We opened a bottle of Mad Dogs and Englishmen last night and it gave me a memory jog about our trip to London. Angus and I flew across the big pond to spend a few days seeing the sights and doing many of the touristy things like visiting Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London and Stonehenge. 
I think one of our fondest memories was of Portobello Road. It is a quaint little road with shops and pubs lining the way. A beautiful warm sunny afternoon (kind of unusual for London) and we ducked into a pub to see what kind of wine they have. Picking up a couple of glasses of Chardonnay, we sit outside along the sidewalk. No tables or anything fancy, just chairs facing the sidewalk. There were three guys sitting next to us and one yells across the street to a young lady passing by hoping to impress her (and get a date) I looked over at him and said, you are not going to get anywhere with that crappy line. Intrigued, he wondered what kind of line it would take to impress Trixie.
He was about to receive a lesson in the fine art of what ladies like to hear. Soon I learned all three of them were there on vacation (or “Holiday” as they say in Europe) two of them were from Australia and the other was from New Zealand. We all spent the better part of an afternoon talking about everything from wine to politics to Formula 1 racing and the Grateful Dead. These guys were as diverse (or insane - it’s a fine line) as we are. A perfect afternoon!
During our last evening in London we found a nice little pub near our hotel at Green Park. A little food and wine and we were ready for a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. As we stepped outside, Angus was sure he heard live music off in the distance. I said it was all in his head but then I began to hear it too. We wound our way down the back streets following the music as if we were following the pied piper. The music grew louder and then Angus said “hey I know this song, the Foo Fighters are playing” Becoming quite excited he picking up speed almost breaking into a run. Sure enough, there was an outdoor festival not too far from Buckingham Palace. There were probably tens of thousands of fans all along the park so we stuck around and listened for a while. Our trip back to the hotel became a problem. Running down this street and that street we failed to keep track of where we were. Lost Again!
Our 2005 Mad Dogs and Englishmen is a blend of 20% Shiraz 30% Cabernet and 50% Monastrell. Other than English in the title it had nothing to do with England - it is from Spain and like many good Spanish wines it has a great spice and deep berry flavor. I think I even picked up a hint of vanilla. This wine would go great with a hearty beef dish or while eating cheese listening to the Foo Fighters. Cheerio ‘ol Chap!
Trixie
