Meet Mad Magyar

April was a busy month for me on Reign of Terroir. We got off to a less than foolish start with Wine Blogging Wednesday # 44, with a Cabernet Franc theme set by the VaynerMeister himself. For me it was a great excuse to open another of the Loire valley reds stashed after the 2006 summer holiday, in this case the excellent Marchesseau Fils 2003 Bourgueil, Cuvée Vieilles Vignes.

Onto environmental matters with Pesticides in Wine, an article on the issues of chemicals being used in the wine industry, anyone would think I was a serious journalist!

Business in Edinburgh took me to the Loch Fyne Seafood Restaurant in Leith where I had great Fish & Chips washed down with a Muscadet (Loire theme again!). Later on in the month was the Newcastle Spring Wine Fair where I managed to get through almost 40 wines without falling over!

April is birthday month for my family, and for mine I opened A 40 Year Old Wine, my first experience of a really aged bottle - and it wasn't bad! The Nebbiolo d'Alba was last years birthday present from Sarah, this year she got me Indian and Uruguayan wines as I continue my quest to try as many wines from as many countries as possible.

The final post in April was a nod to Earth Day, with Carbon Zero, wine with Green Credentials. I don't drink many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs but this one was very pleasant as well as environmentally friendly (as much as wine can be I suppose).

Onto May, and what promises to be a quiet month, with not much travel planned at work (catch up time before a rush in late May and June).

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To finish off the birthday month my parents came down for the weekend. I opened up a bottle of Vida Nova red, from Cliff Richard's winery in the Algarve, and a Diamond Collection Chardonnay, one of Francis Ford Coppola's Californian wines. While drinkable neither was particularly memorable, except for possibly being the background to another Greybeard article for Reign of Terroir!

Last week I revisited my old University stomping ground, Aberdeen. Was up there for an installation with work and had an enjoyable drive back down the A68, a much better road than the boring A1.

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Had a good night yesterday at the wine fair, went with Paul and Brian from work and made my way through 37 of the 42 wines on offer.

Best White was a tie between the Blind River 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (Oddbins) and the Vesevo 2007 Greco di Tufo (Liberty Wines).
Best Red was Peter Lehmanns "The Mudflat" 2003 Shiraz/Muscadelle (Oddbins).

Oddbins and Liberty Wines were neck and neck for the best selection on the night, I think Oddbins just shaved it.

Hopefully some pictures to follow, and likely a Greybeard piece on Reign of Terroir as well.

However we didn't need to stay out after the fair, but we did anyway and a few pints later and I ended up on Paul's sofa. Luckily I have the rest of the week off for a full recovery (Paul was not as lucky, he had to go into work today and he was in a MUCH worse state than I was!).

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Sunday evening and I'm a happy man. Last night I opened a bottle of 1967 Nebbiolo d'Alba (one of Sarah's presents to me last year) and lo and behold it was drinkable! Not only that, is was reasonably palatable and with a nose full of interesting stuff (Dark Muscovado Sugar and Porcini mushrooms included).

Sarah's presents to me this year were also excellent, including Indian and Uruguayan wine! I've had a great time with the parents, saw my brother and ate and drank heartily.

Back to reality now and a few days at work, but I'm off at the end of the week and Wednesday's the Newcastle wine fair.

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I'm in Dumfries this weekend with the family. It was my Dad's birthday last week, my Mum's the week after next and mine this weekend, so it's a grand get-together.

I've just set up a new wireless Hub for my parents (joint present for the both of them), so my Mum can use her laptop for browsing the web should she see fit. It works, as shown by the fact I'm posting this entry!

Local football team Queen of the South beat (favourties) Aberdeen 4-3 in the Scottish Cup semi-final, so there'll be a few drunken Doonhamers in town tonight! A few of my old school-friends were up at the match, I bet they'll be happy.

Tonight I'll be opening my 1967 Nebbiolo d'Alba (Sarah's present to me last year). I'm hoping for something drinkable, but expecting something not! I have backups in preparation!

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Oh no, I've been twittered. As with many of the things I've got into recently this is all down to Gary Vaynerchuk, and I now have a Twitter account (@kslaczko, for anyone who hasn't figured out my predictability for usernames!).

Whether it'll join the increasing list of Social Networking sites I only re-visit once in a blue moon remains to be seen, but who knows?

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I've decided to start summarising the writings of my alter ego, Greybeard, from Reign of Terroir, so for the first Greybeard's Corner let's review my musings for March 2008.

First up was Grapevine DNA, the genetics of wine. This was a topic I'd been thinking about doing for some time because of my genetics background, and a lull in the travelling schedule (well, a trip to that famous wine country of Bahrain!) meant it got a go. After that was Les Champenoise en England?, a topic suggested by ROT admin Ken who was keen to get a story out on this, it was my first article where I actually contacted people for soundbites, rather than having met them in the flesh.

Finally the end of March saw 2 posts from my Turkish trip, Turkish Delight and the restaurant review of the Wine House, Ankara, Turkey. It was a good trip and I learned a lot about Turkish wine - something that will stand me in good stead as I'm due to head back out there in a couple of months.

Well, it's April now and it I'm scheduled to stay in the UK for a whole month! Looks like I'll have to come up with some new ideas for Greybeard to work with.

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Just back from Edinburgh, where I've spent the last 4 days working at the Western General Hospital on a new Imaging system they've bought. Last week was setup and installation check, with next week for user training, which promises to be one of the more challenging of my 13 years in this job (it was the biggest single system installed in one go from our office, although a week later that was eclipsed by Glasgow's Yorkhill Hospital who got even more kit!).

The hotel is basic, the Premier Inn at Leith, but does the job - we had a few late evenings in the lab last week so didn't get much free time, next week may be better. Only had one wine, and that was bought from Morrisons on the last evening 'cos I couldn't be bothered leaving the hotel room!

Inycon Estate Selection Shiraz Viognier 2006 - Sicilia IGT.
My first Shiraz-Viognier, I've been meaning to try it for a while but couldn't bring myself to start off with a Cote-Rotie. A lovely warm, spicy drink, with a herbal aromatic aspect and a little heat (but only 13.5%). You could taste the hot Italian sun in each mouthfull. I'd suggest 86-87pts on quality, but for me a big hit on style, if this is indicative of the grape pairing then I will definately be looking for more.

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This was a good day. Morning started off with a Scottish breakfast; Fried egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding, fruit pudding, haggis, beans, fried mushrooms and potato scones washed down with a cup of tea! With all those calories a walk was required, so we traipsed down the hill to the river and enjoyed the sunshine (but there was a bracing wind). A relaxing afternoon in front of the TV watching the Malaysian GP, then into the kitchen to make a lamb roast dinner.

We finished off the last of the Turkish Narince opened yesterday, then the Clos Saint André 1995 Châteauneuf-du-Papes to go witht he meal, which was delicious. We settled down to watch "The Colour of Magic" n TV and dessert (Bailey's cheese cake with vanilla ice-cream) was helped along with a Tokaji Aszú 1996 4 Puttonyos, which was pure nectar.

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It's Good Friday and it's snowing, Easter is FAR too early this year, it just feels wrong.

My parents are coming to visit for the weekend, so a good time should be had by all. I have a 1995 Châteauneuf-du-Papes ready to open and the Turkish white I brought back from my last trip, the Diren Dörtnal 2002 Narince.

Next week, and the week after, I'll be in Edinburgh working, a big installation at the Western General. I wonder what the wine scene is up there?

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