Blog
Wine to the rescue! Berkmann Wine Cellars to save restaurants and bars with Help4Hospitality
The hospitality industry is one of the sectors that has undoubtedly been hit the hardest during the Coronavirus pandemic and the future is still uncertain for many of our beloved restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars. But, pulling together and creating initiatives, like Help4Hospitality, that are designed to support each other in the industry - chefs, bartenders, suppliers, wineries, venues - is keeping the hope alive that hospitality could be the phoenix that gloriously rises from the ashes. I know I for one will need giant drink after these and I’ll need somewhere to drink it!
Nine Elms No. 18: Exploring the 'zero-alcohol' trend
Nine Elms No. 18’s ‘straight pour’ is as a wine, to enjoy with food. The team behind Nine Elms insist that it has not been designed to emulate wine, but to compliment food - so it does have acidity, tannins and a long finish. Pretty complex for a soft drink, hey?
Battle of the Rosés - My Pick: Alois Lageder Lagrein Rosé
Earlier this month, Hannah aka The British Bouchon approached a bunch of wine people and myself with the idea of going into battle armed with our rosé recommendations for the Bank Holiday weekend. As it’s set to be a scorcher, there is no doubt that it is bound to be awash with varying shades of pink. We do love a bit of rosé with our t-shirt tans, don’t we?
Berrilicious Bordeaux Rosé
As the springtime sunshine continues to stick around, we continue to think and drink pink. Scrolling through Instagram, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was some unwritten law somewhere that tells us that sunny days are rosé days. And if you take a look at my Instagram feed, you’ll see that I am most definitely a law-abiding citizen.
Like the rest of the world, I love Provence rosé. I love the dryness, the lightweight texture, the white peaches and the watermelon. But I’m making an effort to look beyond the South of France to see what the rest of the world is offering and I've decided to head west - about 750km from Provence - to Bordeaux.
REAL: The Kombucha Champagne
REAL make kombucha brewed from hand-picked, loose-leaf fine teas which have been carefully selected from small gardens around the world. They have worked with winemakers, Champagne producers, beer brewers and microbiologists to perfect the art fermentation and produce a high-end, all-natural product that, due to its complexity of flavour, pairs with a wide variety of different foods.
Cramele Recas: Why you should be drinking Romanian wine
What are your thoughts on Romanian wine? Have you ever tried Romanian wine? I hadn’t and, admittedly, I didn’t know too much about it either. Yet, located at 45 degrees latitude, with sunny summers and cold winters, stunning natural landscapes, which comprise of mountain peaks, lush valleys, glacial lakes, rivers, mud volcanoes, salt mines and the shores of the Black Sea, it is actually the perfect place to grow grapevines. In fact, Romania is one of the world’s largest producer of wine and is the fifth biggest producer in Europe, after Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. Who knew?
International Sauvignon Blanc Day: My Marlborough Story
Honest Grapes Wine Therapy: Grower Tasting with Lionel Faury
As part of their Wine Therapy Sessions for us locked down wine lovers, Honest Grapes co-founder Tom Harrow hosted a virtual Grower Tasting last week with superstar of the Northern Rhône, Lionel Faury. This was the first of a series of online events organised by Honest Grapes, whereby wines are sent to attendees in advance and a live virtual tasting commences using the Zoom video conference call platform.
A lesson on blind tasting
Picture the scene: A sommelier has a glass of wine in front of her. She eyes the wine carefully; looks at the colour of it, watches how it moves in the glass. She takes time to assess the weight of it, the potential age of it, the approximate alcoholic strength of it. She sniffs it, takes in the aromas, stage by stage. Eventually, she tastes it. She pushes the wine around her mouth, sucks some air over it, chews it a little and swallows. After making some mental calculations, she speaks. ‘Syrah. Côte Rotie. 2004.’ And then, after a pause, ‘Domaine Jamet.’
Essential California 2020
The California Wine Institute hosted this major tasting on Thursday 12th March at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch. Located high up across several rooms, the view of east London was fantastic; the sky was blue and the sunlight beamed through the floor to ceiling windows, setting the scene perfectly for a slice of the Golden State.
Super, natural, British Columbia wines
What do you know about the wines of British Columbia? Did you even know they made wines in British Columbia? Well, for the past 30 years, they’ve been working on it and what was just 17 wineries in 1990 is now almost 300. Pascale Schittecatte held the Super, Natural, British Columbia tasting recently to shine a light on the excellent wines of this region, but also to support a small group of growers who are pushing the industry towards sustainable, natural, regenerative winemaking to help protect the future of the planet.
Château de Pommard: Future-thinking for Burgundy
Last week, I had an engaging lunch with Michael Baum, CEO and propriétaire of Chateau de Pommard in Burgundy. Château de Pommard was founded in 1726 and the property comprises of two châteaux (Château Marey-Monge and Château Micault) and their famous UNESCO-protected walled vineyard, Clos Marey-Monge. These 20 hectares of vines have produced some of the greatest Pinot Noir for over two millennia. The Carabello-Baum family from San Francisco bought the estate in 2014 and have become the first Americans to own a wine-producing Château in Burgundy.
