Stage 12 More Climbing

I tweeted at some point this morning that I could not leave my house because the bikes were climbing. Today we had an attack from Vino, a lot of Saxo Bank on the front and a late attack from Alberto Contador, "dancing on the pedals" up hill to pull back 10 seconds on Andy Schleck.

Yellow: Andy Schleck
Stage Winner: Joaquin Rodriguez
Thor Hushovd (another clever move in the break for points)

My wine was a source of stress for me today. Strangely, on my original TdF wine shopping trip I did not acquire anything. Today when I went out in search of Hermitage, I failed. Instead I left Kermit Lynch with 3 bottles of Clape, 2 Cornas and a Cotes du Rhone. For tonight:
The 08 Cotes du Rhone

They say:
Never make the mistake of grouping Clape’s Côtes-du-Rhône in with other
wines bearing the same appellation. You should think of his version as a young-
vines Cornas, a pure Syrah grown in granite—no resemblance to the Grenache-
based wines farther south. It is a Syrah from one of the masters, Auguste Clape,
cheaper than most domestic Syrahs!
$36.00 per bottle

I say: At the age of 21, I decided that I was a Rhone girl based upon one relatively amazing CDP bought for my then boyfriends 21st birthday. Years later when traveling through France, my then husband scheduled Burgundy and I pushed for the Rhone and Provence. When we got divorced we split our rather limited wine collection--he took the Burgundy and I took the Rhone, some of which I still have. That is all to say, this wine makes me happy. Fruit, herbs, spice and structure. Coming in at 12.5% alcohol, it is accessible now. I'm interested to see what happens as it has more time and air. When I win Lotto, I'll buy it by the case.

Tonight I also decided to experiment a bit with glassware. As those I've entertained know, I'm more of an Ikea glass girl than anything fancy. Given my poor eye hand coordination and an 8 year old in the house, we break them to often to be fancy. But I was sent an Eisch glass so am trying it out.
They tell me that: a wine poured into an Eisch breathable glass for just 2 to 4 minutes will show signs of aeration equivalent to the same wine that has been decanted and aerated for 1 to 2 hours. This fully natural process takes place within the wine itself, in just minutes. The original character and structure of the wine are preserved, yet the wine’s aorma and palate impression become more open, generous and polished.
I say: I actually do taste a difference. The Eisch glass taste is different. Now, this is not a blind evaluation, I may do that with a friend later, but this wine at least, the Eisch is noticeably more open. Does that mean I have to stop buying my glasses at Ikea?