1996 — Harry J Morris Wine Educator - Blog — Harry J Morris Wine Educator

Unreserved Pleasure

The annual carnival of mercenary hype is upon us once again and, as usual, my heart is filled with lament at the prospect of ever greater numbers of lovely wines rendered unaffordable by joyless speculation and hoarding. As good a time as any, then, to open a bottle of Bordeaux bought in slightly less cynical times when a reasonable amount of wine was still bought to drink rather than to resell.

Boys' Night

A recent reservation at the Seven Dials outpost of the lauded Hawksmoor chain of restaurants had me all a quiver with anticipation. My brother had visited on several times previously, rating it highly on each visit: rare enough in itself but particularly unusual for a steakhouse.

Drinking, Eating, ThinkingHarry Morris19 January 20131996, Barbaresco, BYO, Champagne, France, Gaja, Hawksmoor, Italy, Louis Roederer, Piemonte, Steak Comment

Wood You Believe It?

It doesn’t take much to make me want to open a good bottle of wine, but reminiscing about great bottles past is a sure fire way to make me grab a corkscrew and head down to the cellar. Mention of the bottle of 1992 Yalumba Octavius Shiraz that returned with me from Australia started me thinking that it was about time that I tried a bottle from the case of the 1996 vintage I bought ten or twelve years ago.

DrinkingHarry Morris25 December 20111996, Australia, Barossa Valley, Octavius, Shiraz, Yalumba Comment

An Old Flame

Common wisdom states that you should never return to a past love, and so it was with a degree of trepidation that I opened a bottle of wine which I had tasted (and loved) only once before, almost twelve years ago to the day.