Flint Wines 2018 Burgundy En Primeur
En Primeur is the practice of buying wine when it is still in the barrel. This is appealing to fine wine buyers and enthusiasts because it is a way of guaranteeing access to a portion of wine that will be in high demand when it is released, which will also more than likely rise in price as it matures – so there is the financial benefit too, as well as bragging rights.
I write this post armed with some bragging rights myself, as I was able to taste some En Primeur Burgundies earlier this month at the Flint Wines 2018 Burgundy En Primeur Tasting held at One Whitehall Place. While En Primeur is something that originated in Bordeaux, it has something that has become increasing relevant in Burgundy, the Rhône and the States, due to rising demand for these wines.
Liberty Wines Portfolio Tasting 2020
Held over two floors of The Oval in London, Liberty Wines showcased their 2020 portfolio last week, representing over 300 producers from all over the world. This year sees 11 new names added to their books from Australia, Austria, Chile, Italy and France, promising some exciting additions to the wine lists and the shelves.
The New ‘New World’: An interview with Rollo Gabb of Journey’s End
In 2006, Rollo Gabb produced his first barrel of Destination Chardonnay. It was the only barrel that year: ‘That’s why I called it Destination; I was either destined to sink or swim. So, I kicked off with the one barrel and off we went.’
There might never have been a Nemo moment for Rollo. ‘I could have taken the option of sitting on my arse and just being some sort of playboy,’ he says, half-jokingly. His father had been extremely successful in the commercial wine business (Roger Gabb was behind the brands Kumala and Isla Negra, among others) and, after university in Manchester, Rollo enjoyed being a young man about town running nightclubs, including the legendary Hacienda. When I meet him in Quo Vadis, one of the London restaurants he is involved with, echoes of his ‘Madchester’ days are apparent on his groovy paisley-patterned multi-coloured shirt (we take a moment to admire each other’s shirts, as I have a rather groovy one on myself).
Anne La Naour: A new era for CA Grand Crus
It’s a new era for CA Grand Crus (administrators of several Bordeaux and Burgundy vineyards owned by the Credit Agricole Group), with recently appointed Anne La Naour at the helm as Executive Director. Alongside Jean-Philippe Archambault, Director of Santenay in Burgundy, she is bringing a fresh vision to the estates and has sold two properties in Bordeaux in order to open up opportunities to work with new places and people. Anne is leading the focus towards innovation, putting quality at the centre of everything they do.
Christmas tipples to guide you through the day
I love Christmas. I still get excited about it – what’s not to love about all-day feasting, hanging out with the family and, of course, PRESENTS. In recent years, I’ve added another component to the excitement, and that’s choosing some special wines to celebrate the day with. I see it as a time to splash out and let it all hang out, so I have no problem with pairing wines with every part of the day, starting with present-opening to slouching on the couching for the big post-cheeseboard movie. Here are my suggestions for the big day – dip in and out of them or enjoy them all!
Local Sicilian produce and wines at Casanova & Daughters
Cedric Casanova – half-French, half-Sicilian – had an illustrious career as an acrobat in Cirque du Soleil, but the time had come for him to hang up his tightrope. He returned to Sicily and spent a few months thinking about what he was going to do, feasting on the olives that his family grew in the small village of Salaparuta, and eating the bread, cheese and fish from the other local farmers. These delicacies tasted so incredible that he had the idea to sell them in Paris, and so he opened a grocery. With his skills as a showman, he very quickly became friends with the big chefs of the city, like Alain Ducasse, Pierre Gagnaire, Pierre Herme, and he ended up supplying all of them with produce for their restaurants. One grocery store became two, then one in London and a restaurant in Paris called La Tete dans L’Olive, meaning ‘head in the olives’.
International Sherry Week 2019
If, when you think of sherry, you think of your grandmother sipping on Bristol Cream from a tiny glass at Christmastime, you need to update your information. Sherry is an incredibly versatile wine, ranging from bone-dry to sticky-sweet, with a full pantry of flavours to entice the palate – nuts, lemon peel, raisins, caramel… Furthermore, if you didn’t know this already – sherry is achingly cool these days. If you’re a sherry novice or a sherry aficionado, this week is your week – for the 4th November to the 10th November is International Sherry Week.
Harvest Supper with Simpsons Wines at The Pig at Bridge Place
The Pig Hotel at Bridge Place in Canterbury is a sight for sore eyes in the late afternoon sun in October. The period country house stands proudly in the beautifully manicured grounds – not too manicured, mind; there is a working kitchen garden that is tended to daily, the fruits of which are used on the menu from dawn ‘til dusk in dishes, teas and cocktails. The heady herbal aromas of the garden even lend a hand in the treatment huts, helping guests to unwind and find their inner zen.