It's Time for English WIne!

On 24th February I hosted the first Deptford and New Cross Wine Club of the year. As I've mentioned before it took place at the new bar and restaurant Buster Mantis, owned by Gordon McGowan. After a little hiatus it was decided that I would start the new run of clubs with a focus on local wines, there being quite a local theme running with the sourcing of beers from Brockley and Peckham and a wine I put on the wine list, grapes grown in Kent and wine made in London! Over the last year or so there have been many UK wines featured at trade tastings and quite a few popping up in the supermarkets. Noble Rot magazine had fairly recently organised a Champagne vs English Sparkles blind tasting where, not only were the judges (Jancis Robinson, Jamie Goode, Neil Martin etc) unable to spot the difference, the actual winner was the Hambledon Classic Cuvée with 14.88 points and the Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010 coming in second with 14.58 beating classic Grande Marques Champagnes like Pol Roger Brut Reserve and Taittinger Brut Reserve, coming third and fourth respectively. I don't use that article as evidence that English sparkling wine is better than Champagne, but it is certainly being produced to a very high standard and at similar price points and less carbon footprint and import tax thrown into the mix it is now a very viable option for a celebratory occasion. But it isn't just sparkles that are making a wave. Many growers and producers are growing grapes for white wine, the popular grape varieties being Bacchus (a cross between a Silvaner x Riesling cross with Muller - Thurgau) Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc and, heck why not, if you can do it for bubbly, Pinot Noir. The red climatically doesn't fare as well it not being very well suited to black grape varieties but there are some very good (red) Pinot Noirs, reminiscent maybe of those made in Germany, that are, very wisely by the Germans, not let out of the country.




UK wine is seriously on a roll. Many vineyards have been properly established and have been able to produce wine since around 2007, 2008. This means that quite literally the fruits of the growers' labour are now ready (and have been for some time) to enjoy and appreciate. The vineyards are relatively small holdings with start-up costs which explains the higher than average price of the wines, but as they expand and become profitable (which looks very likely) this may well change over time. Like the Champagne region in France there is vintage variation and growers have already experienced the inconsistency, which is a big problem when there aren't many grapes being grown in the first place but can be overcome when there is a larger selection of grapes to choose from grown over larger areas. 2012 was a disaster year for many estates due to the high rainfall. Only 1.03 million bottles of wine were produced, compared to 4.05 million in 2010, and Nyetimber announced that they would not be bottling a 2012 vintage, judging it to not be good enough. Yet the 2013 vintage bounced back with 4.45 million bottles produced and 2014 was a bumper harvest with 6.3 million bottles and 2015 and set to be even better so what better time to start familiarising ourselves with this booming home grown product? Waitrose definitely understands the importance of this market and online it is possible to buy 90 wines from over 30 English and Welsh producers and their sales of UK wine (of which they own 60% market share) has gone up by 177%. So you may not be surprised that the majority of wines at the tasting have been sourced from Waitrose. There are many other fantastic wines all over the UK but I wanted to showcase ones that could be bought relatively easily. So this was the list:

1. Chapel Down Rosé NV- Waitrose £24.99
Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier (Kent)


2. Ridgeview Bloomsbury 2013 - Waitrose £24.99
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (East Sussex)


3. Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010 – The Wine Society £27.50
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (West Sussex)


4. London Cru Bacchus 2014 – London Cru Winery £15
100% Bacchus (Kent)


5. Stopham Estate Pinot Blanc 2013- Waitrose £14.99
100% Pinot Blanc (Sussex)


6. Litmus White Pinot 2012 – Marks and Spencer £22
100% Pinot Noir (Surrey)


7. Bolney Estate Pinot Noir 2014 - Waitrose £15.99
100% Pinot Noir (Sussex)


8. Denbies Noble Harvest 2014 – Waitrose £19.99 (37.5cl)
100% Ortega (Surrey)




The General feedback from the guests was very positive. Starting with the Chapel Down Rosé, thoughts were that its lightness and fruitiness were very pleasing, it was evident that this was a crowd pleaser and there were suggestions that it would make a great summer sparkling drink, and I have to say that I agree. It was a great, fun wine to start with.

