Penfolds Grange tops global challenge to find greatest wine of the 1970s
One of my housemates was a chef in the 70s. His head chef went overseas and left the young chefs in charge. When he came back he was so pleased with their work he said that they could take two bottles each from the wine cellar. My housemate grabbed two bottles of 1976 Penfolds Grange and we all shared a bottle with dinner.
The 1976 Grange came 14th in the global challenge and is now worth Au$1,389 per bottle at Dan Murphey's, Sydney. It's a pity that I'm a white wine drinker, a glass of the '76 in a top restaurant would probably cost around US$300-400 a glass.
Cheers,
I'm happy to be blessed with a low ability to judge wines! I can open a bottle of Viña Sol on a Sunday, pour myself a glass and enjoy it, safe in the knowledge that since it lives in the fridge at a nominal 3°C, the rest of said bottle will taste just as well the next time I decide to cook myself something, which probably won't be until the following Sunday... However, as I also pour generous swashes of it into whatever I'm making, it does go down surprisingly quicky despite my only drinking a single glass (cardio's orders) per home-cooking day. I'm supposed to stay with reds, but what the hell, one day a week...!
Today I took a large tomato, a large clove of garlic, a handful of frozen peas, whichever spices my wife left behind (I replace them as they run out) and salt, olive oil and a dash of vinegar. Chopped up the solids, no, not the peas, boiled it all slowly for fifteen minutes, threw in 300 gms of frozen (but thawed) prawns after that, and boiled a suitable volume of penne rigate (a suitable volume of pasta, for me, is about 130gms) for seventeen minutes (dislike tough, al dente!) stirring a lot, and making sure the prawns and stuff in the other pot stay healthy. About ten minutes to go, the Viña Sol says hi! to the prawns.
When the pasta's done, so is the juicy stuff. All into a big bowl, and better than most of the crap I end up eating out. But, as I write, those bloody pots and dishes await in the sink. One day a week of masochism is quite enough, however nice the reward.
Rob C
