From the press release: “Ever opened a bottle of delicious, premium wine one evening and gone back for a second glass a week later, only to find that the wine is past its best?”

No, that’s never happened to me (wine doesn’t have a fighting chance in my house) but I do know people who don’t finish off a bottle in one sitting, they may even save it for (gasp!) a week ( Hi, Mom!).  Hardy’s, the Australian producer, has come up with a nifty new bag in a box  (Freshcase) which I received the other day to help those poor souls out. The big brands seem to lead the way in innovation, always willing to try something new, so here is the next big thing…

Hardy’s is calling  their new brand the Hardy’s Nottage Hill Freshcase and it’s big innovation is not only the volume, it holds 2.25 litres (equivalent of 3 bottles) but is 70% lighter then 3 conventional wine bottles, takes up much less space in the fridge and they say it will keep the wine for up to 6 weeks! That’s gotta be some willpower on the consumers part for it to last 3 weeks.

But I digress. The new packaging is pretty slick and sturdy looking but surprisingly light. They’ve thought of everything, the white wine box even has a little stand which lets the bottle sit at a downward angle in the fridge so you’ll be sure to get every last drop. The best part is that it’s 100% recyclable and made from sustainable stocks. The case box comes apart very easily for you to recycle. There is even a video on youtube to show you how easy it is to pull apart, which is a good thing because I was debating whether or not to just finish off the wine and rip open the box!

At the moment, there are two wines being produced, a chardonnay and a cabernet/shiraz blend. I opened the cabernet/shiraz a week ago and have been periodically having a glass in the evening. It’s an great example of Australian red wine, big and jammy, loads of fruit, a bit toasty, nothing too complicated,  goes well with cheeseburgers. So far so good. The wine seems to be retaining the same qualities nite after nite. And, it seems to be bottomless, the wine just keeps on flowing.  So, a WIN for the Freshcase!

I like the design, the wine is friendly and approachable and good value, retailing for £19.99. Hardy’s is rolling out the Nottage Hill on Nov. 11th in Sainsbury’s.

The Winesleuth was volunteered for active duty in the Action Against Hunger benefit dinner and auction to be held Nov 15th. Action Against Hunger was founded in 1995 by an international group of chefs, restaurant owners and food writers who’s goal is to end child hunger around the world. But this isn’t any ol’dinner and auction. It’s a Blaggers Banquet. Niamh of Eatlikeagirl , my Covent Garden market partner, came up with the terrific idea of putting on a benefit for the organization with everything being donated. From kitchenware to canapes, bottled water to wine and everything in between.

To quote Niamh from her blog…

…on November 15^th, we will be taking over Hawksmoor, the revered steakhouse in Liverpool St, for the blaggers’ banquet. This will be an exciting dinner created entirely by bloggers and using only food that they have blagged and that they themselves will cook and serve.

There will also be a blaggers’ auction, where we will be auctioning exciting items we’ve blagged. This auction will be two fold, a portion of it on the night, and the rest in the weeks following. Further details relating to the auction will be announced as they become available….

If you’re interested in donating, volunteering or even attending the event, drop us a line at blaggersbanquet@googlemail.com

Here’s a short vid of our first Blagger’s Meeting and what we hope to achieve….

Cava from Penedes

Here is another wine from Casa Leal that I got to try when I was sidetracked into the Restaurant Trade Show but rather then a Portuguese wine, it’s a cava from Penedes. The cava is produced by Montau de Sadurni.  The Sadurni family have been growing grapes near the village of Begues, 15 miles from Barcelona, since the 16th century and probably been making wine just as long but they have been marketing their wines and cavas under the Montau label since 1987.

The Arrels Montau de Sadurni is an extra dry reserve cava, we jokingly referred to it as a “diet cava” as it is a brut nature because it has only 2 gr/litre of sugar – now that is what I call a skinny cava!

The cava is produced in the champagne methode meaning it is fermented twice, in vat and then in bottle, aged for 2 years and then sent on it’s merry way. Cava is usually made from xarello, parellada and macabeu and this is no exception. I really liked this cava, lovely, aromatic notes of baked apples and dried figs it had a certain creaminess on the nose that carried onto the palate - nutty, briochy, no bitter notes which can be found in cava sometimes, with spritely bubbles that weren’t too aggressive. A clean finish to round it off.  11.5% alcohol.

