29 June 2008

Love come quick

House wine sold by the glass (glass x 3)
Papyrus, price unknown.
[Waiting for very late friend and my phone has no juice. No food.]

Noseless.
Rhubarb; a fruity tart. Tart? Who called me a tart?
Not vinegar, but a little astringent with a touch of swizz and a speck of guggle.
The fruit is lukewarm, a little grey, it balances on the rickety fence and doesn't choose a side. Sometimes it lingers, other times it hits the middle of the tongue and the roof of the mouth then vanishes. By the third glass it sets up camp on the teeth.

Everyone else dining alone drinks soda water.

Not half bad. Could be nice with a stolen cigarette, I wonder if I can pay that guy for one. Might even pay him to use his phone.

Pervasive vII

Domaine Bergon
Merlot 2006
Vin de Pays, France
18000RwF, Papyrus
[Dinner with colleague]

Well, cherries and currant, but I don't know what a currant is.
I think a plum works.

Strawberry jam. It tastes like everything that you cannot find in Kigali. Not including vegemite.

It's not gone, it gently lingers.

It fills the back of the mouth right above the tonsils and moves slightly up the nasal passage.

Becomes deeper after first glass.

2nd glass:
Lemon; the feeling in the feeling in the side of the cheeks when you eat citrus.

With tagliatelle primavera:
Turns merlot to cabernet

With macaroni with broccoli and sausage:
Smoother now. Lingers longer.

15 June 2008

Haitian Lionel Ritchie: Stuck on you

Cheateau Terre de Fontenot
France. Vin de pays.
Price unknown. Source unknown.
[As below. Provided by host. Chilled.]

1st glass: Smell roses, taste apples.
2nd glass: Smell generic floral, taste plum pud.
It is deep and dark, a little spicy. Plum sticks to the top of your mouth, spice to the back of your throat. Others might say blackcurrant, I don't.

Final decision pending (next time to be drunk as first rather than second bottle).

Pervasive

Domaine Bergon, France
Cabernet Sauvignon,
BCK (but everywhere really) 8800RwF
[Lunch with Senegalese + friends; comments from me alone]

No food:
At first you are skipping through the forest, smelling earth and wood and moss. You are skipping so intently that you don't see the cliff and fall off the side, flat on your face. Foresty with a steep and immediate fall. No finish.

With food:
There is no cliff, you stumble upon patch of wild berries, even, strange for a forest, a pear tree. What the hell is it doing in the forest? And now that we have introduced pear, why not a little pepper finish? This is muddled, but it stays with you when you have some food (food here: fish in red/coconut sauce, lemon roasted chicken and onions and rice). The pepper lounges for a while but does not stay for coffee.

This brand is the only one that is found in every grocery store in Kigali, and it is the second cheapest cheap wine that I have located.

With strangers

Rene Barbier
Reserva 2001
La Gallette, 16800RwF
Espana Tempranillo/Cabernet Sauvignon
[personal thoughts at a slightly boring dinner party]

Pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, cherry, gone.
Pepper, pepper, pepper, cherry, gone.
Pepper, cherry, benadryl, gone.
Pepper, benadryl, gone.
Benadryl.
Gone.

Insipid. No follow through. Spare.
Thinner than a whore's gauzey panties.

12 June 2008

Unprepared

Tall Horse. South Africa. 2005 Shiraz.
Heaven, 22,000RwF
[No note book. Three people for dinner]


I like this better than the last one.

I would give everything I own, just to have you back again.

Quadrilello
Sole e Luna, 13000RwF per pichet.
[4 people, direct quotes.]

Quite nice.
Cheap italian.
Drinkable.
Thin.
Cannot see John through the wine.
Scent of lemon zest.
Plum.
Nothing jumps out, inoffensive.
Really old, old plums. Fermenting.
Ribena-like rolling effect on the molars - black currant.
Not outstanding, lemon zest again, toilet effect, but very happy to drink it.

With pizza:
More alcohol, stronger kick in the teeth.
Can meet arugala in the middle.
Same as before though the kick is gone now.
Italian shit but fruitier.
The less you think about it, the more enjoyable it is.

It is raining blackcurrants.

Short legs in papyrus.

Antica Vigna
Vino da Tavola Rosso, Melito (RI)
Papyrus, 10,000RwF
[Three people, beers first, wine later]

Forest berries, dark winter berries on the nose.
Tannins.
Thin, fruity.
An inoffensive, casual, floral, drinkable red.
Sour cherry.

Short legs.

4 June 2008