Russian wine

A couple of weeks or so ago, I had enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay somewhere and so thought to buy a bottle of the stuff from Waitrose, paying a bit more than I usually pay for our Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, our regular, bread and butter tipple. With the stuff in question coming from the Russian River Valley in California, from the people at reference 1. With the Russian River being a substantial river running north to south, more or less following Route 101 - or perhaps vice-versa - before emerging into the Russian River State Marine Conservation Area. A river which had been renamed for one Ivan Aleksandrovich Kuskov.

The notes to our wine on the website include the phrase 'soft and complex', which I thought quite inappropriate, finding it rather aggressive and full-on. And 'plush mouthfeel' was a gem. All that said, the wine went better with the apple pie than with the roast - with Cortana getting the message and focussing on the pie rather than the bottle. A proper pie with a top and a bottom, the sort of thing which I believe is still popular in the US and can still be bought from some of our cafés in Epsom. Perhaps not from those fancy cake shops at the Green Park end of Piccadilly.

Perhaps a reminder that there was a place in the world for the red wines which I no longer drink.

PS: three days later: the second half bottle went down this evening without food, rather better than the first half went down with. Having lasted out the three days after opening pretty well, which is not always the case.

Reference 1: http://www.freibrothers.com/. Notice the selection of chunky, artisanale boards carrying the snacks. Board life is not just a UK phenomenon.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_101.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_River_%28California%29.

Reference 4: http://cultinfo.ru/en/museums/municipal-museums-in-vologda-region/totma-museum.php. Which includes the house which Kuskov died in. Another reminder that people moved around in the olden days, more than we always remember to give them credit for. Another such reminder being the way that Anglo-Saxon kings from England were apt to pop off to Rome for a spot of absolution.