Le Cochon Noir

The Black Pigs Shiraz and 16 Little Black Pigs Pinot Grigio. What do these two wines have in common? Well, you've probably noticed the similar titles. Even an idiot (and you probably are one merely for considering reading this blog) could guess they are made by the same people. However, one is white, and one is black. If it was 1981 and we were in Brixton the latter would be rioting and the former probably committing a racially motivated act of aggression while wearing a black and white hat. Although ironically the white one is called '16 little black pigs' which has whole strands of confusing converse implications in reference to police brutality. Anyway that's enough personification of the wine, I'm getting lost.

Other things in common;
They both cost around the £10 mark.
The are both excellent wines.
They are both excellent benchmarks at this price.



Why such good benchmarks?
Well, both are great examples of single-grape wines made in a fairly usual style - the Pinot Grigio is crisp and punchy, the shiraz deep, powerful and fruity. They aren't staggeringly interesting but neither is there anything at all you can find wrong with them (except the racial thing). Neither are incredible for the price tag, but both are nonetheless excellent. A better wine would be a poor benchmark, providing unfair expectation for comparison, but a worse wine as a benchmark would leave you buying more poor wines without realising you're being thoroughly shafted. These then are great examples of what - perhaps - you should get for ten of your shiny golden nuggets sterling. You might find better, but you certainly shouldn't expect it.

Following two months of travelling throughout south east Asia - hence the rather quiet blog - a few musings regarding wine have come to light.

Firstly, almost everything in SE Asia is cheaper than in Europe. Almost everything, but not wine. The vast majority is imported from France or Australia, with still good proportions from the other premier wine-making areas of the world in larger retailers. Prices are fairly comparable with the UK because they have to buy it at the same prices and then import it even further, which probably balances against the ridiculous import tax in the UK. You can occasionally get your hands on some local wine, some of which is actually pretty good, though. In Thailand we tried a great Shiraz grown in the cooler northern part of the country; in Vietnam we had a bottle of something like sauv blanc which cost in the region of £1.50 and was fairly drinkable - you wouldn't have poured it down the sink (although you might have saved it for cooking). The 'rice wine', on the other hand, you probably wouldn't pay for. To describe it as wine is a disservice to wine - it's basically vodka made from rice. It tastes horrible, but is excellent for breaking through the language barrier!!

One interesting thing about the big wine retailers in the big cities over there (I'm thinking Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi) is that every one has a cabinet containing the biggest names in wine. Usually all of them. While in the UK you might walk into a decent wine shop and see a Chateau Lafite or Margaux, probably behind bullet-proof glass, in Asia they are everywhere that sells wine. If you walk into a full-sized wine retailer in any of the above cities and they don't have pretty much all of Chateaux Latour, Lafite, Margaux, Palmer, Baron Rothschild, Yquem, Haut Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Pichon Longueville etc etc... I'd be pretty surprised. If you could steal that specific cabinet you'd have about a hundred grand of wine on you. This situation can only be attributed to the wider obsession with names, with brands, with logos, which is so strong in Asia. I'd heard that the prices of pauillac grand cru classé wines increased exponentially as Chinese businessmen began to appreciate good wine, partly because in political and business circles it would be insulting to not be serving Lafite (or whatever) if that happens to be known to be the best wine around. You are taking a big risk serving anything other than the most expensive wine you can lay your hands on... especially as the competition might.

The above issues unfortunately rapidly prices such wines out of the market for the mere mortal. On the other hand, if you go to The Sampler (http://www.thesampler.co.uk/store/) you can try a small glass of a variety of ludicrously expensive wines without buying the bottle for several hundred quid. While The Sampler is presumably just trying to make a bit of cash with a good idea, there is something rather cheering about the prospect of being able to turn up with £20 in your pocket and try two or three of what really should be spectacular wines. It's an opportunity for someone like me, who can only claim to have at best little knowledge about medium priced wines, to go and see what all the fuss is about. Just don't take too much cash, it's bloody easy to spend a LOT of money there. And don't try drinking anything that needs serious cellaring, you can also pay a LOT for a wine that isn't ready to drink and they aren't shy of letting you.