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May is National Wine Month

former winemerchant — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 05:39:45 +0000

Supported by the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) May 2011 is National Wine Month! and come with a new website: www.maketimeforwine.org/

The new website is designed to take the average wine drinker beyond their normal wine boundaries and explore, discover and enjoy the wide variety of wines available in the UK. It will allow users to find out about events happening in their area throughout May, as well as learn more about wine via tasting tips, an online 3 minute wine school and much more. National Wine Month is May 2011 and is a month packed full of fun and educational events, promotions, tastings and roadshows in supermarkets, restaurants, pubs and bars around the country. Events are taking place across the country and throughout May there will be a host of fantastic National Wine Month prizes in the media, including the chance to win VIP vineyard trips for two to France and Spain, free tickets to exclusive wine events and of course, wines from around the world for you to enjoy at home.

There will also be the opportunity to win wine related prizes on the website throughout the month plus the chance to win a bottle of wine every day to toast National Wine Month.

You can also follow developments via www.twitter.com/WineMonth.

Wadhurst’s Cellar in the Castle?

former winemerchant — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:51:35 +0000

The Secret Cellar indpendent wine merchants has launch their 3rd outlet in Wadhurst, Sussex :

It’s a great little unit in the grounds of Wadhurst Castle with a shop part as well as warehousing for the business. We’ll have a big tasting event there in October, but for starters we want to make sure everything works as intended.

We offer top quality hand crafted wines from premium and boutique producers around the world, many of whom we know.

Each wine has been tasted and quality checked by Mike and David. Only the very best get on our list – wines that we enjoy and that we think are great value.

We offer interesting and unusual wines that you won’t find in your local high street or supermarket.

Our wines are always fairly priced, as we cut out the middle man. Our pricing is also very transparent – no marking wines up hugely to then offer big discounts.

This brings them to 3 stores in the southern Home Counties offering a good range of wines including some genuine surprises! Visit or order online at www.thesecretcellar.co.uk/

3-45 Church Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1JT.

Unit 1 Castle Keep Business Centre, Wadhurst Castle, Wadhurst, East Sussex TN5 6DA.

133 Station Road East, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0QE.

Welsh Vineyard wins white wine award

former winemerchant — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:59:23 +0000

Set near Monmouth in the Wye Valley, a vineyard only started in 2006 has achieved great acclaim for their white wines:

New Welsh vineyard Ancre Hill Estate in Monmouthshire won a Silver Medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2010 and Bronze in the International Wine & Spirit Competitiion (IWSC) 2010 for the same still wine – their White Welsh Regional Wine 2008 – showing the ongoing developments and success from the Welsh wine industry.

Somehat uninspiringly titled White Welsh Regional Wine 2008 this is a great achievement, because vines normally need a good few years to get established and for their roots to draw up the minerals and nutirients which make good wine interesting, and also because you would expect that there would need to be many years of trial and error to get the right vines in the right place for soil, exposure, drainage etc before quality wines can be made – with all those generations of knowledge and tradition, love and superstitiion that many French and other established winemakers insist add something to the resulting nectar!
Between April and September you can visit and buy from the vineyard Wednesdays to Sundays – and there are vineyard tours and an adopt-a-vine scheme if you want to know more. Online ordering is planned for 2011 – getting good wine made is the first priority!
Situated just off the A40 on the way to the Brecon Beacons, or on the road between the Midlands and South Wales – this could be a detour worth making!
http://www.ancrehillestates.co.uk/

The Yapp App!

former winemerchant — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:44:55 +0000

Good to see the wine business keeping up with the latest trends – such as independent wine merchants Yapp Brothers who have developed an App (application) for the iPhone and iPod Touch – so you can browse their list of French regional wines in your hand.

And they are not alone – traditional merchants Berry Bros and Rudd also have an App in the iTunes store featuring their list of fine wines.

Other merchants have facebook pages – such as Playford Ros (in North Yorkshire), Alexander Hadleigh in Southampton, The Bottle Bank in Falmouth, Surf4Wine (online) and southern France specialist Stone, Vine and Sun.