The family only produce 40,000 bottles a year and it’s going to be retailing here in the UK for £8 so snap some up if you see it. Available from Casa Leal

Miguel and Barbara from Montau de Sadurni

Brompton Hall, Earls Court

I was on my way to the South Africa mega tasting the other day at Earl’s Court and somehow inadvertantly talked my way into the Restaurant Trade Show going on next door. Now you’re probably wondering how do you get a big wine show confused with a restaurant show? It’s easy when there are loads of people milling about outside with name tags pinned to their lapels. Well, we realized our error early on when we were greeted by stands and stands of kitchenware once inside but leave it to The Sleuth to find the wine!

Miguel Leal

Filoco branco 2007

And find it, I did. Sure it was shunted off to the side of the show but who did I run into but my pal, Miguel Leal from the Portuguese importers, Casa Leal. He was introducing few new Portuguese reds and whites to the UK market.

We tried the Filoco branco, 07  from the Douro (branco is Portuguese for white). A dry, vibrant, refreshing white wine with lovely citrus aromas and flavours. Made up of the Portuguese varietals malvasia fina, ribagato and viosinho it is the perfect food wine, loads of floral aromas but dry and vibrant with an excellent citrus character, we could imagine enjoying this with dinner on a sulty Lisbon summers eve. 13.5 % alcohol but it sure didn’t taste like it and what’s more, the producer reckons it will last for 8-10 years! I’d love to try it with a bit of age.

Also sampled the Quatro Caminos ‘08, barrel fermented white wine, composed of arinto and antao vaz from the D.O.C. Alentejo. This one had been fermented in new French oak and then aged on the lees for a further two  months so I think it’s safe to say their objective was to tame this wine down. And it was an elegant wine, creamy and fruity. I detected a very limey character along with some nuttiness and ehoes of cream soda, a nice long finish to this wine allowed me to savour it for some time afterwards. I really liked this wine, so different and interesting! 14% alcohol but just a fab wine, thinking it would be a perfect partner for grilled fish or a nice firm cheese.

Obidos' classic label

There were quite a few reds but the one that really stood out – the Quinta das Ceijeiras Reserva 2003 from the D.O.C. Obidos. Obidos is part of the Estremadura region which is situated north of Lisbon.  The grapes benefits from a long ripening season and their proximity to the cool breezes of the Atlantic coast. The DOC takes it’s name from the medieval fortressed town of Obidos which sits on top of a hill and surrounded by a fortified wall. The vineyards are in the surrounding area. The Quinta das Ceijeras is a blend of castelao, aragonez and touriga nacional and is aged for 2  years in oak vats before moving onto the bottle for another 2 -3 years. There is some serious mellowing going on here but those varietals do need a bit of softening before drinking. The wine had a sweet and spicy nose, hints of prunes and black pepper but even so, it was still quite fresh on the palate, fleshy ripe black fruits with a nice vanilla spicey edge to it, long and supple, this wine just slide down with a mocha finish. A good match with something big and gamey, venison perhaps or a strong cheese. This wine recently won the Trophee Prestige at the Les Citadelles du vin in Bordeaux and a bronze medal at the Decanter Wine Awards 2009. 14% alcohol.

Just a side note on this wine. It’s one of the oldest Portuguese table wine brands and has been produced since the 19th century. The label is a bit old school but they’ve been marketing it this way since 1926. Hey, if it ain’t broke….

I’m going to Portugal this week for the European Winebloggers Conference 2009, can’t wait to see what vinous treasures I’ll uncover while I’m there!

All wines are available from Casa Leal

my childhood favourite

Way back in March or was it April, I went to the La Dolce Vita show which was a showcase for everything, (what else?)Italian and was introduced to the lovely folks from Bisol prosecco. I fell in love with their prosecco, light and lively, lovely little bubbles- the perfect aperitif.

