Glenmorangie Tasting (part 2 of the Embassy Trip)

After our fairly in depth tour of the distillery we returned to the conference room next to the offices for a tutored tasting with Dr Bill. On the table in front of us sat seven little tulip glasses with lids and a jug of Tarlogie Springs water. We got a quick slide show about the wood management program before we started tasting.

Sample no 1.
This was a colourless liquid that was revealed to be neat spirit before ageing. On the nose it had a rough pruney aroma about it, that actually put me in mind of some grappas that Ive had in the murky past. But after adding a drop of water to it, the aromas became more floral - acacia and white roses with a touch of oriental spices. The taste was surprisingly clean with a sort of sweetness about it that I hadnt expected.

Sample no 2.
10 year Glenmorangie. Quite apple like aromas with spicy floral notes. With the addition of water the aromas became more like Verbena with a touch of Geranium and honey, like a trendy herbal tea. Without water the taste was quite harsh and prickly on my tongue, but after a dash of water the whisky was really smooth with a kind of unroasted almond and honey flavour with exotic herbs. Im getting to appreciate this more as I get older I think.

Sample no 3.
This was the Artisan Cask sample, there was quite a dominant aroma of mint with bitter chocolate and pain epice, but I think I also found a touch of cobnut in there too. After adding a drop of water it had a more creamy nose, almost white burgundy in character, with a buttery toffee essense to it. Tasting it before the water was added I found it quite aggressive with rich warming spices and caramelised nuts, but with a touch of Tarlogie water in it became more minted with pineapple like fruit flavours and a creamy finish. I really liked this one with water.

Sample no 4.
Much darker colour, to be expected for an 18year old. I was instantly reminded of Crunchies by this one, chocolate and honeycomb, but more cinder toffee than Cadbury's. There were hints of white flowers in the nose too, but they seemed to be shy. With water it became more Baklava in character, nuts drenched in honey with some chopped dates throughout. I didnt taste this because I was beginning to feel a bit pissed by this stage.

Sample no 5.
Slight pinkish tinge gives this away as the Portwood finish. This was easy - proper turkish delight, dusted with icing sugar with pastilles of 90%+ cocoa mass. There was also a slightly aftershave like aroma that Bill identified as Sandalwood. I was pissed by now.

Sample no 6.
Im getting a bit confused because I think this was the last sample that I made notes for, but Im sure there were a few more. This was a cask sample from a special cask of the Sherry wood that has had somewhere in the region of 7 years extra maturation in the Sherry buts. The colour was a rich golden amber. On the nose it was a touch sulphurous with strong aromas of honeycomb and ginger spices. Almost gingerbread like flavours, the sherry has really dominated the character of the whisky and you would struggle to identify the Glenmorangie underneath.

Head swimming we came to the end of the tasting and we had a quick question and answer session before being driven down to Glenmorangie house where we would spend the night being tortured in Glenmorangies unique way!

Visiting the distillery (part 1)

You know things are going to get off to a bad start when they involve getting up early. No good ever comes of getting up early. In this case I had to be up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am, to get myself to John Lennon Airport for a 9:05 flight. Due to the ridiculous "security" restrictions you now have to turn up two hours before your flight is due, so I had to be at the airport for 7:05am. Which was almost pointless because the damn check in didnt open till nearly 7:30, but who am I to complain. However after a fairly uneventful flight and an hour in a chauffeur (how the hell do you spell that word??!!) driven Jaguar I found myself in the Glen of Tranquility itself - the Glenmorangie distillery, nestling on the banks of the Dornoch Firth just a few minutes drive north of Tain.

I was met by Graham Eunson who has been the Distillery manager since 1999 when Dr Bill moved down to head office in Broxburn. In the office where I was to wait until the others arrived I was introduced to Bill Lumsden who I suppose is Mr Glenmorangie, for he is the public face of the whisky and the man responsable for their innovative wood management program that has seen them "experimenting" with finishing the whisky in different barrels to add extra dimensions to the flavour. I also meet Pauline, the assistant distillery manager. So now they are going to have to change the strapline of the whisky to made by the 15 men and 1 woman of Tain. Doesnt quite have the same ring to it eh? After a short wait and a very pleasant lunch we were ready to start the Embassy trip to Glenmorangie. We began by taking a quick drive up to the Tarlogie Springs, the source of Glenmorangies water.

Glenmorangie are quite unique in the fact that the Tarlogie Springs are bubbled up through layers of limestone and chalk, which are somewhat out of place in the Granitic hills and mountains of Scotland. As a result the water is quite "hard" - ie has high levels of dissolved minerals and salts especially Calcium salts. So they guard the springs quite jealously. The water was cristal clear and when we looked we could see the water bubbling up through the sandy soil at the bottom of the spring. After walking around the spring we headed back to the distillery for a guided tour of the operation. Starting at the old malting house where in days gone by they would have malted the barley themselves, these days the barley comes from a central maltings who toast the grains to a specification laid down by Glenmorangie. The barley passes through the mills to grind it into a course flour before being added to the mash tun. Here it is soaked in 60degree water to break open the starch cells and allow enzymes to start the process of breaking down the long chain starches into short molecule sugars which the yeasts can then convert to alcohol. Once all the sugars have been extracted the solution is then passed into the washbacks where the yeast is added at nature takes its course. They aim for a quick ferment to convert all the sugar into alcohol. Once this is done the result is called the low wines, and is approximately 9 % abv. It then goes into a low wines reciever before being pumped into the first still for the first distillation. The stills at Glenmorangie are amongst the highest in Scotland and this allows the purest alcohols to reach the top where they travel down into the condensers to be collected for the second distillation. The second set of stills are slightly smaller than the first ones and again here the aim is to purify the spirit and remove the harmful alcohols like methanol. So the foreshots are the first cut, and they get re-cycled back into the process to be endlessly refined. The middle cut is the sweetest and purest ethanol and it is this that will end its days maturing in an oak cask to be become Glenmorangie. The feints or end cut is the roughest and again it is re-cycled back to be redistilled.

We were then taken round to see the place where the spirit is filled into oak casks where it must mature for a minimum of three years before it can legally be called whisky. It is in the selection of the casks that for many years Glenmorangie has led the market. Dr Bill then took us into Warehouse number three to show us the Artisan casks.

Specially selected from trees grown in the Ozark mountains of America these casks are quite special. The exceptionally slow growth of the trees means that the rings are quite tightly packed and so the wood is quite dense and tightly grained. This interacts with the spirit in a way that I cant quite understand, but it seems to have a profound difference to the "standard" Glenmorangie. Must be pixie magic! Anyway as you can see from the picture Bill gets quite excited about these casks. While in the warehouse we got the opportunity to taste the differences between first fill casks and second fills. The first fills have a much richer, more caramelised character to them, with toasty coconut flavours being dominant. The second fills were much lighter in colour with a lighter nose, more minty floral with hints of lighter nuts - hazel, cobnuts. After a bit of a nosey in there and a cracking atmospheric photo it was time to return to the offices for our tutored tasting.

Glenmorangie rhymes with Orangey

Ive got to be up at five am on Monday. Five bloody am in the morning!!! All because I need to be at Liverpool Airport for 7am for a 9am flight to Inverness. Im off to Glenmorangie, the Glen of Tranquility, according to their strapline on the adverts that were aired on TV a few years ago.

LVMH (Louis Vitton, Moet Hennessy) the multinational conglomerate that now owns Glenmorangie has decided to develop a brand Embassy for Glenmorangie. They have picked folks from around the country to represent the brand in key regions and I was invited to be selected to cover the Northwest. So this little jolly is by way of an introduction to the Embassy and a chance for us to have a guided tour of the distillery by the legendary Dr Bill Lumsden. I have been fortunate enough to have a guided tour by the man himself many years ago when Glenmorangie was part of Bacardi. He even took us into the bonded warehouse were we sampled a cask of the first limited release, the Claret wood finish Glenmorangie. Now I confess that Im not really a whisky kind of guy, but this was the first whisky I had tried that I found I could drink. So much so that when it was eventually released over a year later I managed to track down a bottle and bought it for £60. Last year a bottle sold at McTeers whisky auction for just over £500. Thats a nice healthy return!! So I look forward to seeing what joys and sneak previews we will get this time!!

Pictures and write up to follow upon my return on Tuesday.

Virtual Cellar Tour.

Hello and welcome to the cellars of the Chester Grosvenor and Spa, my name is Garry Clark and Im the sommelier here at the Grosvenor. Inside these doors we are currently sitting on approximately £300k worth of stock, at cost value. The last time that I counted we had just over 18,000 bottles with a selling price between £19 and £5000.

Here we have our cold store where we keep our white wines and champagnes. In a few weeks time we are going to have these racks replaced with new racking that will allow us to store 4,000 bottles in rack and a further thousand or more in cases. The Grosvenor is one of the Depositaires of the Oenotheque range from Dom Perignon, which is their wine library of late disgorged stock available in tiny quantities to the select depositaires. Currently the oldest vintage available is the 1964 which is on our list for £975 a bottle, we also have the 1966 for a modest £1250 a bottle. Previously the oldest available vintage was the 1959, of which we sold five bottles, Im led to believe that we are the most successful Depositaire in terms of sales.

We move out of the cold store and here we have the first of our two Holding stock areas. We currently hold roughly £120,000 worth of stock in our holding stock until it is more mature and ready to be listed. In addition to this we have somewhere in the region of £50,000 worth of stock held "en primeur" - much of it yet to be bottled. Once the cold store is racked up this holding will be seriously reduced as much of the wines that are approaching drinkability are added onto the list. Each year we purchase numerous wines "en primeur" - such as Domaine de la Romanee Conti wines, Petrus, First Growth Clarets and certain other high value wines. In many cases these wines wont be bottled for another two years and then they will be sent to us for storage here in our cellars. We will keep them in the holding stock for at least another two to three years before adding them onto the list. So its an awesome responsability to be purchasing wines that somebody will be adding to the list in the next seven or more years. Ive been extremely fortunate to have inherited a fantastically stocked cellar and this year will see the first wines that I was actively involved in purchasing brought into the holding stock. It will still be a few years before I get to list them.

