Category — Still Wines

The Channel4 sponsored Taste festival comes to Leeds Milllenium Square from 5-8 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 exhibits will be Bordeaux Wines, Wines of Chile, Faustino Rioja, Wines of South Africa and Playford Ros representing Villa Sandi - Italian Proscecco producers.

Leeds Brewery and Goslings Rum will also contribute to what promises to be a great cocktail of wine and food.

For more info and tickets see www.channel4.com

It cannot be often that you would find a New Zealand Cloudy Bay and a red wine from Wales on the same list ! But at ND John you can discover the Sugarloaf Vineyards Deri Coch, and even on their website they state “They must be mad with our weather - but somehow they pull it off, and in some style!” - Deri Coch is a blend of Triomphe D’Alsace, Regent and Rondo varieties and has brambly autumn fruit flavours with a delicious sour cherry finish” (£8.50)

ND John Wine Merchants Ltd are an established wine merchants in the South Wales area supplying fine restaurants, hotels, gastro-pubs and clubs.

In 2003, we moved to new premises and opened a large ‘wine warehouse’ bringing our extensive range of wines direct to the public.

The success of this business led to us expanding our retail operation onto the internet to enable people throughout the UK to experience our portfolio of wines from the bargain new world offerings to the more prestigious old world favourites.

In between they offer a decent selection of wines from France, Italy, Spain, USA, Australia. New Zealand and Lebanon amongst others.

ND John, 90 Walter Road, Swansea SA1 4QF
Phone: 01792 644 688 Fax: 01792 646 600 Email: mail@ndjohn.co.uk

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

Oddbins and Nicolas come together for their annual wine fair on 17th & 18th May 2008 to be held at Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club in west London.

Offering a whole host of vinous delights to taste and an opportunity to meet, in person, winemakers from all around the world.
It’s the perfect occasion to sample the Oddbins & Nicolas ranges of wines, in a professional yet fun environment, with the chance to learn more about the products on our shelves and the people behind them.

The event includes masterclasses on “Discover Argentina”, Bruichladdich whiskies, d’Arenberg winery (McLaren Vale, South Australia), Bordeaux, Champagnes and Anakena Ona winery (Chile)

Among many others, highlights at this year’s event include: d’Arenberg, Dashwood, De Bortoli, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, Pernod Ricard, Paragon Vintners, Chapoutier, Montana, Lindauer, Cellar Trend, Masi, Cave de Tain, Gerard Bertrand, Taylor’s Port, Cillar De Silos El Quintalal, Jourdan Bordeaux, Cordoniu Wines, Bruichladdich Distillery, Inverhouse Distillery

Book your tickets (£25 11am - 5pm) ONLINE

You would hope that sourcing your wines from their country of origin would guarentee the very best selection. I have no experience of the wines available from Spain in a Bottle but the range at least looks interesting.

We are located and run from offices in the heart of Spain. Spanish wine is our passion and we are dedicated to offering our customers some of the finest wine this country has to offer. All the varieties on offer are authentic, traditional wines created with the most modern of wine making techniques. Our wines are highly recommended and we believe the huge selection of Reds, Whites and Roses will delight every palate. Our selection really does reflect what Spanish people are choosing and drinking here in Spain. These are the wines the people of Spain not only drink but covet. These are the wines the Spanish seek out and keep for themselves. Indeed, these are the wines that define a country.

Prices on the site are listed in Euros, which doesn’t really help us non-Euro Brits. But the range - reds, whites and cavas spread across all the regions - certainly looks interesting.

Sadly though the delivery charge might put many people off ordering. With a minimum order of 6 bottles the delivery charge to the UK is the equivalent of £17 while a 12 bottle purchase will be just over £20. Ordering wines in the UK normally sees a delivery charge of under £10 a case.

See www.spaininabottle.com/

The aim of From Vineyards Direct is simple - to bring you very special, high quality wines at prices well below traditional outlets, and to provide you with the highest level of service possible.