Niamh of eatlikeagirl blogging fame has joined forces with Bisol to present the Jeio prosecco in a food and wine matching competition. The idea is to tell them what you’re perfect match would be with their Jeio prosecco. 5 finalists will be chosen and invited down for a cook -off at  Bibendum’s Wine office HQ. The winner of the competition will be invited down to dine at the Chef’s Table at the foodies favourite haunt,  The Trinity Restaurant in Clapham Common South. I’ve eaten at Trinity and it is delicious. So much so that I’ve decided to enter the competition with my Bisquick Strawberry Shortcake recipe. Roberto of Bisol recommended fresh strawberries to me when I was at the Dolce Vita show. I went home and dipped the strawberries in prosecco –  bliss! So I went one step further and made this childhood favourite, made with my favourite, Bisquick!

Here’s my entry:

Ingredients: 4 cups sliced, ripe strawberries

                           1/2 cup sugar

                           2 1/2 cups Bisquick mix (available from Waitrose)

                            1/2 cup milk

                            3 tablespoons sugar

                            3 tablespoons butter, melted

                            1 quart of whipping cream

                                                                                  2 vanilla pods

                                                                                 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

For the shortcake:

Heat oven to 425 degrees F, in a medium bowl, stir together strawberries and 1/2 cup of sugar, set aside

In another  medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, 3 tablespoons of sugar and melted butter until soft dough forms. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet, drop by 6 spoonfuls

Meanwhile, take whipping cream, scrape vanilla pods and add to whipping cream, add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar (or to taste) and whip until stiff.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Split warm shortcakes, layer bottom with strawberries and whipped cream, add top of shortcake and top off with more strawberries and whipped cream.

Enjoy with a long, tall glass of Bisol Jeio Prosecco….

The Douro

Note from the Winesleuth: I was looking thru my drafts folder,  found this post and realized it was never posted. Why? I don’t know but seeing as I’ m heading to Portugal next week for the European Winebloggers Conference in Lisbon and then the Douro Valley the following week, here is a short post and video featuring a rosé made from varietals usually reserved for port making. The tasting was sometime in Spring ‘09

I was invited to the Wine Cellar at the Bluebird on the King’s Road in Chelsea the other night for a winetasting of the well known Portuguese producer Quinta de la Rosa. Portuguese wines get a lot of press in the UK marketplace but they are still in the process of becoming household wines in England.

It used to be the custom at one time to present a pipe of port as a christening present. Sadly, that custom seems to have fallen into disuse but at one time it was what many a lucky infant received. Quinta de la Rosa was bought in 1906 as a christening present for Sophia Bergquist’s grandmother, Claire Feuerheerd, guess they didn’t think a pipe was enough. Feuerheerd was the family port company but was sold in the 1930’s. Claire kept La Rosa in the family and continued to run it for many years. In 1988, Sophia and her father Tim, decided to relaunch the ports and began producing top notch ports. In the early 90’s, they were one of the pioneers of still red wine production in the Douro Valley. The quinta is situated on the banks of the Douro valley in the Alto Douro not far from the town of Pinhão, with commanding views of the river.

The Douro is best known for their ports but thanks to the efforts of producers like Sophia and her father, quality wines are now being produced and exported. The winemaker of Quinta is Jorge Moreira. He trained under Jerry Looper, a California winemaker, so he has many international influences as well as the local knowledge to help him make his wines. Sophia is of the opinion that it’s important not to isolate yourself from the wines of the world but rather, to be able to compare and contrast international wines with your own, the better the learn and improve.  Jorge agrees with Sophia wholeheartedly and it is evident in the wines he produces.

La Rosa produces a variety of red and white wines using native varietals. Among them, touriga nacional, touriga france, tinta roriz and tinta cao, most used to make port as well. The wines that we tried, the 2005 Durosa, 2006 Aguia and the 2006 Reserve Red were all very well balanced, fresh and supple. The notes and aromas of the fruit were not overpowering but enjoyable, waves of blackberry, pomegranate and cassis along with excellent structure and acidity.

What really made me sit up and take note was the Vale de Clara rosè or rosado as they call it in Portugal. If you’re like me, you probably have many bad memories of sickly sweet rosè, Mateus currently floating around my mind, but the Vale de Clara  rosè is a different creature all together. Fresh red fruits with a crisp and clean palate. This wine was the complete opposite of sticky sweet portuguese  rosè. Sophia opined that since it was a by-product of the free run juice, it enabled their port to have a better concentration, not so dilute. The wine definitely had a few tannins hanging around which helps to give it structure and even give it the ability to age for a few years. This is a rosè that doesn’t necessarily need to be drunk this year. Unsurprisingly, Sophia says that it’s hard to get consumers to try it, esp. at the £10 price point but once they do, they are hooked. Yet another reason to give Portugal another look.