Here we have our dessert wines. Dessert wines have taken a bit of a slump over the last year, but we are starting to see a slight resurgence in sales as people are moving away from the huge alcoholic reds of the new world and back to the more restrained wines of the old world. Currently we have our two oldest bottles in this section. Our oldest is a 1917 Climens from Barsac. The ullage level on this bottle is quite risky at bottom shoulder and judgeing by the condition of the wine inside I honestly wouldnt hold out much hope for it, but as past experience has shown you can never tell until you open the bottle. It is hard to see from the cork, but we believe that the bottle was re-corked in 1969, as the other two bottles we had, had been. We also have our second oldest bottle which is a 1921 Yquem. Comparing the colour and condition of the wines, you would see that the Yquem is much clearer and brighter than the Climens and that would lead you to think the wine would be in better condition. It certainly ought to be, 1921 being considered as one of the stellar vintages of the last century for Yquem. The Yquem is listed at £3950 a bottle and the Climens was £1200. We seem to be listing more dessert wines from the new world now, with a diversity of production methods that dont all rely on Botrytis to create the rich unctious juice to start with. We have a smashing little wine from Randall Grahm the clown prince of winemaking who makes a California Ice wine by freezing the harvested grapes in an industrial freezer before crushing them and making his "Vin de Glaciere".

We move over to look at our collection of large format bottles. This is one of the many things that convinced me that I wanted to work here when I came for my interview. Whilst quite a few places have magnums on their lists, very few indeed have Double Magnums, Imperials, Jeroboems and the like. While they can be a bugger to pour from, the centre of gravity on a half full jeroboem places a huge amount of stress on your arms, the theatre of having a large group drinking from Jeros or Imps is fantastic.

We move over to the main attraction of the cellar our red wine wall. Here is the most significant value of the cellar. Just over four thousand bottles in total racked up. Our most expensive bottle is the 1985 La Romanee Conti from Domaine de la Romanee Conti, at £5000 a bottle. To give you some idea of the price of this wine, six bottles sold last November at auction in Southeby's US auction for $119,500 (approx £10,190 a bottle), so you can see its a steal at £5000!! La Romanee Conti is a tiny little vineyard producing less than 500 cases (6bottles) a year. Demand is exceptionally high and it is not uncommon for the wine to be sold several times over before it is even bottled!

When I started here four years ago the cellar was favouring Old world wines roughly 70% old world to 30% new world. Now after four years we are close to parity - 50/50, but since November we have seen our sales swinging slowly back to the old world - France, Italy, Spain and to an extend Germany. I believe this is down to people trading up from one dimensional new world wines to more complex old world wines. I think it is also a reflection of people looking for more maturity in their wines and a bit less alcohol too. Personally I think that the best value for money is often found in the new world, but sheer quality and complexity and just plain style you have to look at the old world. There are always exceptions however.

Over the coming year we hope to further develop the wine-list to meet our ever changing demands, we continue to seek out quality from around the world, as well as searching for those producers who are willing to stick their necks out a bit and try to grow the ungrowable in the most obscure places. Californian Albarino, South African Touriga, Aussie Gros Manseng, and many other out-of-place varietials. At the end of the day our list is dictated by our customers who ask for wines. We work with over 30 different producers to seek out the best products and secure the right prices so that we can keep the accountants happy and the customers buying!! We try to involve the various team members from the Kitchen brigade to the waiting staff who are serving the wines in the Brasserie and Library and Arkle. Everyone has something to contribute to the process. Our cellar has evolved considerably in the four years Ive been here and Im sure it will continue to develop even further in the coming years. I look forward to seeing where it takes me!

Moutard Cuvee de 6 Cepages 2000

Weve got a record of journalists in for the weekend. (Not sure if that is the correct collective noun, but I like the cut of its jib!). So they were being wined and dined in the Arkle tonight by Penta our (temporary) Marketing manager, and I decided to kick start them with this little beauty. Its a relatively small domaine, and one of the few that maintains vineyards growing the lesser known varieties of Champagne. Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Pinot Blanc are all still legally permitted grapes (although it is no longer permitted to plant them). Like the Aubry brothers, Francois Moutard believes that the grapes must have been planted and used for a reason. Tasting this champagne it is easy to see what they contribute. It has a more floral, rounded character with slight hints of honey and a crisper, sharper acidity which lends itself well to be used as an aperitif. I love this champagne because it has something different. When I taste one of the big brands there is a certain "blandness" for want of a better description, there is flavour and layers of elegance to the wines, but they just seem to miss that extra personality. Thats why I love the grower champagnes so much, to me they express what Champagne is all about, the terrior of the region, the complexities the different varieties bring to the mix, and the difficulties in what is essentially a borderline growing environment. I believe that when you are buying in the vast majority of your fruit, no matter how long standing the contracts you may have with the numerous growers may be, you dont have control of your principle ingredient and ultimately you cannot have control of your end product.

Caymus Special Selection 1992

I kind of hate opening old bottles of wine. The corks inevitably are halfway knackered, and you just know that no matter how carefully you try, the bastard is going to split and you'll end up having to fish out the remains. One of the best investments I ever made was in a Cistercian Monestary in Poblet, just up the road from the Grans Muralles vineyard in Conca de la Barbera, Catalunya, Spain. For the princely sum of four euros (at the time just over a quid) I got a Butlers Thief aka Ah-So wine knife. Consisting of two thin prongs, one slightly longer than t'other the idea is to carefully slide them between the cork and the bottle, thereby trapping the cork between the prongs. Then said cork can be carefully extracted without any tell tale holes, so the domestics can consume your prized claret and replace it with Hungarian plonk. I usually use it all the time now for older bottles, because it is much more reliable.

Anyways, I decided not to use it tonight for the Caymus because the cork actually looked in decent knick and it still felt firm on top. Mistake! Bloddy thing split in two and I ended up fishing the other half out with the worm from a longer screwpull corkscrew. But it was well worth the effort. Upon opening the wine had rich black fruit aromas with mature overtones, earthyness and a hint of stewed fruit. Over time it developed richer aromas more xmas pudding like than before. Ive only got one more bottle to go, then its gone.

Chivite Gourmet

Tonight is the Chivite Gourmet night, and two weeks ago it was looking a bit grim. We were facing the prospect of doing a gourmet night with 16 covers, only ten of which were paying. Through a hefty dose of luck and some perseverence weve managed to get 45 bums on seats tonight, of which 12 are freebies. Im happy with that.

Marife Blanco from Chivite has flown over from the Pro-Wein festival in Germany today to host the evening. Ive literally just finished decanting the reds and got changed, and Ive got to get back as the first guests have started arriving.

We are starting off with the Gran Feudo Rosado, which is 100% Garnacha (Grenache). Almost a flourescent pink in colour, this is Spains best selling Rosado. Light, fruity with rosehips and raspberries on the nose, its very dry with a hint of a spicy finish. I can guess that this would be great drinking ice cold on a hot beach with the sun blazing down on you.

The first course is being paired with the Gran Feudo Chardonnay, a fresh style of white, stainless steel tank fermented, from Navarra. The nose would suggest a touch of oak about it, but Im going to put that down to the wines maturity (two years old). Thats going with a Paella Negra (Black paella - coloured with squid ink), mussels, clams and spiced squid. with a lobster bisque.

The intermediate course is a carpaccio of tuna with a salsa of cucumbers, pepper and mediterranean herbs served with a hot red pepper gazpacho. We are pairing that with the Vina Salceda Rioja Crianza 2002. Ripe red fruit on the nose, this put me more in mind of a Beaujolais Cru - a Morgon perhaps than a Rioja. I had to really sniff the wine to find those raw meaty aromas I usually associate with Rioja. I reckon this is going to be the best match of the menu.

For the main course chef has paired an Assiette of Veal - braised cheek, tongue, pan fried sweetbreads and roasted fillet, with creamed ceps, with the Coleccion 125 Reserva 2000. Tempranillo with a dash of Cabernet and Merlot from the Navarra blended together. After double decanting this one, I reckon they should meld well together.

Weve stuck the Conde de la Salceda Rioja Reserva 2000 with the cheese course - a poppy seed tortilla with manchego cheese. This wine is my favourite of the wines tonight. Rich, opulent flavours, with a meaty backbone and spicy tobacco notes. But still fresh with fruit, and a good clean acidity at the finish. That Manchego cheese dont half hum when its melted!!

We finish the evening with the Dulce de Moscatel dessert wine, served with a vanilla panna cotta with ginger crisp and tropical fruit. Weve got mango, plums, melon and pomegranite seed all in there, with a pineapple ravioli and passionfruit. The wine is like opening a tin of fruit cocktail - grapey fruit flavours with an almost syrupy quality to it. Fresh and simple with enough acidity to clean right through the creamyness of the panna cotta. I dont like dessert wines, but this is gonna be such a winner. Even cheffie loves it.

So thats it, should be good.

Bordeaux Day Three (our last day boo hoo!)

I woke up early (despite the offer of a lie in) and took a wander around the vineyards in the early morning mist, before settling down for the traditional French breakfast. We were all still a bit full from the night before, but after our daily dose of caffiene and croissants, we were ready for our last visit of the trip - Chateau Coutet. Maria and Damien had both done stages there while studying Oenology and so they had a connection to the estate. Not to mention the fact that Chateau Manos, the Cadillac they produce is owned by Monsieur Niotout, who for twenty years was the Maitre de Chai (Cellarmaster) at Coutet. Manos was his hobby vineyard, and he has consequently turned over the management of the vineyards and wines to the Lamothe team on a long term contract.

