at Vinopolis

Ok, seems I’m not the only one making up words. Friday Nov. 27th and Saturday Nov 28th Bibulous is coming to the Great Halls of Vinopolis in Borough Market. 

Bibulous billed as The Drinks Experience  is a “pop up” drinks extravaganza, going on over the next two days. A chance to get out of the office early on Friday and head on down. There are 4 shows and  2 timed entries over Friday and Saturday afternoons. First entry is 1:30 on Friday afternoon, second entry at 6pm. Your ticket  gets you the chance to browse and sample various beers, gins,vodkas, ports, tequilas, absinthe, cocktails galore and a heck of a lot more.

Chairmans' Reserve vintage shack van

Tasting tables, cocktail tables, cocktail stations, tuitions and taste-ins hosted by top experts in the mixology field. Here’s just a taster what’s going on:

• Gin Genius Gin Time with expert and author Geraldine Coates presenting 6 premium gins
• Chairman’s Rum shack vintage van serving cocktails created by the Hoxton Pony
• Green&Red Bar and Cantina Tequila taste-offs from the highlands and lowlands of Jalisco, Mexico
• Beers from Around the World with beer experts, authors and bar reviewers Ben McFarland and Tom Sandman with Utobeer

mixing it up

Along with “mixology mayhem” with TV mixologist and Bibulous Tastemaster, Andy Pearson, who will be joined by various other expert mixologist from the top London bars. If anything, it should be a good time after you make your way through all those bibilicious* drinks. Tickets are £16 single or £25 the pair, also available at the door. I’ll be there on Friday afternoon so if you see me, be sure to say Hey!

*I’m pretty sure bibilicious is a word in the English language

Castello Banfi di Montacino

My infatuation with Italian wine continues. A is for Amarone. B is for Brunello di Montelcino, bodalicious, complex, tasty, lipsmackingly satisfying (ok,so I’m skipping around the alphabet and making up words) you get the point, I do love those Italians. Growing up with only the familiar wicker covered funnily shaped bottles of Chianti, that was my only exposure to Italian wine, that and the cheap dross I encountered when I first came to London as a student. The good old days. Why do they call them the good old days? I’d much rather be in the now and the fabulous wines I had the other day at lunch.

A typical wet, dreary London afternoon found me on Savile Row on my way to the smart Italian restaurant, Sartoria, for lunch with Bibendum and Cristina Mariani-May (the next generation and co-CEO of the company) and Dante Cecchini (regional manager) of Castello Banfi . Bibendum is now importing the Castello Banfi range into the UK so this was our opportunity to sample their wares. Castello Banfi orginally started out importing Italian wines to America early in the 20th century and built up a very successsful import business but in 1978 they decided to head back to their native land and founded the Castello Banfi Vineyard Estate. Once there they spent a considerable amount of time and money on research and are now one of the leaders of classifying sangiovese from Tuscany.  They’ve spent over 30 years on research and catalogued over 160 clones which they’ve narrowed that down to the 15 best clones for their wines. And Castello Banfi has generously shared their research with the world because they believe ..”all ships will rise when the tide comes in…” and their research can only benefit all of Montalcino. Castello Banfi were also one of the first to plant international varieties in Tuscany, creating the “super-Tuscans” and we got to sample one during lunch.

Nothing more civilized then a 5 course meal with matching wines for lunch, now is there?

smoked swordfish

The food was fantastic but the real stars of the show were the wines. The San Angelo 2008 pinot grigio was first out the gate and the sommelier, Michael Simms never let my glass less then half full, just the way I like it. I have to admit, pinot grigio is not my go-to wine for anything, usually a lemon water drink in my mind but the Banfi San Angelo had a bit of weight to it, fresh and zippy, not too much acidity which is often the hallmark of p.grigio,  colourful citrus aromas and flavours seeping through, washed down the zucchini frites and parmesan cheese down in one go.