Generally with the Ridgeview most agreed that this was a good value alternative to a Non Vintage Champagne, for some this was their first ever UK white sparkling wine and they were very impressed. Personally I love the butter, brioche and creamy apple notes in this sparkling wine and can totally understand it's popularity and when on offer this is very good value for money. However the following white sparkling, the Nyetimber 2010 Classic Cuvée stole this part of the show. The complexity in this was really appreciated, fruit pies, zesty citrus, floral and biscuit notes all abound. I know that many guests went out and bought this in the following days!

I was excited to present the London Cru Bacchus and happily most guests shared my admiration of this wine. The usual Sauvignon Blanc comparisons were made.The aromatic style with floral and herbaceous characteristics was appreciated and there was excitement that this cross grape was proving to do so well. There was a lot of interest in the winery too, I mean the only London winery making English wine! Pretty cool.
With the Stopham Pinot Blanc there were slightly mixed reviews. Some felt it was too acidic and a bit neutral whereas others felt it to be subtly complex with an interesting mid palate where after a hit of stone fruit some interesting more herbal notes appeared along with minerality. So this was an interesting one!
The white Litmus Pinot Noir was again a wine with mixed reviews, for some it was too heavy and over oaked in a slightly new world way but for others it had the body that they were craving after so many lighter bodied whites and most were stunned that a UK wine could taste like this and that it was Pinot Noir. I had to include this wine in the line up because it really is one of a kind being made in the UK and demonstrates the breadth of styles of wine currently being produced.
The Bolney Estate red Pinot Noir was the only red on the list and most were appreciative of a red at this point. One guest found it to be out of balance but most were surprised by the body, a bit fuller than they were expecting, and enjoyed the red fruit flavours and touches of spice that came through. The majority were very happy with it. I found it to be very pleasant and appreciated the red berry flavours with some spice lending that bit of depth.
The Denbies Noble Harvest was a triumph. This was very popular, those that said they didn't usually like sweet wine loved this and were very interested by how it was made. Knowing how few bottles are actually made also added to the intrigue and favourable comparisons to Sauternes were made. I am a huge fan of Coteaux du Layon so this was definitely my cup of tea with a slightly fresher, more citrusy acidic style of sweet wine but with those gorgeous honeyed botrytis flavours.

Overall the lack of red was noted but I felt that most reds easily available on the market are not hugely noteworthy, but this is definitely an area I need to explore more. I wanted to showcase wines that could hold their own internationally which I think they all could, so that was the main reason for that particular selection. I also wanted them to be easily available and not from all the same producers although there were some overlaps. The fact that they were all from the South of England was a coincidence but then three featured were sparkling and that is where the most of the best sparkling wine is currently coming is from!

It was great to have John Mobbs of www.greatbritishwine.com there with his fantastic knowledge of all things UK wine based, and his amazing photography skills! He has written a fantastic article (here) about the event and I highly recommend looking through his excellent website and following him on Vivino!

Over this Easter weekend I will be writing about the last wine club held at Buster Mantis where we explored Northern Spain (rather different from England!). It was great fun and I'm really looking forward to the next Deptford & New Cross Wine Club on varietals and understanding the label which will be on April 22nd at London Velo Cafe. May and June dates at Buster Mantis will be released soon so keep checking in!

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend and cheers!

Bella Italia

Italian wine has always mystified me, as an impassioned lover of all things French probably the most I knew about Italian wine was what is on the Pizza Express Wine List (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo anyone?!). Over the past year or so I have attempted to rectify this. Italian wine has had a bad time over the decades, the overproduction still haunts its (now much improved) reputation and the mass immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century affected the production significantly. However from what I have recently experienced it is currently one of the most exciting wine countries and my trips there have been as enlightening as they have been enjoyable. On my last (Chateau Canard) blog I wrote about Puglia. The wine production there and in Sicily has been growing and evolving loads recently and the Etna wines are gaining the notoriety (and price tags) of their Northern Piedmont cousins. There are also some very refined Primitivos making the rounds in Puglia. I have also been tasting some fabulous Italian wines as part of my WSET Diploma course. Here they are below and I recommend every one of them!