Coutet is a lovely little Chateau in the Barsac region of Sauternes, which like so many estates we had passed over the last two days was undergoing some serious renovations and building works. We were shown round by the wife of the current Maitre de Chai, Mademoiselle Constantin.

It was interesting to hear about their wood management program for the casks. They buy 30% from Demptos, 30% from Seguin Moreau, 30% from another major producer, then they play around with the next 10% buying from smaller coopers to try out the wood and see how it affects the wines. The last few days have really altered my persective of how the wood influences the wines. In the past, I had always considered (or been led to believe) that the choice of wood was crucial to the further development of the wines. To the extent that the exact forest the oak came from being a critical factor. However as was pointed out to us at Demptos, each forest is different, the trees are all different, so to say that Alliers oak is the best, or Troncais oak is, is kind of a falacy.

From the barrel store we went through to the pressing room, where the grapes are recieved during the harvest. Coutet has the original wooden troughs that the grapes were first pressed in, by the feet of the labourers no less. Nowadays they use basket presses with pnuematic lifts.

There are little railway tracks in the cellar floor to move the trolleys that hold the baskets around. The juice is squeezed from the grapes and runs though the little spigot in the side of the trolley and down into a steel vat. From there it is pumped into barrels for fermentation. We were treated to a taste of the 2005 from cask, and although Im not really into sweet wine, it was a very nice wine, rich without being cloying, still fairly sharp with acidity and a lovely long fruity finish - golden raisins, a touch of mango and tropical fruit flavours.

It was all over. Time to head back to Lamothe for a spot of lunch before heading of to Bordeaux airport and back to Blighty. Damien took us on a slight diversion so we could see Chateau d'Yquem.

And so our trip came to an end. I would like to thank Damien, Maria and Anne for their fabulous hospitality and for opening their home to us and looking after us so very well. Thanks also to Nige from Rodney Densem wines for inviting me along. I plan to list a few of the wines that we tasted on the trip, so more about them later.

Bordeaux Day Two

After an amazing nights kip (its wonderful what not being woken up by a gobshite of a child at 6am can do for you!!) we had a busy day ahead of us, or so we thought at the time. After the traditional french breakfast - coffee and croissants, we set off for the Demptos Cooperage, one of the main cooperages in Bordeaux. Truthfully, I wasnt expecting much from the visit, but it turned out to be really interesting and informative. Our guide for the day was full of interesting facts and bits of information, and the scale of the operation is quite mindboggling really.




Firstly you are greeted by piles and piles of wood, sitting in the open air to season. We discovered during the morning that the wood sits outside for a period between 2 years and 34 months. Each palate of staves contains enough oak to make ten barriques. Each barrique sells for roughly 600 euros. So each palate is worth roughly 6,000 euros. There were loads of palates, easily several hundred if not thousand. Our rough working outs (we were all slightly hungover after all!!) reckoned on a value in the region of 20,000,000 euros all sitting there in the yard. And thats just one cooperage. The place was a hive of activity, and it was really quite cool to watch the craftmanship that goes into making the barrels that shape the character of Bordeaux most famous wines.

After our visit to Demptos we set off for St Estephe where we were to dine at Chateau Pomys. They apparently opened especially for us, which was very good, because the food was outstanding. We had a set menu of Scallops in a vermouth sauce followed by a breast of chicken on a tranche of duck foie gras with grape sauce reduction, and chips!! Dessert was a fabulous creme caramel parfait with dark chocolate mousse. All washed down with a very very good bottle of Cos Labory 1998.

We set off refreshed and pleasantly sated for out appointment at Lafite. The omens were not good, with the snotty email Nige had recieved from them dictating the timing. " A tour has been (reluctantly) arranged for you, not at 1pm, not 1:30 but 2pm (Sharp!)" It was very interesting, and while our tour guide perhaps lacked charm, at least he was full of information about Lafite and the history of the cellars. Our tour ended in a cavernous circular "temple" under the vineyards, that wouldnt have looked out of place in an Indiana Jones film. We were given a meagre sample of 1994 Lafite while we watched the cellar team racking the barrels of 2005, prior to being bottled in the immediate future. We all thought perhaps we might have been allowed to sample this, but it was not to be. After watching them rack a couple of barrels we were escorted out the cellar and into the harsh, but glorious sunlight of the vineyard and it turned out, the end of our tour. 40 minutes. Apparently that was the VIP tour, so I would hate to see what the plebs get!

So it seemed we had plenty of time to kill, so we set off touring the region, visiting Mouton (also couldnt get on a tour, but they did let us watch a film about Mouton), Palmer, Cos d'Estournel and Pichon Lalande. It seems our luck was out, as we couldnt get a visit anywhere. So after the obligatory poses for photos we set off for Bordeaux and a cool demi of French beer in a cafe on the street.




(Bless, it all got a bit much for our Nige, who took the chance for 40 winks!)

We hit the streets of Bordeaux and managed to get a bit of retail therapy in before settling in for the night at the CIVB headquarters where they have set up a tasting bar to sample a selection of wines. We all started off with a Cremant de Bordeaux, made from semillon, which was interesting. Before making our own way down the wine-list. I chose a 2005 Chateau La Freynelle bordeaux blanc, lovely and fresh with crisp acidity and a lingering fruityness. Andy decided to hit the hard stuff and went for a 2004 Pomerol, while Nige and Paul opted for a St Estephe red that the sommelier recommended. If you are ever in Bordeaux I would really recommend going there. The pours are 15oz which is enough to get a decent taste, but not too much to limit your tasting options. The prices were really good too, my La Freynelle was only e3.00.

Suitably lubricated we were ready for dinner at La Tupina. Nige had been raving all week about this place, and it sure lived up to the hype. Rustic inside with a large open range where they spit-roast chickens and the meat is all cooked on a griddle over a roaring fire. The portions were huge, I opted for the chicken and must have been given half a large bird with a platter of chips big enought to feed my family. Damien chose a fillet steak and was presented with what must have been a full 20oz barrel fillet. By the time it came to dessert we were all stuffed to the gills, but we just had to see what they were. It was like a scene from Monty Python at the end, all we needed was for a waiter to come and ask us if we wanted a "teeny weeny wafer thin mint?"

And so our second day came to and end, one short drive back to Lamothe (and Nigels persistant Curiousity about the Red Light district and "ladies of negiotable affection") and we were all ready for an early night.

Back from Bordeaux

Today Im back to work after my trip to Bordeaux. Ive had the most fabulous three days of food, wines and spectacular weather. Our generous hosts, Anne, Damien and Maria of Chateau Lamothe de Haux really looked after us and made us feel very welcome. I must have put on about a stone over the last three days, but it was truly fabulous.

We arrived at Bordeaux airport on monday afternoon at about 4ish local time. The sun was shining as we headed off to Lamothe. A beautiful 19th century chateau with foundations dating back to the 16th century.

After being shown to our rooms, we convened on the terrace for a glass of the white wine. Crisp and fresh it was the perfect start to a wonderful couple of days in Bordeaux. Damien then took us on a guided tour of the facilities, starting in the cuverie. We were lucky enough to be treated to a tasting the 2005 vintage which they have just finished assembling. There is a huge amount of hype about the 2005's, hardly surprising as that will be the next vintage on the market, but there is a lot of gold in them there hills. The wine was fantastic, and this is Premiere Cotes we are talking about, not the premium wines of the Medoc.

Damien took us down to the cellars of the Chateau, showing us the cave symbols that indicate that the caves may well have been home to people, much older than the date of the foundations. They even have some rare fossils of sea urchins in the limestone layers that the caves are dug out of.

That night we had a fabulous dinner, and drunk many wonderful wines of Lamothe, before calling a night at the terribly late hour of half past midnight. (Nige and Paul kept poor Damien up until the very early hours of the morning talking shite about the Spanish Civil war, Welsh mercenaries and "Marsh Rabbits"!!!) We had a busy day the next day and a terribly early start.

1970 Chateau Lascombes Double Magnum

We had a function upstairs tonight who I managed to persuade to take two of these bad boys.

The corks were a right bastard to remove, soft and pulpy in the middle, it didnt bode well for the wines. Bottle number one with rich and vibrant with a lovely brick red core and a rusty browning rim (oooer missus!! fnarr fnarr!!). Opulent dried fruit aromas, prunes and slightly figgy with that kind of aroma you get when you open a well stocked humidor. Bottle number two was a bit more restrained at first, but after decanting developed the same fruity nose with a touch more earthy aromas and a slightly mushroomy edge. I ended up blending the two bottles together for continuity. It went down a treat apparently. They followed it up with Yquem 90 in halves.

Paul Masson White Wine Carafe.

Well this is my belated entry to Wine Blog Wednesday. After much searching I finally decided to spend my hard earned cash on this monstrosity. Back when I was still too young to legally drink, and in fact probably before I even was aware of alcohol, Paul Masson introduced their wines into the UK market. They were kind of unique in that they came in these carafe like containers and many people actually used them as flower vases and the like after they had drunk the contents. This was a happy time in the UK when Mateus Rose was probably the best selling wine in the UK and Prawn Cocktail, Black Forest Gateau and Steak Diane ruled menus the country over.

Im slightly alarmed at the label which actually doesnt specify a grape variety, and several hours of digging on the internet have led to to believe that it contains Chenin Blanc. Im going to trust what I read on the net, because to be honest there really wasnt much taste at all, chilling it made it slightly more palatable, but barely. There was a faint floral smell on the nose which I could really identify. The only saving grace was it was cheap. I paid about three quid something from tescos for this, and even at that small price, it was a rip-off. By the time you take out the duty, vat and cost of the bottle, label etc, you are talking about £1 worth of wine. Take the supermarkets profit away from that and I reckon this is about £0.40 worth of wine. The old adage that you get what you pay for is most definately true here. I paid nowt, and got less.

