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My local shopping mall is allready belting out the Crimbo music and there are a few decorations slowly going up around town too.

 

All we need now is the smell of mince pies baking in the kitchen, pine needles stabbing your feet when barefoot in the house, and some holly!!!

 

Festive season= Festive gut!!!! lol.gif

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The festive season starts when you start feeling festive.

Me, I've just bought 12 bottle of NZ wine, and been sent 3 bottles of Shochu from the in-laws (god bless them).

The festive season is starting once I knock off work tonight. \:D

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beans:

12 bots should last until Xmas as we have a lot of italian and french wine also.

My wife has found a site that send you 6 decent bottles a month for about 5,000yen.

 

Just had 2 glasses of a 2002 C.S.Pask merlot from Hawkes Bay. Excellent wine.

 

O11:

2 bots of Hyuga Kobiki (which I'm not too happy about), and 1 bot of Kuro-Kirishima (which I love). I got given a bottle of Aka-Kirishima (top of the line stuff) when I left Miyazaki, and have been rationing it out.

All imo shochu. Now it's getting cold, a nice Oyuwari in the evening before bed goes down very nicely.

 

Merry Xmas Everybody \:D

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Getting good wine can be a bummer. A friend put me onto some guys who import NZ wine. It's more expenny than the stuff in the shops, but it's good.

 

Beer is fine too, but I've found that I can only drink a glass or two now before I get too bloated.

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Bad wine is a relative concept though. I usually buy Japanese organic wine at 700 yen or thereabouts. Gorgeous, sophisticated wine it isn't, but I've come to like it. I also like the fact that it's reasonably cheap, doesn't travel half way round the world, and isn't full of chemicals (probably). The other day I bought some Spanish wine for 399 yen. It was like drinking battery acid. I will never do that again.

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From experience:

Anything under 500yen is crap. There's a few goodies between 500-1000yen that will not rot your guts too badly.

Buy Oz wine if it comes with a cute little cork stopper (those things are bloody useful).

 

Shop online at rakuten to good monthly deals at about 5,000yen for 6 botts. A somlier chooses the wines.

 

If at all possible buy NZ wines cos they shit on all the rest. Merlot is a great wine. Usually 1,500-3,000yen a bott.

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What type of wine do you like Ocean?

 

If it's full bodied reds, I'd avoid anything from the old world. Cheap French/Spanish/Italian wines tend to be very thin. My favourite cheapy reds come from Australia or Chile.

 

Do you have Yamaya in the south? They import Banrock Station Cabernet Merlot 2 litre casks for 1000 Yen. It's good value as long as you don't need to drink the well dry.

 

Daily I drink the Carlo Rossi California red. Not a great wine, but probably the most drinkable red for 580 Yen. Available everywhere.

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I used to drink the Carlo Rossi until I started my boycott of replaceable US products.

 

I used to drink mostly new world wines until I decided to try to encourage Japanese wineries and cut out imports. It involved an element of matyrdom at first, but I actually find the organic stuff very pleasant these days. No horrible surprises...

 

My local sakagura produces some very good sake too, so I've replaced a lot of my wine drinking with sake.

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O11:

Don't think the US makes a quality drink of any kind does it?

 

Is the Carlo Rossi the one that comes in the ball shaped bottles with a finger hook handle?

 

Had a good Nihon Shu last night. Hakuba NIshiki something or rather, but the guy I was supping with says it 's not good for you as it has too much sugar in it.

 

A friend brought over a bottle of Larinum SANGIOVESE DAUNIA (Italian Red). Good chick wine as it was very smooth. Lots of grit in the bottle though.

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Since we are talking about prices I just have to say that the Czechs have really got the economy of alcohol thing down. While most cost of living expenses are similar to a bit less than other places I have lived, the alcohol is incredibly cheap! An average beer (full 1/2 liter - to the line) of very decent beer runs between 15 and 20 Krowns - approx 80 Yen!! And that is in a bar/pub. It is even cheaper from a conbini (btw - the Czech word "potraviny" is almost as fun).

 

Wine is the same. A glass of decent wine in a bar is 15-30. A store bought bottle of wine that would be in the 1000-1500 Yen range (similarly in America the $9-12 bottles) is rarely more than 100 Krowns. Where in many places the wine price quadruples (or more) in restaurants, the Czech usually less than double it at the table.

 

It makes draining a 5 Euro pint of identical beer in most of the E.U. feel pretty foolish.

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