On, Friday 10^th March, Chadlington Village Memorial Hall welcomed back The Wine Tipster for an evening of tips, tasting and tipsiness, all in the name of charity.

After the success of his last Whose Wine is it Anyway event in Chadlington 4 years ago, The Wine Tipster returned to raise funds for the Village Hall Project and entertain in an evening of information and merriment. There was breath-taking yet comic Opera performed by Claire Bradshaw (mezzo-soprano) and Richard Coxon (tenor), advice on how to bet on horses at Cheltenham and to taste and choose the best wines, as well as a much better than average raffle, with prizes including hampers from Chadlington Quality Foods and a Moët Magnum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the host of the evening, The Wine Tipster led his audience through a taste exploration of 8 different wines, including Proseccos, rosés, whites and reds, much to everyone’s enjoyment. The insider knowledge shared on which wines to look out for and cheapest places to buy them was invaluable, and well received.

Throughout the evening, the audience were treated to delicious mini pizzas from Café de la Post, and chocolate tarts from Chadlington Quality Foods that went down well with the wines and San Pellegrino on offer. With the pouring of the Beronia Rioja Crianza from magnum came the donning of berets and fake moustaches by The Wine Tipster and his team, much to everyone’s amusement!

A 70^th birthday was also celebrated on the evening, with a serenade from Claire and Richard and a delicious cake made by Susan Myatt which was shared around – what better way to celebrate a birthday than with The Wine Tipster in a beret and fake moustache.

As the evening progressed, so did the amount of alcohol consumed, which possibly contributed to the impressive total funds raised for the Village Hall Project: around £850. This wouldn’t have been possible without the sponsors of the evening, who kindly supplied the Hall with wine. Thanks go to Zonin for Prosecco Cuvée 1821 Brut and Prosecco Zonin Grey Edition Glera & Pinot Grigio Brut, Kleine Zalze from South Africa for Zalze Chenin Blanc , Esk Valley with their Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Les Dauphins Côtes du Rhône Rosé, Beronia (for the wine, berets and Rioja Crianza magnums), Château Léoube Rouge de Léoube from the Côtes de Provence  and Tim Adams for Clare Valley, Australia with The Fergus as well as San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna for keeping everyone hydrated throughout the night. Ticket sales and food from Chadlington Quality Foods and Café de la Post also made the night possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, The Wine Tipster did not disappoint, and everyone who attended said what a wonderfully fun event it was, as well as a success in regards to the fundraising for such a worthy cause. Since the 10^th, the Paulings who attended the evening had a success to celebrate at Cheltenham with Willoughby Court (14-1), who was trained by their son Ben Pauling winning on the Wednesday. There were other success stories thanks to The Wine Tipster’s advice and knowledge including Buveur D’Air, who would win the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday. Successes all round!

 

As the countdown to Cheltenham continues, The Wine Tipster is keeping an eye on who to look out for at the highlight of the jump season which takes place between 14th and 17th March.

They include Cole Harden in the Sun Bets Stayers Hurdle on Thursday which provides him with a good chance to regain his crown from the 2015 race as long as the ground softens over the week following a great performance at Festival Trials Day at the end of January. In terms of one of the handicaps, Singlefarmpayment who is an excellent jumper and has proven form at Cheltenham has a tremendous chance of scoring another success in Prestbury in the Ultima Handicap Chase on March 14th.

In the Neptune Investment Management Novices Race, look out for Willoughby Court, a horse trained by Ben Pauling, who is certainly one of the trainers to watch at The Festival. We also know Ben is very patient with his string and very shrewd at placing his horses. The Wine Tipster selected Willoughby Court on his last start when he won at Warwick in convincing fashion whilst certainly giving the impression that he is highly progressive and improving every time from the racecourse experience. He still looks a little inexperienced but he is a great traveller and if he can cope with the hustle and bustle of the Neptune, he has a really good each way chance.

Starchitect is trained by David Pipe and has multiple entries at Cheltenham but look out to see whether he runs over hurdles or fences. Whichever race he ends up being declared for, he has a tremendous chance. He is a fantastic traveller and has certainly relaxed more as he gets older in his racing and big fields are certainly not a negative for him. He showed the other week at Ayr that he can certainly jump larger obstacle with ease and he could really have a really bright future. Now is the time to prove himself.

Ballyandy who won the Champion Bumper at Kempton last season, even though he had been beaten on his couple of starts over hurdles, showed all his ability last time out when winning the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury in great style and certainly showed that aiming at the Supreme Novices Hurdle or Neptune Novices Hurdle make perfect sense and he must have a great chance for the popular Nigel Twiston-Davies yard. They can look forward to celebrating in the pub in Guiting Power.