This challenge brought out the snob in me, and I dont really like to think like this, but honestly this was truly awful wine, I suspect only the novelty of the "bottle" encourages people to buy it. Certainly if I ever needed a vase I would probably buy a bottle and throw out the contents. It would be cheaper and better for my palate. Ive been spoilt working here and getting the opportunity to taste some absolutely fantastic wines, and so I just think that you shouldnt have to drink bad wine.

Wine Blog Wednesday 31

Its that time of the month again, and this themes quite a challenge. Ive somehow got to find a wine that isnt conventionally packaged. So something like a bag in box, can, tetrapak and any other funky packed wines that might be out there. Sounds easy, but actually its not. While I admit I could go out and find any number of B.I.B. wines, I really dont want to hae to buy a litre or more of wine, particularly a wine that I wouldnt really drink. Im afraid this challenge is bringing out the wine snob in me. Check back tomorrow to see if I can manage to find something.

Henschke Keyneton 1986 Revisited

Its well over six months since I sold the last bottle, but by god this wine seems to have got better. Really richly intense fruity nose, berries quite dominant, with that spicy richness of shiraz jostling for attention over the currantly fruit of the cabernet and the damson and violet tones of the malbec. Still a very fine suspension of sediment in the wine, but I think this adds to the flavour and character, and it would certainly be clearer without it, but I think it would taste duller too.

Peer Pressure.

We've got a table of five in tonight that are all chefs. Well four of them are, ones the boss!! Its always interesting when you have "industry insiders" in for dinner, because I guess we are more conscious of being on show. Folks in the trade are notoriously picky about where they eat, and as such they can often spot the slightest of mistakes or errors that most people would realise. Besides which, because we are on show, we want to prove that we can be the best, so it raises our game a bit. All of which sounds like double standards, but it isnt quite like that. I know what I can be like on those all too rare occasions when I go out somewhere nice for dinner. Despite being off duty, my eye is constantly sweeping the room, watching the staff, checking out the tables, the decor, is everything in its place, checking the menus for mistakes, spelling mistakes, balancing the wine list, comparing the prices, all the while "enjoying" myself.

Chef has prepared them a special menu, and at Neils request, Ive paired wines off with each course for them. It gives me a chance to show off a little bit, and I know that Neil is quite knowledgeable about wines, so I want to give him something good, but that will complement the whole experience.

Five days and counting!

Im getting excited. In five days time Im off to Bordeaux for a jolly (erm work trip, honest!!) with Nigel from Rodney Densems. We're only going for a couple of days, but he's managed to pack a lot into a short space of time. We spending our time with Chateau Lamothe de Haux, but Nige has managed to arrange a visit to Yquem, Lafite-Rothschild, one of the main cooperages in Bordeaux, Seguin Moreau (?) and a visit to Ausone. Ive never been to Bordeaux before, so Im really looking forward to it, and especially the trip to Ausone and Lafite. Dessert wine isnt really my cup of tea, but it will still be really interesting to visit Yquem. Im charging up my batteries and stocking up on memory cards to take loads of photos.

David Duband Vosne Romanee 1999

Ive blogged about Davids wines before, but I hadnt had the Vosne Romanee at that stage. Well tonight I sold a bottle, and it didnt disappoint me or the customer. Slight bit of bottle stink upon opening, which soon disapated to leave quite an earthy nose, with dark stone fruit aromas wrapped around an almost ethereal violet like floral tone. This grew and grew in the glass as it opened up, and the raspberry aromas became slightly more pronounced and separate from the others. For what is essentially a village level wine, this knocks the spots off many premier cru bottlings, and considering it is a mere youngster, I reckon this wine will get better with a few more years of cellaring. Its kind of tempting to take it off the list for a while to let it improve a bit, but hell its so good now, I dont want to deny anyone.

Shiny Baubles

Theres an old adage, never to judge a book by its cover. After many years in this industry Ive just about managed to get myself out of that habit. Although, like any normal human being, I often relapse and make a snap judgement about somebody or a table based on a fraction of a minutes worth of contact. I'd like to say that Im getting more accurate, but I'd be lying, Im probably right as often as Im wrong. Anyway, this particular adage sprung to mind a few weeks ago when I recieved some samples of a Cognac from a house called Godet. We had young Cyril Godet attend a gourmet dinner last year in his role as Brand Ambassodor from John E Fells for Mouton Rothschild. It turns out that he descents from Cognacias distillers who happen to make quite a wide range of cognacs. Anyway to cut a long story somewhat shorter, we needed to get a few bottles in house for the immenent arrival of one of the senior Grosvenor directors. So after swapping numerous emails with folks, we managed to track down a guy called Roshan who is the UK importer. He managed to hook me up with some samples and we were ready to rock and roll.

I was quite surprised to see what turned up on my desk just a few days later. Altogether I think they send me five bottles of cognac, and it was this that prompted me to thing carefully about judging by appearance. Im often wary when I see bottles of any kind of beverage, but especially spirits in really fancy and ornate bottles. I remember having a really rather rotten experience with Grappa that a friend had brought back from a holiday in Italy. The bottles were really intricate with sculpted fruit within the bottle and really delicate necks. What was inside however was pure firewater!! I have never in my entire life, before or since had a hangover as intense or long lasting as the one I had after we had consumed about three of these bottles between us one night. ( I ought perhaps to add that the bottles were 50cl bottles, so that equates to a bottle each.) And Ive had my share of rough nights on Southern Comfort, Pernod (thats a blast cause you can get pissed again the next morning drinking a glass of water!!), Jack Daniels and until the grappa, my worst was after a night of Guinness, which brings its own terrors to the hangover!!

The XO came in a teardrop like bottle, and actually had quite a smoothness about it, with rich raisined fruit flavours. The VSOP Selection Speciale was in a tall, slender bottle and again showed really well. I suspect that this gets a good dose of caramel for the colour, but it didnt show that in its sweetness. The Excellence is also in a tall slender bottle with a small badge at the neck to distinguish it, and silver labelling. A bit richer, more pronounced on the nose with an almost cherryish note, before a floral character became more dominant. Apparently this is an XO with the average age of the eaux-de-vies being 25 years.

The one that really picqued my interest was a pure folle blanche cognac. More delicate and refined on the nose, with white flowers, a kind of golden sultana aroma and a very lightly spiced apple note. The bottle isnt anything special to look at, and in all honesty it would probably be overlooked on a store shelf. But it goes to show that you cant judge a book by its cover, because if you do, you would have missed out on this stunning blockbuster.

On the subject of Cognacs, Ive been invited to a special tasting of Cognacs on the 19th April down at the Lanesborough hotel. David Baker from Brandy Classics is hosting a special tasting in association with the Lanesborough and he is planning on showing off some of his pre-phylloxera cognacs on the day, including an 1810, and possibly some even older than that! Im getting my holiday form in for that one, it will take a pack of wild horses to keep me away!!!

Paulee at the Devonshire

At the beginning of the week Jeremy Rata held his annual Paulee over at the Devonshire Arms. Basically about 30 people from the trade are invited to a spectacular blowout to which they bring a couple of bottles of cherished wine from their collection/cellar/store. Its usually a slightly worrying time for me, because my MD and Rata and David Nicholson from Holbeck Ghyll have this kind of schoolboyish rivally thing going on where they try to outdo each other with what they bring. This has led to trying to find something so obscure and left-wing that no-one will be able to guess what it is when its served blind. Weve had a really obscure white burgundy that is made from Pinot Blanc, Champagnes made from Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Pinot Gris as well as the three "traditional" varieties, and several other oddities. I have to confess that looking at the list of wines that were shown afterwards I get a twinge of jealousy at the blockbuster wines that are consumed. Im eagerly looking forward to reading this years list and seeing what was on offer.

This year I decided to try and focus on something extra-ordinary, a top-end Burgundy from one of the undisputed masters of the region. So I sent the boss along with two bottles of Armand Rousseau's Charmes-Chambertin 1996 Grand Cru. 1996 was the vintage that they introduced the stainless steel vats into the domaine, and I think that this shows in the smooth silky elegance of the wine. Quite floral, with notes of Violets and a background earthyness that I smelt last weekend, as I potted my seeds in the garden, with the rich earthy loam I was using as potting compost. At first the fruit character is quite restrained, but as it opens out it starts off with almost under-ripe black cherries, with alpine strawberries and a touch of redcurrants. The aromas grow into a kind of black-forest gateaux richness of cherry, red sauce and a touch of chocolate about it too. This wine charms the pants off you, quite literally, and it is that smoothness, elegance and yes, I suppose charm, that helps me to identify it. I understand from the boss, that until he left at around fourish (pm not am!!) it was undisputed star of the event. Im glad, but Im saddened at the possibility that this might be the last one he attends. Apparently there is only so much fine wine and food one can manage, and the event has grown into such a spectacle of one-upmanship that it has become difficult to appreciate all that is on offer.

Oh well I shall have to see what was on offer this year when the list becomes available, and who knows what the future may hold.

New Menu night tonight

Tonight we are running with a new a la carte menu. The menu looks really good, with some interesting dishes. Chefs sense of humour is evident in the names - one starter is called Pond Life and is a watercress espuma with 2 snails persillade, frogs legs beignets, red cress, chard and poached crayfish tails. I reckon it will be quite popular, despite the quirky name!

Late night last night

Im absolutely shattered today. Yesterday was my first day back after a week off having fallen down stairs, and it ended up being a sixteen hour monster of a day. I left the hotel sometime after three am this morning and crawled into bed for about four hours of fitfull sleep. So why was I so late?

