Things have been really hectic

with the Art Design & A Taste of Summer Show, a trip to Reims to visit G.H Mumm, The 50 Great Portuguese Wines selected by Tom Cannavan and organising the Taste Wine Awards tasting for Taste of London. As some of you know I am a keen supporter of Vini Portugal and the wines from Portugal. The sales are quite rightly increasing and here are some of my recent choices from presentations and tastings:
Solar dos Lobos Reserva 2007, £11.99. Stockist: Ince Wines.
Susanna Esteban, the winemaker at Solar dos Lobos, really delivers a good concentration of silky fruit flavours, subtle tannins, roundness and nice weight with the reds from this winery. This is no exception.
Pena de Pato Dao 2008, £7.49, Sogrape. Stockists: Waitrose and Majestic. From the famous Dao region, this is consistently one of my favourite reds from Portugal. Medium bodied, fresh, appealing dark fruit favours of blackcurrants and blackberries with gentle, soft tannins. An ideal food match with burgers and grilled meats at summer barbecues.
4 Quatro Castas Herdade do Esporão, 2008, £12.95. Stockist: Duncan Murray Wines. Winemaker David Baverstock has produced an excellent full bodied complex, oak-aged red made from Alicante Bouschet, Syrah, Petit Verdot and Alfrocheiro. Decant this wine 2-3 hours beforehand to enjoy the complexity of this high class red.

This Bank Holiday weekend I will be presenting the wine seminars at the Art, Design & A Taste of Summer show in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The show runs from 28th – 30th May and you can visit between 10am – 6pm each day. This was a popular show last year and with the prospect of good weather all weekend I’m looking forward to a busy Bank Holiday. Check out www.livingcrafts.co.uk for details.
The Art, Design & A Taste of Summer Show always coincides with the start of English Wine Week and this Bank Holiday weekend at 12noon each day I’m presenting the Waitrose English Wine Week Seminar featuring Ridgeview, Chapel Down, Denbies and Bolney Estate. My other three seminar themes are Wines from Rioja, Wines of South Africa and the Diversity and Value of wines from Portugal. My journey through Rioja will include wines from outstanding vintages like 2006, 2005 and finally 2001 featuring Marques de Caceres Gran Reserva.
Portugal has so much to offer and the Quinta de Azevedo 2010 Vinho Verde will start each seminar, with the finale wine 4 Quatro Castas from Herdade do Esporao, one of my favourite Portuguese producers.
South Africa is doing a great job of being right on the money across a range of regions, producers and styles. You cannot fail to be impressed with the quality of whites, roses and reds being produced from a country with a busload of high quality wineries like Kleine Zalze, De Grendel, Diemersfontein and Lourensford.
Look forward to seeing you this weekend.

This week may have has pushed the boundaries of food and wine matching, however in supporting the cause I have been challenging the waistline as well.
On Monday evening we hosted a winemaker dinner at Henry Harris’ Racine for Cháteau Clauzet and Cháteau de Côme from St Estèphe. For our starter, Henry produced an unlikely sounding food and wine match of Smoked eel and Ventrèche bacon salad, red butter sauce which worked particularly well with Cháteau de Côme 2005. The smoked eel was delicious and an unexpectedly successful match. The mellow and balanced Cháteau Clauzet 2001 is really good drinking now and combined nicely with rump of lamb with peas, broad beans, mint and new potatoes and pea puree. Earlier we had the opportunity to taste several vintages of Cháteau Clauzet including the 2010, which has a great future, although it will take some to soften, whilst both the 2006 and 2004 are appealing now.
Racine was very busy for a Monday night, with their helpful team successfully managing to keep a Knightsbridge neighbourhood feel in the restaurant. We will be going back again soon to sample Henry’s superb cooking and the relaxing atmosphere.
Also this week I hosted the first of the Taste of London Safari lunches where I presented my food and wine matches – more on those soon – and attended the launch party for the London Restaurant Festival at The Ivy Club.
This week I’m presenting at the largest trade wine event in the UK: The London International Wine Trade Fair at Excel, then the consumer shows come along with The Art, Design & Taste of Summer at Blenheim over May Bank Holiday weekend, followed by Taste of London in mid June and Passione Italiana at Chatsworth House where I am the MC. In between these shows I’m heading off to champagne.
I have also started my training for the three 10K races I have entered.

