Swiss wines are really rare. Only about 2% of all Swiss wines made are ever exported and its quite likely that one may not even find them in major restaurants in Geneva. So when I read about an exclusive Swiss wine tasting in London, I really had to sample it for myself. Forty quid, a dozen bottles and in the company of the great Neville Blech.

We now take a detour from restaurant hopping to finding that drink, in the city of Smoke.

A tutored tasting.

The session was hosted by Paula Sindberg of Ultimate Wines. We gathered at Bacchus and Commus , owned by Neville & Sonia (Sonia was the first woman to win a Michelin Star!), and as one would expect, slightly nervous exchanges to start which quickly greased with all the welcoming company, I met some pretty cool wine lovers.

A few (Paula included) wore silver looking medallions and I was informed that they were part of The Wine Century Club – people who’ve tasted more than 100 grape varietals. There are 590 members and you can read about them here . Any wine lover can join in the fun and seriously some of the nicest bunch of people about, they really do have a passion for wine!

Swiss, Gwass.

I must admit I was a little overwhelmed with all the Swiss varietal names as these truly were wines I’d never heard of. We started with the whites, eight bottles in all. Thankfully this was a tutored session; Paula broke into Gandalf mode with the story telling, and it was nice to be assimilating new information. Paula also prepped tasting sheets for us and there were some info packs for us to take away as well.

Educational and I get to drink too.

Right, so on to the tasting then. If you’ve never been to one, it’s quite an experience. Depending on who’s running the event, its usually quite informal (just don’t be greedy when pouring, well…) We were each given four empty wine glasses. As the session began, the bottles were passed round in order and it was up to myself to keep track of what I was drinking. There’s a jug of water to clean the palette, and a sputum if one should so need one…. in hindsight, I should really try to spit more than I swallow.

The whites came in two ‘waves’. The first glass was an aperitif and the next three bottles were noticeably light bodied whites. Out of these four, the 2006 Kellerei Chanton Himbertscha stood out for me, with a slightly peppery taste and bubblegum flavours, in addition to lots of citrusy fruits on the palate. Bright, young and acidic! I had to double check that I wasn’t drinking something from Germany.

The latter four were still quite an easy drinking style, although they had a more significant mouthfeel. These wines exhibited a more viscous body and they were larger on the palette with honey sweet flavours. By far, my favourite on the night was the F&D Giroud 2005 Amignede Vetroz “La Danse des Eoitles”. The bright wine carried a clean sugary sweetness in the finish which made it quite a joy, I just couldnt stop drinking it, and a truly memorable dance of the night, indeed.

On the whole, the Swiss whites were generally light bodied and the crispier cleanliness was very welcoming. Perhaps my palette is still young, I prefer the fruity dry whites – unoaked where possible – as opposed to the dense and buttery, and I quite enjoyed Swiss Whites.

Intermission for the eater

Vacherin cheese, you gotta be careful with this one. To my mind, its one of the best cheeses ever made, creamy, runny and really stunning. Its so good, its almost worth the price of entry alone. I guess that’s the upshot of wine tastings is the spread of cheese; in addition to the vacherin, there were a separate selection that included some swiss and blue.

Of course, cheese weren’t the only nibbles; Paula laid on a pretty impressive spread including dried apricots, plums, olives, oat biscuits and my favourite – a charcuterie board with iberico bellota, breasaola, and saucisson.

Moving back to the tasting and now on to the reds, I was pretty tipsy at this point. I hadn’t had dinner yet, swallowed far too much and I’m counting on the nibbles to fill me up.

The last four bottles were reds. We started with a light and almost syrupy Kellerei Chanton 2006 Eyholzer Rooter. There are jammy fruits on the palette, and it really reminded me of a fresh and young Beaujolias, personally not a bad thing, but perhpas not for everybody Im sure. The next bottle, F&D Giroud 2006 Humagne Rouge de Chamason, was again, quite light, creamy and vanilla on the nose, and its almost like a young Beaujolias or even a Pinot. The 2004 Gamaret Futs de Chene was quite hollow in the centre, and was quite soily, while the last bottle the Giroud 2005 Cornalin de Chamoson, also a “La Danse des Etoiles” was the best red of the night for me – smooth and silky with a spicy jammy finish.

