Yesterday The Wine Tipster was to be found at The Boisdale in Canary Wharf for The Boisdale & Wright Brothers Oyster Tasting Championship 2011. The judges including Tom Parker-Bowles, Bill Knott, Henry Deedes, Douglas Blyde and Richard Harden had 13 oysters to taste, which were split into 5 Native – have the best flavour in the cooler months with the letter ‘R’ in them – and 8 Pacific – breed differently and can be tasted all year. When you taste oysters you are encouraged to chew and let air over the oyster as you would for a wine. There were of course really distinct differences in the tasting, with the judges awarding Loch Ryan from south west Scotland first prize in the Native and Dorset Brownsea Island, Poole winning the Pacific.
A high quality Boisdale lunch included an excellent game consommé followed by a cutlet of feral partridge, seared foie gras, liquorice and creamy savoy cabbage. During lunch there were some lovely champagnes served from G.H. Mumm including Mumm de Cramant and a very good 2005 claret Chateau Rahoul, Graves.
It is worth noting that Oyster production in the UK has increased by 45% in the last two years so support this industry and next time I taste oysters I will be chewing.

In the last two weeks The Wine Tipster has experienced fine dining at Sketch, The Ritz twice, some very fine VIP hospitality at The Dunhill Open Links Championship and enjoyed some good value, quality dining at Little Italy in St Andrews, Pizza Express in Bloomsbury, Plateau in Brighton and the The Hoop in Stock in Essex. At Sketch Pierre Gassadin’s produced some stunning dishes and matches including Foie Gras with Mumm Cuvee R Lalou 1999, whilst The Ritz’s three course menu at £46 per head (some gastro pubs are around £40 for three courses) is real value given the quality of the dishes, ambiance, decor and the wines, of course, including Crozes Hermitage Delas. Last Thursday I was back to The Ritz for The Perrier-Jouet Bi-Cententaire Champagne Dinner hosted by Herve Deschamps, Chef De Cave for Perrier – Jouët. All the range was showing well, particularly the Belle Epoque Jeroboam 1996 nicely matched with Roast Loin of Veal and Morels and the recently released Belle Epoque Rose 2004 with Mille Feuille of Raspberry Parfait and Sorbet. Keeping the Italian theme, the retro furnished Little Italy in St Andrews produced the best lasagne I’d had since dining at the award winning Babbo Restaurant in London. The following morning Louise and I walked the course at St Andrews enjoying the quality of amateur and professional play at The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Saturday. What a great course to enjoy some quality food and vino hospitality, including the super impressive, refined Waterford Sauvignon Blanc 2010 and creamy, lightly oaked Cape of Good Hope Serruna Chardonnay 2010. Whist St Andrews may have been cloudy over the weekend I had the previous weekend experienced bright sunshine and a walk along the seafront in Brighton. In Brighton, the recently opened Plateau has a super impressive range of wines including Pinot d’ Alsace Metiss Domaine Bott Geyl 2007 and Priorat Gine & Gine, Bull & Gine 2008. Now it’s time for the cycle machine and a lime and soda.