Oltrepo Pavese may not roll off the tongue like more high profile Italian wine names. Nor do they produce a wine style that resonates highly with the public like, for example, Chianti and Valpolicella. However, if you are staying in on the south side of Milan, take a 45 minute drive and visit the area of Oltrepo Pavese in the Lombardy region.Oltrepo Pavese is in the Pavia province – check out the important university town of Pavia on the way – dominated by vineyards and wineries which are owed principally by hard working families and wealthy people seeking a weekend retreat from Milan.
The primary vino drivers of the 14,000 hectares under vine are sparkling wines made from Pinot Nero, Chardonnay and Croatina (also known as Bonarda) by either the tank-made charmat method or methodo classico.
Behind the dedication there has been plenty of investment, for example, the Caseo Estate established in the late 1990’s has 70 hectares with 40 hectares producing grapes. Caseo’s winemaker Marco Goia is a precise and patient guy who delivers good balance and acidity throughout his range. Caseo’s methodo classico 100% Pinot Nero 2006 Rose is delicate and elegant, with subtle strawberry fruit character and crisp acidity. For the increasing number of low alcohol fans, Caseo’s charmat 5% abv Oltrepo Pavese Moscato is delicious with some trademark acidity, whilst a mellow 2003 Barbera still had structure and flavour.
In contrast, Vanzini is a family run business established in 1890 and now managed by the energetic and dedicated Pier Paolo Vanzini who has gradually purchased all the vineyards surrounding the winery. His award winning Charmat method Pinot Nero Sparkling Extra Dry is rounded, weighty with attractive fruit, whilst his dolce red sparkler Sangue Di Guida (Judas’ Blood) – a style I’m not generally keen on – made from Croatina (Bonarda), Uva Rara and Barbera really has good red fruit character and is more of a demi sec style.
For lunch we visited the family run Belvedere Ristorante, Runio. This restaurant has a real local feel with vineyard workers and winemakers mixing together, enjoying gargantum antipasto dishes followed in my case by a delicious ravioli course and a dessert of fresh strawberries. I couldn’t manage the secondi of pork in breadcrumbs.
Please contact Caseo Estate and Vanzini directly for UK stockists.
A really interesting day included as part of my S Pellegrino trip.

Earlier this week I was lucky enough to be present at The S Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2011 held at The Guildhall. René Redzepi from Noma retained the top spot and once again had his loyal team with him to collect the award. René places a great emphasis on team effort at his Copenhagen restaurant. Of the UK restaurants, Ledbury was the Highest New Entry at 35 and this Notting Hill eaterie was a popular choice. The other UK restaurants included, of course, The Fat Duck, with St John and Hibiscus being featured once again.
The following day, The Mumm Cordon Rouge Club met at Wasing Estate. This club’s membership is composed of world famous explorers and adventurers including Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dee Caffari, Bear Grylls, Ben Fogle, Polly Murray,Tom Avery and Leo Houlding. We had matched the G.H.Mumm range with some stunning dishes prepared by Valentine Warner including stinging nettle souffle and Quenelles de brochet with crayfish and Mumm de Cramant sauce. This was an excellent evening spent with a great group of people who you genuinely admire.
Tomorrow I’m off to Milan to visit S. Pellegrino and will be participating in their food, wine and water seminars.
From the 16th-19th June at Taste of London in Regents Park I will be presenting for S. Pellegrino and Waitrose. I hope the weather is the same as this weekend.

Let’s hope we have no repeat of the carnage yesterday over the national fences.Fortunately no horses were seriously injured.
I never have more than

a small wager on The Grand National because in recent years the race has moved up in quality and there are more horses with chances. For the potential winners I’m supporting the Irish with Backstage 14/1 and Oscar Time 14/1, whilst for places the experienced State of Play 33/1, who has finished third and fourth in the previous two nationals, and the enigmatic but talented Tidal Bay 33/1 who will either drop right out or take serious interest have my money.
Aintree all each way bets:
Backstage 14/1
Oscar Time 14/1
State of Play 33/1
Tidal Bay 33/1
Good luck.
The Wine Tipster.

Having previously completed the London Marathon and L’Etape I have decided to take a more modest physical route this year and have entered the Kidlington Mota-Vation Summer Race Series. This composes 5 races of around four miles held one Thursday in each month from May to September in five different villages in Oxfordshire. My motivation firstly, is that running in spring and summer gets the creativity going (winter is a grind) secondly, I haven’t competed in anything competitive for a while and thirdly, my recent culinary experiences require a pay back.
In the last few weeks I have enjoyed the Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons experience, including a delicious Quail egg ravioli, spinach, parmesan and black trompette mushrooms, poultry and rosemary jus. Babbo, Zagat’s best new Italian restaurant in London in their current guide, where I highly recommend Caprese di burrata e basilica followed by real lasagne. Although I had lunch, Babbo would be a good choice for an intimate dinner. In contrast, I was part of a large booking at Christopher’s in Covent Garden and they really delivered on quality of food and service. Away from the popular tourist spots, L’Anima continues to really impress in the city. Francesco Mazzai is a good looking and engaging guy who has created a destination restaurant – a good choice for a Saturday evening – , which for many is delivering the best Italian food in London.
Keep dining and keep running.

