Category — Deli Foods

The Channel 4 sponsored Taste festival comes to Edinburgh (The Meadows) from 29 May - 1 June 2008, offering visitors a great opportunity to taste fine foods and wines available in the region.

Imagine a picnic in a park. Now multiply it by thousands of people. Invite all the best restaurants in the area to contribute the food, and discerning vintners to bring the bottles. Make sure some of the guests are famous chefs happy to help out with cooking hints, and organise live music to eat and drink by. This is a Taste Festival.

Amongst the wine-related exhibits will be the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine, Portobello’s Fine Wine Co, New Zealand’s Jackson Estate Winery, Champagne merchants Lovely Bubbly, highly-rated Scottish Merchant Valvona & Crolla,Bordeaux Wines, Wines of Chile, Faustino Rioja

Being in Scotland there is also a Food & Whisky School!

For more info and tickets see www.channel4.com

Essex specialists in the wines of the South of France Joseph Barnes has an attractive website and great range of wines from southern France - a definition which stretches from Collioure AC on the Mediterranean/Spanish border round to Bandol in the east beyond Marseille; and includes a good selection from the south west including Madiran, Cahors, Bergerac, Fronton and Gaillac.

… we seek out some of the finest wines from southern France - all from small, independent estates that the ‘big boys’ pass by.
We have visited the vineyards, know the vignerons and, in many cases, have seen the wines being made.
This hands-on approach means that you can buy your wines from us with confidence.
It has also made us ‘Independent Specialist Merchant of the Year’ at the World Wine Awards.

In addition to a great selection of wines, they also offer some interesting recipe ideas and on Friday 4th April 2008 there is a wine and cheese matching tasting at the the Kings Arms Public House (10 Market Hill, Saffron Walden) with some distinctive French cheeses not readily available locally.

Joseph Barnes Wines
13 Market Row, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 1HB
Telephone +44 (0)1799 528019
www.josephbarneswines.com

London retailer chain Jeroboams whose interest spread from an up-market deli, whisky retailer and wine merchants has revamped their online prescence for 2008.

Jeroboams is the wine retailer with 8 stores across London, Mr Christians the deli and Milroys of Soho the whisky specialist. Each of the websites now has “more background information to help make online decisions more informed as well as improved web features to make shopping easier”.

Enhanced Information

• Fiches techniques and tasting notes for each wine and whisky
• In-depth, market-focussed discussion on key countries and regions on both the Milroy’s of Soho and Jeroboams sites
• Mr Christian’s has full menu listings for Notting Hill’s favourite deli and brings a feel of the shop’s character to the internet.

New Web Features

• Reduced delivery costs - £9.95 or free on orders over £200.00 in England and Wales
• Enhanced ‘My Account’ area that allows customers to view their order history as well as manage the wishlist and address book
• ‘Quick-Shop’ feature allows customers to find a product simply by entering the product code from any offer or list
• Click and Collect feature that allows customers to pick their order up from their nearest Jeroboams shop

Each of the stores, incidently, has a live webcam - always fun!

From their Eastbourne base the Sussex Wine Company are rather active on the tasting/gourmet dinner front. Their calendar brims with delights, that quickly sell out by all accounts.

We’re an Independent Wine Merchant based in Eastbourne supplying quality wines from boutique producers around the world. We have a comprehensive selection of whisky, spirits, Champagne, organic wines, and luxury goods such as caviar, foie gras and handmade East Sussex organic chocolates. We deliver to the UK and now the EU, offer free (UK) delivery over £100 and feature many discounted mixed cases. We also produce a monthly newsletter with further subscriber offers.

The range is strong on France, Italy and Australia. Other areas are a bit light but offer ’selected quality’ - Millton Opu Riesling an organic wine from New Zealand or Quinta da Boavista Espiga Tinto from Portugal for example.

For the gourmet the deli section holds many, mostly French, delicacies plus a wide range of caviar for those with deep pockets. Glasses, gift packs and gift certificates complete a good, broad range. Nothing wrong with the website either - easily navigable, clear and with just the right level of details on the products.

Delivery for orders under £100 is charged at £6.95.

The Sussex Wine Company
47 South Street
Little Chelsea
Eastbourne BN21 4UT
Tel/Fax: 01323 431143

Not just 15o wines on the list but a fine looking range of deli items too - pasta sauces, olive oils, balsamic vinegars and the like. Italy Abroad is a member of the ASDW (Association of Small Direct Wine Merchants) about which you can read in the Telegraph.

The plethora of unusual grape varieties alone makes Italy a fascinating and exciting country to explore wine wise. One way to sample the delights of Italy and the range of wines Italy Abroad offers would be via one of their pre-mixed cases. These range in price from £70 up to £150 or so. There are five different cases to select from.

Red, white and sparkling wines are all listed and available to order by the bottle if the pre-mixed cases do not appeal. A range of organic wines is also available. For a regular two bottle shipment over a year (?) the wine club will be of interest. Cost is £185.

… “Il giro d’Italia con il vino”- was formed, in order to bring to a wider public some of the outstanding small and medium-sized Italian wine makers who, in our opinion, make Italy one of the most interesting wine producing country in the world.”

Every shipment also includes detailed information about the wine’s producers, tasting notes, and food pairing suggestions from Italyabroad.com online recipes. In addition, you’ll receive special offers for more Italian wines at discounted prices, available exclusively to Club members.”

My only complaint is the lack of delivery charge details in the small print. Oh and the fact that the online newsletter hasn’t been updated since December 2005!

The indomitable Paula Sinberg runs the Ultimate Wine Company and for a small operation she manages to gather an impressive range of individualistic and quality wines.

I have had the delight in attending several of her tastings (held locally to me in Marlow, Buckinghamshire and other up in London) and her passion certainly manifests itself. They are a mix of the formal - sit down and the informal, pass the wines around and chat with a light buffet in between batches of wines. In the schedule I note that coming is an Italian Discoveries tasting (30 Nov London, 2 Dec Marlow).

Range-wise all the main countries are covered although the Austrian listing is quit extensive and Italy is an obvious passion. New Zealand offers has several quality wines I haven’t seen listed elsewhere and, interestingly, Portugal has a very good representation too. Although generally pricey the Californian section is extensive, more so than many other specialists.

In amongst the wines several deli items await discovery; these are often included in the light buffet available during the tastings - another reason for going along to one!

The Ultimate Wine Company,
8 Millbank, Mill Road, Marlow, Bucks, SL7 1UA
Tel: (+44 1628) 472214
No retail outlet. Slightly high delivery charge at £15 per order.