From Vineyards Direct is the brainchild of David Campbell and Esme Johnstone who write that their intention is to offer a small number of delicious drinking wines, principally from France, but not exclusively, imported direct from the growers and delivered to your door at the click of a mouse.

“We aim to be 20% or more cheaper than through traditional channels.”

The wine list, when we looked, numbered 38 products. Mostly hailing from Burgundy the wines include bottles from Spain and Italy too. There are a range of mixed cases too.

While delivery is free in the UK the minimum order quantity might put you off, especially as the range is so small - Minimum total order is 2 cases (24 bottles of 75cl equivalent) for the UK and 5 cases (60 bottles of 75cl equivalent) for Northern Ireland.

Women of Great Britain prepare for a collective sigh of relief, as wineSight introduces its stylish and sophisticated range of French wines, under the Sublimelle brand, targeting stylish and sophisticated ladies.

Finally, there is a company prepared to speak to women as wine connoisseurs and not winos.
Finally, there is a company prepared to call time on a male-dominated wine market.
Finally, there is a portfolio of high quality French wine targeting women who appreciate wine for what it really is – a pleasure to be enjoyed and experienced.

A team of professionals combining wine know-how and marketing expertise with export knowledge created Sublimelle by wineSight to address the individual preferences of women without relying on patronising and over-familiar marketing messages. There is no need for the jokes, images of distressed housewives or lingerie, which are so readily relied upon by other alcoholic drinks brands squarely aimed at women. Instead, wineSight prefers to let the wine do the talking.

Following numerous taste tests with women, 25 wines from key regions across France such as Bourgogne, Languedoc and Alsace, have been selected from an original list of 400, which were pre-selected by wineSight’s expert Frederic Auriol who has 20 years of wine industry experience. Sublimelle carries colourful but subtle labels providing straight-talking details such as brief tasting notes, food matching, and information about the origin of the grape variety.

The dumbing down of wine for women has thankfully come to the end of the line with the introduction of the Sublimelle range. Over the past year or so, brands for women has focused on making wine lower in calories, lower in alcohol and lower in flavour, despite the fact that more and more women have become interested in trading up to a higher quality glass of wine as a well-deserved indulgence.

We’ve all heard the statistics pointing to women buying and consuming more wine than men in many countries around the world. Studies have also proven that many women prefer smooth, supple and subtle wines offering a delicate combination of flavours, while men, especially before reaching ‘expert’ levels, tend to prefer full-bodied wines.

For women, the scent of the wine is crucial, while men focus on the palate. Women tend to seek the full wine experience: who we’re with, what we’re eating, and how we feel. Yet, the market continues to be dominated by brands aimed at men, alongside a handful of wines for women, many of which fall short of the mark when it comes to style, taste and finesse.

wineSight appreciates that there is no need to over-complicate matters: the French produce excellent wine; British women like to treat themselves to a delicious glass or two, and are impressed by taste rather than wine snobbery.

Currently, the wines are available for sale online at http://www.chateauselect.co.uk/SublimelleIntro.htm with no minimum order. Since the company’s arrival in Great Britain in November 2007, wineSight has developed relationships with some of the leading bars and restaurants in London, which are keen to capitalise on women’s increasing interest in higher quality wines on their night out.

wineSight aims to plug the huge gap in the on-trade market for stylish and sophisticated products for women that are free from snobbery and jargon - without the patronising marketing pitch. The brand Sublimelle is also proving popular with leading hotel chains and airlines as a way of reaching female customers with an exclusive and targeted offering. wineSight plans to be involved in a series of events more specifically dedicated to women from fashion shows to networking lunches and business conferences.

Cooden Cellars is an independent wine merchant established by Colin Barnes and Ian Jarman in 1997. In May 2001 we opened our retail shop in the Grand Hotel Buildings, Compton Street, Eastbourne. They were awarded Independent Merchant of the Year 2007 as well as Regional Wine Merchant of the Year in the IWC Awards for the last three years, in 2003 and 2004 as runner-up and in 2005 outright.

