Great session on BBC Radio Oxford today with Phil Mercer on the Garden Cafe show. Here are the four wines for Autumn that we featured:

Finca Flichman Reserva Malbec 2012, Mendoza, Argentina. Stockist: Waitrose £9.99.

Beronia Rioja Reserva 2008, Rioja, Spain. Stockists: Waitrose £12.99, Ocado £9.74 until 3rd December.

Edmeades Zinfandel Mendocino County 2010, California, USA. Stockist: Hedonism £18.10.

Quinta do Vallado 2010, Douro, Portugal. Stockist: winedirect.co.uk £23.

Really impressive selection. You can listen again here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01kfj57

Thank you to all the lovely people from Chadlington, Charlbury, Finstock and Billericay who came to The Wine Tipster’s Charity Gig for Friends of Chadlington School and Greatwood Caring for Retired Racehorses. The punters at the packed Chadlington Village Hall consumed Gordal olives, Marcona salted almonds from Brindisa and fabulous mini-pizzas from Cafe de la Post in-between tasting eight wines on sparkling form.

First up was the elegant Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut NV, Champagne, France on offer in Waitrose at £29.99 until April 2nd, followed by Esk Valley’s Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Marlborough, £9.99, Cafe de la Post, The Oxford Wine Company, which really does express the quality of

this New Zealand vintage. We moved on to the well-priced, elegant Planalto Douro Reserva 2011, Portugal (pictured right), £7.99, Majestic, with citrus and peachy flavours, whilst the Mâcon Charnay, Réserve Personelle 2011, Burgundy, France, £9.99, Cafe de la Post, The Oxford Wine Company, with soft, buttery and vanilla flavours is quality, good value Burgundy under a tenner.

Then Zalze Cabernet /Shiraz Rosé 2012, Coastal Region, South Africa, £7.99, Waitrose, full flavoured with attractive red fruits and spice raised the flag for the pink corner, with the wine options round revealing the soft, elegant, rounded and abv friendly 12% Aurora Reserve Pinot Noir 2012, Serra Gaûcha, Brazil, £9.50, Stevens Garnier. Interestingly, many people guessed Pinot Noir and chose Chile instead of New Zealand.

The final part of our journey ended in Europe with the smooth, Beronia Rioja Reserva 2008, Rioja, Spain, £11.99, The Oxford Wine Company, Cafe de la Post and the stunning Ramos Pinto Collectors Port, Douro, Portugal, £13.99 The Oxford Wine Company, Cafe de la Post.

A big thank you to all the wine producers, S.Pellegrino, Cafe de la Post, The Oxford Wine Company and Alex James, Craig Ogden, Ed Fenton, Nicola Leyland, Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival, Chadlington Quality Foods and The Tite Inn for the raffle prizes.

Finally, a big thank you to Robina, Lois, Jo and Steve for organisation and pouring.

The Wine Tipster started his career in the wine trade with Moreno Wines, a specialist in Spanish wines, who are still successfully trading today.
Moreno Wines introduced me to wines from Ribera del Duero, Galacia, Priorat and many other exciting regions of Spain. However what I remember most were the tastings of older vintages of Reservas and Gran Reservas from Rioja, with vertical tastings of Berberana stretching back to the 1964 and 1952 vintages or enjoying aged wines produced by CVNE, López de Heredia and La Rioja Alta.
At the Majestic Wines press tasting this week they included four Riojas Viña Pomal Reserva, Beronia Reserva, Marqués de Murrieta Reserva and Urbina Gran Reserva from a special parcel they had purchased of the 1994 vintage: It seemed very nostalgic to be tasting these reds with some decent bottle age, with my favourite Viña Pomal Reserva 1994, £9.99, obviously showing age in appearance, yet still lively with classic subtle, spicy oak combining with delicate tangy fruit, which I find with older vintages of Rioja. Not a wine to be overpowered by steak, just simply pull the cork and share with others.

The first of The 2012 Tesco Wine Fairs kicked off in Manchester last weekend to a roaring success. The Wine Tipster was once again presenting at the Tesco Workshops and as ever we had full sessions, packing plenty in to our 30 minute themed  tastings. This year in my Campo Viejo Rioja masterclasses, which included their impressive Tempranillo 2010,  we really had everyone thinking they were in Logrono (well , almost)  with manchego, delicious Gordal olives and moreish Salted Marcona Almonds from the wonderful Brindisa in Borough Market – you can buy online, so get ordering.  In the Jacob’s Creek sessions, strawberries were the perfect match to their fruity, light and lower alcohol Cool Harvest range, whilst in the New Zealand workshop Brancott Estate’s quality Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs were bang on form as ever.In this session The Wine Tipster also featured one of the best easy drinking and completely underrated reds around: Brancott Estate Marlborough Pinot Noir 2011, £36.00 per case of 6 x 75cl down from £65.94 per case, Tesco Wine Club which is a steal at this price.

Away from the workshops there was an opportunity for everyone to have a go at a new, fun competition where you could become the guest pundit for the Tesco Wine Community and win a year’s supply of wine. To enter visit the Tesco Wine Community at each of the fairs and also remember whilst you are there to download the new Tesco Discover App.

Thank you Manchester and see you in Bristol 22nd/23rd September , Brighton 29th/30th September, Edinburgh October 20th/21st October or London 27th/28th October.

Just collected my reserved cartons of Woodland Farm’s Nothing but Natural Live Yogurt from the very helpful Chadlington Quality Foods. This yogurt is gorgeous, moreish and delicious with our home grown redcurrants and gooseberries. Look out for Woodland Farm’s fruit yogurts too.

Moving from the Cotswolds to Spain and today I have been providing some food and wine matching tips for some Spanish masterclass sessions that I am presenting in September.Tonight The Wine Tipster will be keeping the Spanish theme going with Gordal olives and salted almonds from Brindisa, matched with Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, £9.49, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose followed by Castillo D Clavijo Blanco 2009, Rioja, Bibendum, which is an old style white, oaky Rioja softened by citrus, fruity freshness. An alternative to Castillo D

Clavijo is Marqués de Cáceres’ classy Antea Barrel Fermented Blanco 2009, £9.99, Majestic or the quintessential white Rioja for me, Marqués de Murrieta Capellanía Blanco 2005, £18.95, Berry Brothers & Rudd, which has intense, oaky influence, balanced by attractive lemony fruit character. If this has put you in the mood to find out more about Spanish Food, Wine and Travel then subscribe to the high quality and in depth quarterly SpainGourmetour, contact Food and Wine from Spain Tel: 0207 – 467 – 2330.

Next week, Frankel will be the star turn at the Yorkshire Ebor Festival 22^nd-24^th August when he appears in the Juddmonte International Stakes at 3.40pm on Wednesday. Surprisingly there are still of plenty of tickets available for the Wednesday, so take a day off work and get along to see this magnificent thoroughbred because there won’t be another like him for a very long time.