Watch the video for more on the rosè and a short interview with Sophia.

It used to amuse me to no end when I worked in a wine shop and people would tell me that. I mean, Chablis is by definition 100% chardonnay. What they meant was they didn’t like rich, oaky, buttery, often New World (I see you Australia and California, trying to slink out the back door) Chardonnay.

But on second thought, it is rather worrying. I mean, how can you NOT know what you’re drinking? It’s a sad fact of wine, especially European wines, that people often don’t really know what they’re drinking. Sangiovese is the varietal ( or grape) and is what Chianti is primarily made up of. Rioja is the name of the region and the wine, tempranillo is the varietal used to make it. I could go on but you get the idea.

I got an invitation the other day from the generic wine body Burgundy Wines to promote their grand tasting and seminar on Chablis. The tasting is going to be held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on November 5th. It’s funny, I love opera but the only time I ever get to go to the ROH is for winetastings! Anyway, they are also going to be holding a seminar to re-introduce us to the fundamentals of Chablis from Petit Chablis to Chablis Grand Cru and all the intricacies in between.

I can’t wait to sink my teeth into White Burgundy. And that’s another thing, White Burgundy, Red Burdundy, why don’t they just call it chardonnay and pinot noir? Maybe that’s an idea for the next seminar….

The tasting is for trade only but if you drop a line to natalie.eude@fleishmaneurope.com and tell her The Winesleuth sent you, they’ll let you in. If you’re interested in learning more about chablis visit their website www.chablis.fr and to learn more about Burgundy in general, visit www.burgundy-wines.fr

How do you buy smarter and drink better wines? That’s the question that was posed to us winebloggers by The Wine Gang and Robert McIntosh from Wine Conversation. It’s all  part of an effort to showcase winebloggers to wine lovers at the upcoming Wine Gang Christmas Fair  at Vinopolis on Nov.7th. 5 lucky bloggers are being invited to join The Wine Gang that day.

Here’s my 2 cents on how to buy smarter and drink better….

When I was 20 I came to London for the first time. I was here for the summer, had a student visa to work before my last year of university and I lived in a 2 bedroom flat in Maida Vale with 7 other people. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but it was fun! Most of my memories consist of drunken nights in the pub followed by late nite bull sessions kicking back Mateus and £2.99 Bardelino, Chianti and Valpolicello from the local Indian shop.

That was my introduction to wine and for years afterwards, I looked back fondly on that summer and didn’t give much thought to the wine other then that I liked it. Fast forward to Washington, D.C. 2002, made redundant by 9/11, looking for something to keep me going til I could get back on my feet. Ended up working in fine dining and that is when I was re-introduced to wine but not only re-introduced, I was educated. Up until that time, I had only vague notions of food and wine matching. I knew people did it for a living but I had never actually experienced it. Part of my training as a server was a weekly food and wine matching session with the restaurant sommelier. Wow! All of a sudden the fog surrounding the mysteries of wine was lifted. It all started to make sense to me. How a creamy chardonnay would complement that lobster or alternatively how the acidity of a dessert wine could cleanse my palate, readying me for the next bite.

I not only started bombarding the sommelier with questions, I also started to hang around my local wine shop and attend as many tastings as I could. Always asking questions, lots of questions. Where does it come from? What’s a varietal? How does the oak get in there? Why does this make my mouth pucker? Basic questions really but they were the stepping stones to my wine education. I wouldn’t say that’s how I gleaned all my information about wine but the more I asked, the more I realized how vast was the world of wine and the more I wanted to learn about this universe. It’s a complicated, neverending story.

