We’d just got back from the local Christmas Eve service and were on the deck on a balmy evening waiting for some relatives to arrive when our Airedale terrier emerged from the bushes in an excited state and started to thrash its head around ferociously with one of god’s creatures in her jaws. Our dog Lotti (named after a female serial killer from a Nick Cave song) has a history of culling much of the local fauna and we didn’t think much of it at first but then sensed this was a little different, I grabbed a torch, shone a beam of light down onto the lawn and looked in horror as a brown snake was hanging limply from Lotti’s mouth. After I bravely wacked the dead snake with the back of a shovel several times I needed a drink to calm my nerves.
The 2008 Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis ‘Les Clos’ doesn’t quite scale to the heights of a Raveneau, Fevre or Dauvissat ‘Clos’ but it aint far off. It has an old school feel and is packed and stacked with serious geological matter that slides out from behind a little spiced pear and strikes out at the palate with its minerally fangs. It is sappy, savoury, cool and earthy and slips down effortlessly. A perfect wine for calming the nerves after an encounter with a deadly Australian animal.
Yes, that would be enough to shake up your day! If it’s the Eastern (I think he’s on the South coast, so could be) it ranks as #2 in the world for toxicity.
As my son-in-law (who just got back from 3 yrs over there) puts it re the wildlife–In Australia, everything is poisonous!
They are dogs of great character and little brains.
It is a delicious, old school Chablis that I have little experience with. I suspect this 08 will age for a couple of decades and I’ll be tucking a couple of bottles away to see.
Jeremy, where in Australia are you? I had always thought that once you got south of Sydney, the scary stuff went away and that places like Melbourne were worry free.