Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is feeling a bit thin today. He believes this may be attributable to the three-quarters of a bottle of Pol Roger he consumed last night. Although it wasn’t all at once, it still was nearly a whole bottle of champagne.

This is his round-about wa of saying that blogging may be light today.

Anyho…

Loyal reader “RD” wrote in the comments of this post the following:

How long have you been drinking Bull’s Blood? If for very long(I first started in London,69) than you will know that unfortunately they have changed more than the label. The last few times I had it, it seemed as if some of the “bite” had gone out of it. This was confirmed by my favorite expert in this area, who stated that it was mellowed out for the American market. He explained that most Americans don’t drink wine as I, (and apparently you) and most Europeans do, i.e., with major meals. Rather most is consumed as either a “stand alone” before bedtime deal, or with very lite fare indeed. Hence, the watering down of our old favorite to increase sales. More’s the pity. The old stuff with a steak,
salad, and some garlic French bread (I live in N.O.) was unbeatable for the price.

A fair question indeed.

As “RD” surmised, your Maximum Leader does tend to drink his wine with a meal. If he is going to imbibe in an alcoholic beverage without food it will almost always be beer, scotch, or bourbon. Indeed the more your Maximum Leader thinks about it the more he can positively confirm that he almost never drinks wine except at meals.

And as for Egri Bikaver (or Bulls Blood as it is known), it is one of his favourites. It has a very full body (compared to other wines) and is a wonderful compliment to steaks. As RD pointed out, Egri Bikaver does accompany aromatic foods (like garlic bread) very well. It is not a meek wine that will be overpowered by other items at the table.

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t have the experience with Bulls Blood that RD does. Your Maximum Leader’s first taste of Egri Bikaver came in 1993 in fact. And, as RD has mentioned, he has noticed in the intervening 12 years that the wine is not as robust as it once was. It is, still, inexpensive. Your Maximum Leader picks it up for about $6/bottle.

If you come across any in your travels to the local wine distributor, and you like hearty red wines, your Maximum Leader suggests you pick up a bottle and give it a try.

Carry on.