On Monday night I ran a grape varietal knock out tasting for The Charlbury Wine and Beer Society. The eight varietal entries included in the runners up Arinto, Touriga Nacional, Montepulciano and Riesling, with the easy winner in the white section Gruner Veltliner and the handicap good thing red Carmenere. This was not an evening for having a bash at Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Shiraz etc but instead an opportunity to feature interesting grape varieties that generally aren’t residents of popular shelf positions in retailers. The format really worked very well because people enjoyed, in general, these well made, attractive styles of wines – Note people only knew prices after they had tasted and cast their votes. Featured below are the winners plus others that scored high marks too. All wines stocked at Waitrose.
Domaine Wachau ‘Terraces’ Gruner Veltliner 2009, Austria, £8.49.
Attractive spice and ripe fruit character on the nose, dry, crisp and refreshing on the palate. Delicious, up-market party wine. Penfolds Autumn Riesling 2008, South Australia, £8.99 inevitably had some opponents of the typically slightly, evolved petrollelly nose, whilst on the palate a softer, citrus, more minerally character dominated. A dry, attractive aperitif style at an appealing 11.5% abv.
La Piuma Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo 2009, Italy, £6.49 on offer at £4.79 is a medium bodied, smooth red with soft cherry fruit and tannins, backed by good acidity. Typically Italian. MontGras Reserva Carmenere 2010, Chile, £8.49. From the Colchagua Valley which is a popular region for serious red wines. Wines of Chile are running a campaign focusing on matching curry with the underrated Carmenere grape. Judging on this tasting this works, as MontGras’ 2010 is non confrontational in the tannin department; medium-full bodied, intensely fruity, surprisingly accessible with gentle tannins. High quality.

Today I was at The Wines of Spain tasting and here are a few top choices with more to follow. Bodegas Chivite Expression Varietal Merlot Biologico 2007, Navarra, Spain, £18.35. Stockist: Berry,Brothers & Rudd. Navarra has often played second fiddle to Rioja, yet there are a selection of top producers like Chivite who really deliver high quality wines. A new wine is their organic medium-full bodied complex Merlot, which is full of dark, deep fruit flavours, cloves, chocolate backed by tannic grip.
Marques de Cáceres Reserva 2005, Rioja, Spain, £15.99. Stockist: Majestic with 2004, 2005 to follow soon. A great standard bearer for classy Rioja, Cáceres have always eschewed the use of American oak, previewing the savoury character of French oak. Their 2005 Reserva has only just been released, fruit sourced from 30-35 year old vines, with the wine spending 22 months in oak. 2005 was a stellar vintage in Rioja and this Reserva is only just starting to loosen up, well–structured, underlying intense dark fruit character, good balance of fruit and oak. Decant 4-5 hours before serving.
Marques de Cáceres Gran Reserva 2001, Rioja, Spain, £18.99. Stockist: Templier Wines, thedrinkshop.com Cheers Wine Merchants. From another exceptional vintage, fruit from 50 year old vines, 26 months in French oak and five years in bottle. Rich, concentrated, good depth of fruit flavours, cinnamon, cloves, this is drinking now and can be enjoyed for another ten years.

As some of you will know I champion the positive future for English and Welsh Wines and St David’s Day sees the launch of ukvine.com. James Graham, an experienced freelance journalist, is the man behind the idea. James has written for many of the key UK drinks publications and has been a keen supporter of the UK wine industry. ukvine.com will feature an ongoing range of trade articles, with some consumer focused pieces.
Continuing the theme of promoting the UK industry English Wine Week runs from Saturday 28th May until Sunday 5th June. Throughout the nine days there will be numerous events taking places at restaurants, retailers, wineries and consumer shows. For example, The Wine Tipster will be presenting The Waitrose English Wine Seminars at The Art, Design & A Taste of Summer Show at Blenheim on 28th-30th May. In the meantime keep tuning in to ukvine.com
Today sees the release of Absolute The Best of Scritti Politti on Rough Trade. Scritti were one of my favourite bands in the punk and post punk days, who hung out in a squat rather than tolerating rent. Tom Morley (second left in the pic) was the drummer in the early days until he left after Songs to Remember, Scritti’s first album. I ran into Tom around Paddington last year and he now owns Instant Teamwork. A good guy to catch up with and check out Scritti’s The Sweetest Girl from Songs to Remember.

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