Last night we had the second of this years gourmet evenings - Chateau Bauduc. We had the owner/winemaker Gavin Quinney come and talk about how, why and some of the trial and joys of what he and his wife Angela do in Creon. Unfortunately Angela was unable to join us having busted her knee, but she missed a great evening. Despite running over his alloted time (to the consternation of Ross, Paco and the Chef) Gavin kept everyone amused with witty anecdotes (some at the expense of Gordon Ramsay's team of sommeliers!!), tales of some of the trials of being a novice winemaker in Bordeaux and some of his aspirations for the future of Chateau Bauduc. I dont honestly think weve ever had such gushing praise from the guests about the speaker before. The wines were very well received too which is always a bonus. The rose we poured at the start was quite popular, 100% merlot with overnight skin contact, we were pouring the 2004 which isnt the most current vintage, but still packed fruit flavours with a deliciously savoury edge which I think set people up nicely for the starter.

For the starter we poured the Bordeaux blanc, which is 95% sauvignon and 5% semillon for a bit of depth and body. Everyone raved about this wine. Crisp, fresh and lip-smackingly good it worked a treat with chef's crab raviolis. The next wine was a love or loath wine. Roughly half the people loved it, the other half didnt. It was the Trois Hectares 2004. 100 % semillon from a small three hectare vineyard (and the cause of much hilarity when Gavin recounted the story of one the Ramsay sommeliers (a Frenchie no less!!) asking why it was called Trois Hectares!!). Its barrel fermented again for depth of character. Much less expressive than the Savvy, I loved this wine, but for sure its a food wine. I think this would have been great with the intermediate course of Seared Scallop on a bed of cauliflower puree with carpaccio of cauli and a parmesan brittle. Anyway, the next wine was the Clos des Quinze a bordeaux blend dominated by merlot (60%) with the remainder almost evenly split between Cabernets. Coming from a walled vineyard of about 15 hectares. I had double decanted it earlier in the afternoon, so it was showing very well indeed. Again everyone seemed to rave about it. That was paired with a saddle of roe deer and pumpkin spatzle. Everyone raved about that too!
With the cheese souffle we poured a more limited cuvee, the Trois Etoiles which Gavin told us was actually selected by the Ramsay team to be bottled into a separate cuvee. Hence the name - Trois Etoiles- Three stars in honour of Royal Hospital Road and Gavins first customer in the UK. This is a pure merlot and I loved it, for me it was the highlight of the night. But again it seemed to divide the room, some loved it, others loathed it. That was the end of the Bauduc wines, but as we had dessert still to come, we had to throw a ringer into the mix. We chose a Graves Superieures from Haut-Bergeron, which also received mixed reviews, but then a lot of folks dont like sweet wines, myself included.

At the end of the night as we cleared all the glasses, Danny and myself chatted to Gavin, Danny using the opportunity wisely to increase his knowledge of Bordeaux and winemaking. But he wimped out at 1am leaving me discussing future ideas that Gavin has for moving Bauduc more into the UK market, and ideas for further developing the range of wines that he has available. Next year hes got a monbazillac coming out, from a winemaker that he knows who cant get his product onto market. He talked about developing Bauduc into a brand again using contacts who again cant find a route to market in France. Imagine a Bauduc Pomerol, Pauillac or St Estephe. Anyway, I really enjoying chatting to him, and getting involved in helping him reach a wider audience. For great easy drinking Claret you cant do any worse than check out their website and order yourself a case or two of wines. www.bauduc.com

Trophy Ruinart

Yesterday was the regional finals of the Trophy Ruinart competition and I was due to compete in the Midlands final down at the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham. I decided to pull out earlier last week, as I wasnt "match fit" and felt that if I wasnt able to give it 100% then I ought not to go. Especially as the hotel was paying for my accomodation and travelling expenses. I had a few friends competing, ironically at Birmingham too, and it would have been good to catch up with them, but I'll get plenty of opportunities over the coming year. Ian didnt win, as he was stuffed up with a cold, and so he blew the blind tasting part. Apparently some dude named Cyrille from the Manoir won the brummie round. Good luck to him on the grand final!

Back to work

Well Im back to work today, after a week off sick with a sore back. The swelling has all gone thanks to anti-inflamatory tablets prescribed by the quack and the bruise is now a multitude of colours and slowly starting to fade. My right side is still a bit tender and hurts a bit when i cough or yawn, but I need to get back to work for my sanity. Besides moving around will probably loosen it all up a bit and make it better. Ive got loads to catch up with, so many things to get done before the end of march and our financial year. Weve still got a lot of money to move out of the cellar before April 2nd. Then we've got new racking being installed into the cold store for the white wines, so thats going to be a logistical nightmare!! Mind you once it is done we will have storage there for four thousand bottles, which will mean that I can move a lot of stock out of the holding cages and into stock, get them onto the wine-list and help get rid of some more value from the cellar. Not thats there is much in the way of white wine, a bit of white burgundy, loads of meursault and some puligny from Sauzet, but its enough.

Im working on an idea that Roger from Gerrard Seel gave me for our final gourmet of the year. We were originally looking at doing five decades of bordeaux, but seeing as we are overloaded with burgundy and grand cru burgs at that, we are now going to have a month long burgundy festival culminating in the gourmet dinner at the end of the month focussing on Grand Cru Burgundies. Batard Montrachet, Criots, Chevalier, Corton Charlemagne and of course Le Montrachet for the whites, Corton, Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux, La Tache, Romanee St Vivant, Charmes Chambertin, Clos de la Roche, Clos St Denis etc etc for the reds. Ive spoken to Chef and he's on board to tailor the gastronomic menu around burgundian dishes, we can match wines to the menu for an all inclusive price and take a hit on the margins to move some of the stock. Im quite looking forward to it, and so are quite a few of the guests. Ive still got to finalise the rest of the years events, but it looks good so far.

So Ive got a lot to do, and Ive got the feeling that there may be some significant changes in the air soon.

Swept off my feet on Valentines Day.

Well the years biggest Hallmark holiday has just been and passed and I missed it. I spend Valentines Evening in the Accident and Emergency Dept at the Countess Hospital in Chester after having a wee tumble at work and falling down some stairs. When I go down, my god do I do it in style!. So Im currently lying in bed at home, drugged up on painkillers for the second tine this year, with an enormous bruise on my arse (last night the swelling was as big as a subway 6" sandwich!!), a very bruised back and agony whenever I move, breath, laugh, sneeze, cough or in fact do pretty much anything.

Ive got an appointment at the quacks tomorrow, so we shall see what happens. I may be off the web for a wee while.

Wine Chemistry and Flavo(u)r - Bakker & Clarke

On the subject of books, this tome is one I have had my eye on for a while. Its a serious geek book with an equally serious price tag - £120. Basically the authors are a pair of Food Analysts who have studied the various bio-chemical attributes of wine flavours and presented it in this weighty book. Its interest to me lies in the breakdown of the various flavour components and what causes them. For example pyrazines are responsable for a raft of flavours particularly that sharp green peppery aroma often found in warmer climate Sauvignon. For a winemaker to know how they are produced might enable him/her to suitably locate their vines in order to produce the right conditions for production of pyrazine components in the wine. Alternatively they could cheat and just add pyrazines to the wine as allegedly happened in South Africa nearly two years ago. Anyway, whiel surfing around Amazon looking for a couple of books on Italian wines to crib up on I came across the book again, and its on sale at a vastly reduced £59.40. I might have to sweet-talk the wife and see if she will let me put it on the credit card!!

Achilles Heel

With less than a fortnight until the regional finals of the Trophy Ruinart, Ive been thinking a lot recently about how much I dont know. So much still to learn and so little time to do it all in. Italy remains my biggest stumbling block, and I still find it hard enough motivating myself to get right into it and study the region. One problem is that compared to other regions, there are relatively few books on Italy. There are hundreds of books on Burgundy, loads on Bordeaux, Australia and New Zealand are fairly well covered, but when it comes to Italy, the only one I can find in the bookshops is the Gambero Rosso Italian wine guide, which is really a publishing of the results of the annual tasting by the Slow Food society. Ive been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Burton Andersons Wine Atlas of Italy, but the only ones that I can find are £160 second hand from America. It seems it is regarded as the single most authorative book on Italian wines ever written, so it seems bizarre that it hasnt been re-printed. Anyway, theres not much chance of me ponying up that kind of cash for a wine-book, although the most I have spend to date was £110 for Cocks, Ferets Bordeaux and its wines 15th Edition. (They are now on the 17th edition and it is undoubtably the biggest reference book on the estates of bordeaux and the wines they produce. )

So until I can find a cheaper copy of the wine atlas, Italy it seems will always remain my achilles heel. Unless of course I can persuade a generous supplier to take me on an educational visit (aka Jolly) to Italy!!!

Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 1996

Last night we had a table of four regular customers in for dinner. They are a nice pair of couples who are become more regular as time goes on. The guys like their wines, mainly Burgundy, red naturally, but good champagne too. Ive hooked them up recently with Jacquesson Cuvee 729, which they are loving. They have got to the stage where they are comfortable to leave the choice of wine to me, I know what they like and how much they are prepared to pay.

As I may have mentioned we have a huge surplus of Grand Cru burgundy, so here was a perfect opportunity to shift a couple of bottles, and better yet, to someone who will appreciate it. So it was that our lucky guests got their opportunity to have this great wine at a considerably better price than it is usually listed for (£160 on the list). As they usually drink Nuits St Georges or Gevrey Chambertin it is in a similar style to the kind of wines they like.

Charles Rousseau took over running the domaine after a tragic car accident killed his father Armand in 1959. Since then he has considerably increased the domaines holdings in predominantly Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards based around Gevrey Chambertin. They work with some pretty old vines, the average age in his Chambertin holdings is sixty years old. The age of the vines means they only produce a small amount of fruit, but usually of a much superior quality. Another advantage to the age is that Charles never has to conduct a "green harvest". Further to the low yields they practice a severe triage of the fruit back at the cuverie to further eliminate any below-par fruit. All these measures contribute to some seriously low volumes, but luckily the quality of the wines speak for themselves and as such demand is always high.