In the build up to The Cheltenham Festival, you can follow Neil’s top racing tips in his Racing Plus column and daily during Festival week. Enjoy all the action on ITV Racing and Racing UK.

 

With less than 2 weeks until this year’s Cheltenham Festival begins, there are many races that are providing us with indications as to who to look out for at the highlight of the jump season which takes place between 14th and 17th March.
In addition to a great day at Newbury on Saturday and the forthcoming Greatwood Raceday on 4th March, there are an increasing number of events where some of the great and the good of racing will provide you with their top tips. On Monday 6th March you can attend The Cheltenham Festival Preview at The Costwold Club with a fantastic panel of experts including Chairman Richard Phillips, the legendary John Francome, Simon Clare of Corals, and BHA senior handicapper Phil Smith, Gordon Clarkson of SIS and Rick ‘Statto’ Allen. The Wine Tipster will be in action on Friday 10th March at Chadlington Memorial Hall near Chipping Norton at 7.30pm for an evening of wine tasting and horse racing tips as well as the latest news on the chances of local trainers, Charlie Longsdon and Ben Pauling. Wines included in the tasting are Tim Adams, Zalze, Esk Valley and Prosecco Zonin. For more information about, “Whose Wine is it Anyway”, and to book tickets, visit the website.

The Wine Tipster has a few horses and jockeys that he is keeping an eye on. Following an excellent win in the Sky Bet Dovecote Novices Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday, River Wylde is really improving. Despite looking a little green and inexperienced, he was won 3 times over hurdles in 3 outings and under the watchful eye of Nicky Henderson will no doubt put in a great performance if he runs at Cheltenham. He looks possible for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on day 1, and as long as he can cope with the big crowds at The Festival, he is definitely worth an each way bet.

Pilgrims Bay also won at Kempton on Saturday in the BetBright Handicap Chase ridden by James Best, a relatively unknown jockey, who had the race of his career almost kidding his ride into winning, and I can only hope that he gets a look in at Cheltenham.

Another of Nicky Henderson’s horses, Top Notch is one of many horses with multiple entries but looks possible for The Arkle Trophy. He’s not a big horse but is a very good hurdler who takes the fences well providing a very good each way bet at the moment.

In the feature race, The Gold Cup, it is hard to ignore Champagne West who has always had class and his last performance was excellent winning in Ireland in the Thyestes Chase. He is a high price at present but based on his recent performance, it would be worth taking the price now and is hard to keep out of the frame.

There are a few more horses to keep an eye on including Cole Harden in the Sun Bets Stayers Hurdle on Thursday which provides him with a good chance to regain his crown from the 2015 race as long as the ground softens over the week following a great performance at Festival Trials Day at the end of January. In terms of one of the handicaps, Singlefarmpayment who is an excellent jumper and has proven form at Cheltenham has a tremendous chance of scoring another success in Prestbury in the Ultima Handicap Chase on March 14th.

In the build up to The Cheltenham Festival, you can follow Neil’s top racing tips in his Racing Plus column and daily during Festival week.

The Racing UK Club Day took place on Saturday in the Ascot Pavilion with over 900 members travelling from far and wide to take part in their biggest day of the year.

As MC for the day, The Wine Tipster began by introducing Aidan Coleman who talked through his 5 rides for the day. His least fancied ride was Forthefunofit in the 4.10pm race as he returned to hurdles for the first time in ages following a run of poor form. He not only won but returned at 20-1, the biggest price of the day! It also happened to be the Racing UK Club Day Today Handicap Hurdle.

The Wine Tipster also marked the card for the day along with Tom Stanley from Racing UK. They both highlighted Cue Card at 4-9 in the Betfair Ascot Chase who now heads to the Cheltenham Gold Cup with an outstanding chance following the sad defection of his stablemate Thistlecrack with a tendon injury. He also backed Tenor Nivernais in the 2.25 who won by 30 lengths which featured in his Racing Plus column. His nap of the day in Racing Plus was Divine Spear who finished 2nd in the 3pm race following a very exciting finish. Divine Spear was backed down from 12-1 on the day so he still paid each-way backers.

