Literary wine references

[Mark Collings]

“I took Lucy to La Petite France, where I surrendered to Chef Paul, who sentenced us to languid hours of fruit-marinated lamb kabobs and a bottle of 1986 Château Gruaud Larose” The Body Farm, Patricia Cornwell

Published in 1994, my first thought on reading this was 'infanticide'!

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

This could be because Cornwell time is seemingly not quite the same as real time. When we first meet Lucy she’s a child computer whiz. Roughly two weeks later she’s 10 years older and in the FBI. Fast forward another week/5 years and she’s a retired bazillionaire. Perhaps it is something to do with all those languid hours eating kabobs.

 

[Mark Collings]

This could be because Cornwell time is seemingly not quite the same as real time. When we first meet Lucy she’s a child computer whiz. Roughly two weeks later she’s 10 years older and in the FBI. Fast forward another week/5 years and she’s a retired bazillionaire. Perhaps it is something to do with all those languid hours eating kabobs.

You're so right! At least I know what a kabob is now.

To the Lucy-copter!

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

More languid eating with Gruaud Larose

 

[Thom Blach]

'He was accustomed to eating large meals purely out of self-respect'. I must remember that one next time I'm tempted to skip the cheese course.

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

L.A. in the summer of '69
I went downtown and bought some wine
Wasted my head on three quarts of juice
And now the grapes won't turn me loose

 

[Eric Burch]

James Fennimore Cooper, in a letter home:

“A dinner here [France] does not oppress one. The wine neither intoxicates nor heats, and the frame of mind and body, in which one is left, is precisely that best suited to intellectual and social pleasures. I make no doubt that one of the chief causes of the French being so agreeable as companions is, in a considerable degree, owing to the admirable qualities of their table. A national character may emanate from a kitchen. Roast beef, bacon, pudding, and beer and port, will make a different man in time from Chateau Margaux, cotellettes, consommes and souffles. The very name vol-au-vent is enough to make one walk on air!”

 

[Leon Marks]

Thought I had posted this but evidently not…I’ve been rereading the thoroughly wonderful Smiley books, and had been keeping a note of every drink mentioned, with a view to organising some sort of event where we went through them all. There’s beer, wine (including “Spanish burgundy”), scotch, brandy and cocktails, including the wonderful White Lady and the exciting sounding Mint Frappé.

All was looking very exciting indeed until I got to this quote from The Honourable Schoolboy:

He had sent round a crate of champagne from Berry Brothers and Rudd, a vintage Krug, a real beauty.

So now it feels like this event has become somewhat beyond my means…

 

[Thom Blach]

Mint Frappé.

A creme de menthe frappé, much beloved of the glamorous ladies of my youth, or a mint Julep, I wonder. The mint julep is a rather underrated refreshment nowadays. I suggest its use whenever Pimms comes to mind. I may have one later.

 

[Tom De Vecchi]

The mint julep is a rather underrated refreshment nowadays. I suggest its use whenever Pimms comes to mind.

If the popularity of Aperol Spritz ever ebbs away, surely mint julep is due its place in the sun.

 

[Thom Blach]

I enjoyed a superb mint julep earlier made with the quite excellent Wild Turkey 101 to which Graham Harvey drew my attention. I closely followed the Embury no.1 formula, which makes for a drink that doesn't really conform to government alcohol guidelines.

 

[Joel Hopwood]

I enjoyed a superb mint julep earlier made with the quite excellent Wild Turkey 101 to which Graham Harvey drew my attention. I closely followed the Embury no.1 formula, which makes for a drink that doesn't really conform to government alcohol guidelines.

I found myself at the end of a quite delicious bottle of Cote Rotie the other day, and made the mistake of reaching for Embury for inspiration on what to do next. His classic Old Fashioned does not mess about.

 

[Jack Birchenoff]

I enjoyed a superb mint julep earlier made with the quite excellent Wild Turkey 101 to which Graham Harvey drew my attention. I closely followed the Embury no.1 formula, which makes for a drink that doesn't really conform to government alcohol guidelines.

Is there a better drink than the mint julep? If there is, I haven't found it. Somehow so much greater than the sum of its three parts.

 

[Thom Blach]

It's not better but the Whiskey Smash is very refreshing indeed in hot weather.