Bearing in mind that I have a WSET Sparkling Wine exam coming up very soon, it felt like a good idea to take a trip to Milan. Milan is in Lombardy which is the home of the severely under recognised Franciacorta, it also happens to be just above Emilia Romagna, home of Lambrusco, just below Veneto, home of Prosecco and rather a bit further south than Piedmont the home of Asti or Moscato d'Asti. Funnily enough all these regions also produce outstanding still wines (for when revision time was over!).

The first night at a Roman restaurant Rugantino we got stuck into some Lambrusco. Fun, fizzy and fruity (strawberry and cranberry) I think is the best way to describe this, very easy to drink! Chiarli are a big producer and funnily enough the following week I met them at The Great Western Wine Tasting on Brick Lane where they had brought some of their more prestigious sparkling wines and very delicious they were too. Following that I tried for the first time a Lagrein wine, this is a native grape from the very northerly region of Alto Aldige which is a very interesting, almost autonomous region where they have their own language and the labels are often written in Italian and German! This was a wine with salinity and red and black fruit aromas and flavours, high tannins, but firm. This was an earthy wine with great depth and great value.

We were then plied with Grappa by the very friendly waiter who incidentally did nearly kill me by inadvertently throwing a glass at me, no harm done though, apart from the following morning's headache (Grappa induced).

The following day was another revision session. After an epic walk around the city we stumbled across a gem of a wine bar Don Tannino in the Brera district. It was happened upon totally by chance, and what a chance that was! The owner, Damiano is a total wine aficionado and was very happy to see me pointing and sniffing and swirling away at the wines and after we got over the language barrier (two hours of using google translate until we realised we could all communicate in French) great wine chats were had and many glasses of a fabulous vintage rosé Franciacorta (my first) and some wonderful Barolo, not to mention the lovely Parma ham and cheese foccacia sandwich (which paired really rather well with the Barolo!). We felt very at home and I now have a new Italian friend! The Franciacorta had a great onion skin colour, with a lovely sour dough nose, with softened ripe fruit, raspberry and pink lady apple, crisp acidity and with slightly savoury umami mushroom notes. The Barolo had the classic violets and cherry flavours with ripe and candied properties. There ware fantastic hints of black pepper and medicinal notes including eucalyptus. Big tannins which evolved from slightly grainy to velvety in the mouth with a beautiful lengthy finish.

Great Pairing!

Later that evening some Chianti Classico was consumed with dinner from the famous Tuscan producers Antinori with much veal! This was at the Tuscan restaurant Trattoria Torre Di Pisa.






It was a real struggle trying to eat that veal!

Some architectural culture was on the cards the following day with a visit to the Duomo and it's surroundings followed by yet more Franciacorta, this time by a super vintage Ca' del Bosco, again, great autolytic yeast notes, streaks of minerality and apple and peach featuring too with a bit of wet wool! Beautifully crisp acidity, this is fast becoming my favourite tipple!

 
And then dinner at the Milanese restaurant L'Altra Isola which was recommended by Damiano for their legendary Osso Buco which was necessary to pair with yet again more Barolo, this 2011 one had flavours of red cherry and vanilla with huge acidity and a touch of boot polish all held together with ripe red and black berries.



Bit miffed by their wine storage choices though..!

All in all a great and indulgent trip to Milan, promising myself a few days off the wine while taking stock of the Alps on the way back to London!

Vivino meet at London Cru - London's First Urban Winery!