We are now into the generic wine tasting season, with the Wines of Chile tasting last week and the Wines of Argentina Tasting at Lords earlier this week.A few years ago I had a brilliant wine trip to Argentina and experienced stunning scenery, exciting wine styles and a fantastic couple of nights out in Buenos Aires.There was much to look forward to and Argentina didn’t disappointment. First up, Gran Lurton Corte Friuliano 2010 Uco Valley, Francois Lurton, £14.95. Stockist: Roberson. Made from 96% Tokay, with a tiny amount of Torrontes, Chardonnay and oak, this was the most elegant and refined white I tasted all day with floral, lemon, mineral character, restrained oak and beautifully balance. A wine to savour now in its current style, although apparently it will age up to 8-10 years. Also from the Uco Valley, Salentein’s Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2011. Stockist: Matthew Clark and only available in restaurants. Although there were some grassy Sauvignon Blanc hints, this sophisticated white is dominated by pear drops and lime flavours. Salta in the north of Argentina is home to high quality Torrontes, with a really good example Terrazas de Los Andes Selection Torrontes 2010, Cafayate, Salta, £12.50. Stockist: Tesco Wine by the Case, Slurp.co.uk £14.85. Dry, grapey, floral and spicy, with hints of apricots, backed by crisp acidity – a requirement for quality, thirst quenching Torrontes. Other Salta Torrontes’ to impress included Familia Zuccardi’s Serie A Torrontes 2010, Cafayate, Salta, £9.99, Hennings Wine Merchants and Etchart’s Privado Cafayate, Salta 2010, Matthew Clark and only available in resturants. Away from Salta, Norton’s Torrontes 2011 from Mendoza, £6.99, Nicolas is well priced, fresh and crisp.
The reds were in fine form; however as a general comment it is hard to discern the quality/pricing relationship at the premium level, with some wines easily outshining other reds at twice the price. Kicking off with the value end of the premium market, Clos De Los Siete 2008, Clos de Los 7, Michel Rolland, Mendoza, £13.29, Waitrose is an oak aged blend of Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. This full bodied, dark, complex, stylish wine with blackberry/blackcurrant fruit is a high quality red that needs decanting for a few hours. Norton Privada 2008, Lujan de Cuyo Mendoza, £17.99, Waitrose is a Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend which is well structured, subtlely oaky and delicious, with plummy, damson fruit flavours and a long finish. Other reds to impress included: Paisaje de Tupungato Finca Flichman 2008 Mendoza, £15.99, Stevens Garnier, Michel Torino’s dark chocolaty, refined Altimus 2008, Cafayate, Salta, £25, with the 2007 available from Slurp.co.uk at £22.70 and I’m assuming they will move on to the 2008.

The wine trade went back to school this week with The International Wine Challenge Dinner on Tuesday night and the Wines of Chile Annual Trade Tasting yesterday. Here are some of the wines I really enjoyed at this tasting.
Anakena’s Chardonnay/Viognier 2011, Valle Central, £5.99 rates as one of the best value whites at the tasting and really is a delicious dry, fruity quaffing wine that will always be a crowd pleaser. I have enjoyed the 2010 available in the Co-op on many occasions, with the 2011 in store soon. Concha y Toro are rightly highly respected for their range of wines with Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada Sauvignon Blanc 2010 £9.99 from the Limari Valley a good example of how to produce subtle, elegant Sauvignon Blanc with tropical fruit flavours and mineral character.Contact Concha y Toro UK. Other impressive Sauvignon Blancs were the Fairtrade Miguel Torres Santa Digna Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Curico £7.99, contact J Fells, the very classy Valdiveso of Chile Single Vineyard Wild Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Leyda,contact Bibendum Wines and Santa Rita’s Gran Hacienda Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Valle Central, contact Berkmann Wine Cellars – both of these wines are available in restaurants only. Moving on to Chardonnay with the Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2010, Casablanca £10.99 which is dry, medium bodied, spicy, with refined oak and an appealing freshness versus some of the richer, fuller Chardonnays on offer from Chile. Stockists: Majestic, Wimbledon Wine Cellars, Cambridge Wine Merchants.
There was a sensational Syrah theme included in the tasting, and one I really liked was the well-priced Viña Tabalí’s Reserva Especial Syrah 2008, Limari £9.75 which is minty, earthy, integrated, well structured, with softening tannins and just really very good. Stockist: The Wine Society. In contrast, elsewhere at the tasting I enjoyed the light – medium bodied, brambley, soft red and dark fruits and subtle backbone of Montes’ Alpha Pinot Noir 2010, Casablanca £12.99. Stockist: everywine.co.uk . The Los Boldos Sensaciones Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Alto Cachapoal £9.99 is medium-full bodied smooth and delicious has herbaceous, damson fruit, spicy and vanilla character. Stockist: Stevens Garnier Shop.

Been a bit manic confirming the rest of this year and the first half of 2012.Away from my diary, this Monday sees the release of Astrid Williamson’s new album Pulse out on One Little Indian/Incarnation. Astrid has a beautiful voice and listen to Pour.

On the weekend of 10th-11th September, there are two really good foodie events taking place in Chipping Nortonshire, with Juliet Harbutt’s Cheeses on the Green in the lovely village of Churchill. On Saturday 10th, you can taste a stack of cheeses in the day followed by Cheeses under the Stars. Also, Churchill has a good pub called The Chequers, serving well kept Hook Norton and some decent wines by the glass including Santa Digna Torres Rose.