Early in the day, the names of four members were picked out of a hat and given the chance to judge the best turned out horse in the Racing UK Club Day Today Handicap Hurdle and to present the winning team of Forthefunofit with their trophies

 

 

For the first time, professional wine and champagne expert and racing pundit, Neil Phillips, The Wine Tipster presented two masterclasses featuring four different wines from Bibendum Wines. The first, after the first race, was a focus on Australia with highlights including Tim Adams Fairfield Semillon which was a great introduction to Semillon for many alongside his Riesling. The Diamond Valley Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley proved a great reminder of excellent Chardonnay from Australia.
The Rosé masterclass took place after the third race with the Operetto Garganega Pinot Grigio Blush a favourite as well as Château Leoube showing its perennial popularity. There were so many questions that the masterclass had to pause so that the members didn’t miss the 3pm race!

It was a fantastic and busy day. The Wine Tipster managed to fit in a piece for Ascot TV highlighting Yering Station Little Yering Shiraz Viognier and Château Leoube Rosé. He was also interviewed by racing broadcaster, Rupert Bell for Ascot TV and Tim Dellor and Sasha Thorbek-Hooper from BBC Berkshire.

The Racing UK Club Day was a great success blessed with fantastic weather and gripping racing. It also saw the launch of the new menu in the Parade Ring and Panoramic Restaurants as well as the new fine wine list.

As ever, it was an honour to join members of the Champagne Academy at The Law Society, London for their Annual General Meeting on the 6th February, where they elected a new Chairman, Kevin Skeet of Legacy Hotels and Resorts. Kevin takes over from Philip Amps, of Amps Fine Wines, who steps down having served his one year tenure. Champagne Pommery will act as Presidential House for the next twelve months, a role which rotates between the houses each year.

The Champagne Academy is a unique collaboration between sixteen Grande Marque Champagnes who wish to educate the brightest and best members of the wine and hospitality trades in the UK and Ireland on the subject of Champagne. They select sixteen candidates each year to attend an in-depth course which is unique in the industry, taking place over the course of a week spent in the region. The course provides unprecedented access to the people, places and wines of Champagne, as well as opportunities to build personal connections that last a lifetime.
The 2017 course has seen a record number of applications from across the wine and hospitality sectors, in a sign of the growing recognition of the importance of the Champagne Academy course.  The names of the sixteen 2017 Champagne Academy candidates will be released in the coming days.

Following the AGM, Champagne Academy members and their guests were treated to a rare tasting of vintage Champagnes from the sixteen Grandes Marques, many served in magnum.

Bollinger 2007, Charles Heidsieck 2005, Veuve Clicquot 2004, Krug 2003, Lanson 2005, Laurent- Perrier 2006, Moët & Chandon 2008, Heidsieck Monopole 2009, G.H.Mumm 2006, Perrier-Jouët 2007, Piper-Heidsieck 2006, Pol Roger 2006, Pommery 2006, Louis Roederer 2009, Taittinger 2009 and Ruinart Blanc de Blancs.

For more details regarding the course contact Val Simpson champagneacademy@yahoo.co.uk
Facebook

Twitter

Photos courtesy of Mark Fagan and Glass of Bubbly.

Jockey Club Catering spent the day illustrating the diversity and quality of its offering at the fifteen Jockey Club racecourses around England at their Showcase Day held at Epsom Racecourse last week. The day aims to promote and educate, highlighting new innovations in all aspects of the racecourses to members of the Jockey Club Racecourses and sponsors and guests.

The Jockey Club Catering teams from each of the racecourses presented their wares showcasing wonderful concepts including the Sensory Garden, the local larder including cheeses from producers all near to a local racecourse and the new exciting retail concepts. This included a new Prosecco Bar in conjunction with Bisol and Bibendum with the following Proseccos on taste: Belstar Prosecco DOC Brut, Jeio Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene DOCG Brut and Cru Vigneti del Fol Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene DOCG Extra Dry. In addition, there was a stunning fountain filled by Magnums of Moët et Chandon at the evening event.

As MC for the day, The Wine Tipster presented the Jockey Club Catering Wine List, which highlights the best of British in addition to a stunning selection of New and Old World Wines.

There was an intense and exciting Ready, Steady Cook Competition between the four Jockey Club teams of London, East, West and North. In the half an hour allotted the teams produced a broad array of beautifully produced dishes, with no previous knowledge of the ingredients available. The London team just came out on top in a very tight and entertaining competition.