 It was with great pleasure that I opened an email two weeks ago inviting me to the first official Vivino meet up. I had been to an unofficial one last year with nine other members which I documented in my previous blog. This time 25 of us were invited and it was held at London Cru in SW London. I had visited there before to look at potential wines to add on to the Buster Mantis wine list (I chose the Bacchus and you can buy it for £25 in Buster Mantis now) but I was impressed with the general quality of the wines. The concept for me is a bit crazy, going hundreds, if not thousands of miles to pick grapes and then transport them back in a refrigerated truck to produce the wine in London, but they have a very savvy wine maker Gavin Monery and to me the Bacchus makes real sense as the grapes are grown in Kent and then the wine made at London Cru. The novelty of this enough would be a selling point but their Bacchus really is one of the best I have tried. See my Vivino review here.

On the right, is my favourite, the Bacchus. The Barbera was also a lovely fruity well balanced wine, and trying the Albarino (middle, looks like apple juice) mid-fermentation was fun, I could actually happily drink it like that but am excited to try it when it has fully fermented.

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Where the magic happens!

 

The press

 

Some old and new oak barrels, some red and the Chardonnay is oaked.

Here are some of their other wines:

 

And another of the standout wines was their older Syrah, it was really getting some bottle aging depth. 

It was fun to go back, but I unfortunately had to miss the first part as I was working, but catching up with my fellow Vivino users was great and meeting Adrian Smith our UK Ambassador was a pleasure and I have a new Vivino corkscrew!

Some of us popped to the pub across the road after and we were greatly amused by The Fairview Wine Estate wine "Goats do Roam" (Côtes du Rhône, geddit?!). Is a very pleasant wine too!

I had heard about their French region play-on-words-wines that they developed following the success of Goats do Roam in the export market. The goat theme isn't entirely random, they have a farm that produces goats' cheese. They now currently have 'Goats in Villages', 'Goat-Roti', 'Goat Door' and my new favourite (name, as haven't tried the wine) 'Bored Doe'. Fair play Fairview!

Announcements!

What an exciting couple of weeks it has been! So I have two very important pieces of news. First something I have been dying to share since I first heard in October, I am now, well for a year, an honorary Knight of Wine! Here I am receiving my Knighthood (from Gerard Basset no less).

This all came about after scoring one of the highest marks for the WSET Level 3 course I did in December 2014. The top thirty highest scoring students were asked to take part in a Viva Voce competition where there were 12 scholarships up for grabs. Well I made the grade and was awarded the Wines of Spain Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino (The Grand Order of the Knights of Wine!) scholarship with two other lucky scholars. Along with this I get a guided study trip to fabulous wine regions in Spain, an amazing prize, particularly as I love Spanish wine.

The second very important announcement is that I will be hosting a Deptford and New Cross Wine Club again, but this time in a super venue, Buster Mantis in Deptford. You may have read earlier posts where I have talked about it as I am their wine list consultant. I can't wait to use their great space to showcase wines exclusively from the UK, and there is an incredible selection out there, one that is even made in London! This will take place on the 24th February at 7.30. For more information and to buy tickets click here.

More Champagne - Vintage and Non Vintage

Over the past and in the upcoming weeks, on the diploma course we are studying sparkling wine. This appeals to me in the way you might tell me that I am going to be eating only chicken for the next week. A mix of excitement and dread. Excitement over the potential of succulent expertly cooked cuts that have absorbed wonderful flavours and retain that moisture, the anticipation of a naughty piece of fried chicken oozing with calorific yumminess normally only ever consumed during an ill judged 3am hunger pang and then the utter dread of a mountain of dry, tasteless, boring mass farmed white meat. With all that in mind I arrived at my first session, however it was surprisingly fascinating, mainly for the reason that we were given the opportunity to really think about and distinguish properly the difference between vintage and non-vintage Champagne, not that I was really aware of that at the time. Now I'm sure that those of you that regularly drink Champagne probably know these differences. I am aware that vintage Champagne is regarded as better, is generally far more expensive than NV and only made in certain years. Yet I have done the odd blind tasting where vintage and NV have been pitted against each other and it seems to me that a very good NV can be just as good if not better than some vintage Champagnes so my desire on this part of the course was really to understand what makes a truly good vintage and a truly good non vintage Champagne so that when the occasion presents itself you are able to make that decision to toast it in whichever way you want, NV or vintage but ensuring that that occasion is marked by a wine that doesn't disappoint.
When I drink Champagne, typically I want brioche, I want underlying apple, toastiness, warmth but crispness. If a champagne can achieve all those I'm a happy girl and a good NV will definitely do that (the Chateau de Bousault I've been getting from Georges Barbier of London is a good example) again though the Vintage Piper-Heidsieck 2006 I cracked open for my last birthday was an absolute treat. But how do we differentiate? Well I have WSET to thank for making it so clear the other week.