A few miles away in Kingham, Alex James’ Harvest Food and Music Festival runs from the 9th-12th September, with the main action on the Saturday and Sunday. This festival has a strong cast of chefs including: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Richard Corrigan, Valentine Warner and the excellent Franceco Mazzei. On Sunday don’t miss out on what Jay Rayner has to say. Away from all the exciting foodie stuff, you will be able to enjoy the not very exciting KT Tunstall and The Feeling.

We are just off to a winter barbecue, taking some Musks Newmarket sausages and De Grendel Merlot 2008, South Africa, £10.99-£11.99 available from Henderson Wines, Peter Green & Co and oldbutcherswinecellar.co.uk. De Grendel’s Merlot is one of my favourite wines of 2011; medium bodied, balanced, with minerality, complexity, herbacious character and stand out berry fruit.

The Cotswolds is a stunning place to live and much as I will always love going to London it is great to come back to this beautiful countryside. However, the Cotswolds is also an expensive location, with, for example, our village Good Food Shop – a shop for the community by the way – charging London prices and our local gastro pub on an overzealous portion control project with a high price ticket.Presently, there seems to an assumption that people are prepared to pay because of the scenery, but from my experience of dining in Oxfordshire pubs recently there is a flawed arrogance of above inflation price increases, smaller portions and a poor selection of quality wines by the glass. So this week I’m staying in and looking for some wines to enjoy at home from the current offers.
For a starter, try Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde 2010, Portugal, £6.99 buy 2 bottles save £4 until 29th August from Majestic, which delivers the crispness required, coupled with some attractive lemony fruit flavours not found in other Vinho Verde wines at the same price.Les Andides Saumur, Loire 2010, France, £7.49 save 25% to £5.59 in Waitrose until 16th August. Made from Chenin Blanc this dry white, has subtle, soft fruity character with a nice balance of minerality. Lovely thirst quenching stuff. Staying in the Loire, New Zealand flying winemaker Sam Harrop MW has overseen a Cabernet Franc Project which is producing softer, more fruit friendly wines from this varietal in contrast to the hard, green, unsociable versions.Le Paradis 2009 Chinon, Loire, France, £9.39 save 25% to £6.99 in Waitrose until 16th August is a really good example of a soft, rounded, medium bodied red with ripe dark fruity flavours and balanced tannins. Accessible and really a style for other Chinon winemakers to emulate. Finally, if are feeling sociable and are hosting a barbie then a dry, inexpensive, reliable sparkler is Lindauer Brut NV, New Zealand down to £6.99 from £7.99 until the 29th August in Majestic.
The guys in the picture are Kissing the Pink, who were a brilliant underrated 80′s and early 90′s band producing excellent albums like Naked and Certain Things Are Likely. I thought they had split up sometime ago only to discover that they played a London gig earlier this year. Check out Kissing the Pink’s Big Man Restless on You Tube.

Just back from my first visit to the Algarve, which belied my expectation of tower blocks, cries of “par 4″ and Sir Cliff singing Devil Women. We were staying in Praia da Luz, a 50 minute drive from Faro airport and just west of the popular resort of Lagos.
Praia da Luz has a massive family beach and if you wanting something quieter travel towards the pretty and relatively underdeveloped villages of Burgau and Salema, where there are some less populated sandy beaches. Aside from beach life, Praia da Luz is definitely a good place to be, with a nice balance of bars and decent restaurants. OndaLuz is a typical, friendly Portuguese family restaurant, which we visited twice during our stay. Make sure you have some sardine paste, which is offered as a pre starter nibble and order a delicious mixed seafood dish which will be cooked and served in a cataplana (see picture) – cataplana will often included as part of the dish title, for example Monkfish Cataplana. Ondaluz had a decent selection of 2010 whites in half bottles including Prova Regia Arinto 2010 from Lisboa and the poorly named BSE 2010 made by Fonseca. Remember to look at the vintages of whites, particularly in half bottle, because in a different restaurant I was offered a 2008 Vinho Verde. Next time I visit Praia da Luz I will book a place at the small Restaurant Aquario, which is popular with the locals, avoid dining in the food hall atmosphere of The Gallery and dine at one of the four Indian eateries in the town. With the beautiful sunshine, enjoy some of the excellent fruit juices at the cafes and don’t miss out on the high quality of vegetables and fruit in the local shops.
If you want to find out more about Portuguese Wine and Food then get a copy of The Wine and Food Lover’s Guide to Portugal by Charles Metcalfe & Kathryn McWhirter, Amazon £11.37. In the meantime, I’ll be putting the turntable on and listening to Portugal by Sophia from There Are No Goodbyes Album, Flowershop Recordings online. Sorry Sir Cliff.

