New wine tastings - Caixas Albarino and Gavi

I picked up 6 new whites at Majestic last week, because let's be honest there is nothing nicer than drinking a crisp white wine in the warmth of the summer sun (and there has been at least a little over the past week!)

The Caixas Albarino (2014) from Martin Codax, Rias Baixas was a very pleasant Spanish white for a summer evening. Light and young, with refreshingly high acidity for the price of £7.99, good value.

Some of the reviews on the Majestic website have suggested it is potentially too astringent, which I personally didn't find, and thought the lemon married well with stone fruit and some pear flavours.

It would be great with fish or a chicken salad on the hot days we have been enjoying in the south over the past couple of weeks.

https://www.majestic.co.uk/Caixas-Albarino-zid14008

I actually preferred the Gavi (2014) from La Toledana. Mimicking the steely minerality of the white Burgundians of Chablis, with crisp acidity and more peach and pear aromas and tastes, than the citrus and crisp green apple of Chablis.

I have had better Gavi, but again for the price - £10.49 I found it an enjoyable wine to drink with roast chicken, new potatoes and salad.

https://www.majestic.co.uk/Gavi-zid13033

WSET Level 3 Exam

So I had my WSET Level 3 exam this week - Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

I had done a fair amount of prep for the exam, but am so out of practice for exams, (having left university 20 years ago now) that I found it quite hard going.

As I've mentioned before the Level 3 course is quite a step up from the Level 2 in terms of intensity and how much you have to remember. With only one set of mock essay questions and mock multiple choice questions in our study material, it was hard to get into the zone. I really would have appreciated more mock questions, and probably a mock essay exam in the classroom under examination conditions to help me prep. There were a few videos in the online classroom, but again it would have been useful to have a video to watch at least for every week of the course.

How anyone does this course and passes in 5 days I don't know. I would definitely recommend the 16 week, one night a week option as the best way to go (particularly if you aren't in the industry and you have a full time job as there is a lot to remember).

I genuinely don't know if I passed, although of course I hope I did. I think the tasting went ok, as did the multiple choice paper, but I found some of the essay questions difficult. Some of them because I couldn't remember facts (bloody Italy is my nemesis), but mainly I struggled to articulate all the salient facts into very small answer boxes.

I guess I'm just out of practice of writing exams...Anyway only 8 weeks till I find out the result, which I will share on here whether it's good news, or if I have to retake...

Keep your fingers crossed for me. In  the mean time, it frees me up to try more wines and go to different wine bars in the city now summer has arrived.

https://www.wsetglobal.com/qualifications/wset-level-3-award-in-wines-and-spirits/

New wine tasting - Rickshaw Chardonnay 2014

I picked up this cheeky little Chardonnay after a wine tasting at my local Majestic. There is so little Californian wine available around this price point in this country, that I snap it up whenever I see something I think I may fancy.

The grapes for this come from Santa Barbara (where I've stayed a few times), Mendocino County and Sonoma (both up the coast and north of San Francisco).

This was an enjoyable enough drop, buttery (presumably from Lees), toasty and vanilla from oak (but importantly not too much), married with lemon, apple and a hint of tropical reminding me of the warmth of the state.

Alcohol was high for a white at 14%, which meant for a full body which as the tasting notes point out meant for a 'balance of richness and freshness'.

I would probably get this again on a mixed six offer where it is £11.99 a bottle, as it was enjoyable and quoffable, though not a huge amount going on in terms of depth or length of finish.

https://www.majestic.co.uk/Rickshaw-Chardonnay-zid18078

London Wine Week - The City

So after a successful foray into London Wine Week on Thursday, I was back for more on Saturday.

We went back to the LWW hub in Devonshire Square and enjoyed some of the delights of Nyetimber. If you don't know Nyetimber, it's probably the most famous English sparkling wine and is based in West Sussex. We started with their 2010 vintage and what a lovely way to start the day! High acidity and citrus and apple notes with brioche undertones. However at £35 per bottle a pricey way to start the day too. We then moved onto their NV Rose. Again a lovely drop with red berries pushing their way through the crispness, but balanced and delicious. The surprise of the tasting was the demi-sec which I thought would be far too sweet for me, but was actually lovely, with just a hint of sweetness on the palate. A real eye opener!