 

We were presented with a blind tasting, 3 sparkling wines, all pretty much identical looking. The first had many Prosecco characteristics but lacked the aromatics and the acidity wasn't there. I couldn't detect any autolysis (yeast notes) so it was a bit confusing. I knew it wasn't Prosecco but I couldn't detect any traditional method style indicators, someone on my course called it out as a Cremant which I disputed but he was in essence on the right track, turns out it was a young Cava, so produced in the traditional method, which all Cremants are (like Champagne) but only left on it's lees (sediment, old yeast cells) for 9 months which doesn't give the wine the opportunity to showcase those characteristics. The next wine was vastly different. It was clearly a Champagne, had some very appealing creaminess, cooking apple, quince, citrus, floral and an almost slightly yogurt flavour that made me think it was probably a NV Champagne. You could taste the autolysis, which I am a big fan of and some lovely fruit. This was definitely a Champagne I would be happy to sample on other occasions! Then came wine number 3. Well I didn't really understand what I was tasting. The first taste threw me, there was a defined savoury note which really consumed me, my head was whirring trying to identify what it was I'd just experienced. There were herbs, mushrooms, grapefruit, apple and a pastry like dough, the more I tasted the more flavour bubbles burst on my tongue, it was just getting better and better. One minute apple, then sweet pastry, then grass, then mushroom. This was a sensual experience and it was in those moments that I was able to clearly see for the first time what all the fuss was about. Those savory bottle aging notes vying for attention with the bursts of yeast. This was a striking example of a brilliant vintage Champagne and I have to say that I was surprised because as much as I like doing these WSET classes I am always a bit skeptical as to how much they are willing to blow on a bottle for their students to sample (I did my level 3 at Berrys and they did pluck out some gooduns). You should never second guess what you are tasting and this was no exception. It was outstanding and for around £90 a bottle you would bloody hope so! This was Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque 2007 and what a little belle époque that tasting session was. Someone much savvier than me spotted this and rushed to get the remainder of the blind tasting bottle, sample number 3 for a rather hefty refill! It is doubtful I will be sampling such pleasures again in the near future as these types of wines go way beyond my budget but I have had the experience and it is one I shan't forget (well hopefully not before the sparkling wine tasting exam, if we get lucky!).
 


Though I rave about this wine, sample 2 was great and at £18.99 from Waitrose (their Brut NV) a serious contender for more regular celebratory occasions and definitely more in my price range. Sample 1 (Codorniu Brut  £6.66 on offer at Majestic) isn't coming off too well in this but I am a massive fan of Cava, for me however this was just too simple with not enough time on lees just showing off primary fruit flavours and I like my traditional method sparkles to taste like they've gone through the traditional method. My go to Cava is the fabulous Perellada that you can also buy in Waitrose.
So side by side a valuable experience to try two quality champagnes vintage and non vintage and finally understand what it is that differentiates them so to truly appreciate them for what they are. Cheers!

South East London - The New London Wine Epicentre?

In my quest to convert the drinkers of South East London into wine drinkers and the wine drinkers of South East London into wine enthusiasts I like to think that I am contributing to the community in a most positive way.

