We didn't get to anywhere interesting as far as the wine side of things was concerned in 2009, initially due to concerns about the financial implications of sorting out Dad's estate. While I knew that there'd be enough money there to meet the bills I wasn't sure that it'd actually be there when the executors needed it, so it was a case of keeping the spend under control while those matters were sorted out.
Concerts by Elvis Costello and Ry Cooder appeared on the horizon once those matters had been settled, and so that was that as far as wine travel was concerned in 2009.
2010, on the other hand, was going to be a different matter. I'd pencilled in a trip across to Western Australia on the Indian Pacific, and while visiting wineries wasn't the be all and end all of the trip, if we were in the neighbourhood the odd taste was more or less mandatory.
Then, returning from the West a chance observation put me in touch with an old acquaintance who operates the five star Bloodwood in Orange. It won't be the last new place that's added to the existing mix, but it means we don't have to go looking too hard for new and interesting places.
There'll be more, of course, but we're at the point where I've cancelled the old tasting dozen from The Wine Society and now look like getting all my supplies from a range of highly rated smaller wineries, with maybe the odd shipment from a major outfit in Brown Brothers.
Which brings me to that point on Saturday night when I was sitting savouring that 2006 Basket Press. We're planning on trying anotherie in 2015, more than likely on the same weekend, and that, from where I'm sitting looks like a suitable time to reflect on the way things develop over the next five years.
Monday, 1 November 2010