On the whole, the Swiss reds were light and if you are a fan of young, easy drinking Beaujolias or Jammy Australian Pinots, you’ll quite enjoy Swiss reds. On their own, they are easy to drink, but perhaps they are not quite big enough to match your peppered steak or game. Although, I must admit, as a Pinot drinking, I think Swiss reds are rather successful for everyday drinking, if you like big reds, malbecs, shirazs, you will find these wines a little underwhelming.

Overall, I enjoyed this little tasting event, it certainly is abit different, especially drinking some rather rare stuff. The F&D Giroud name is on my list of cool producers now and their range of ‘dance of the night’ wines are quite an experience in my humble opinion.

Sip!

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I love to wine and dine. However, my shrinking wardrobe and bank balance doesn’t always permit my indulgences on a more frequent basis. While surfing the luminaries of foodie-interwebs, I came across the expertly written, if subdued opinion of London’s newest wine restaurant. High Timber stores 40,000 bottles of wine in the cellars beneath the restaurant, not to mention the use of Dyson busting, the ‘Xcelarator’ in the toilets. Needless to say I was intrigued by their choice of hand dryers and was delighted to take up the offer of a free meal when it came knocking.

Xcelerate me.

At the very end, I popped my hands under the glorious machine, and was relieved it didn’t cut my hands off. But I am certain to have incurred long term damage to my hearing instead. Blech. Zipping around the basement, co-owner Neleen was on hand to show us around the 40,000 bottle storing cellar – oh chilly, a good sign for the wine I’m sure; my presence not so much. And then, one of the funniest moments in my blogging career happened when Neleen turned round and said “So which magazine do you write for” , I said “I’m a blogger… ya know, LondonEater?”

“Huh?” puzzled and speechless, I wish I captured the moment with my camera as she handed over her handpicked bottle of Paul Cluver ’04 Pinot after I told her I have occasional wet dreams about those delicate grapes.

Mmm, back to the main dining area then.

Unbiased biasness

I shant dwell any longer on my complete and total objectivity when it comes to freebies – yeargh its murkier and harder to come across as the ultimate truth from the bottom of my belly when I didn’t pay for the food, but I think I am managing ok so far; still if you don’t believe this, disregard it and read reviews of meals funded from my shrinking bank account instead. (ie: turning down freefood is the hardest)

The first course: Roasted Scallops, Apple Salsa, Sweetcure Bacon, Basil Cress £9.50

That is a pretty intense puree. I took my brother with me for this visit. He choose a seafood starter. The scallops were lightly cooked, carried curious tastes of seaweed in the marrow-like sweetish apple puree of sorts. Yeah its ok, a little subdued in my opinion and it didn’t jump around like it was freshly reeled in. The crispy bacon was frankly quite puzzling – it didn’t really go with the scallops, it was just there, decoration or garnish? Either way, it’s unnecessary.

The menu is super short and can be read in approximately fifteen point nine six seconds. Its very bog standard, a straight entrée, main, pudding read: not a criticism, just a little uninteresting that’s all.

Pulled Shoulder Middle White Pork, Apple and Vanilla Puree, Crackling Wafer £7.50

While my brother did rather better with his scallops, I didn’t quite agree with my pork starter. Apart from the meat being a pretty soft texture, it was much too bland for me. It seemed as though the meat was blanched with nothing but boiling water and the chef forgot to bring his salt to work. I think what made things worse was the very sweet, almost custardy puree, making this a very tarty piece of pork. Again, it’s quite puzzling, was I having pudding to start? More worringly, was my entrée pretending to be a pudding. A whimsical start and I am feeling about as bland as the pork, shame because the pork was indeed quite soft on the chew.

Whining

So far, its quite underwhelming, but perhaps it could be that Chef is still sharpening his knife skills in the kitchen.. he really should spend abit more time tasting his own food, and maybe even scope out the competition around town because boy, is there some competition in wine bar land at the moment.