Without getting obsessive about any particular site or merchant, these technologies and blogs can offer the wine-lover some good insights into the workings and passions of wine purveyors and anything which makes learning about and buying good wine easier.

UKWinesonline also has a page on Facebook

UPDATE: The Antique Wine Company has also published a App for the iPhone/iPod Touch – see www.antique-wine.com - “The App allows you to swiftly and discreetly access all of the wine facts you need to become an expert, ensuring that you will have those important gems of information to hand, whether entertaining friends or clients or just looking to choose a fine wine for a quiet moment.”

Wine Show 2010 moves to Olympia

former winemerchant — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:01:55 +0000

Now in it’s 6th year The Wine Show from 12-14 November 2010 will be at London’s Olympia, co-located with MasterChef Live (previously known as BBC’s London Good Food Show! and cunningly timed to enable you to start detailed planning for Christmas!!
Your ticket will give you entrance to both Shows. That’s two Shows for the price of one enabling you to match wine and food under one roof.
A great opportunity to see, learn and taste hundreds of new and established wines! Celebrities and experts live on stage offering you top tips on how to pick out the perfect wine for that special occasion.
For more info see www.londonbbcgoodfoodshow.com

Last chance before Budget rises!

former winemerchant — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:40:44 +0000

The 2010 budget on Wednesday 24 March is widely expected to increase duty on wines and spirits AGAIN!

Whilst the increases will only apply to new imports and withdrawals from bonded warehouses after the budget, many merchants will be holding some duty-paid stocks so you should have a week or so to grab a few bottles at today’s prices, which might look like a comparative bargain in a few weeks’ time.

Of course the other source of cheap(er) but quality wines has evaporated somewhat with the poor exchange rate for sterling against the €uro – so the cross-channel trip to stock up is no longer as attractive as it once was – According to Majestic Wine who operate warehouses in France (Calais and Cherbourg) and the UK:

When you buy a bottle of wine for £3.99 in the UK, you’re now paying a total of £2.20 in tax including VAT – more than half the cost! Avoid this tax by shopping in France where duty on wine is still roughly 3p a bottle. (pre-budget 2010 figures)

Certainly on their headline offers, their Southbank Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, NZ is offered at £2.99 a bottle when you buy 2 in France, and £4.99 a bottle when you buy 2 in the UK. Helpfully Majestic France display their prices in sterling so you do not need to make a complicated exchange rate conversion in your head – and as their list is online you could calculate the likely savings before you go – see www.majesticinfrance.co.uk

Personally I would always prefer a UK independent wine merchant who choses and knows his wines well – although Majestic staff in the UK are usually both knowledgeable and helpful and their list is not dominated by big name brands.

Life’s too short to drink bad wine!

former winemerchant — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:38:43 +0000

Columnist Simon Hoggart has a new book out with a title to match a strongly shared sentiment : Life’s Too Short to Drink Bad Wine: 100 wines for the discerning drinker. Simon who is a political writer for the Guardian and wine columnist for the Specator magazine, is perhaps more of a wine-lover than a professional wine writer – with an amusing style (also revealed in his appearances on BBC Radio 4′s “The News Quiz” ) which seldom adopts the normal wine “pomposity” and jargon:-

“Anyone who can take the stress and self-consciousness out of trying new wines is to be praised. Anyone who can do it with enough charm and wit and friendliness to earn the name “companion” should be reverenced. At last, someone who really, really gets it. Somewhere between complicated technical detail and chummy cosy chattiness there is a space for proper wine-writing and no one occupies that space better than Simon Hoggart. This book contains more useful information than manuals ten times the size. And, just like the kind of wine he champions, the book leaves you feeling warmer and happier – quality without snobbery, value without cheapness, pleasure without preciosity. If you want to enjoy wine, the Hoggart’s School of Wizardry and Wine-Craft is the best in the land…” — Stephen Fry

As with any selection of “the 100 best wines” by any criteria, it ends up being a personal choice rather than a definitive judgement. But the signs are good with 6 wines from respected independent wine merchant Yapp Brothers, including Menetou Salon (Loire), Cassis: Clos Sainte Magdeleine (Provence), Corsican Domaine Saparale and Richeaume Tradition (Provence).