One of the highlights of the day was the College Chefs Competition where 3 teams of 6 young chefs from South Thames Catering College were challenged to create a grazing menu consisting of 2 starters (1 veggie), 2 mains (1 veggie), 1 dessert, to serve a total of 50 guests. The winners were invited up on stage to receive a voucher each as well as a copy of Michel Roux Jr’s latest book, The French Kitchen. These young stars will also have the opportunity to work at Epsom in the near future.Albert and Michel Roux Jr have a long standing association with Jockey Club Catering and The Wine Tipster was given the opportunity to chat with them after the competition. He posed many questions delving into their interest in racing as well as top advice for aspiring chefs and trends in the food they are cooking both at the racecourse restaurants, their own restaurants and at home. The Wine Tipster was hoping for an invitation to Sunday lunch! It was wonderful to part of such a collaborative and exciting day reinforcing the joys of a day out at the races. You can enjoy a flavour of the day in this fantastic video

The Wine Tipster will be back in action on Friday 10th March at Chadlington Memorial Hall near Chipping Norton at 7.30pm for an evening of wine tasting, horse racing tips for the Cheltenham Festival and opera with Clare Bradshaw, Mezzo Soprano and Richard Coxon, Tenor.

A selection of wines from both the New World and Old World will be available to taste. Neil will feature the ever popular and successful Prosecco specifically from the DOC regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In addition, you can try the quintessential Rioja, Beronia. The winery was founded in 1973 by a group of business who enjoyed the gastronomic delights of the Rioja regions when they were on holiday.

In the build up to The Cheltenham Festival, you can follow Neil’s top racing tips in his Racing Plus column and daily during Festival week. We will also get the latest news on the chances of our local trainers Charlie Longsdon and Ben Pauling. This meeting is truly the highlight of the Jump season which takes place from 14th to 17th March. Over 260,000 people enjoy the electric atmosphere at The Festival epitomising everything that is great about Jump racing. Watch the finest horses, jockeys, owners and trainers battle it out for the highest racing honours, their reputations and over £4.1 million of prize money.

Local opera singers Claire Bradshaw  and Richard Coxon, Festival Director for the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival  will provide the musical entertainment.

Light bites will be provided by Café de la Post and Chadlington Quality Foods. Tickets are available from Café de la Post and Chadlington Quality Foods or contact Judi Parker, judi@phillips-hill.co.uk or tel: 01608 676 830. Tickets are priced £10 each with all proceeds going to the Village Hall Project.

For more information and to book tickets, click here.

Raffle & Spot Prizes to be won!

The Wine Tipster has recently joined a racing syndicate and has already seen one of his horse Final Choice deliver an impressive winning performance at Newbury in December.

He is one of the members of The Jockey Club Ownership Syndicate – Cheltenham and South West, which offers members a share in four year-old Final Choice, trained by Warren Greatrex, and five-year-olds The Last But One and Timeforwest, trained by Paul Nicholls and Jonjo O’Neill respectively.

Membership of the Syndicate costs £2,590 for two years and includes organised stable visits, along with full membership benefits of Cheltenham including The Festival, where members can enjoy an exclusive facility; as well as membership of Warwick, Wincanton and Exeter racecourses, the four racecourses within the south west region of The Jockey Club.

He was lucky to visit Warren Greatrex’s yard for a morning on the gallops with Lucy Wheeler, who runs the syndicate and Ed Chamberlin ITV Racing’s presenter. He also enjoyed a catch up with Dan Thompson Head of Exeter Racecourse whose Super Sunday meeting on February 12th promises to be a great day out.

Final Choice trained by Warren Greatrex will most likely been seen in a couple of weeks time and with a good run will be hopefully seen at The Cheltenham Festival in March which is very exciting. He is some cool dude winning impressively at Newbury in December, however he disappointed last time out when he resented the tongue tie.

Warren is based at Fred Winter’s old yard so you can see plaques with many famous names including Bula, Pendil and Derring Rose. He has an impressive 31% strike rate with his bumper horses for this season, 18% over hurdles and 11% over jumps. Keep an eye out for World Hurdle winner Cole Harden, who ran very well on Saturday when finishing second in the Cleeve Hurdle, Western Ryder, the stable favourite Paint The Clouds and Missed Approach at The Cheltenham Festival.

The Wine Tipster was very fortunate to be invited to a dinner at Ormer Mayfair at the famous Flemings Hotel in London. The event was hosted by an old friend Jean-Noel Girard, who is the charming Export Director for Champagne Devaux where he has worked for over 20 years. He was joined by Laureline Perraudeau, Brand Ambassador for W.G.White, purveyors of Caviar & Fine Food. They were treated to a fantastic menu created by Shaun Rankin who incorporated caviar into each dish which was in turn carefully paired with a Devaux champagne.