Charles believes in partially destemming the fruit, as too much stem in the vats brings out unripe tannins and astringent characters into the wine. But by having about 20% stems you allow some aeration in the vats allowing the ferment to be more even through the vat and preventing hot-spots which can add uneven flavours to the finished wine. Perhaps unusually for Burgundy, Rousseau uses stainless steel vats to ferment the wines, with twice daily pigeage (punching down the skins to release colour) and remontage (pumping over the juice from the bottom of the vat, again to break up the cap and allow leaching of the colour. There is some debate as to the amount of oxidisation of the wine this may cause). After about two weeks the wines are pumped into a fresh vat or into 100% new Alliers oak, for anything upto 18 months.

There is no mistaking the fact that these are serious wines. The labels are very classically simple with an almost monkish script that lends the right amount of gravitas to the wines.

Clos de la Roche is the one of the Grand Cru leiu-dits of Morey-St-Denis. Actually the largest of the Grand Cru climats of Morey, it encompasses nearly 17 hectares, producing somewhere in the region of 70000 bottles. It is at an elevation of about 300 metres with a definate east facing aspect which draws pretty much the maximum amount of sunlight possible. It is often said it is the more classy of the grand crus of Morey. With its seductive aromas of deep violets, myrtille and a hint of truffle to it, all interlaced with a kind of foresty cherry aroma, this wine draws you in caresses your palate with an elegance of intensity. Imagine that relaxing feeling you feel washing over you as you slip into a hot bath, letting your muscles go and relaxing. Thats how you feel after sipping this wine. That contented "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" rushing over your tongue and down the back of your throat. It can be a dangerous thing though. When a wine slips down that easily and so smoothly, you soon drink the whole bottle. Or two, and thats when things can get expensive. Unless you're on good terms with your sommelier!!

When I was in Burgundy last year, Bernard (Vallet) took us past Domaine Armand Rousseau and there outside was Charles washing down his tractor. Bernard told us that they were related, but that wasnt really a surprise. The nature of Burgundy is that just about everyone there is related!

Wine Blog Wednesday 30

How quickly they seem to come around. Only last week I was at the Australia day tastings down in London, where I managed to taste my way around some serious big Aussie shiraz from Hunter, Barossa, Alpine Valley in Victoria, Great Southern (Western Aus), Eden Valley, Limestone Coast, Langhorne Creek, Heathcote, Geelong and Mclaren. Most of it was fairly textbook stuff - big black peppery, dark stone fruity, monster tannins, BIG alcohol. A few of the better wines were more balanced and had a bit more complexity about them.

Brokenwoods Graveyard Shiraz for example had more restrained spicy tones, but dense black fruit flavours with fine oak influence and silkier tannins. It was also bottled under a screwcap which is quite a brave step for a wine that retails in excess of £50.

Gapsted wines based in the Alpine Valley of Victoria in Australia had a very interesting shiraz - the Ballerina Canopy Shiraz. The fruit comes from 200 hectares farmed near Whitfield in the King Valley. Low yields and the slightly cooler climate produce intensely flavoured fruit with rich fruitcake flavours and more subtle spicy tones. Two years in american oak adds a sterner tannic structure to the wine which balances nicely with the natural fruit sweetness. Its quite a big wine at 14.5%abv but theres balance so the alcohol doesnt burn.

Berton Family vineyards, based in the Eden Valley of South Australia have a massive range of wines, mostly at the volume end of the market. However their "flagship" wine is the Bonsai Shiraz, so named because after five years trying to establish the vines in the High Eden, the vines still looked like rootlings. The quartz that dominated the thin soil soaks up the sun by day and slowly releases it overnight acting like a kind of radiator, allowing the grapes to reach exceptional levels of ripeness. The low goblet shape of the vines keeps the yield low and the fruit quality high, producing an excellent wine. Ripe plummy fruit flavours with a touch of vanillin and crushed white peppercorns on the nose and palate. The tannins grip quite strongly just now, but this is a 2004 vintage, so it needs a bit of decanting now or ideally a couple of years slumber in a cellar. There is a rich spicy finish to the wine with a flavour that seems to linger on the palate for ages. Fantastic wine at a good price.

Thats about all I have time for just now, got to get ready for service. The boss is in tonight with the chef and the F&B manager to make sure we are all up to scratch. Best behaviour then boys.

Cowboy Style - aka Cutting Corners

Following on from a comment by Pink Man Running on a previous post I thought I might give my take on Cowboying things. There are certain occasions when we are faced with few options but to cut corners, or cowboy things in the parlance of waiters. There are a number of reasons for this, many admittedly spurious, and in all honesty the single biggest reason is a form of laziness. But then sometimes a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do. I have to admit that I very rarely cowboy things these days. I have more control over the situations in the restaurant, and I'm not under the stupid kinds of pressure that "forced" me into those situations elsewhere. On a busy Saturday night here the worst I have to face is about 50 covers, and Ive got a commis to help me. At Gleneagles I would be facing nearly a hundred, solo and in all likelyhood I would end up having to dig out one of the weaker team members in the adjacent station from the shite. Thats prime cowboy land that is.

So in the spirit of confessional here are a few moments that Ive experienced in the last ten years or so. Not all of these are my acts of cowboying, proving that its perhaps a bit more common than you might suspect.

1) Using the massively overoxidised white rioja as a last minute sherry substitute. Was very well recieved and they even asked me for the name of the sherry so they could get some. I lied through my teeth and told them some guff about it being exclusive to us and unavailable anywhere.

2) On a busy sunday lunch - it could have been mothers day when we did somewhere in the region of 300 covers for lunch, we ran out of cassis. With everyone and their dog ordering Kir Royales, I had one of my least successful cowboy ideas. Use blackcurrant cordial and dose it up with a splash of vodka. In my defense this might have worked if the hotel had used halfway decent cordial instead of this piss-poor weak assed cheap and nasty brand. Needless to say I got royally busted.

3) One month, the chef was having a terrible month with his food cost. In an effort to try and keep it manageable he cut out all purchasing for a week. One of the most popular dishes on the menu used a cassoulet made from these italian beans that were dead expensive. So the sous chef used a huge tin of cheap baked beans, washed the tomato sauce off and used them instead. That act alone shaved two percent off his food cost and helped save the day somewhat.

4) I used to work in this hotel in York that had a decent fine dining restaurant and quite a good collection of cognacs, including Remy Martin Louis XIII. Now bearing in mind this was twelve years ago, that was something very special, and hideously expensive (I think we were charging about £100 for 1/5 gil). One night as the bar manager Steve was clearing up the cognac trolley, he knocked over the bottle and ended up spilling about two thirds of it all over the carpet. Fearing that he was going to have to pay for it, he ended up making up his own blend from the rest of the Remy Range. Several weeks later we had the regional rep from Remy come in to do some training with us all. As we tasted our way through the range, Steve, myself and one other barman who knew what had happened sat in trepidation as we got closer to our fake Louis XIII. As the rep ran through his spiel and we tasted the Louis XIII he constantly gushed about how wonderful this cognac was and how it tasted better than he remembered. We were pissing ourselves.

I have to say that my cowboy days are almost behind me. Ive never pulled any of these stunts here, and nor have I ever been put into a situation where Ive had to pull something that daft here. I doubt that it would ever get to that stage, and its also a case that in some way Ive grown beyond seeking the easy way out. Its more of a challenge to face the situation and come up with workable solutions that arent as dodgy as one of Del-Boys latest gadgets. But who knows what the future holds?

Oops I missed my birthday!!

Well not my own birthday, but on the 31st January Tales of a Sommelier was a year old! Its been a really weird experience, but one that Ive thoroughly enjoyed. It was quite bizarre meeting somebody at the Royal Agricultural Halls the other day at the Aussie day tastings who knew me from here!! And who would have thought that people all over the world would be interested!

Buying DRC

We are approaching the first of the 2007 en primeurs - the Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2004's are solicited next week. Now hopefully we should be on good footing to get what we want this year, because the agents who handle DRC in the UK forgot all about us last year. So we didnt get anything at all. Which truth be told isnt a bad thing. Its going to be interesting, because reading the forecast of the vintage from Clive Coates, the 2004's are going to be a quite good vintage for reds, but not predicted to have the length or longevity of better vintages. This hopefully means the prices will be a bit more sensible, but where the French are concerned who the hell knows!! Once we get the information from C&B we submit our "tender" ie what we would like to recieve. As the wines are usually in short supply and high demand (guess that answers the price issue!) what then happens is that C&B look at your spending record with them over the last year. The more you buy from them the better your chances of getting what you want are. So we shall just have to wait and see.

Granja Nuestra Senora de Remelluri Rioja Blanco

Just under a year ago, one of our major suppliers changed their rep. The old guy left to pursue his hobbies further and we got a new contact. The new guy is a totally different character to Chris (the old one). Noel is great, his sheer enthusiasm for wine and in particular certain wines is contagious and gets me fired up. I love it when he comes to see me, because I know that he wont bring me any crap, and I know that I wont get any bullshit from him. It was Noel who turned up one afternoon with a satchel full of wines to try, and the passion and enthusiasm to make me actually sit down and taste them with him. Im so glad that I did, because amongst those wines was one hidden gem, that through some sheer fluke of logistical errors, he had managed to get his hands on. That wine was the Remelluri Rioja Blanco. Now they only make a small amount of this wine, and about three dozen bottles make it into the UK through Alliance wines. They guard this jealously and needless to say you dont get samples. Now whether Noel just got lucky and someone at the warehouse just got careless, or perhaps being the new guy they gave some some serious ammo to come and see me, who knows.