A new Gluck Book – Great Wine Swindle

former winemerchant — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:09:29 +0000

Acerbic, consumer-friendly wine critic Malcolm Gluck publishes a new book – “The Great Wine Swindle” on 18 November 2009. Malcolm Gluck is one of the nation’s best known wine critics and a voice of authority on all things concerning wine. His new book is intended to reveal the snobbery associated with wine today and how customers are being duped?

Apart from grapejuice, do you have any idea what goes into the wines you enjoy? Is champagne just empty hype? How have so many restaurants become wine rip-offs? A sense of mystery clouds the basic understanding of wine. Its rituals are manipulated to maintain lies and myths about wines, often to make them seem better and ridiculously expensive. So what is the real story? In this entertaining and eye-opening book, Malcolm Gluck writes about the scams, deceptions and lies that wine growers, merchants, supermarkets, waiters and wine writers use to confuse you. Ever since he wrote his first newspaper article on wine in 1989, Malcolm Gluck has been collecting the damning evidence. Here he reveals for the first time the secrets people in the wine industry would prefer wine drinkers did not know.

The Great Wine Swindle by Malcolm Gluck

Beaujolais Tasting in Saffron Walden

former winemerchant — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:57:13 +0000

Fleurie Tasting This Saturday! (11 April 2009)

Fleurie from Ch Raousset

Joseph Barnes Wines has a tasting of Fleurie – one of the best Beaujolais Cru wines from France – a great opportunity to taste proper Beaujolais rather than the gimmicky “Nouveau” – a different wine in all respects in my opinion.

Having visited the region recently I can recommend it for a visit – delightful scenery and some great wines – although there are distinct “terroirs” the “villages” are quite close and winemakers will often have plots in several different appellations.

Chateau de Raousset, Fleurie, ‘Grille Midi’ 2007:

A superb Fleurie from the 12 hectare Chateau de Raousset situated in Chiroubles – but with vineyards spread over 2 other districts – Fleurie and Morgon – in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy.

This is from Gamay vines grown on pink granite and has a lovely floral nose of violets and roses with flavours of cherries and apricots. A perfect Sunday lunch wine with beef, chicken or game

Joseph Barnes Wines, 13 Market Row Saffron Walden Essex CB10 1HB
Telephone +44 (0)1799 528019 Facsimile +44 (0)1799 528019
Email info@josephbarneswines.com

Sending Bordeaux back

former winemerchant — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:26:25 +0000

Bottles of Chateau Petrus

An interesting reflection on the times, this time in the Financial Times (23 March 2009)

British wine merchants are selling fine wine back to merchants in Bordeaux and exporting it to Asia as domestic demand for the most expensive wine slumps and sterling weakens against the euro.

Tom Hudson, a director at Farr Vintners, the biggest Bordeaux specialist in the UK, said: “The trade within the UK has slowed down dramatically. . . we’re relying heavily on exports now.” He said Asia had replaced the US as a key export market.

For more see www.ft.com.

Of course the exchange rate between the Pound Sterling and the €uro has worsened considerably in recent months and this has a major impact on new imports of wine from France, Germany, Spain, Italy etc but keep a look out for older vintages and bargains – many merchants may have purchased wines from the EU at a pre-agreed exchange rate which is better than tourists can get, but it may not last long. Current rates are barely € 1.05 to the £ (March 2009).

Meantime Robert Parker and London’s Bordeaux Index are in praise of the 1990 vintage of Bordeaux:

BORDEAUX INDEX JOINS PARKER IN HIS LOVE OF 1990 VINTAGE

World renowned wine critic Robert Parker has revealed his love of the 1990 Bordeaux vintage, and Bordeaux Index has a cellar stocked with his top recommendations.

Parker praised the vintage on his new video blog on www.erobertparker.com, making it clear that he rates 1990 higher than any other vintage – except 1982 – in terms of those that have reached maturity.