The service was really good, with the servers taking time to explain each of the wines and then following up afterwards to see how we enjoyed them. The wines themselves were served up in beautiful glass holders that looked like elegant cup cake holders:

So keeping things light we moved onto Provence. No interaction here on the wines at all from the two ladies who seemed a little stressed and were too busy moving things around in the pop up hut to speak to us. It was left up to us to choose from the flights. We chose a Mistral Mix and La Vie en Rose - having never really tasted Rose wines from Provence I didn't really know what we were choosing.

We had briefly touched on Provence at last week's WSET, so I knew what to expect, and they truly were some of the lightest Rose wines I have ever seen. Neither of us liked our first wines (Les Vins Breban and La Mascaronne) and left most of them. The best wine of the 6 was the Domaine du Grand Cros 2015. It had the most going on in terms of nose and flavour, but overall I don't think the Provence pinks are for me. I had rose wines that were far more to my taste in the Languedoc region last year. These were just too light in body, nose and taste. However I can see how they could be lovely when sitting in the Cote d'Azur!

We briefly went to the Portugal pop up (where I had gone the other night) and tried a few different reds. Again not as good as anything I had in Portugal on holiday, but pleasant enough. 

Then off to the English Wine and Spirits Company. I have been here a few times and blogged about it, so it was nice to see so many people in there. The still and still and sparkling flights were very similar, with just one glass difference. With the exception of the Pinot Noir, my friend wasn't keen on any of them, and I am still of the opinion that we do sparkling well in England now, but we have a way to go on some of the still wine. I just find them rather too acidic and not balanced enough. They just feel like the grapes need some more warmth and sun to help them on their way...

We had an Ortega from Kent (Biddenden) a blend from Three Choirs Coleridge Hill from Gloucestershire, Furleigh Estate Classic Cuvee from Dorset (My favourite) and Sixteen Ridges Pinot Noir from Herefordshire. With one of the flights being £7 that was the most expensive flight we had all week, but certainly not the nicest or best in my opinion.

We nipped into a taste of Franciacorta, but it was very busy and when we found out the wines were all white we quickly moved on to Crab Tavern in Broadgate Circus. 

My friend was excited to try 3 Italian reds but excitement turned to disappointment when we were told that they weren't taking part after all (despite being on the website and in the printed book). However the waitress kindly gave us three samples of Italian wines (white, red and rose) for free.

Alas we didn't really like any of them and even left the rose, but it was well intentioned. We stayed there and ate, but a number of items were off the menu, including my choice (which I wasn't told about till way after my order had been taken). However I wasn't charged for my main so I guess that made up for it. Service was smiley but not massively competent. I won't be rushing back.

The biggest surprise was Gerard Betrand's Picpoul de Pinet being sold for £8 per glass (175ml). I didn't want to pay it as I thought it was extortionate, but was worn down by my friend. As the RRP for a bottle is £10 and the restaurant probably gets it for around £5 or £6, I thought the mark up at £32 per bottle for 4 medium individual glasses was outrageous!

We moved on to our final bar of the day, which was also probably my favourite. 

Bedales in Spitalfields injected a bit of humour into their flight, calling it Corks Camera and Action and took their inspiration from some Hollywood movies. Here we tried:

• Chenin Blanc from Champalou, Vouvray in the Loire Valley (inspired by Elwood drinking vintage champagne from a red wine glass in the Blues Brothers)
• Chianti Classico Reserva  (inspired by Hannibal Lecter's famous quote from Silence of the Lambs about eating someone's liver with fava beans.
• and Merlot Cab Franc blend from Chateau Tour Saint Christophe, Saint Emilion Grand Cru (inspired by Miles' rant about Merlot in the wine film Sideways).

