Sometimes a Gentlemen has to embark on the most arduous of journeys in pursuit of a goal and this week I decided that it was time to undertake a taxing but ultimately, I hope rewarding search.
I like most of the Gentlemen I know like a glass of red wine with a meal or just of an evening. What right thinking chap doesn’t? But if you aren’t a wine expert, and I’m not, you are probably boggled by the options presented on most restaurant wine lists and on supermarket or wine shop shelves
After years of drinking odd bottles of wine picked up here and there or gifted by dinner guests I find that I don’t enjoy big muscular reds and I want to drink something consistent I can just enjoy. So I have determined to find good quality claret which we can drink every day, usually with meals.
I have set a target of finding a simple easy to drink claret with a target price of less than £10 per bottle when bought in case lots. The further below this price the better but I price is not the main arbiter here
This hunt was set off partly by drinking Berry Bros Ordinary Claret at a St James cigar event. So I decided this was a good place to start. I have acquired a bottle of this and a bottle of their extra ordinary Claret, slightly above the price point but I couldn’t resist remembering how much I enjoyed the ordinary. I have also got two bottles from Laithwaites that appear to fit the bill.
I had a look at the wine Society and I can see a number of clarets that appear to be within our target. A friend who is a member is getting hold of a couple of those as I discovered it costs about £40 to become a member of this excellent organisation.
I’ve also bought two bottles from Waitrose and now I am looking to enlist one of the Perfect Gentlemen’s wine loving expert friends to recommend the final 6 bottles.
Then the plan will be to get a large quantity of glasses and enlist some good friends for what I trust will be a great evening’s testing and scoring. The plan is to open all the bottles and wrap them in silver foil. Then everyone tastes and marks the wines and we end up with a winner.
In the next couple of weeks I will publish a full list of the final 12 and I’m hopeful that our wine expert will also furnish us with an appreciation and history Claret. It’s a tough job but it needs doing.