My favourite chards are French Maconnais but Banfi may have managed to at least close the gap a bit. The aim of the Fontanell Chardonnnay 2007  was to produce an ‘Old World’ style, barrel fermented and aged white wine. Banfi want to show what the Italians can do with the chardonnay fruit of the Tuscan hills. Well integrated oak ( I so dislike over-oaked chards), ripe apples, slightly nutty, on the nose and palate, full and concentrated, a good complement to the fish, it wasn’t overpowered by the rather strong flavours of the smoked fish. The finish was delightful, a fruity beacon shining thru the haze of fishy smokiness. I was liking it but onto the real reason we were there, the reds. Those whites were just the warm-up act.

Belnero

The Rosso di Montalcino 2007 and the Belnero 2005 were both paired with a pasta, turnip top & anchovie dish. A rich, creamy, savoury dish that needed something with a bit of bite. Both the wines were juicy and fruity,  the Rosso had quite a minerally, flinty nose to it and was a much more austere companion to the pasta, still fresh and versatile but quite lean whereas the Belnero was much fleshier and full. These two were like the Laural and Hardy of  Banfi. The Belnero is new to the line and Banfi wanted to show the potential of their Super Tuscans. 80% Sangiovese, 17% cabernet sauv. and 3% merlot, a complex wine, notes of vanilla, tobacco and coffee, black cherries and plum jam, much less minerality but it didn’t suffer from that. The fruit was far more intense then the ‘07 and there was a spicy undercurrant to it all. Both wines were excellent companions to the pasta but the ‘05 was a better match, as Cristina said, …”if only we could have our partners young and our wines old, it’d be a perfect world!” I love those Italians….

hunk o burning love....

I had been trying to pace myself because I knew there was a big hunk of meat coming up but I wasn’t prepared for the mound of beef that was placed in front of me. Grilled Scottish Beef Rossini with foie gras and truffle shavings – so decadent and wrong but sooo good, the foie gras (look away now if you’re against it) had me swooning, melting away on my tongue in a flash but the flavours so intense. Banfi showcased their Brunello Poggio alle Mura 2004 and Poggio all’Oro 1999 to go with such intense meatiness.

These were their top wines. The Poggio alle Mura 04 was from a spectacular vintage year, 100% Sangiovese, the grapes used came from the best vineyards situated on the surrounding hillside below the 12th century castle. A powerful, silky wine, black cherries and spices with an intricate cedar box cum cigarbox nose, perfumed and intense. A palate of silky smooth tannins excellently balanced acidity and concentrated black cherry, dark chocolate and tobacco flavours. A delicious wine which just didn’t seem to want to go home even after I’d swallowed it down.

the sparkler

figgy dessert

But that was not all, one more Brunello to go, the Poggio all’Oro 1999. Again 100% sangiovese – 2 and a  half years in barrel and another 2 in bottle, this wine was soft, elegant and yet full of character, vanilla and butterscotch nose, dried raisins, plums and cherries, intense fruits and a long finish that carried on and on. Eventually, it seemed to evolve into cherry bonbons  and spice. Still looking youthful and full of life, I could have drunk this on its own or with a meaty mouthful, just a pure delight to savour.

Cristina Mariani-May and The Sleuth

We finished off with the Rosa Regale 2008 with a dessert of roast figs with honey and thyme ice-cream. A fun, fruity sparkling wine made from the indigenous varietal brochetto  ( I hope that’s how you spell it, my notes started to look a bit like chicken scratch by this point), loads of red fruits and off dry, a fun sparkler to end the afternoon. And so I rolled out of there, satisfied and sated, a great way to start the weekend.

end of the line

ps. I found out later the sparkler was made from Brachetto d’Aqcui

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Portugal for the EWBC and visited the Quinta Lagoalva as part of the conference. Little did I know that upon my return to London I would be running into Quinta Lagoalva quite unexpectedly at the Blaggers Banquet. The Blagger’s Banquet was a charity event organized by London food and wine bloggers for the organization Action against Hunger.

Miguel from Casa Leal and Viniportugal, a government organization dedicated to promoting Portuguese wine, got wind of the event and kindly donated 18 bottles of Quinta Lagoalva de Cima 2004, a blend of tinta roriz and touriga nacional. It was my task at the event to match up the donated wine with the food.

