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Have you sent yours yet? www.harrods.com/ has a nice one at £10,000.
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Ten grand for a hamper? Nutcases.
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Is that all you get -a case of nuts?
:-)
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Then you'd need some sort of cage with a wheel for it to run round in .
Ted
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I used to get a generous Christmas hamper every year from one of our suppliers, when I worked as a company buyer many moons ago. I was single then, and it would feed me for a couple of weeks.
It wasn't in the £10,000 league, though.
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I could would not buy it. The champagne would be cheap rubbish..
Last edited by: madf on Sun 15 Dec 13 at 16:41
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I just ordered the £20k one :-) Seriously who buys these sort of things - super rich people obviously.
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>> The champagne would be cheap rubbish..
Do you think so madf? Surely even Harrods wouldn't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar?
Champagne is very much a matter of taste though and very variable in all sorts of qualities. Even one you like may not seem the same next year. Organic product.
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Champagne - filthy stuff. Its all snobbery.
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>> Champagne - filthy stuff. Its all snobbery.
>>
I agree. Give me dry cider any day.
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>> Champagne - filthy stuff. Its all snobbery.
Agreed. Prosecco at 6 quid a bottle for me
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 15 Dec 13 at 17:31
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There's snobbery and hoohah all right, but it isn't 'just' all snobbery. You can be lucky and try a champagne that tastes really good when you're in the mood for it. It can be delicious, quite irrespective of what it costs or is called, and in different ways too.
That said, a reliable Crémant de Bourgogne is nicer than the general run of wedding or event champagne.
I'm not a huge bubble fan and my real drinking days are over.
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>>The champagne would be cheap rubbish.
It includes Krug. Prosecco is rubbish, along with Cava, Sekt and Asti
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"Prosecco is rubbish, along with Cava, Sekt and Asti"
That's just as ridiculous and silly a statement as saying that champagne is filthy stuff. All are perfectly pleasant drinks which vary in quality. Champagne is a very pleasant and complex drink but because of the huge demand for the better stuff is ferociously expensive and is out of the price range of most except at special occasions.
A glass of decent Cava, which is made in the same way as champagne but which retails at less than half the price is a perfectly nice way to celebrate if you like sparkling wine but have other demands on your cash.
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>>A glass of decent Cava, which is made in the same way as champagne but which retails at less than half the price
>> is a perfectly nice way to celebrate if you like sparkling wine but have other demands on your cash
>>
The only alcoholic drinks SWMBO can tolerate is Champagne ( no sniggers) or similar.
This is due to yeast intolerance ( none in Champagne and similarly double fermentation brews) and not just the good life.
Sparkling wine is omitted and the labels of other offerings studied as there are so many different ways that Cava type wines are described.
Thank goodness for Cava it has saved my wallet!!
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I'm happy with champagne and half decent French/Australian sparling white wine... but cava for me is a headache in a glass. Which is sad as folks see me drinking sparkling wine so assume it's cava and that's what they buy me.
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It’s quite interesting to attend a champagne / sparkling wine tasting event. You’ll possibly start off with a respectable sparkling wine and work your way gradually upwards to a Dom Perignon, or similar.
It can be a shock, though, when your last sample is of the same respectable sparkling wine that had been your first tipple.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Mon 16 Dec 13 at 12:43
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"none in Champagne and similarly double fermentation brews"
Actually I think you will find champagne type wines contain are actually more likely to contain more yeast than ordinary wines. The reason for this is the method that the "fizz" is created. There is a secondary fermentation in the bottle caused by adding sugar. A process known to any home brew enthusiast. The yeast in the wine causes a secondary fermentation and the fizz. The yeast is then removed as far as possible by storing the bottle upside down and removing the yeast sediment. This method is effective but is obviously not guaranteed to remove 100% of all the yeast .
The yeast by the way is largely responsible for the 'biscuity' taste of champagne
Ordinary supermarket wines on the other hand are likely to have been filtered several times with the express intention of removing all viable yeast cells which could cause an undesirable secondary fermentation and cloudiness in the wine. Modern filtration methods methods are extremely effective and it is highly unlikely that a bottle of plonk from your supermarket contains any yeast.