The Grand Cru was my favourite wine of the day I think. Balanced and delicious.

So another lovely afternoon in London Wine Week. It was a great way to try wines I wouldn't normally think of, and to go to bars and restaurants I may not have visited before in areas I might not normally go to! I will definitely be attending more bars, and probably some more events next year. 

I am surprised more people don't know about London Wine Week, and I wonder if their marketing needs to improve? I have a number of wine drinking friends who knew nothing about it, which really surprised me. It wasn't mentioned at our WSET classes either. I would have thought that anything to do with wine and making people more aware of it, and diversifying their tastes, would only be a good thing, and it would have been mentioned to us?

Anyway - roll on London Wine Week - 2017!

London Wine Week - Holborn and Farringdon

So with great excitement I picked up my half price London Wine Week wristbands (thank you Time Out) from Devonshire Square, a 2 minute walk from Liverpool Street Station and home of Cinnamon Kitchen.

London Wine Week is an annual event where over 100 wine bars, restaurants and bars across the city give special offers to anyone wearing a London Wine Week wrist band. The offers range from £5 for a flight of 3 wines, to dining specials with wine pairings and 'sip and snacks' - wine with nibbles.

Whilst picking up my wrist band it seemed churlish not to have a quick tipple, so I went over to the Wines from Portugal pop up and had a flight of 3 red wines. The server was very friendly and happy to talk about the wines, and had just done his WSET Level 3.

I started with the Terra D'Alter Reserva Tinto 2013, followed by the Smart Dog Tinto 2015 and finished up with the Casa Ferreirinha Esteva Tinto 2015. The wines were pleasant and well balanced, but didn't pack enough punch for me, particularly with the fantastic wines I had been sampling in Portugal just a couple of weeks ago.

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Anyway that was the prelude to the real event which was a couple of nights later.

We started at Davy's in High Holborn as it is close to where I work. You'll know from my other posts that I am a fan of Davy's and they didn't disappoint on the service. The server was knowledgeable and friendly and left the bottles with us so we could take a closer look. Alas it being a Spanish flight, the majority of the labels were in Spanish and whilst I might be able to muddle through in French, it was all Greek/Spanish to me.

The wines were from Aragon (which I can never look at without thinking 'Son of Arathorn'), Navarra and Rioja, with the Rioja being my favourite of the three. Although we actually got a drop of white burgundy from Macon as a freebie, and that was probably my favourite of the lot!

We then took a gentle stroll down to Farringdon and started off at Hix Oyster Bar, where we tried wines from the Loire and Rhone - Muscadet, Coteaux du Layon and Vacqueryos (white, red and sweet). The server talked us through them in a bit of detail, but these weren't really to my taste - I have had much better Rhone wines in the past 2 weeks of my WSET.  Still the bar was nice and bright, and not too busy, and one of the servers was very friendly and offered to take our photo. 

Next we went off to Vinoteca where we had wines matched with snacks. Our first white was a Gruner Veltliner from Malborough. I got the peach from the tasting notes, but not so much the mandarin, and even less the white pepper. However it went very well with the smoked mackerel pate on toast. Our second glass was a Pinotage from the Western Cape. Rather like Pinot Noir, I find it hard to love a Pinotage...but the food of roasted veg on toasted bread hit the spot. Service was good, but we were given a menu to read about the wines, rather than having them explained to us, so a bit less personal. However this was the busiest of the places we had been so far so I'll forgive them for that...

Mackerel pate nearly finished...

Off to Iberica, apparently a small chain of tapas bars, that I am ashamed to say I have never heard of! Delightful staff, and a great buzzy dining room makes me think I will be back here to try out their tapas. After a short wait we managed to grab a couple of seats at the bar.

Out friendly server (photographed below) took us through our flight of Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, Valencia and Cigales. As ever, the fuller bodied last red I had to try was my favourite. The server seemed the most passionate about the wines of anyone who served us during the evening.