One of the main courses was Buffalo steak with a bearnaise sauce. The Quinta Lagoalva went quite well with the steaks. A spicy, fruity nose, full of ripe black plums and ripe black berries, the palate followed through with a smooth and mellow black cherry character, round tannins that complemented the steak, nothing terribly complex but a very good match for the buffalo which was not near as gamey as I though it would be. Quite a tasty piece of meat and smooth operator of a wine to go with it. The wine is available from Casa Leal.

portuguese red

Thanks to Viniportugal and Casa Leal for donating to a very worthy cause. Looking forward to next  year’s Blagger’s Banquet.

Menu

Owen Elias, Chapel Down winemaker

I went to Roast the other day for lunch. I was invited to partake in a social media experiment where we bloggers were invited to help out with making up a menu for our readers. So I found myself overlooking  Borough Market last week in the bar of Roast. Along with me were my fellow bloggers, eatlikeagirl, spittoon, intoxicating prose, gourmet chick,  and gastronomy domine  as we all sat down to lunch with Frazer Thompson (Chief Exec), Guy Tresnan, (Sales and Marketing Director) and Owen Elias, (the winemaker )of Chapel Down. Roast’s philosophy is all about sourcing and using seasonal British produce so it’s only fitting that they partner up with Chapel Down wines of Tenterden, Kent. I’ve visited Chapel Down and enjoy their English sparkling wines so I knew that we’d be in for a treat!

Chef Lawrence Keogh

Lock Etive Trout

We started off with the Chapel Down Brut Rosé ‘06, a sparkly rosé made up of 100% pinot noir, a bit on the sweet side, strawberries and cream came to mind while we were sipping it.   Once everyone arrived, we sat down to business. Chef Lawrence Keogh went through a brief presentation of what we’d be eating and then he turned the show over to Owen. I felt a bit sympathetic for Owen when he explained he had to wing it on the first matching as he was unable to do a proper food and wine match beforehand but I think his choice of the Chapel Down English Rose  was a fine one. Although the smoked Etive trout  with Dorset crab cakes had quite an intense flavour, the  rosé  had enough acidity and red fruit flavours to stand up to it. One minor quibble, the scallions sprinkled around the plate did seem to overpower the wine, I followed Spittoon’s lead and set mine aside.

the Haggis

When we sat down I had a brief glance at the menu and saw haggis as the second course! Having never eaten haggis but having heard numerous, shall we say ungenerous remarks, my hopes were not high but Chef’s Keogh’s Ramsey of Carluck haggis with celeriac and oxtail sauce was delicious. I seem to remember scrawling meaty oatmeal somewhere on my menu, really that’s what it was like but oh, so tasty. It had a nice hint of pepper which I was not expecting. Chef Keogh says his aim it to showcase British cooking and he made a haggis convert out of me. Two wines were paired with the haggis, the Chapel Down Vintage Reserve Brut and the C.D. Regent Pinot noir, NV. I think the pinot noir was perfectly nice and light with some lovely spice and pepper on the palate but I thought the Reserve Brut was a much better match. I love bubbles though so I’d probably pick that anytime over a still wine! The chef also brought out a bit of black pudding for us to try while we were eating the haggis – such a delight, expertly cooked, crispy on the outside with a nice meaty chewiness to it, perfect!

roast pork belly!!!

Next up was the star for me of the meal, slow-roast Wicks Manor pork belly with mashed potatoes and Bramley apple sauce – a mouthwatering delight. Just the sight of the pork crackling laying like a blanket over the meat was enough to get my stomach rumbling. The Roast Bacchus Reserve 2007 was served along with the pork and was a good match. Aromatic and floral on the nose, the fatty full flavours of the pork were sliced down like a scythe by the mouthwatering bacchus, leaving my palate nice and refreshed, a lovely well balanced wine with enough heft  going on in the glass to not be overshadowed by the rich food. The Chapel Down pinot blanc 06 was also served, another great choice, again quite full bodied, loads of fresh apple on the nose and palate and considering it had 20g/l of sugar, suprisingly dry with excellent acidity. I quite enjoyed that wine with the apple sauce and pork.

