SC Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 [quote user="woolybanana"] Well, what wine does one like? It has to be red, (white or v.pale pink) taste smooth (or light), not like old tyres(OK....), tannin free (unless natural - no sacks of oak chips dragged through it to give it some dryness/tannin/distinction), not bitter or taste like soil (some soil's nice), fruity is acceptable, not syrupy (unless sweet white), but distinctive. Most recently the s'market had a decent, cheapish claret, that I guzzled down. And now it is gone so one must search some more.What I miss in France are non-French wines, particularly a decent Italian selection. (decently priced S/ American whites for example)Wine clubs are a bit like upmarket tupperware or underwear parties (I have never been to a wine club, I avoid upperware parties, and always been excluded from underwear parties that I attempted to attend)- either you belong or you don't and I definitely don't Each to his or her distinction![/quote]There you go Wooly, you're just like me!Steveedit "upperwareparties!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 wb,Wine Society wine does not come in Tupperware.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 SC,So, you and wooly belong to the same club?David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 QUOTE..... I assume you get the Society News and magazines. We just got the Summer one...END QUOTETee hee, well I hope you will have read my piece in that! Not about wine, but about what to visit when you go over to the WS's Montreuil shop to pick up your booty. ;-)Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Loiseau,Now I have to go look for it. We have stayed at what is referred too as an atmospheric hotel in the Society's Montreuil Liat for July-September 2013, Le Darnetal, a couple of times and there is a good chocolate shop near the hotel. We went to the dinner at Froggy's several years ago, and have walked all over Montreuil. One rather odd hotel, cockroaches and dirty beds included, has been removed from the list. I think it might be closed. Odd that the Society's shop doesn't sell Calvados. We usually load up on it in Auchan in Calais.Is your piece the one with the nude statues? ( I guess it is. I see the name Angela at the bottom.)David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Yes, David,Nude statues is indeed me!Out of interest, why would you expect the WS to sell Calvados?Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Betty, And I'm amazed that somebody who doesn't drink wine or know much about it can pontificate about it so much. My homemade apple wine is very good as well. And my redcurrant and elderflower.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Angela,I believe the Stevenage shop sells Calvados. I guess the Montreuil shop is too far from Calvados country.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Russet,As I said, a lot of boxed wine is AOC. We also buy wine in (?sp) pompes funebres/flower shops from huge plastic containers. They will fill any container you bring as long as they know how much it holds. (?sp) Vin en vrac shops will do the same. We ain't proud.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 [quote user="dwmcn"]Angela,I believe the Stevenage shop sells Calvados. I guess the Montreuil shop is too far from Calvados country.David[/quote]Waitrose sell Calvados....but the best stuff is home made.20 year old Somerset Cider Brandy is a pretty good substitute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Russet,A half bottle of Calvados at Waitrose is more expensive than a bottle of Calvados we buy at Auchan in Calais. Yes, apple brandy is good, but I'll bet a twenty year old is quite expensive.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Russet,It is illegal to distill in GB.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I have a label from a bottle of Beaujolais called Pisse-Dru.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 [quote user="dwmcn"]Russet,It is illegal to distill in GB.David[/quote]I know, but in some parts of Normany there are still older people who hold licenses to distill last time I heard these licenses were not allowed to be 'inherited' as they used to be, so the present holders will be the last, whether things have got even more stringent since then, which was several years ago, I don't know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Russet,Yes, I read/heard that as well. They used to have mobile distilleries and would drive around making Calvados for apple farmers. I might have 'read' it in local papers and I suppose it might have died out by now.We did a tour of one of the better known distillers years ago and the guide referred to 'the angel's share' without explaining it. We had to explain to some Polish tourists what it meant because they thought it referred to workers stealing a bit of Calvados.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 There is still the odd mobile distillery in the eastern Vendee though they are slated to disappear with this generation. Private individuals still do their own lethal brews, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 wobblynana,My homemade apple wine is about 15%. If I freeze it, the part that doesn't freeze, mostly alcohol, tastes a bit like Calvados.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 We had friends who lived in Brittany, but just south of Mont St Michel, so pretty near the border.Grandmother had a license but it would not be passed to her daughter or son in law. A mobile still would come at appointed time and date and those with licenses would come to the meeting point and use the still, often with the gendarme looking on.If you didn't have a license, just turn up earlier, before the gendarme appeared, the work would be done and not a word was said [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Russet,Ah yes, the French and laws.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbie Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 [quote user="dwmcn"]wobblynana,My homemade apple wine is about 15%. If I freeze it, the part that doesn't freeze, mostly alcohol, tastes a bit like Calvados.David[/quote]However there is a risk that it contains some methyl alcohol that can cause blindness and death Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Wobbly,I'm alive, 73, and have worn glasses since the age of 13.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 You must have started self abuse very young, then!![6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 [quote user="woolybanana"] You must have started self abuse very young, then!![6][/quote]Ewww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwmcn Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 woolsack,I harmed a muscle in my left eye when I had whooping cough. Didn't start drinking booze until I came to GB at the age of thirty.Davey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 [quote user="woolybanana"]You must have started self abuse very young, then!![6][/quote]Davey, I don't think that Wooly was referring to wine-drinking.You must excuse Wooly; he shouldn't really be allowed on any sort of public forum ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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