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Mine, and one that I've only just discovered over the last year, is Lagavulin; a 16 year old single malt from Islay.
There are so many to choose from though - any recommendations?
Syzygy
Oban 14 year old: Slick and fruity, you can close your eyes and think of Jerez... A very decent dram... 84/100
Laphroaig 10 year old: This, undisputably, is classic whisky... 90/100
Laphroaig 15 year old: A hugely disappointing and lacklustre dram that is oily and woefully short on complexity. Not what one comes to expect from either this distillery or age. 79/100
Laphroaig 30 year old: subtle peat-reek from distant lumbs (I can tanslate that if you wish...), coupled with pungent sea spray; outstanding... 94/100
Laphroaig 40 year old: smoky oranges, salty kippers: can this really be such a gigantic age?... 94/100
Source: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2004.
At the end of the day, it's all about your own personal opinion...
Spiritual as in becoming one with my environment and emotions on a plain far above the ordinary platitudes of daily human interaction. ;)
Double Lol..!
The Glenlivet: which one?
Syzygy
[edited by: Syzygy at 11:07 pm (utc) on Nov. 29, 2004]
and had to use wine bottled with corks for the UK market.
Wine just isn't the same without the uncorking ceremony. Okay, it may taste the same, but where's the drama in taking off a screw-cap?
Okay, it may taste the same
Chances are it will taste a whole lot better. The reason they are switching to screwcaps is that there is very little chance of the wine being "corked".
Even french corks have doubled in price in the last year ..
Costs for the viticulteur to bottle their own wine ( "depart domaine" )..
Cork .."bouchon" .................. €00.30
Bouteille..classic "resto" shape ..........€00.35
Label printing etc ........................€00.15
Tax "douane" mis en bouteille ( the little metal cap on each bottle is the tax paid to the government in order to be allowed to bottle your own wine ...........................................€00.10
These don't diminish with scale
Then add labour ,investment ,profit and of course the wine , Health insurance and retirement benefit payments ( compulsory at 56% of "gross profit" ..yes really! 56% of "gross profit) ..
Price paid to the viticulteur for one litre of AOC sold to the co-operative ..€00.30 per litre ...
( this is why most are subsidised ..or bottle "value added"...Bulk table wine production is like driving your car straight at the wall ..in France at least ....
The only way to survive is to either be paid not to produce ( and so run huge 4x4's etc ..no overheads but €00.30 for each "non existant" bottle saved from the "wine lakes" )...Or produce speciality wines and cut costs to the bone ( corks vs screw tops )..and try to sell direct to cut out the shippers margin ( 100% on average ) ..
For the French market..After that you add transport ..your governments choice of taxes etc ..retail margins etc ..
I Know that in Leosghost area there is a revival in making spiced wines as they used to hundreds of years ago
Quite interesting if one is not a real wine lover, might be a good item to export in Japan.
Henry
The popularity of the smokey Islay malts has led to allocation restrictions in some markets of the acclaimed Lagavulin 16 YO.
Hot news today from the Islay Whisky Society...(I signed up for their newsletter after starting this thread)
Now forgive me for being cynical, but isn't this much like the alleged (and nowadays annual) champagne shortages the press reports in the build up to every New Year..?
Syzygy
BTW ..look for PR ( vineyard owner self bottled ) ..the absolutely best quality costs from €15.00 per bottle in France ( retail )and upwards ..on the bottles you buy ..not the big name Negociant ( blended with whatever comes to hand ) crap such as Moet etc ...costing from €30.00 and upwards upto the sky ...Very well marketed tho!
What the French wine and Champagne business tells the rest of the world ..and what it says privately amongst its members and to the government are very very very different stories ...
The reality is there are approximately 4 million bottles of Champagne surplus to consumation at present ...It's growing at a rate of around 600,000 bottles per year ever since year 2000 ....
Always the best time to announce an impending shortage...;-)
Syzygy
BTW ..look for PR ( vineyard owner self bottled ) ..the absolutely best quality costs from €15.00 per bottle in France ( retail )and upwards ..on the bottles you buy ..not the big name Negociant ( blended with whatever comes to hand ) crap such as Moet etc ...costing from €30.00 and upwards upto the sky ...Very well marketed tho!
A few years ago when I lived in a city the social club at work would organise a wine quiz. A representative from a good supplier would bring wines to blind taste. They would educate you on the characteristics and get you to comment on the wines. Without exception people much preferred New Zealand wine (and to a lesser extent Australian) to the expensive imported wines.
I'm not saying that our wines are better, but people round here prefer them because they are used to the fruitier flavour.
We all had a glass - christ it was foul.
However I was the only one that didnt like it so I guess its horses for courses.
I used to get a quarterly 4 pages from Bourbon small batch processors
They recommended simply adding in your drink a T spoon of hot water
I do not think that I ever tried it!
That sounds intriguing - will give it a go on a good dram of whisky and judge the effect. Dependent upon the advice you listen to, it is oft suggested (and as has been mentioned here) that warming up your spirit (by rolling the glass around in your hands) is a good idea. I reckon that the tea-spoon of hot water may actually be very good advice indeed. That I think is going to work just a treat. Thanks very much for that - the principle is superb.
Sorry to say though that my bottle of Lagavulin has only just the one more dram left in it..;-)
Syzygy
Buy some corks and cork the bottles yourself!
(Scotland)
Rj
Ska
Without exception people much preferred New Zealand wine (and to a lesser extent Australian) to the expensive imported wines.I'm not saying that our wines are better, but people round here prefer them because they are used to the fruitier flavour.
Actually, one of my favorite wines is an Australian wine, Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz.
And I'm from Eastern Washington, one of the best wine growing regions in the world.