the Nectar and custard

After all that there was still more – desserts, yeah, not 1 but 2 to sample and match. First up was a spiced clementine custard with anise biscuits, plain and simple, someone commented that it was like a pannacotta topped with fruit and I’d have to agree, not to exciting. It was paired with Chapel Down Nectar 2007. Not quite a dessert wine, elderflowers and orange notes floating around the glass. Even though it was served with the custard, I thought it was a better match with the second dessert, the Warm Chestnut and Conference pear cake with hot chocolate sauce. I’ve had the Nectar with chocolate desserts before and  just seems to be chocolate’s perfect match. The Chapel Down Cinque Ports Classic 2006 was served as well, a honeyed white wine, again those aromas of elderflower and jasmine dominating.

tweeting during lunch

a selection from lunch

What a lunch and I do it all for you. That’s right. Roast and Chapel Down took all of our feedback and have come up with a tasting menu for all of our readers. There is going to be a special evening service on Nov 24th at Roast consisting of the following menu

-          On arrival, a glass of Chapel Down Brut Rose
-          Ramsey of Carluke haggis with celeriac and oxtail sauce, with a glass of Chapel Down Rondo Regent Pinot Noir NV
-          Slow-roast Wicks Manor pork belly with mashed potatoes and Bramley apple sauce, served with a glass of Roast Bacchus Reserve 2007

-          Spiced clementine custard with anise biscuits, served with a glass of Chapel Down Nectar 2007
-          Tea or coffee

All for £44.50. Just quote “Chapel Down Roast Bloggers Dinner” when you book your reservation (0845 034 7300). As an extra special offer Chapel Down is also offering the fabulous Pinot Reserve 2004 for a remarkable price of £99 for a case of six including delivery to any UK mainland adddress. This wine would normally be £150 plus delivery. Christmas gifts sorted!
 
All you need to do is call the vineyard on 01580 763033, ask for Lizzie or Wendy and quote Blogger offer.

making an English black chestnut

Chapel Down also produce ales and porters and we were offered Admiral’s Porter with lunch as well as the wines. Frazer tipped us off to the next big thing, an English Black Chestnut, consisting of Chapel Down sparkling and Admiral’s Porter, an English verson of Black Velvet, if you will. Despite the appearance of the porter, it was a refreshing and fruity drink. We just lapped it up.

After that fabulous lunch it was time to get to my real job but I wish I could have hung around a bit longer as I know there was still a bit of that fizz left!

the yellow label

Back before I really knew anything about wine, I do remember scanning the shelves of my local wine shop and the the striking yellow label. No, I’m not talking about Yellow Tail, I’m talking about the yellow label from Alsace, Hugel’s yellow label. The house of Hugel has been making wine in Alsace since 1639, I don’t even know if Australia had been found yet by Capt. Cook or whoever it was that stumbled upon that continent but Hugel were making their rieslings and gewurztraminers way back then.

I grabbed  the 12th generation of Hugel to be running the family firm, the charming and amusing Etienne Hugel, at the recent Fells Portfolio  tasting in central London for a quick chat. Although Etienne had the entire range on display and I did try a  fair few of them, we compared notes on  what Etienne considers to be Alsace’s and his family’s flagship wine, the Hugel gewurztraminer. Here we are chatting about the latest vintage and the difference between young and old gewurz…

Just a quick post today to remind all of you of the Blagger’s Banquet taking place this Sunday, Nov 15th at the Hawksmoor in Liverpool St. It’s for a great cause, Action Against Hunger and everything in the auction and for the dinner has been blagged by all of us food and wine bloggers. Niamh from Eatlikeagirl has been the driving force into getting this event off the ground but she had time to have lunch at Roast with the Chapel Down people who have generously donated beer, English sparkling wine and are auctioning off a year’s vine lease at their Tenterden property.

