My iconoclastic writings of yesterday were quickly avenged as God smote down upon me and made me break my Riedel red wine glass while washing it in the kitchen sink. I am humbled by this and have beaten at my chest in a most grievous way, and wept bitter tears.

Have not really. But mightily pissed off because of this have I been, all the same, for the price of a single Riedel glass is some 30 euros and now that I’m used to having my wine from a Riedel glass I’m not prepared to reconsider my options and am therefore forced to go out and buy a new one as soon as I’ve finished writing this blog entry.

To avoid further smiting and thunderbolts, I will not put here any of the pictures I’d like to that represent religiousness in a light-hearted way. Here’s a picture of the world’s smallest dog instead, trying to figure out the essence of a looming coke can and the potential danger it might represent to a tiny dog’s well-being and continued existence.


THIS WEEKS’ BOOKS OF CHOICE:
“The Island of the Day Before” by Umberto Eco. Unusually to me in Finnish rather than in English, although the text is so rich with meanings and allusions that I find myself reaching for the dictionary of foreign words as well as the encyclopedia way too often to describe this as an smooth reading experience. I’ve been meaning to read this all day, for several days now, but all kinds of things keep interrupting me and my days seem to be full of different activities (like mindlessly surfing the net and playing the Bookworm Adventures game) that prevent me from concentrating on this book. Maybe I need to get back to the routine of regular dayjob to be able to focus on a book. This looks to be a very promising book and since I will make my comeback to normal working life shortly I just might be able to finish this one sometime before next summer.

THIS WEEKS’ BOTTLES OF CHOICE:

Belleruche is a red wine from France and the best one I’ve had for a while. The taste was very rich and conveniently full in the mouth. it’s advertised as a food friendly wine to enjoy with classic home cooking and it paired very well with steak with herb butter, potatoes and peppery sauce. The remnants of the bottle didn’t taste so good the next day, having clearly passed its’ peak but yes, the overall impression was that of an above average and pleasant wine that can be bought again. It’s a biodynamically grown wine and as an additional bonus the label looks very nice too, with braille on it so that blind people can check out what they got smashed out on, and also sporting a coat of arms with the motto ”fac et spera”, meaning ”do and hope”, which conjures up certain mental images of not-so-professional people randomly throwing some grapes in a tank, hoping for the best and leaving it to a chance whether the wine turns out good or not so good. This is probably an unintended impression on their part and not the kind of picture they want to give to the world.

Hermanos Lurton Verdejo is a white wine from Spain and the first decent Spanish white I’ve tasted that doesn’t include the Albarino grape. This was surprisingly good in fact, strongly reminiscent of the Sauvignon Blancs I’ve liked and the overall impression is above average, with a good looking package too. It’s a product of the Flying (and maybe Fabulous too but not very Furry) French Lurton Brothers who seem to have wineries everywhere around the world. I’ve tasted a few of their white wines before and they have been of the above average quality as well.

Villa Puccini is a red wine from Italy and has all the usual qualities of a slightly watered down taste with a hint of cherries (maybe some sort of berries too) that an Italian wine of this kind is expected to have. I like wines of this kind and I liked this wine too although I prefer a bit fuller taste and essence but there’s nothing to complain here. Got it as a gift and thought it was a good gift. Paired well with a steak and the next day with pasta. It tasted better on the next day and I was a bit disappointed there wasn’t more of it left.

Our wine rack is horribly empty at the moment and hopefully the trip to London starting tomorrow will rectify that situation.