So how can you learn about wine? It’s easy, just ask. Most of the genuine people I’ve met in the wine world are generous, eager, friendly and enthusiastic about sharing their wine knowledge. We want others to enjoy wine as much as we do, we don’t want you to be intimidated by this old grape juice.  That’s why I started blogging. I thought, I live in London and have all these amazing opportunities to try wines that previously I was only ever able to read about, so why not share that excitement and enthusiasm and maybe fire the imagination of some unknown person in a distant corner of the globe. You may be saying,I don’t know anything about wine. Well, what’s stopping you from picking up a magazine, reading a blog or a book, going to a local winetasting -don’t just sit there, participate and listen to what others think as well. I’ve learned so much from other winetasters, sometimes I agree, sometimes not but it’s always fun.

Gradually, you’ll learn you’re palate and what appeals and doesn’t. I read somewhere, “trust your palate” and it’s true because at the end of the day, you’re the one drinking it but with a bit of self-education (read drinking lots of different styles and varieties of wine with a little guidance) you’ll be surprised at how much more sophisticated your palate will become. Soon you’ll be able to distinguish the difference between Old World/ New World, shiraz/syrah, etc. and isn’t that a kick in the pants! That’s not to say you should ignore the experts but use them as a springboard to develop your own tastes. So get drinking and start asking is my advice, I know I (still) am. Cheers!

I wonder if he tweets?

It’s amazing how easy it is to waste time on Twitter! As much as I love it, it can be a distraction. For example, I got up at noon today (really, I’m an early riser, well 9-ish most days but I’m still recovering from jet lag) all ready to finish off this here post and then the little bird started chirping at me. Should I look? Oh, wait, I see a mention, ok, just one peek. Good morning to you @andrewshot. Ok, back to work. Another chirp. WHAT?!! Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? Gotta tweet my remarks on that. Ok, back to work. Maybe I should do #Follow Friday? And so it goes….ANYWAY….

Right before my holiday, I went to the Argentine wine trade tasting in London and had quite a few surprisingly delicious wines made from the white varietal, torrontes. I say surprisingly because when I lived in Buenos Aires, the torrontes served up there was truly horrid.  But I digress…torrontes is claimed by Argentina as it’s flagship white wine. No one knows how it got to Argentina but recent DNA profiling suggests it’s a relative of malvasia and most likely came over with the Spanish missionaries back in the day. Either way, it’s the white that Argentina calls it’s own.

Somehow it ended up on a tiny little island in the Calibogue Sound off the the coast of S. Carolina. Yeah, the Argentines have reached even remote Haig Point on Daufauskie Island. I spotted the Crios 2007 Torrontes made by Susannah Balbo, one of the most well known and respected winemakers in Argentina on the Calibogue Restaurant winelist and had to order it. The Crios line is her effort to produce reasonably priced, drinkable wine. We had some for lunch on our next to last day of vacation…

end of season

tasting catalogue

What if you were set loose on a trade tasting with 1000’s of wines to try and you had to pick just 10 to put on your winelist? How do you do it? You could go the old boring route and try all those wines or you could recruit a bunch of willing tasters to pick those wines for you. Which is exactly what Naked Wines did at the recent Wines of Argentina trade tasting.

Naked wines invited 60 of their Naked Angels (people who sponsor and buy wine from specific winemakers on the Naked site)  to the Wines of Argentina trade tasting to choose 10 wines out of roughly 100 staff picked wines to add to the Naked Wines website. We were divided up into teams with a list of 25 wines each and set loose on the tasting. We then ranked the wines. The top 10 wines were tried and we then set a price as to how much we would pay for each of those particular wines.

Where does the auction part come in? After the tasting of the top 10 wines, Naked gathers all of our prices and comes up with an average which then becomes the starting price for the wine. There is a £100,000 pot which is divided up amongst the wines based on how close the reps come to Naked’s price. It’s a rather complicated algorithm they use but it gets the job done. The reps are then brought in and the auction begins – Naked makes an offer and the  reps counter offer and so on and so forth for about 45 minutes when the auction is declared over and we get to see how much of each wine was bought.

the "powerful" one

One of my favourite wines at the tasting was La Poderosa 2006 produced by Bodega del Fin del Mundo (which means bottom of the world) in Patagonia.  A rich, full bodied red, loads of ripe black fruits and silky smooth, a blend of malbec, cabernet franc, petit verdot, and tannat, it is the powerful one and even though it was an ’06, it still had plenty of va-va-va-vroommmm in it!  

I followed this wine through the auction and had a chat with the distributor to see what he thought of the whole concept….