After lunch, Niamh and I had a chance to talk to Frazer Thompson, Chief Exec of Chapel Down to tell us a bit about what their wines and what they’re donating to the event.

Hope to see you all on Sunday. Contact me or  click here for tickets. Next post coming up… our lunch at Roast with all those fabulous Chapel Down wines.

Cork forest

Another European Wineblggers Conference has come and gone….sigh…it just flew by! Before I knew it, I was back winging my way back to Heathrow. But in between landing and take off at Lisbon’s Portela Airport I met some of the nicest people, saw the most amazing scenery and had some pretty good wine to boot!

cork on a tree

recently stripped

For me, the highlight of the weekend, not including the tour of the Douro Valley which was AFTER the conference, was the visit to the cork forests north of Lisbon, hosted by the Quinta do Lagoalva in the Tejo appellation and sponsored by Amorim, who produced a quarter of the cork in the world, something like 60 BILLION corks a year and that’s not even counting all the other things that can be made out of  cork.

We left Lisbon early Saturday morning a bit worse for wear not having had our morning coffee and set off for the province of Tejo and the old cork forests scattered about. To call them forests is a bit of a misnomer as they’re more like orchards, the trees being oak and planted in more or less straight lines but they are old, most of the trees over 100 years old and most live up to 200 years or more. Cork trees are fascinating. They’re only harvested after they reach 25 years of age  and the cork ,called virgin cork, is not of suitable quality to be used for as cork stoppers. The tree is then harvested periodically, every 9 years until it reaches around the age of 40 when the cork can finally be used to make cork stoppers. The cork from the previous harvests is not wasted but put to use in a myriad of other items, including tiles on the Space Shuttle. Pretty cool, cork is  used to insulate the Space Shuttle on re-entry. Our guide from Amorim, Carlos de Jesus was a font of information regarding cork and told us that cork has a very high tolerance for heat, the bark protecting the inner tree allowing it to regenerate again after a fire.

hit by lightning

We went to trees owned by the Quinta do Lagoalva and were even treated to a demonstration of cork stripping by one of the old hands of the farm. Luckily for us, a tree had been struck by lightening so it was a willing volunteer for the demonstration. The art of cork stripping has to be precise because if the axman cuts too deeply, he leaves a scar which will not heal, thus impeding the production of the whole cork bark. Here is a quick demo of how it’s done….

Tejo winemakers

After a visit to the cork orchard, we went to the Quinta do Lagoalva and were treated to a tasting of the local wines made by, for lack of a better description, The Tejo Boys. They had a variety of wines on tasting for us, including some delicious, dry roses, as well as robust reds and some full bodied whites. The wines were of excellent quality. I especially liked a sweet wine that one of the wine makers made from a blend of arinto, riesling and gweurztraminer. The unique quality of that wine was that it had been made on frozen lees. That sounded quiet an original thing to do with the lees until the winemaker told us that the lees were frozen because he forgot about them and they froze over the winter! Funny guy.

We were also treated to a carriage ride around the estate and visited 200 year old olive trees! Seems that cork is not the only thing that is Methusalem in character in Portugal. I even saw a 300 year old olive tree. If those trees could talk….

lunch at the quinta

After lunch we all piled back on the bus and headed off to Amorim’s cork factory about an  hour away. That was an awesome site to say the least. Piles and piles of cork bark, walls of cork, waves of cork, mountains of cork. I’ve never seen such an impressive display. We all ran around like kids in a candy store, taking pictures, pinching and prodding the cork. Carlos explained the whole process of how cork is cured outdoors for a year before it even gets into the factory floor. Then it goes thru a soaking and cleaning process and all sorts of other technical stuff but I got a little antsy and wandered off to photograph the mountains of cork.  The cork industry has really cleaned up their act, so to speak, and the entire process to make cork stoppers is done to ensure that there be as little possibility of cork taint or TCA as possible. Below is a brief slideshow of the cork forest and our visit to the Amorim’s cork factory.

A fabulous day out of Lisbon and a rare opportunity to see and learn about cork. Call me a geek but I really enjoyed my trip to the cork forest.

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