Airline food is a staple of stand-up comedy but few realise that the reason food on a plane tastes so bland is that your taste-buds don’t work as well at the air pressure used on airliners. So it was with surprise that I greatly enjoyed my first encounter with this bossy red on Thai Airways on my way back to Australia in April. Mrs Sachie joined me on the flight back and I encouraged her to try it, which she reported satisfactory with the first and last of many glasses.
So it was that when I bumped into the same estate-sporting label on my trip to a French supermarket, to quote Penthouse forum, I needed no second invitation. At €4 it’s in the mid-range of the shelf at your local Carrefour and taking it home it’s clear that the altitude had knocked some of the rough edges off this Merlot/Cab/Sav blend. But it will hold a special place in my heart as it’s my introduction to Bordeaux wines and can be said to be a fair presentation.
Probably more of a daily drinker than a special event wine (hey, four Euros!) my only surprise was a mouthful of crystals on the last gulp. I’m sure that our esteemed readership will be full of helpful comments like “That’s the sodium metabisulfate preservative, idiot. Don’t swallow it,” it’s a first for me.
Look out for this cheap and solid wine that, I suppose, has kept Frenchmen wobbly for a century. It’s got a little house on the label, but then again they all do.