I reckon your wife is stringing you along. Can only drink champagne eh ;-0
If you really want to be one safe side any distilled drink will of course contain no yeast. She might wish to move on to Cognac. :-)
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 16 Dec 13 at 15:31
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>> move on to Cognac. :-)
Ah yes, for the mother of all headaches, too much wine followed by one or two brandies too many... or malt whiskies, no worse surprisingly but just as bad...
'In nothing too much,' my old man used to say sententiously, quoting a Greek sage whose name I forget. I was scornful at the time, but needless to say he was quite right.
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How to inform SWMBO !!!
Answers in a plain brown envelope.
( Contributions to my travel expenses? )
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>> Champagne - filthy stuff. Its all snobbery.
>>
Quite agree, never liked it. Totally wasted on me.
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I remember a footballer called Chris Musampa.
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LIDL cava is pretty good if you like fizzy wine. ALDI's is about the same.
Saw Black Sheep Ale in Tesco today. £1.99 a bottle or 4 for £6.
ALDI have it at £1.49, all year round!
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Aldi have Banks' Bitter at 99p....I quite like it...good flavour/price. Also some beer labelled ' Bah Humbug ' . Didn't notice who the brewers are 'cos of wife dragging me to the Prosciutto shelf.
Ted
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Perhaps I should have put "...Krug!" since, if that is rubbish it is - what? - £200 rubbish and superb with it. It very rarely comes my way but, as regards more humble champagnes, I think Sainsbury's Blanc de Noir, usually about £15, is better than the cheapest big-name champagnes costing much more. Even so, I can't help thinking what superb still whites there are at £15.
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>>Cognac. :-)
I prefer Armagnac, fruitier taste.
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>>Even so, I can't help thinking what superb still whites there are at £15.
And what bad ones. I went to a party recently where the host was serving some German wines, bought direct from the manufacturer through UK sales reps. A very plain Muller Thurgau (not a grape that is well-renowned) came out; perfectly innocuous. £15 he'd paid for it. A certain amount of digging shows that Pieroth are renowned for selling over-priced rubbish through their network of UK salesmen.
Lo and behold, it turned out that their rep was a former second-hand-car salesman...
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 17 Dec 13 at 09:48
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My female hairdresser friend gave me a bottle of champagne at the weekend. She came around to our house to cut my hair again, although she did it only about a month ago mine grows really quickly and thickly. Sometimes I wish it was thinner and didn’t grow so fast, I usually look a bit of a mess first thing in the morning. My lady friend thought I was looking a bit scruffy and in need of a quick trim before I meet her parents after Christmas. I’m really nervous about it, hopefully they will think I’m a suitable boyfriend and it will go smoothly. Anyway my hairdresser friend had this bottle of Heidsieck & Co Monopole Brut and offered it to me. I don’t like fizzy drinks, not even Pepsi as a kid and I hardly drink any booze at all, special occasions only. One of her wealthy business clients that she cuts hair for had given it to her but she doesn’t like champagne either. Her boyfriend probably would have guzzled it and I asked why she had not passed it on to him. That wasn’t a good thing to ask since she has recently booted him out since he was fooling around with someone else. I wasn’t aware of it though. Silly boyfriend, she’s very attractive and extremely lovely.
So there’s an unwanted bottle of champagne doing the rounds and also a rather sad hairdresser. I have no idea whether the champagne is a good brand or not, someone will end up with it, even if it gests passed around a bit. As for my friend, I have arranged a surprise party for her to cheer her up, involving two of her best mates and my lady friend, I will drive them to the venue and make sure they are collected safely as well. It will be a girls-only night, hopefully they will have fun.
What do fathers look for in their daughter’s boyfriend? I am worried what questions I may get asked. I need to make sure I am prepared but don’t know what I’m in for. Or am I worrying too much? Help!
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Ask BBD
Or don't, as the case may be.
I'm not one to give advice, too many ex's. including married ones, both to myself and others. and an ex fiancée thrown in for good measure.
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Speaking as a father and grandfather of girls, I can only say you have to look them over a few times before forming an opinion. Even then you may have to revise it later.