Gleave added: “It’s one of our favourite vintages, and we’re delighted that Robert Parker has given his stamp of approval. We urge all wine lovers to listen to his new blog, and hear his thoughts on these great wines.”

Visit www.bordeauxindex.com for stock lists and more information on wine for drinking and investment.

Galician wines and food

former winemerchant — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:21:19 +0000

Galicia in northern Spain is a little known area with its wines and food even less known. But now independent wine and food merchant Flavours of Spain has extended its range of fine wines with two UK exclusives from Galicia :-

With spectacular landscapes, clean air and a sweeping coastline, Galicia has an array of culinary treats from the land and the sea to offer. While our heart land is Galicia, our motto is quality and, above all, exceptional flavour; with this in mind we source the finest Spanish foods from small and family run-businesses with an emphasis on seasonality, sustainability, freshness and organic production methods. Discover the unique taste of Galicia and the best of Spanish produce with Flavours of Spain.

The Pedralonga Barrica is Galicia’s first limited production biodynamic wine, made from Albariño grapes, which are uniquely suited to the Atlantic climate of the Rías Baixas region and handpicked from 25 year old vines. Only 1,200 bottles are produced each year by the Alfonso family, which has followed traditional lunar phases and biodynamic principles for generations of winemaking.

For red wine lovers, the Pagos de Galir Selección Rosa Rivero is considered by many leading experts to be an essential addition to any collection or cellar. A multiple award winner, including the gold medal at the International Wine Salon 2005, the Pagos de Galir is made from Mencía grapes handpicked from Galicia’s sun-soaked Valdeorras region and was recently awarded 86 points by the Peñin guide of Spanish wines.

Teresa Holmes, director of Flavours of Spain, said: “The Pedralonga Barrica is a very unique and flavoursome wine with an intense bouquet of green fruit and mountain herbs. It is fermented for six months in French Allier oak barrels, which is reflected in its elegant and smoky flavour.

“By comparison, the Pagos de Galir is a very rich and rounded red wine with an aroma bursting with raspberries and red fruit. The wine spends twelve months in oak barrels, and a further twelve months in the bottle before reaching the market, ensuring an unrivalled quality and depth of flavour.”

Flavours of Spain Ltd, The Old Dairy,Brewer Street
Bletchingley,Surrey RH1 4QP

Telephone/Fax: 0870 330 2879
Email: enquiries@flavoursofspain.co.uk

also at London’s Borough Market on Saturdays

From novice to connoisseur with POTG

former winemerchant — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:11:40 +0000

From 15 April 2009 London independent wine merchant Planet of the Grapes is launching an enticing 6 week wine course at their shop in Holborn.

Each week you will taste wines from all over the world in all different styles and giving you the broadest range…..

14th April / Week 1 – How to taste: sweetness, acidity, tannin, body and finish.

21st April / Week 2 – Oaked whites: what new and used oak does to a wine.

28th April / Week 3 – Aromatic whites: albarino, gewurztraminer, gruner veltliner.

5th May / Week 4 – Red wines: aglianico to merlot

12th May / Week 5 – Red wines: nebbiolo to zinfandel

19th May / Week 6 – Everything else: sparkling, sweet, fortified, rosé.

The course costs £275 for six weeks, this includes wines, tuition and food (7pm-9pm each Tuesday) with the first session kicking off on Tuesday 14th April.

Planet of the Grapes, 9 New Oxford St, London, WC1A 1BA.
T: 020 7405 4912 E: info@planetofthegrapes.co.uk

BBC4 goes behind the scenes of the International Wine Challenge

former winemerchant — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:13:08 +0000

The last episode of BBC4′s “Wine” series goes behind the scenes of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) “the most comprehensive and influential blind tasting in the world”

The chairmen of the IWC, Tim Atkin, Charles Metcalfe and Derek Smedley will be tasting the wine produced by two unlikely South African winemakers at the end of their quest to produce wines worthy of an IWC accolade.

