Sunday Drinking: 23 February

Shameless podcast pluggery, the pressed duck at Otto’s, and some drinking suggestions from Spain and Lebanon.

For my 40th birthday my parents took me to Otto’s in Clerkenwell to try the famous pressed duck. This involves a four course meal based on eating an entire duck with the carcass squeezed in 19th century press to get the last of the juices out of it. It’s quite an experience, magnificent but after a while quite boring, the duck just keeps on coming and coming. I left feeling like that duck, stuffed and a bit depressed.

I thought perhaps I was a philistine for not enjoying it more but this superb article by Jago Rackman really captures what makes it so simultaneously wonderful and tedious. I’d highly recommend subscribing to Rackman’s Substack. He brings a Meadesian attitude to food writing ie. knowledge, humour and a good dose of misanthropy.

Talking of Jonathan Meades, the great man has a novel out at the moment which sounds… gruelling. I’ll stick to watching his series on Youtube and rereading the Plagiarist in the Kitchen - I wrote an article on it which I’ll post in a couple of days.

I haven’t been writing as much as usual as I’ve been devoting most of my energies to the Intoxicating History Podcast. So far we’ve had something like 40,000 downloads as well as some very positive reviews by Daisy Dunn in the Spectator who compared it to the ‘The Rest is History’ with booze and James Marriot in the The Times. Tom and I are really getting into our stride as we get to know each other. I’d recommend listening to the recent two parter on wine and Nazis and the Blue Nun story. Amusingly one of the recents adverts has been from Asda suggesting listeners stock up for Ramadan. Not the target audience but anyone is welcome. If you do enjoy it, please do like and subscribe, share etc. We’re planning to record 20 episodes and then if there is demand, do a load more.

The Substack is going great guns, over 3250 subscribers with about 150 paid. Please consider upgrading so that I can devote more time to it. For paid subscribers this year I’ve written about zero ABV drinks, chicken wines, had a row with some youngsters at Le Beaujolais, tasted the lost fortified wines of France and Sicily, recommended some whisky books, interviewed English wine legend Dermot Sugrue, and reviewed the funniest wine book ever written. Not bad for $5 a month.

Outside of this site, I’ve written about the 2015 vintage for Gusbourne, looked at the most ambitious producer in England, tasted Domaine de la Romanee Conti, and written about the Indian obsession with whisky (Tom and I have recorded a podcast on this subject which will be going out soon). And for The Critic I’ve covered Sicilian wines inspired by the Leopard and and looked at the end of the bike courier.

Right, here’s three wine suggestions and then I’m off to take the youngest to a birthday party.

Ramon Bilabo Garnacha Edicion Limitada 2020 (£18)

I visited Tim Atkin’s Rioja event earlier this month and was knocked out by the quality. I’m going to write a proper article on the subject. This garnacha was one of the highlights. Fresh, Burgundian Spanish garnacha is probably my favourite red wine at the moment and this offers a lot of magic for under £20.

Urbina Crianza 2015 (£16.10)

In contrast this shows how good traditional Rioja, long-aged in American oak can be. Urbina has long been one of the bargains of the region offering wines that will appeal to lovers of Tondonia or Ardanza but at silly prices - think tobacco, coconut and cooked strawberries. They should really charge more, I am glad they don’t.

Oumisyats Syrah 2020 (£14.10)

While Musar has the prestige, Tourelles gets all the press and Ksara dominates the restaurant market, there’s far more to Lebanese wine than these three such as Oumsiyats which is based on Mount Lebanon rather than the Bekaa valley. This is what I wrote I tasted its syrah recently: “Very fresh peppery nose. Dark fruit on the palate, chewy but not rustic, fragrant and herbal. Blimey, this is a taste sensation!” The assyrtiko is also superb if you like a zingy white and who doesn’t?

That’s it. Bon weekend!