We then went to Zetter where we were expecting to enjoy the Brexit flight of European wines, but we were made to feel so unwelcome by the staff who were completely disinterested in seating us/speaking to us, that we immediately left. It was a shame as all the other bars had been so welcoming. If this place is on the list next year, I will definitely be giving it a swerve!

Granger and Co restored our faith in the London Wine Week, by being very welcoming and giving us a lovely flight from Woodstock, Mclaren Vale. These were probably my favourite wines of the evening, and only afterwards did I realise we were only supposed to have them if we were dining! So thank you to the staff there for giving them to us anyway along with some meats and olives. They said we were the first people to ask for the flight, which I found strange as this was the 4th night of London Wine Week.

So with the exception of Zetter, it was a great evening, with everyone welcoming us and our wrist bands and generally really wanted to talk about their wines. The wines themselves weren't always to my liking, but it was good practice to see what I could sniff  and taste, and I helped give my friend a few tips along the way (and got her drinking red wine nearly all night - a triumph!)

A Year in Champagne - Documentary

I spent a very enjoyable morning watching A Year in Champagne, a documentary by David Kennard (who also created A Year in Burgundy, which I have yet to watch).

Full of facts and looking at some of the smaller, older houses, as well as the enormous brands such as Bollinger, it gave a real sense of the region and the wine makers within it. 2012 was shaping up to be a terrible year until August, when the heavens finally stopped pouring down and some heat and warmth got to the vines.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that the people of Champagne drink it all the time. It must be a very nice way to get through the day, for what other alcoholic drinks are perfectly acceptable to drink at breakfast? Maybe a Bloody Mary, or is that more for brunch?!

We haven't tackled sparkling wines in my WSET course yet, but hopefully this documentary will help me remember some of the facts for my exam.

It's available on Netflix right now and I for one am looking forward to their next documentary A Year in Port...

Portugese Vineyard - Herdade da Malhadinha Nova

So I did a bit of research before I went to Portugal and found what looked like a lovely vineyard about an hour drive inland from where we were staying. So as it was bucketing down with rain again, we thought it would be a good idea to head up there for lunch and a wine tour and tasting.

Herdade da Malhadinha Nova is set in lovely rolling hills countryside, (although we managed to go zooming past the entrance which wasn't very well signposted). We had actually tasted some of their wines at the wine festival a few days before and recognised the labels as soon as we arrived.

We were delighted to be greeted by a peacock's cry as we drove in. The restaurant was glass fronted and looked out onto the estate. The meal proved to be the best we had all week. The sweet waiter talked us through the menu and we choose some of the estate wines to have with our lunch.

An amuse bouche of tuna was our first nibble. It was delicious and the plate it came on was amazing. My main of mullet with an asparagus risotto was also delicious. My raspberry and white chocoate dessert was elegant and refreshing. Overall the meal was really good, and I am so pleased that we had lunch there.

We were then taken round the property in a Land Rover, which was fun. It was rather hard to hear our guide, and a microphone headset would be useful! They explained about the different grapes they grow and the overall farm (they breed horses and cattle too). They took us up to the boutique hotel which was lovely. It is on the Mr and Mrs Smith website, so that should give you an idea of what kind of place it is. The inside was beautifully decorated, and there was a spa and infinity pool which overlooked the farm. The bedrooms were decorated in a chic farmhouse way - the one they showed us  was gorgeous. It had 2 double beds (one upstairs and one downstairs) and was 350 Euros per night!

We then had a sampling of 3 different wines - which was free as we had eaten there. One of the white wines I had at lunch already and it was refreshing with high acidity. The red was pleasant but medium bodied with medium tannins, and not as good as some of the reds I had at the Wine Festival a few days earlier. I struggled to understand the guide a little bit as his accent was strong, and he didn't go into a huge amount of detail about the wines. I guess being a WSET student I wanted to know more than the average consumer!

We didn't buy any wine as we were leaving a couple of days later and had plenty back at the villa. But we headed back to the coast with tummies and hearts full, after a great day out...