The apéritif, Cuveé D was paired with Jersey Royals and Royal Tradition Caviar, Ultra D in Magnum was served with Royal Oscietra. My top caviar pairing was the Sevruga caviar with the Turbot and cauliflower and Sténopé 2009 magnum.

The origins of Champagne Devaux date back to the 19th century. Founded in 1846 by brothers Jules and Auguste Devaux, the house was then managed by three inspiring women who led the family winery with remarkable energy and talent in equal measure. Originally located on the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, their home is now a stunning 18th century Manoir House on the banks of the river Seine. The vineyards are located in The Côte des Bar, south of the Champagne appellation between Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube, which are ideal for Pinot Noir.

Their latest project is a collaboration with Michel Chapoutier bringing together two wine regions to inspire one another. This vision – capturing the very best portrait of a season – is the inspiration behind the name Sténopé. The result is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to create the best representation of a specific year. The Sténopé 2009 served from magnum was stunning, a champagne with great elegance, toasty character, depth and length of finish.

The Sténopé once again shows what a fine Champagne house Devaux is and why they should still be reaching a wider audience as their Extra-Brut Ultra D served from magnum clearly illustrated. Not every Champagne producer achieves an engaging style with Extra-Brut and taste this after you have tried their superb non-vintage Cuvée D. Vintage champagnes are wonderful and yet remain an occasional experience for many and The Wine Tipster recommends D Millésimé 2006, a lovely wine to enjoy now. 2006 remains an underrated year, alongside the more publicised 2002 and 2004 vintages, yet it is year that provides beautiful, expressive fruit character and the D Millésimé 2006 with its low dosage of six grams watch an excellent match with the Camembert.

Established over 120 years ago, W.G. White was the first company to import caviar to the U.K and now supply some of the top restaurants and hotels in London. Laureline taught me more about caviar than I had ever heard before, and with all of Jean-Noel’s knowledge, it made this a fascinating evening. Stunning caviar and very innovative work by W.G. White.

Massive thanks to Laureline, Jean-Noel, the team at Ormer Mayfair and to Shaun Rankin for a fabulous evening.

Over the festive season, there was plenty of exciting racing to enjoy. The 32Red Kempton Park Winter Festival on Boxing Day and 27th December featured in the King George VI Chase the Thistlecrack v Cue Card contest, who were both trained by Colin Tizzard, in the most hotly anticipated jump-racing encounter of the season so far. The crowds turned out to see the fascinating contest with Thistlecrack taking breathtaking leaps, which was reminiscent of the mighty Desert Orchid, to secure victory. Tom Scudamore, Thistlecrack’s jockey, enjoyed a spectacular ride to his first victory in the feature event of the Christmas racing programme, a race his grandfather Michael won as a jockey in 1956 but always eluded his father Peter. As a result, Thistlecrack is now a very short priced 4-5 favourite for Cheltenham Gold Cup in just 2 months’ time, with the next in the market another Colin Tizzard horse Native River at 8/1. There was also a good performance by Yanworth in the Christmas Hurdle and it will be interesting to see if Yanworth runs in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival for which is currently priced at 5/1. As well as marking the card The Wine Tipster was presenting top wines from the Jockey Club wine list with Sancerre Les Chasseignes, Domaine Fouassier, Macôn Rouge, Domaine Dupré and Nyetimber Classic Cuvée NV proving very popular at this particular meeting.

At Warwick on New Year’s Eve a massive crowd of over 6,000 people came racing and General Manager, Andre Klein and his team are doing a top job here with more exciting plans for the future. The Wine Tipster had great fun on the mic marking the card as well as seeing lots of familiar faces in the 1707 and Kingmaker Restaurants. The winning wines here were Catena Appellation Vista Flores Malbec, Voltolino Gavi and Château Léoube Rosé de Léoube. Look out for bumper winner Marten trained by Ben Pauling.

Despite the bad weather Cheltenham welcomed over 30,000 on the gate on New Year’s Day, with the victory of Whisper the most eye-catching performance of the day. This also marked the first day of coverage by ITV where Ed Chamberlin and the team came straight out of the gates with pace, passion, diversity, banter, humour and important horse racing education, which really set a really nice tone. Everyone did a top job and most importantly, horseracing welcomed lots of new fans who will be back next Saturday on ITV 4 for The Morning Show and the afternoon coverage from a cracking card at Sandown and Wincanton.

Read more

See The Wine Tipster Live

View dates and locations >