Cracked open a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc last Friday night. Feel sure it came from Waitrose and cost about a tenner. I’ve sampled it before but not sure why it never made it onto the pages of Spitty; maybe it’s because I didn’t really like it!

I certainly didn’t enjoy it last week. Was this down to tiredness and the need for something uncomplicated just to relax with? That the wine clashed with the food and I was too exhausted to notice? Or down to the wine itself, appearing overly tart with a really heavy, noticeable spritz?

Perhaps though it just wasn’t showing well at that time, it being a ‘leaf’ day an’ all.

By coincidence the following morning copies of When Wine Tastes Best arrived and showed that the from 11 am of the 12th right through to 1 o’clock in the afternoon the following Sunday is a depressingly long ‘leaf’ period – along with Root a time to avoid tasting wine. (Fruit days and Flower days are the best times to taste/drink wine).
This bio-dynamic calendar is rather controversial – witness the comments left when I wrote about the 2010 release of the calendar back in September 2009. While I can appreciate that the moon, for example, exerts a huge influence on the rhythm of live here on this little blue-green world the addition of the constellations seems, to me, a little too far. Still if you want to show a wine at its very best ensuring it is tasted on a flower or fruit day can’t hurt and, just might, aid its showing!

However and to quote from the pocket guide

“If you find yourself with an open bottle of wine on a root or leaf day don’t despair. It has been suggested that some types of wine, particularly older bottles (4-5 years or more) can sometimes be favourably drunk on leaf days”.

The 2011 edition of When Wine Tastes Best 2011: A Biodynamic Calendar for Wine Drinkers has just been released and is available from Amazon.co.uk for just £2.99.

For those IPhone addicts a free app is available – Wine Tonight – which tells you whether or not the day is a favourable one for drinking wine.
I see the next wine tasting I am organising (#ARSE 2 – Andrew’s Really Secret Event) next Sunday falls on a —- day. This I assume is worse than a Leaf or a Root day! Not good…