For those not lucky enough to live within the bounds of Eastbourne they maintain a very functional and informative website. Registered users can login and leave their own tasting notes. The only thing that is lacking are images of the wine bottles (perhaps they should engage this budding photographer?)

The range is excellent across the board - lots of interesting wines from Argentina and Australia, New Zealand and Portugal are particularly interesting with several wines we are yet to discover. Regular offers, a regularly updated blog section and a decent range of spirits plus a regular payment wine club complete the picture. Perhaps the perfect wine merchant?

For almost 25 years Peter Sidebotham has been enjoying fine red Burgundy wine, a tipple which inspires a singularly passionate loyalty among devotees.

Now he has turned that passion into a unique business with Hand Picked Burgundy, offering select bottles from his favourite French region via the internet.

Peter, 44, formerly made his living as a sales and marketing expert with ICI on Teesside. Some years ago he foresaw the decline of chemical manufacturing in the UK and, with one eye on a future change of career, studied for and passed the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s advanced certificate with distinction.

Earlier this year he opted for voluntary redundancy, and straight away set to converting vineyard dreams into vocation – Hand Picked Burgundy was born.

“My aim is to be a reliable source of good quality red Burgundy that is ready to drink,” said Peter, who lives near Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

“The vast majority of Burgundy offered for sale by traditional merchants is far too young. If they do offer older wines, many merchants provide only a list of wines, without commentary or tasting notes.

“By its nature, Burgundy is complex, making it difficult to know what wines are going to taste like – let alone which are better, and when they will drink well.”

Peter’s aim therefore is to offer only wines that are ready to drink.

Each offering has been personally tasted by Peter (tough job!) and given comprehensive ratings based on the three-dimensional criteria of fruit, flavour and body.

These ratings are backed up by detailed tasting notes as well as second and third opinions provided by renowned Burgundy experts and writers

What’s more, Peter offers further advice on how to serve the wine to get the best from it.

“With red Burgundy, even wines from the same vineyard can be totally different, so it can be incredibly difficult to know what a bottle will be like, without years of study and tasting.

“I want people to be able to choose with confidence and drink with pleasure.”

Fuelling a passion for fine Burgundy is not cheap – bottles on offer from Peter’s climate-controlled cellars range from £15 right up to £400 each, but for the discerning drinker, he hopes to offer the perfect choice.

The range currently includes more than 100 different wines from nearly 50 different producers, and Peter plans to steadily increase the range up to about 300 wines.

A choice of wrapping and presentation options opens up the range to gift buyers.

Having spent months developing and fine-tuning the web site – hpb-wines.com – Peter is now looking to target Burgundy lovers across the country.

If you have always dreamt of managing your own vineyard and are looking for an established estate then the sale of Old Luxters/Chiltern Valley Wines on the South Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border may be of interest.

Perhaps an English estate was not your first choice but there is more to Old Luxters than just wine. They have a thriving brewing industry there too. The production of the Barn Ale, Dark Roast Ale and others forms an integral part of the business; they also bottle other producers ales.

The Barn Ale, incidentally, is the only micro-brewed ale to be awarded a ‘By Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’.

The estate which includes a five bedroom house and swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and garden with orchard, the out-buildings hired out for events, the brewery and vineyard are on the market for £4 million.

FRIDAY 16 - MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2007 - The Annual Salon des Vignerons Independents (indpendent winemakers) holds its annual show in the Grand Palais in Lille. Over 400 winemakers from every corner of France will be offering tastings of their wines with the opportunity to buy at vineyard gate prices. Makes a great weekend in the exciting city of Lille with its medieval centre for shopping, dining and drinking!
See www.frenchduck.co.uk
London - Lille by Eurostar in 100 minutes