On Wednesday evening at The Academy of Culinary Arts Annual Awards of Excellence Dinner Martyn Nail, Executive Chef at Claridges, and his team delivered an outstanding evening of quality food, timing and service. Catering for 230 guests, they timed the delivery of each course perfectly and subtlety, including a tasty tournedos of Aberdeen Angus beef with Burgundy jus, pea puree, morels and creamed potatoes. After our main course, napkins were taken away before dessert and then the doors were opened to the adjacent room revealing a stunning selection of 14 different desserts. At you will see in the picture, this really was a star performance, with so many attractive choices. The Kanraku, consisting of baked cheesecake layer, cold cheesecake layer and an orange yuzu compote was delicious and smoothly matched with Mumm Demi Sec NV, whilst the Macaroon A La Rose consisting of an almond macaroon, rosewater mousseline cream, raspberries, lychees and rose petal was sublime.
A memorable evening which also reminded you of the art deco influence at Claridges.

The Charlbury Beer Festival last weekend once again proved the point that there is a place for good wines alongside some fine ales and ciders. We featured our largest selection ever including four English wines from Brightwell – keeping it local -, Chapel Down, Denbies and Bolney Estate, convincing me more than ever that the vino-interested public is increasingly positive, supportive and receptive to the styles of the domestic wines produced. It is much easier now to get someone to purchase an English wine versus the competition available from more fashionable wine producing countries.When it comes to rosé, simply offering one pink is not enough anymore, when there are there so many good dry styles on offer and people are choosing this as their regular consumption colour ahead of white or red. Yes there were four rosés available, with the dry, complex and sophisticated Château d’ Anglès from La Clape, the easy drinking Paternina rosado from Rioja – still bang on the money as a region producing well-priced pink – the popular, fruity Pink Elephant from Portugal and finally one of the best still, balanced English rosés from Chapel Down. The were two good reds including the delicious and classy Diemersfontein Shiraz 2003, which is probably at its peak now and the accessible medium bodied blend of Alfrocheiro, Syrah and Touriga Nacional from Quinta da Lagoalva Reserva 2008, in Tejo, Portugal available from Casa Leal.

Next Saturday the 14th Charlbury Beer Festival – solely existing to raise monies for the Charlbury Community and Overseas Projects Charity – in North Oxfordshire, will be featuring 50 Ales including Blue Monkey BG Sips, Grafters All English, Great Oakley Gobble, alongside more household names like Timothy Taylor, Batemans and St Austell. Of course there will be a great choice and diversity on offer not only on the beer front but cider, food and wine too! Invariably the request for a decent glass of vino at a real ale festival results in a plastic glass of boxed wine from under the counter. OK, so some boxed wines are fine, but the unwillingness to provide any decent offering of vino is clear. Organisers, you are missing an opportunity because some people are happy to try a couple of beers or ciders but they then want a decent Sauvignon Blanc or Rioja! This year at The Charlbury Beer Festival we will have a dozen wines on offer by the glass or bottle, featuring Denbies and Chapel Down from England, Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay/Pinot Noir Sparkling which sold out in 2010, a smart Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc from Southbank Estate, Chateau d’Angles from La Clape, Paternina Rioja Rose and the high quality Quinta da Lagoalva Reserva red from Tejo in Portugal.
This is the third year that Louise and I have organised the wine stand at The Charlbury Beer Festival and we have a growing fan club of grape lovers demanding a glass of quality wine. In 2010, we raised over £1,200 for charity, which was a 50% increase on our first year. So remember, particularly with village and town beer festivals, there is an opportunity to raise monies and satisfy an audience of grape lovers.
Also, as a first, The Charlbury Beer Festival will be staging The World Aunt Sally Open Singles Championship. Aunt Sally is a pub game still played extensively in Oxfordshire.
The Charlbury Beer Festival on 9th July starts at midday and finishes at 11pm. Held at the local cricket club, two minutes from the train station, it is easy to find. Check out First Great Western for times from Paddington, Oxford, Worcester and Hereford.