Foraging and wine discoveries.

It has been a very busy June with a hugely successful Taste of London, where people decided, that despite the weather, they were still going to have a good time. Also, I was delighted as the Wine Ambassador for this festival with the success of the inaugural Best in Taste Wine Awards and the exciting range of wines featured by the exhibitors in 2011. During the show I had the opportunity as a presenter for S Pellgerino to interview Rene Redzepi – Noma, Rene’s restaurant in Copenhagen, has won The S Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards in 2010 and 2011 – and run a Q&A as part of a Trilogy Masterclass session on food, wine and water harmonisation.The award winning chef was a really cool guy to interview who gave some great and original answers to questions from myself and the press. Rene is famous for sending his team of chefs to forage for food from the local countryside and if you would like to secure a table at Noma then check out their website for booking dates because there are 22,000 covers available on an annual basis, with 1 million people trying to secure a booking!
During Taste of London I also presented for Waitrose in the Tasting Table Seminars, which included sessions on: Off the beaten track, Best of British and Lighter styles for summer. This was a great opportunity to feature a diverse range of wines, including:Puklavec & Friends Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Slovenia, £8.99 which is dry, with ripe fruit, minerality and enough grassy character to tell you that this wine is made from this famous white grape. Domaine Felines Picpoul de Pinet 2010, Languedoc, France, £7.99 is a great advert for the obscure Picpoul Blanc varietal. This is dry with really attractive fresh, crisp, citrus notes. How can you ignore Domiane Wachau Terraces Gruner Veltliner, 2010, Wachau, Austria, £8.49 when you are looking for a dry, mildly spicy, peachy, easy drinking white which is ideal as an aperitif or a perfect match with mild Thai dishes.