Showing on BBC4 TV on Monday 2 March 2009 at 9pm (with several repeats)

Oupa Rangaka and Mark Solms are unlikely two wine producers. Six years ago, Oupa, a retired philosophy professor, didn’t even drink wine, let alone make it. Today he and his family, including three-year-old grandson Kwena, are the only black people to own a vineyard in South Africa. Its survival depends on their ongoing relationship with Marks and Spencer and convincing the judges at London’s International Wine Challenge that their pinotage passes muster.

Mark is a world-renowned neuroscientist who inherited the family business, and is struggling to reconcile his idealistic plans for the farm with the practical realities of post-apartheid South Africa. He worries that the harvest festival he is organising may degenerate into an orgy of violence and drunkenness

Via the struggles of these two remarkable men, wine becomes a prism through which to view the current state of the Rainbow Nation.

for more info see BBC4 TV and www.internationalwinechallenge.com/

For more about the wines see www.mhudi.com and www.solms-delta.co.za/

Chateau Margaux 2008 on BBC 4 TV

former winemerchant — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:16:01 +0000

The second episode of BBC4′s series “Wine” takes a look at the making of the 2008 vintage at Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux. The episode entitled “The Faith” refers to the necessary belief and the next vintage will retain the almost magical qualities that make this first growth wine so special. The film reportedly focuses on the people involved, which is probably fortuitous as 2008 was such a poor summer that the prospects of a classic vintage look very slim.
The programme is shown on Monday 23 February 2008 at 9.00pm with numerous repeat screenings.

Corinne Mentzelopoulos, daughter of a Greek supermarket tycoon, introduces us to the chateau her family has owned for the past 30 years, as everyone from vineyard worker to chief winemaker looks anxiously at a sky which appears hell-bent on making the year a wretched one. One bottle of this cult wine can cost up to 1,000 pounds a bottle if the vintage is good, but the quality of the vintage is always in the lap of the weather gods.

Blessed by sunshine and a soaring economy in previous years, Margaux has turned itself into the world’s luxury wine. From the inside, we track the meticulous cultivation of a top-notch brand, with Margaux’s urbane director Paul Pontallier serving the role of chief evangelist as we follow him all the way to China where he is almost mobbed by devotees of Margaux.

The final episode will focus on South Africa. For more info see www.bbc.co.uk

Is all OK at Oddbins?

Andrew — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:04:11 +0000

Writing on his blog Jim’s Loire, Jim Budd mentioned the number of ‘out of stocks’ in the Loire section and finished the post with
“Looking further at the Oddbins site, the number of wines that are ‘currently unavailable’ is rather alarming, unless the company has just had a very successful weekend.

Of the 72 Champagnes listed – 27 are available.
Of 20 Australian Cabernet Sauvignons listed – 3 are available.
Of 32 Australian Shiraz listed – just 2 are available.”
Chatting, of the record, with a branch manager the situation in the stores is reminiscent of the dying days of Unwins.

“To say that there is a supply problem is putting it mildly. We keep getting reports that wine will be arriving and small parcels are arriving in drips and drabs but nothing substantial.
I’m quite concerned, seems that they’re clearing stock rather then stocking up but we’ll see.
According to them [new owners Henry and Simon], Castel left them in the shit but we never seemed to have these supply problems with them. We have even run out of cigarettes! I know of one shop that has only 50 BOTTLES of Australian wine in the entire shop. Oddbins is also haemorrhaging accounts like crazy because there are not even the basic wholesale lines in the warehouse!! I mean what kind of operation are they running? If their goal is to be retail only, they are doing a good job of getting rid of accounts. They’re doing a much faster job of running Oddbins into the ground then Castel ever did. To say moral is low would be an understatement. “
Let us hope the new owners live up to the high expectations laid on them at the time of buying Oddbins from Castel and that the manage to ride the credit-crunch wave. Oddbins certainly has the potential to return to its glory days as the maverick, quirky, much loved high street wine merchant. Fingers crossed it does so soon.

Posted by
Andrew Barrowarb@andys-scribblings.co.uk

web :http://www.spittoon.biz http://www.spittoonextra.biz http://www.thefoodielist.co.uk

contributor:Guardian’s Word of Mouth