Marcus Restaurant - Lunch with Wine Pairing

I made the very sensible choice to finally go to Marcus Wareing's restaurant at The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, called the rather catchy "Marcus".

We arrived at 12 noon to a rather empty restaurant, but we shouldn't have worried as it was soon full to the brim with hungry lunchtime diners!

We plumped for the lunch menu with wine pairing. A small pre amuse of pumpkin with goats cheese was delicious and set the tone for one of the best meals I have eaten. No photos I am afraid - it was far too lovely to start getting my phone out for food porn!

Amuse itself was smoked eel. I would never order this normally and was not sure I would like it at all, being such a fussy pants of an eater! But with truffle and a hen's egg it was lovely.

For starter I had a lightly poached and smoked piece of salmon with white onion and truffle. For this they matched a Portugese White: Bical, Nossa Calcario, Filipa Pato, Bairrada, 2014. I can't remember having a Portugese White before, but the slightly buttery flavour with the crisp citrus tang of course was super with the fish.

My main course was Halibut with seafood bisque and artichoke ravioli. The Halibut was cooked beautifully, but I would say the bisque was slightly overseasoned for my taste (and I quite like salty food!) The wine with this was LOVELY: Chablis 1er Cru, Fourchaume, Les Vapulans, Guillaume Vrignaud 2013.

Dessert was a rather lovely Tarte Tatin (the best I have ever had) and we were served a Moscatel Corado, Cesar Florido, from Jerez in Spain. Orange Blossom with sweetness and refreshing acidity, it went beautifully with the caramalised apples and pastry.

All in all in a really lovely meal, made all the better with the super wine pairings. For a special occasion or treat, I would thoroughly recommend it. As well as the great wine and food, the staff were (as perhaps you would expect) exemplary.

Now, what to match with my NYE supper for friends...!!!

http://www.marcus-wareing.com/

Wines with Christmas Dinner

So I thought we would try some different wines with each of our courses for Christmas Dinner this year. 
With only my dad and I really that interested in wine, it meant thinking about what would go with our courses, alongside what we both enjoy.


I made a bold tasting starter of Port and Stilton pate, which was always going to be tough to match a wine with, so I went for a Sancerre (2014 from Davy's). I thought the high acidity of the wine would cut through the richness of the pate, and pleasingly it did.

We had a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and despite decanting a rather nice Chateau Neuf du Pape (2011 from Waitrose) an hour before dinner, we were a little disappointed with it. Whilst it was smooth and had much of the flavour you would expect, it was not full bodied enough for my taste, or indeed for the meal. It just didn't stand up to the food - and I don't even eat any of the pork products (pigs in blankets and stuffing balls).

We paused for a while before dessert and dad and I had a Pinot Noir I had bought him back from California in 2013. Neither of us are massive fans of Pinot Noir, but this was fab! The best I have tasted. It benefited from a couple of hours decanting and packed a real punch whilst be smooth and having lots of black fruit flavours with some delicious earthiness. Autry Cellars is a tiny winemaker, producing approximately 1000 cases a year, so if you are in the area (San Luis Opisbo), I would suggest you go take a look. It won't be like any other wine maker you have ever been to! 

Half way through our dessert  of trifle and a chocolate bomb (a few hours later), I suddenly remembered that we had a Sauternes in the chiller: L'or du Ciron Sauternes (2012 from Marks and Spencer). It was lovely. Apricot tones with a hint of orange and silky smooth, yet still high levels of acidity. Even mum enjoyed a few sips (although my sister pulled lots of faces showing her displeasure - philistine). I am pleased to say it didn't all get drunk, so I will be serving it with NYE dessert as well...

So overall I was pretty happy with the choices I mad, just the CNdP that wasn't the right choice. I will find a better one for next year!

WSET Level 2 results

So my results came through on 23 December. I picked them up from downstairs in my block of flats after a night out and scuttled up the stairs to open them in the comfort of my home.

I was really nervous as I opened up the envelope, and you could have knocked me down with a feather when I got the result.

I passed with distinction! I got 88%, which I was really surprised about. I was pretty sure I had 6 questions wrong so thought it was pretty likely that I had another couple wrong as well, but obviously not.

I was really chuffed with the result, texted all my wine loving friends and called my parents (who I insisted gave me a round of applause when I arrived at theirs on Christmas Eve!)

I will be looking to do my Level 3 WSET in 2016.

Level 2 exam - ARGH!!!

So I did my WSET Level 2 exam a couple of weeks ago now, and only now do I feel I can talk about it in an open forum...

No I am joking. It wasn't massively hard, but it was definitely much harder than the test papers I had been practising on for the past couple of weeks. I know I made some stupid errors on things I knew, but there were a couple of questions where I just hadn't retained the specifics characteristics on that grape from that climate. There were also some questions where I talked myself out of my original gut instinct - NB never do this!!!

I know I haven't got the highest mark but fingers crossed that I got a pass/half decent mark.

I would thoroughly recommend the WSET courses. They are informative and fun. Even with the basic wine knowledge I now have, I realise that is way more than most people, and feel I can make better choices when buying wine both in the store and in bars. If I fancy a bottle and they also serve it by the glass, I now always ask for a try, so I don't end up with something I am not very keen on.

I'll update the blog when I get my result and will start thinking about if I want to do Level 3. My feeling at the moment is yes, but if I have scraped a pass on Level 2, that might turn into a no...