A nice harmless well brought-up boy with good manners under the girl's iron thumb, that's what you hope for. Failing that - and the little brutes often fail that - you hope for a decent combination of heart and brains. What you really don't want is violent yobs or cold exploiters.
Some you like on sight, some you hate. And you are usually right.
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>>What do fathers look for in their daughter’s boyfriend?
A nerd, geek, homosexual male or anyone who doesn't look like me when I was teenager with rampant hormones.
Speaking as a father of two teenage daughters.
;>)
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Tue 17 Dec 13 at 20:18
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Sometimes I wish it was thinner and didn’t grow so fast...
Don't. That's how mine used to be too.
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>> Heidsieck & Co Monopole Brut and offered it to me.
>> One of her wealthy business clients
Thin acidic cheap muck. Leave it in a cupboard (not the cupboard with the central heating boiler in it) on its side for three or four years and it should mature into something OK.
All non-vintage champagne is released too early and benefits from this treatment.
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"Representing Heidsieck's Pinot-dominant, rich yet approachable house style, this cuvée offers a harmonious balance between crisp golden fruit, satisfying brioche notes and an abundant mousse"
Champagne is not for sticking in a cupboard for years - open it, celebrate something - anything will do and enjoy!
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>> Champagne is not for sticking in a cupboard for years - open it, celebrate something
>> - anything will do and enjoy!
It certainly is. Open it when first released, and experience an acidic thin rush.
Leave it for as long as you can. Even a year will knock off a good chunk of that acidity.
For £15, try Waitrose's Bredon Brut which is on (alleged) half price at the moment and a further 5% off if you buy six bottles (of any wine).
Or buy Cremant de Almost Anywhere. And if you go to France it'll be €6.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Wed 18 Dec 13 at 13:21
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>> >> Heidsieck & Co Monopole Brut and offered it to me.
>> >> One of her wealthy business clients
>>
>> Thin acidic cheap muck.
Oh dear. I just bought half a dozen for Christmas, while Tesco were knocking it out for £15 a bot. I won't pay any more than that and I can't afford a taste for anything dearer.
I bought Nicolas Feuillatte a couple of months ago for my daughter's wedding - I'm not a fan of fizz as a rule but I thought that was very acceptable, is that rubbish too? If it is maybe I'll like the Heidsieck.
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Forget the French Fizz and go for the English.....they cannot legally call it Champagne but who cares.....
www.denbies.co.uk/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=209075
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>> What do fathers look for in their daughter’s boyfriend? I am worried what questions I
>> may get asked. I need to make sure I am prepared but don’t know what
>> I’m in for. Or am I worrying too much? Help!
Be yourself. No point being anything else. You can write in sentences and are presumably verbally articulate, and you will even have tidy hair; you'll be welcomed like the prodigal son I should think, even you you don't help with the washing up.
Ideally, don't swear or tell dirty jokes.
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>> >> What do fathers look for in their daughter’s boyfriend? I am worried what questions
>> I
>> >> may get asked. I need to make sure I am prepared but don’t know
>> what
>> >> I’m in for. Or am I worrying too much? Help!
>>
>> Be yourself. No point being anything else. You can write in sentences and are presumably
>> verbally articulate, and you will even have tidy hair; you'll be welcomed like the prodigal
>> son I should think, even you you don't help with the washing up.
>>
>> Ideally, don't swear or tell dirty jokes.
>>
>>
I did all that when I met my wife to be 's parents. Her mother said to her daughter afterwards "frankly dear, he looks a little scruffy".
But she was delighted to get rid of her daughter ## so no problems there at all.
## Many mothers are
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>>even you you don't help with the washing up.
But if you do help with the washing up, then you'll be potentially stuck doing so for the next 50 years.
Father's want someone who is going to treat their child well and look after them.
The Father knows that they are rapidly losing their place as the leading light in their daughter's life, they'll appreciate you not making it obvious.
They know that their daughter will have a physical relationship, again don't make it obvious. Save the slobbering and the hanging off each other for another time. (hand holding is ok).
You;re invading their space (daughter / home / authority) be respectful and polite.
Ultimately though you can only be yourself. No point in pretending.
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Christmas Hampers - Dutchie
