I have a cold. A man with a cold is not good.

How long does it take for a cold to go nuclear?

The answer is just over a week when the stuff in your hankey is the same radioactive colour as the contents of Montgomery Burn's power plant in Springfield (The Simpsons). I have enormous explosive potential and my poor monitor is cowering away from me as I type. All very dull.

So far I cannot label it as 'flu' (swine, bird or any other variety of animal) as I do not ache and have no temperature. So I have to be at work infecting others. Everyone seems to have a cold anyway, so I suppose that is the best protection when around me. Fight one cold with another and end up with a messy stalemate.

I have continued to drink wine and have had an interesting time with one particular grape...

I was at a friends for dinner and was poured a Sardinian wine, new territory for me as they are not easily available in the UK. Piero Mancini Falcale Cannonau di Sardegna. With practically no Italian, and no handy portable 'web enabled phone' to hand, we were trying to work out which grape it was. We all drew a blank but agreed that it was delicious.

The conversation went on and we were discussing our love/hate grape varieties. Grenache came up for someone as major dislike.

In general Grenache delivers high alcohol and yields, has more than a dash of spice, and you often find it blended with other wines.

It is famous for the big wines in the Rhone in Southern France, for example Lirac or Chateauneuf-du-Pape. I recently tried a good Lirac (Domaine Maby) from Yapp Brothers who have a great selection of Rhone wines. It was a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre and incredibly strong at 14.5%. Better on its own than with a meal. Once poured keep away from open flames.

Anyway, after dinner I went home and looked up the mystery Sardinian bottle. It turned out that Cannonau was the grape, and that it was almost certainly a synonym of Grenache. The one and the same variety. I will mention this to 'that person' at the dinner party, which will probably cause a raised eyebrow, and perhaps a softening towards his stance on Grenache.

This is the problem and the joy of wine. There was a fair bit of wine knowledge around the table, but to know it all is impossible. In fact to know even a meaningful amount is tough. As soon as you start throwing grape synonyms into the mix your job amplifies exponentially. A bottomless pit, like looking at a fractal.

According to Wikipedia here are the synonyms of Grenache -


Phew!

I have stated before in my Primitivo vs Zinfandel review that there can be great value in sourcing grapes under different names. It takes a bit of work, but will improve your knowledge and enjoyment of wine, with the added bonus of more cash in the bank.

Heavy with cold I cracked a screw top £6.99 Grenache open last night. It was like inhaling a bowl of snuff mixed with petroleum. Perfect for my malaise, but that's about it. Very different from the Sardinian masterpiece.

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