In the very heart of the Cotswolds Bennetts Fine Wines looks every inch the old-fashioned traditional wine merchant - small, atmospheric shop with stone floors and a slightly hushed atmosphere.
Situated on the High Street of the charming Costwold village of Chipping Campden (Glos), the shop does have an impressive array of top quality (and top price) Claret, Burgundy, Champagne and Port. However delve only a little deeper and there are many exciting finds from regional France, elsewhere in Europe and the New World - especially New Zealand.
I have a particular passion for the lesser-known wines of the French regions, and I tend to judge a wine merchant by their discoveries from non-classic France - partly because some are too dismissive of such wines, and also because whilst there are many fantastic wines here, the merchant has to be selective to choose only the better producers, and this can take some work.
Hence Bennetts Fine Wines passes my test with flying colours - not because of the volume of French regional wines, but because their selection looks excellent. I would not have expected to see a Cotes Roannaises AC, a Gamay from the Upper Loire (Robert Serol £6.99). Great to see Madirans from Chateau de Viella, Pic St Loup (Languedoc) from Chateau de Lascaux and the wonderful Jurancons from Domaine Cauhapé. Another rarity are the Collioure AC wines from Domaine de la Rectorie and Domaine Pietri-Geraud!
Well, if the rest of their list is as thoughtfully and adventurously chosen as these, then this has to be a shop worth visiting and a list worth exploring.
The old-style shop is complemented by an excellent website (see www.bennettsfinewines.com), mail order service, nationwide delivery, bottles open for tasting in the shop every Saturday and a series of wine tasting events held throughout the winter.

Bennetts Fine Wines
High, Street, Chipping Campden, Glos GL55 6AG
T: 01386 840392 F:01386 840974

Taste Spain (12 - 19 October 2007) - it’s a celebration of Spanish wine, food and culture in London, held with the help of some top Spanish restaurants such as Brindisa, Moro and Barrafina - as well as being hosted by The Spanish Tourist Board and Phaidon Press.

The event will take place at various venues around London and the highlight will be 2 days at Borough Market (Wednesday 17 &Thursday 18 October) where there will be food and wine tastings, live music and flamenco break-dancing, so bring your castanets and a sharpened appetite to The Borough!

For more details see www.tastespain.co.uk

H and H Bancroft have updated their website.

A nice clean feel, stylishly laid out. A good search facility and basic wine information that leads on to fuller details. Purchases have to be by the unmixed case though. Registered users get a wish list facility which may be useful for some, or just wishful thinking for others.

“Our wine portfolio at H&H Bancroft changes each year but the ethos behind it remains constant. From the classic regions of France to the furthest stretches of the New World our Buying Director, David Round MW has succeeded in bringing in the well-established names and also the hottest new wineries to ensure that our customers can explore the world of wine with the greatest of ease. If re-assurance were needed that we are working closely with the best growers in the world, we need only look at the awards and critical acclaim that roll in every month as their latest vintages are reviewed.”

The range is strong on France, Italy and Spain. Argentina puts in a good range too but South Africa, New Zealand, Portugal and Chile are rather poorly represented.

We generally encourage winelovers to support small independent merchants. Many of them are adventurous in stocking interesting, unusual and small-production wines which the supermarkets and larger merchant chains avoid, preferring bland branded wines suited to the mass (and often undiscriminating) market.
However, business for small merchants can be precarious financially, and from time to time some disappear. Overheads can be high and factors such as excise duty, exchange rates, transport and warehousing costs take a big chunk out of any profits.
It is always sad to see a merchant go out of business. However, there have been some recent horror stories of merchants who have disappeared with client’s money for en-primeur purchases - where you pay upfront for wine which is still in the cellars (usually in Bordeaux) which is then delivered at a later date, when the duty and transport costs need to be paid. Admittedly this applies primarily to the top Bordeaux chateaux, but for many of us this is the only way to get hold of potentially great claret without going broke ourselves.
Decanter (5 October 2007) reports that PMH Wines in Godalming seems to have let customers down by failing to pay French suppliers for wine ordered on behalf of a client. Although PMH went into liquidation in 2006, Decanter reports that the director of the company is now trading as The Wine Barrel based in Sandhurst and Aldershot (Hants). Buying “en primeur” is always risky, because you are assuming that the vintage you have purchased will be both drinkable and valuable in years to come - but you obviously have to be additionally careful who you buy from!