I Drink, therefore I Run

October 2013 27.9 miles Rain and hail Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks! subtle shoes MASI Campofiorin Intense, deep, dark ruby red colour; very viscous with purple edges. Strong and attractive cherry aromas on the nose with a pleasing spiciness. Great power and balance on the palate, with aromas of ripe fruit, cherries in spirit and blackcurrants. Soft and well balanced tannins benefitting from good acidity; long aftertaste with hints of vanilla and cocoa, just like an Amarone. Semi-dried grapes were added to the young wine and a second fermentation started to produce a double-ferment lasting 15 days. This enriches the colour, flavour and body of the wine, which is then aged in oak barrels for 18 months. Campofiorin is built to last and has the potential to age for a further fifteen to twenty years, but can certainly be enjoyed now too £12...

Bank Holiday weekend... 7 miles this morning, 3 miles at tempo pace, through the woods.. Belgian GP qualifying.. Papers.. 6pm... Beefeater (all we had in..) Fever Tree Lemon Ice Aaaahh!!

Greetings all. It's fair to say that the last 3 weeks have knocked me for six, with the horrible week of the chest infection (and no wine), and a couple of weeks of steadily getting better. So, it was with some trepidation that I stepped outside of the front door today for my first Sunday run in a while. Before I talk about that, Saturday brought an altogether nicer experience, in the form of a lunch with Janet at Hotel Terravina in the New Forest (well, edge of..Netley Marsh). For those who don't know, this is the recent venture of Gerard Basset (formerly of Hotel du Vin fame, now a Master of Wine, a Master Sommelier and winner of numerous worldwine prizes for generally being a great and super-knowledgeable chap in the world of vino). I have written on Terravina before. Its real draw for a wine-lover is that food and wine get equal billing and importance in the experience. So, you have lovely food (tasty, not huge portions) and a really great time with the wine list, includi...

Hmm...have got bronchitis..hence no running and nothing to drink either. Bored rigid waiting for the 7-10 days to clear up (and expecting the same again before I really start running again) So - little to report...

The snowy weather has put many things off course in the past few days..but we runners are a hardy bunch, and need only the glimmer of a possibility of a run to declare that all is well. And so it was with the Stubbington 10k, a well-known course for local speedsters, with only 100m of climb during the race (limited to 2 sharp inclines) and a mostly traffic free, pretty and well marshalled course. As well as excellent facilities, plenty of portaloos and lovely home basked cakes afterwards at a staggeringly good value 30p, you could hardly ask for more. A really great event...which, in the dark days of last week, we whispered 'might it be cancelled?' We waited patiently... However the good news rang out at 1pm yesterday, and so, this morning, slightly trepidatious about the journey down to Lee on Solent, I sallied forth into the cold and quiet morning on the M27, hardly a soul to be seen. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the commencement of the falling of the powde...

Aha - a post today that neatly combines running and wine! Went out for a steady 5 miles last night, nothing too dramatic. It was cool but not as bitingly cold as the previous week. Dressed in long top and bottoms, but no beanie or gloves. As usual, after about 10 minutes the extremities had warmed up and all was well. After about 20 minutes I took the path by the park, which goes past a row of old farm cottages and an open field, which was shrouded in a very enigmatic mist, rising from the damp ground of the field. And, suddenly, within about 30 yards, the drop in temperature was immediately noticeable. Not having a thermometer with me (not being a critical part of a runner's kitbag!) I couldn't say if it was 1 or 4 degrees. However it was appreciable, and it got me thinking about what this might mean for the world of wine...and 'Terroir' The word "Terroir" is a peculiarly French word, which encapsulates all of the factors that are special and specific t...

It's been quite a while since I posted, so I must apologise to my (small) readership. And, I fear that I will be a further disappointment today as well, as I shall be talking about a beer! I have downloaded Blogger to my iPad, in the hope that it will encourage more blogging. So, today will be brief and we will see... Today was a beautiful morning, cool but not cold, dry, and fairly quiet. I was a bit later out running than planned, as I was enacting a small DIY repair on the bathroom light (oh yes!). Today, the challenge was to tackle Toot Hill, a fairly beefy incline about half way in, and I motored up it with ease, most satisfying. All in all a gentle 9 miler, as I knew I needed to retain energy for the afternoon of The Decorating Of The House For Christmas... For lunch, a glorious Trappist beer from the excellent beer shop in Bell Street, Romsey. I urge you to try both the beer and the shop out. What I had failed to consider was that a 33cl bottle at 11.5% is more al...