The wine was amazing. Now Ive had plenty of white rioja before, horrible, overoxidised wines that more resemble sherry that white wine. In fact when I was at Gleneagles we sometimes used bottles of Castillo Ygay's white rioja as sherry if we ran out of Croft. Im amazed that we often got away with it!!! So I didnt really hold out much hope when Noel raved about the wine and cracked it open. On the nose it has the most amazing aromas, fresh aromatic, floral notes with white fruits and apricots. Its cepage reads more like a white Chateauneuf - Moscatel, garnacha blanca, viognier, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, roussanne and marsanne and finally some petit courbut. It hasnt the oilyness of most white chtxneufs but a fresher almost more new worldy rhone-a-like style. I was lucky enough, having tasted it, to then be able to get six bottles. Bloody hell it wasnt cheap, but Ive taken a hit on the margin to put it on at £75 a bottle. Considering that the white Chtxneufs are priced at a similar price, thats a real steal! But when its gone its gone, I doubt Ross will sign for another six!!

G'day mate!!

Well Im back from my first visit to the Australia Day tastings in London. My heads a bit foggy, my fingers are stained purple, and my guts are in a slight turmoil. I must have sampled about two hundred wines in all, some real belters and some fairly average ones too. I met up with a few familiar faces which was pleasant, and make some new contacts that I hope we can build into a new supplier.

I tried some great wines from small, boutiquey wineries - Gapsted Wines, based in the King Valley, Victoria. They had an interesting Petit Manseng, which you usually only find in Jurancon. It has a wonderfully aromatic flavour - think alsace gewurtz without the oilyness and its close. Their Touriga was very good as well, with a kind of violet, licorice root flavour and more than a hint of black tea. We met with a co-operative of small grower based in the Barossa whom market themselves as the Artisans of Barossa. There was a cracking chenin blanc from Rusden called Christian, after the winemaker Christian Canute. (www.rusdenwines.com.au). Beautiful banana, tropical fruit and papaya flavours. All their wines were well worth a swatch at, and will hopefully be making it onto our list after the buying embargo is lifted in the new year (fiscal - April 2, 2007). I also managed to taste some blockbuster reds - Brokenwoods Graveyard Shiraz 2004, now in screwcap - big dense red stone fruit, tons of depth and intensely tannic finish. Some of the Glaetzer wines - Godolphin being the biggest they were showing - another intensely rich shiraz dominated blend. Charlie Meltons Barossa Shiraz 2002, god I love his shiraz, layers of black fruit, tobacco, spicy tones, hints of licorice and chocolate.

By the time I left at closing time, my fingers were stained purple, my teeth probably likewise, and my head was spinning merrily as I made my way to the nearest boozer for a therapeutic pint of beer. Its a wonder I didnt fall asleep on my train and wake up in Inverness!!

Gourmet 2007 - here we go again.

Tonight marks the start of our 2007 Gourmet Calendar with a dinner celebrating the wines of LVMH. For those unfamiliar with LVMH it stands for Louis Vitton Moet Hennessy and currently it stands as the world's largest luxury goods company. Their portfolio comprises of many designer goods, perfumes, luxury clothing companies and several of the worlds largest and most well know wines and drinks brands. Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart, Krug, Dom Perignon, Mercier, Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle, Hennessy Cognac, Glenmorangie whisky and many others.

Tonights dinner is mostly focussing on the Champagnes - we start tonight with Veuve Clicquot NV poured from magnums, followed by Moet Brut Imperial for the starter. With the intermediate we are pouring Veuve Clicquot Rose NV. For main course there is an Argentine malbec from Terrazes des los Andes, and with the cheese we are pouring Cloudy Bay Pinot 2004 (screwcap). We finish the meal with Moet vintage 1999.

Victor Lewis Smith revisted

In my career as a sommelier Ive been specifically named in restaurant reviews three times. Thankfully all of them positively, but none more glowing than the review we got from Victor Lewis Smith published in the Independant on New Years day back in 2005. It was a tense time for us, because I managed to identify him when he turned up for his reservation on a quiet night back in October, we then anxiouly read review after review that was published as he slated his way across the country savaging several restaurants in the process. After a while self-doubt kicks in and you wonder what trauma will befall us. When the review came out, we couldnt have asked for a better write up, and my name came out quite glowing (ego alert!!).

Skip forward nearly two years and he returns, this time he is staying in the hotel. This time we are prepared, but this time its a busy saturday night, a totally different circumstance to his last visit. The thing with journalists/reviewers/critics, is that you can never be too sure if they are on business or pleasure. After all they are people just like us, they have anniversaries, birthdays, hell sometimes they just dont want to cook. But I think that where a lot of people sometimes go wrong is to focus all your attention on them at the expense of everyone else. Classic mistake, because a good inspector/critic/reviewer will notice that and although they wont find any fault with the service that they recieved, they will note that it was at the expense of the paying customers who are forking out their own hard earned money to dine there. I guess thats why a lot of food critics prefer their anonymity.

So its fair to say that Mr Lewis Smith and his partner recieved good service on Saturday (Im confidant the review if it appears would confirm that!!??) but so did everyone else on Saturday. After all thats what we do. And what a great return to the daily grind we had. Service went really smoothly despite the large table booked smack bang in the middle of service. No rest now until January 1st 2008!!

A joke for tonight.

The Queen is opening a new hospital and is being shown around by a matron and a doctor in a white lab coat. As she approaches the first bed and asks the young man what ails him he responds - " Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race! Aboon them a' ye tak your place. Painch, tripe or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o'a grace as lang's ma arm". Bemused, her majesty moves on to the next bed and asks the young man the same question. He replies - "The deil cam fiddlin' thro' the town, And danc'd awa wi' th' Exciseman, And ilka wife cries, "Auld Mahoun, I wish you luck o' the prize, man." The deil's awa, the deil's awa, The deil's awa wi' the Exciseman, He's danc'd awa, he's danc'd awa, He's danc'd awa wi' the Exciseman. ". By now somewhat confused, her majesty nonetheless continues onto the next bed. Again asking what ails him she gets the response - "O my Luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June: O my Luve's like the melodie, That's sweetly play'd in tune. " The Queen then turns to the doctor and asks if this is some kind of mental ward, at which the doctor replies " No ma'am its the serious Burns ward!". Tonight is Burns night, and all across Scotland there will be "hunnerds" of gadgies tucking into Haggis "Neeps an tatties" and imbibing a dram or two in honour of the great bard. So with the first verse of the Selkirk grace I bid you a happy burns night.

SOME HAE MEAT AN' CANNA EAT AND SOME WAD EAT THAT WANT IT BUT WE HAE MEAT AN' WE CAN EAT AND SAE THE LORD BE THANKIT.
Robbie Burns

Im back!

Well after what amounts to an entire month off work I finally returned to work today. About bloody time too!! Apart from my now bulging waistline (and neck - I can hardly breathe), there seems to have been a few changes, but nothing too major. The cellar has been tidied up somewhat, and not a minute too soon!! My office however hasnt, and was quite shocking, particularly since I havent occupied it since the 24th December. Im not saying that I left it spotless, far from it, but it became a dumping ground, that Im getting the blame for. Anyway its been squared away now, all that remains is for it to be kept tidied! (New Years resolution number 103!). Danny has been a busy little squirrel over the last few weeks, and it seems that there are a number of deletions from the wine-list that have occupied a large chunk of today. Alas his sale of my last two bottles of Hill of Grace have placed me in bit of a pickle, as my favourite guests have booked themselves in for the weekend on the spur of the moment. So they are in tonight, tomorrow night and saturday night. Oh well, it gives me the chance to let them try something else. Spent the afternoon in a tasting session with Justin Llwellyn of Champagne Taittinger, tasting our way through the new range of champagnes that have become our house pour. Must say that I was quite impressed with the Brut Reserve, the Comte was its usual high standard, just a touch young still at 98. The Prelude was different, not a big fan really. We got the chance to try the Folies de la Marquetterrie which is a single vineyard champagne which is the only Taittinger champagne to undergo oak treatment. There was a touch of corkiness to the wine, slight, but enough to taint the flavours which seemed to be bigger more brutish that the Taittinger Brut. The two roses didnt do anything to inspire me, the brut nv lacked depth of flavour and just seemed very one-dimensional. The Comte rose was ok, but failed to live up to the hype it got before we tasted it, and at the price it isnt anywhere in the same league as the DP rose. It didnt help that this wine also had a touch of cork taint to it. The 2000 vintage raised an interesting discussion on the poor performance of vintage champagne in general over the commercial success of prestige brands that carry vintages - Krug, DP, Cristal, Comte etc. It was fairly bland with not much to make it stick out. The final wine was a favourite, the Taittinger Nocturne. Released two years ago to fill a percieved gap in the market, Nocturne positions itself as a night-time champagne, to be drunk through the night or with a meal. Carrying about 18g sugar per litre, compared to the 10g/l of the brut, this is classed as a sec champagne. This was smooth, refreshing and kept you wanting more. Perfect!

Mind you now the post tasting hangover seems to be coming in to play. Oh well, no pleasure without pain.

Hills of Grace

The Arkle is closed at the moment for our annual holiday, three weeks of pure bliss with no dinner service, evenings off and generally we do a bit of spring cleaning during this time. This year, we arent doing so much, because for two weeks La Brasserie is moving into the Arkle and Library while they have their floor replaced. Besides which, this year Ive taken my holidays in January to avoid a repeat of the debacle we had over summer when I was forced to return prematurely from my holidays. So it is that young Danny is holding the fort in the "Arkerie". This morning I wake up to a text from young Danny, not to mention a voicemail evidently left last night at about 9pm ish. It seems that he had an adventurous guest in who wanted a big Aussie red. Danny being young, impetuous and with balls of steel goes straight for the jugular with Henschke Hill of Grace. Damn me if the fish doesnt bite, not only once with the 1997 Hill of Grace at a wince inducing £425, but a second time with the insanely young 1999 Hill of Grace at a slightly more palateable £340. Dannys parting message - he (Danny) prefers the 97, the 99 was too strong!!

