones... Son los edificios los que se construyen solos, y claro, como somos peperos, nos da pena tirarlos y les dejamos seguir ahí... Que haya gente que confunda nuestra bondad con corrupción me parece intolerable, por lo meno si pretende usarlo en nuestra contra en un tribunal. Pero bueno, ya estoy preparando dos maletines, uno para sobornar al individuo y otro por si es honrado y he de contratar a uno de nuestros asesinos a sueldo... Será por dinero...

JUEVES

Ayer mirando un mapa he descubierto que nuestro pueblo entre paréntesis es llamado Marbella II, lo cual nos orgullece porque con todo lo que se robo allí es un honor que comparen a unos humildes peperos que siguen con la tradición de su partido con los grandes genios del hurto y el saqueo. Vamos, que el hecho de ser la nueva Marbella del norte nos abre muchas puertas, y no las de la prisión precisamente... Ahora, a esperar que la gente use los mapas...

VIERNES

La asociación española de constructores ha decidido hacerme más feliz que si me dieran un kilo de algarrobas, y es que me han decidido nombrar, por mis meritos como alcalde, el señor de los ladrillos. Me enorgullece tanto que valoren mi arte para dar licencias de construcción hasta en los vertederos (casas de lujo para los mendigos acostumbrados a la inmundicia) de esta manera, ya que aparte de una placa y un ladrillo de oro, el premio son 10.000 euros, que ya tengo pensados como gastar: construyendo mi propia estatua al estilo Franco, montado en un burro en posición de trote para colocar en medio de la plaza mayor, quitando esa horterada en memoria de las victimas de la guerra civil, que apoya a la republica. ¿Acaso un fascista como yo no tiene más mérito que miles de progresistas? Habrase visto...

Wine Ranking: 4.5
Winery: Chevalier
Varietal: Chardonnay
Region: France > Burgundy > Chassagne-montrachet
Type: Sweet White Wine
Vintage: 2002
Price: $189
Purchase: FinestWine.com

User Tags: color descriptors, mineral, soil, sophisticated, (tropical) fruit, entral ranges, orange, finesse, tropical fruits, pineapple

Wine Maker's Notes:
Liquefied minerals, slate, gravel, and pears can be discerned in the aromatic and flavor profiles of the 2002 Chevalier-Montrachet. Light to medium-bodied, packing fabulous concentration as well as a deep, complex character, this super-refined beauty of a wine boasts an exceptionally long, pure, and supple finish. It is not a blockbuster, but rather a graceful, highly nuanced gem

Wine Review:
Bright, pale yellow. Compelling nose combines white flowers, pit fruits and minerals. Wonderfully dense and suave in the mouth, with supersweet but mouthwateringly tangy flavors of orange, pineapple and stone. A wine of great finesse, somehow managing to effortlessly balance huge ripeness and penetrating acidity. Finishes with superb stony persistence and mineral cut. A real vin de garde Girardin believes this is the best vintage for Chevalier-Montrachet since 1995 and 1992.

Source: http://www.snooth.com/wine/girardin-vincent-chevalier-montrachet-2002/

Description:
Green Point is dedicated to producing premium quality sparkling wines from the classic Champagne grapes - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

They are careful to honour the traditional methods of their parent, Moet &Chandon, while making the most of the varietal character offered by Australian vineyards.

The result is wines that are faithfully Methode Traditionelle but authentically Australian at the same time.

Producer: Green Point - www.greenpoint.com.au
ABV: 12.5%
Country of Origin: Sparkling Wine
Region: Victoria
Vintage: 2004
Wine Type: Sparkling & Cava
Price: £ 13.49
Buy This Wine FinestWine.com

Source: http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=2196

Source: http://www.lovethatwine.co.uk/review/1718.html