The Deptford and New Cross Wine Club has been growing in numbers and the last food and wine pairing event I did with my sister as Château Canard sold out in about 3 weeks and was a great success and an achievement I am truly proud of. We hosted this event for 36 people in the beautiful Art Deco Catford Broadway Theatre Cafe, as part of Catford Canteen on November 20th. Here is the menu:

 

Here are some photos from the night.

Can you spot me hard at work?
Some of the food:


If the reviews were anything to go by everyone had a great time and we can't wait to do another one. Massive thanks to the team at Catford Broadway Theatre, Helen in particular, Deborah Efemini of Deck Social and Grub Club and of course the team, Tabitha, Jo, Cecile, Gavin and the cool and calm under immense pressure Anne-Louise Denyer.

The next Deptford and New Cross Wine Club will be in early February when people are drinking and spending money again. Thoughts are on English wine for this one. Any other ideas are welcome.

I have also been asked to create the wine list for the new and might I add very cool new drinking and eating establishment in Deptford, Buster Mantis. This Jamaican (but not overly themed) bar and restaurant is the brainchild of Gordon McGowan and having been a couple of times already I can safely say that it is a much needed addition to the Deptford social scene. When the wine list is completed I will put up my own reviews of the wines. They have all been selected and are very good indeed and promise to pair marvelously with the dishes on offer at Buster Mantis which are fantastically prepared by Gordon's mum.

Deep Discouter Festive (bit late!) Wine Bargains - Part 2

I did manage to pop into Aldi this holiday. I wasn't as impressed as when I visited Lidl but there were some wines that definitely piqued my interest. I had to try their £10.99 Champagne, the eternal question, is there such a thing as a really good cheap Champagne? Well, umm, not really in this case. This was drunk that same evening (I'm a fast worker when I want to be!) and it wasn't bad but there was nothing particularly interesting or exciting about it. I would have rather spent the same amount of money on a really good Cava where I could have picked up some complexity. This had aromas and flavours of cooking apple and that was about it, quite coarse bubbles and a short length. However if you want to have a Champagne party on a budget, it'll do.



The other wines I was intrigued by were, no surprises, mostly French and from regions I am pretty familiar with. I have purchased the following but not yet tried them and will be reviewing them as I do. If any are worth grabbing I will let you know.


 

The Limoux Chardonnay is £6.99 and I have had some fabulous Chardonnay from there thanks to it's slightly cooler climate in the hills and the generous use of new oak. The Costières de Nîmes is £4.79 and should be a nice rich Southern Rhône with black and red fruit and a touch of pepper. The Pinot Noir from Marlborough New Zealand should be light red fruit flavours with some oak but it is young as a 2014. It is £6.99. Having said that one of my favourite Pinot Noirs is from Marlborough, New Zealand. It probably would have gone well with turkey (sorry, bit late for that!). So as you can see two of those wines are from Aldi's Exquisite Collection. Currently the head wine buyer at Aldi is Mike James. He was named as the most influential person in wine in 2015 by offlicencenews.com. This is because of his influence on the sales of supermarket wine, selling a small selection of wines at a large volume so being able to sell them more cheaply. He is definitely making Waitrose and Tesco sit up and take note after Aldi's recent surge of sales. Here is an interesting excerpt about him from offlicencenews.com.

"His background couldn’t be further removed from the wine trade’s old guard. A doctor of philosophy, conservation and ecology, he spent more time writing his PhD on the world’s smallest butterfly than studying for the WSET two-year wine diploma course.

He gave up a job as a school lab assistant to join Aldi in 2004 as an area manager and became wine buying director in 2010.

Five years on, aged just 41, he has created a more significant impact than many of the wine trade’s great personalities.

His mantra is to cater for shoppers who want what he describes as “X-Factor wines”, bottles consumers can enjoy on the sofa on a Saturday night. It’s an honest approach that might not chime with attitudes long-held by some in the industry, but it’s caused crashing waves in the commercial wine landscape."

Another interesting fact is that the wine and spirits team at Aldi just consists of two people, himself and one other. Now if that isn't a true money saving strategy I don't know what is!