Wine Blog Wednesday 29 - Biodynamic Wines

As Im on holiday this week, Im raiding my own "stash" for this edition of WBW. Luckily I have several bottles that qualify, probably more so than were I to raid the hotel cellars. Biodynamic wines are almost like the ultimate in niche wines. There is a lot of debate around the "effects" of biodynamic production, which follows the principles of agriculture laid down by Rudolf Steiner (of Steiner Schools "fame") in the 1800's. In a nutshell Biodynamic farming follows the cycles of the moon and hence the tidal flow of water to dictate when certain practices are carried out, planting, pruning, cropping etc. There is also a fairly strict set of dictates as to what treatments the plants may recieve, and that which comes from the soil is all returned to the soil. Practitioners of the method include the great and glorious of the wine industry across the world - Jacques Selosse, Didier Dageneau, Nicholas Joly, Ron Laughton, Jacques Seysses, Sybille Kuntz, Lalou Bize-Leroy, Aubert de Villaine, Alvario Palacios and many many more. A comprehensive list can be found at http://www.forkandbottle.com/wine/biodynamic_producers.htm which is quite fortutious as fork and bottle are the hosts of this months WBW. http://www.forkandbottle.com/wine/wblogwed/wbw_biodynamic_wine.htm
A quick look down that list shows that many of these wines are fairly expensive. They command high prices, and they regularly get them, with great reviews to boot. So maybe there is something to Biodynamic farming.

The wine that I chose for WBW is a Chambolle Musigny from Domaine Dujac. Its a premier cru from the lieu-dit of "les Gruenchers", from the 1985 vintage. I first came across the wines of Dujac when I was working at Amaryllis in Glasgow. One of our regulars was a "Parker-chaser", regularly seeking out high scoring wines. I was tipped off to this fact by one of my suppliers who also happened to supply him. From then on, Francis would give me advance information on the wines that Mr R. wanted, and I would then snap them up. It worked for everybody, except Mr R who had to pay restaurant prices instead of retail for the wines that he wanted.

As the wines are unfiltered it has a fine suspension of particles and there is quite a bit of sediment down the side of the bottle. Looking through the bottle the colour seems light and I can easily see through the bottle, possibly suggesting some colour loss. The ullage is about half an inch short of a full bottle, which is not great news, but not neccessarily bad news either. Ive got a bad feeling about this after taking the foil off, as there is quite a strong aroma of tca coming off the top of the cork. Phewwwwww, ewwwww!!!!!!!! I dont even have to pour any from the bottle to tell its corked. I havent had a stinker like that for a while, but man that is really bad.

Plan B - Didier Dagueneau Blanc Fume En Chailloux 1997. Yup nearly nine years old. Dagueneau is considered the wild man of the Loire Valley. Apparently standing over six foot tall, with a mane of shocking red hair, he cuts an impressive figure so Im led to believe. I have a friend who met him once who told me he ploughs his vineyards with a horse drawn plough! In the seven years now that Ive been doing this Ive watched his wines increase in price enormously. But they are worth it. Silex, his top cuvee from the Loire, now retails at about £50 a bottle. On a restaurant wine list it come in at over £100. For a white wine from the Loire thats really expensive. En Chailloux is/was his entry level pouilly fume. He stopped making it in around 2001/2. The colour is a light straw colour, bright and clear. On the nose there is a strong green apple aroma with gooseberry and an unusual, aroma that reminds me of the lemon fairy liquid that we use at home. The fruit is still quite dominant on the flavour, although it isnt very acidic any more. There is a wet slate minerality to the wine that shows nicely without the searing acidity that youthful vintages show. A damned fine wine, that drinks really well on its own now. Not sure it would be as good with food, without the acidity to freshen the palate, but nice easy drinking on its own.

Bit gutted about the Dujac, after just going back to it, the cork-taint is still way strong, but there is an animal character behind the wine, that smells like sweaty horse. Not sure that if it wasnt tainted it would be any good anyway.

Well that wraps up my contribution for this months WBW. Looking forward to the round up and cant wait for the next one!

Looking ahead

Ive had plenty of time to think about things recently. Its weird to think that the Arkle opens again next Tuesday, thats my holidays gone and disappeared in no time. Which is a bit of a cheek really, because Im not actually returning to work until the 25th, as Im going to be in Edinburgh for the Australia Day tastings. And by the time I actually return to work on the 25th, I will in fact have had a whole month off. Yes the last day that I actually worked was the 24th December. (Not strictly true as I went in to help count the cellar for the stocktake.) A whole month! I can hadly believe it. But the truth is that I cant wait to get back to work. There are so many things that I want to do this year, and it seems that Ive had so long off, I need to get my head back into the game.

This month off has given me some time to read some of my wine magazines that had been building up neglected in the corner of my room. Ive had a chance to trawl around some websites and reading up on the latest wines to hit the shelves from Australia, New Zealand, California, Washington, British Columbia, Oregon, South Africa, France, Italy etc etc. Ive had a chance to start thinking about really taking control of the wine-list and marking my territory with it. Taking it forward to match with what the customers are asking for and what is selling well. How I want to present the list, categories, sommeliers selections, producer profiles, monthly newsletters that can highlight new wines, special offers etc.

We are making some progress in the cellar too. Quotes have been sought out to replace the wooden shelving in the cold room with proper wine racking, this will enable us to rack up much more wine in a more efficient manner that should also help shave nearly half an hour off the stocktake. Might even improve the accuracy of the count with some of the wines. As soon as thats done we will be able to move a lot of stock out of the holding cage and bring them onto the list. By the middle of the year, we ought to have somewhere in the region of 1500 bins on the wine-list. I want to bring in more funky wines - smaller grower producers, quirkily named wines, bring in some more obscure regions and countries - greece, british columbia, oregon, washington state.

I plan to progress further within the court of master sommeliers too this year, hopefully getting a place on the Advanced Sommelier course. As well as this, for my own personal development I plan to concentrate on Italy, as it is my achilles heel. Next year I want to arrange a sommelier trip to Tuscany or Piedmonte with one of our suppliers, so I ought to be better informed on the wines of Italy before I make a fool of myself.

Im now in my third year of my initial five year plan with the Grosvenor and about halfway through my own goals and objectives that I had set myself within that plan. There are still some key issues that need some attention, notably salary and hours, but progress comes slowly. Looking back at 2006 it was quite successful in many ways and hopefully we can continue to build on that and make 2007 a great year.

On Appreciation.

I think it must be human nature to want to be appreciated. We all crave recognition for our efforts, our endevours, our achievements, whether it be a "well done!" from the boss, or a token of thanks from a client or a hug from a loved one, even a fiscal reward in the form of a bonus or pay-rise. Ive been really lucky working here, for the most part it is made clear that my efforts are appreciated. With the season of giving having finished recently, Ive also been able to see how much Im appreciated by both our suppliers and our customers. Ive had a very good xmas on that score. The crowning glory came with the gift of a bottle of 1996 Hill of Grace from one of our regular customers. To say that I was gobsmacked is a slight understatement. It is a truly gratifying experience to think that I have made such an impact on this persons experiences at the Grosvenor that he felt comfortable to go out an buy me a £160 bottle of wine as a xmas gift. I kind of glad that I didnt open it in front of him, and that I saved it for xmas. Well, its been added to my humble collection of wines and I plan to open it later in the year with some good friends and colleagues over a nice meal.

Australia Day Tastings

The thing that I love about January is the Australia Day Tastings. Now I havent been for a few years - since I moved down to Chester actually, but this year Im going to both tastings. Ive usually just gone to the Edinburgh tastings held at Prestonfield House in the huge round stable building in the grounds of the hotel. The last time I went there was a bunch of us from Gleneagles and we went for a jolly for the day. The wife and I got the train over from Glasgow and the guys met us there having got the train down from Auchterarder.

The event is one of the biggest tastings of the calender, and the Edinburgh event is the biggest tasting held in Scotland. There are usually about eighty stands each carrying about a dozen or more wines from some of the best companies and wineries in Australia. Thats a hell of a lot of wine to get through. Usually I take it in two parts. In the morning I scoot around and taste the white wines. Then I break for about an hour and a half for lunch to try and sober up a bit and give the palate a bit of a rest. Then in the afternoon I go back and start on the roses, then the reds until you cant taste anything else. You know it is time to quit when a big bad barossa shiraz starts to smell and taste like an oaky hunter semillon!! You have to be a bit prepared for the tastings, cause there is a lot of chaff, volume driven supermarket wines that I want to avoid. There are certain stands that it is essential to visit, the Villeneuve wines stand is one of those. Kenny, Alistair, Naird and the gang have one of the finest selections of Aussie wines in Scotland, including the wines of Charles Melton. In fact it was Kenny who introduced me to Charlies wines.
Im looking forward to the Edinburgh tastings because Im hoping to catch up with my friends still at Gleneagles while Im there. It will also be good to catch up with some contacts from up that way too.

The Edinburgh tastings, while big, are nowt compared to the London tasting. Ive not had the chance to go to the London tastings yet, but this year will be my first time. Apparently it is huge! A lot of the guys show stuff that doesnt get up to Scotland because they dont rate it as a significant market (they are so wrong!), and there are usually many more winemakers at the London event than Edinburgh. It runs for two days, during the day I believe it is open to trade and journalists, and the evening is a ticketed event for the general public. Im looking forward to going as it will be a new experience, and as a kind of new years resolution Im going to make more of a concerted effort to get to more of the important tastings. After all it is an excellent opportunity to taste some stonking wines, meet up with winemakers and reps from the various wineries and agencies and get some networking done.