On the other hand, our wines were excellent. We started with a glass of chardonnay (which name I did not jot down) that was acidic, crisp and light with a tinge of tropical fruit, vanilla, fig (or dates I can’t make it out exactly) and a hint of heat. The bottle of Red Neleen handed over to two twenty somethings was eye opening. Smooth and rich, but with a mineral characteristic closer to a Burgundy than an S.A. Pinot, the smoky oaky fruitiness was forward drinking and almost as elegant as its Burgundian cousins.

Right. I ordered the £27 ribeye steak.

All the trimmings, all the trimmeringings indeed. Let’s go round the chopper block, giant mushroom, umami rich check; battered onion rings helping to grease the gastro gears, check; sweet roasted cherry tomatoes; check, check; 350g of matured ribeye beef, chec… no where to be found. Now, I can’t measure with my eyes, but surely that can’t be 350g of meat, can it? Anywho – taster notes: The meat itself was quite flavoursome, although it’s less beefy than I’d prefer it to be. The texture is perfect though, delicately soft, it tastes as if it had be pounded down by Ricky Hatton for 28 days, and is great to chew on. With lots of charcoal in the flavour, I suppose it’s an indication that it was cooked to a proper medium rare as requested. It was a good piece of meat, just didn’t have that oomph for me. The steak is also rather subdued in flavour. Thankfully I added a pot of cabernet jus with the steak because this really made the steak fly. It sparked and sizzled away with the red wine gravy – red fruits, jammy, rich and just luxurious; it breathed much needed life to the lifeless meat.

Next.

Loin of Venison and Braised Haunch, peppered red cabbage, quince puree £21.00

One steak is more than enough for the table, so my brother went with game instead. This is more successful than the beef. The tender venison was nicely cooked to a medium rare. The smokey game was a welcomed change to the flavourless steak. The dish is good, but certainly not great and there were far too many sweetish elements involved. This time, in the form of a quince puree and the balance between too much sugary versus something very gamey just made it abit strange. On the side was a curious red cabbage wrapping around a mushy haunch mince, more akin to a kidney or a pate of some sort. I couldn’t quite understand it, perhaps it was just me but I did not enjoy the Chef’s combinations. Everything is abit off balance, and off balance is not a good thing.

All in all, the meats were alright, not world shaking stuff, and for £27 one would have anticipating a fire breathing dragon but in its place was a rather harmless, furry little gremlin. One who is much too sweet to mount a proper attack of the senses.

Pudded out.

Right, I sussed it – the sous chef must have accidentally passed the sugar instead of the salt. With so much sweetness going around, I was expecting a pudding explosion because this chef seems to have a real sweet tooth. Enter the fruit bomb.

Fruit Terrine £7.50

Gorgeous fresh fruits pressed together into a concentrated and intense terrine. Now we’re talking – instant classic here, and one of the more innovative puds Ive tried in recent memory. As expected the juicy layers were shooting all kinds of fruit infusions toward my tastebuds and the concentration of citrusy mangoes, pineapples and blood oranges really took this dish to the moon. On the side was a honey-rich flavoured mango sorbet which I really enjoyed as well. Really lively and it wiped my palette clean of the distant memory of the bland pork.

Also very good was the solidly made chocolate tart served with a lively blood orange sorbet on the side – both are excellent, on its own,  not so much when eaten together.

A delicate balancing act.

The food at High Timber is abit like the view at High Timber. Situated along the river, it advertises itself  as one which has ‘one of the best views’ of any restaurant in the country. Yeah that would be true if it were not for the four metre wall obstructed it. I had to stretch my neck to catch a good glimpse of the millennium bridge, and even then, it wasn’t really that exciting. I ate on a boat cruise once which whizzed up and down the Thames for four hours; I distinctly remember eating my pudding as I passed under the imposing London Eye. Now that is a view.

Having said that – food isn’t that bad, they do a lot of things right, but perhaps on a personal level, the balance/combination of flavours just didn’t work for me – abit of a one trick pony in the sweet plus meat section, perhaps its done in this way to compliment the wines, but I didn’t see any wine recommendations to go with individual dishes on the menu, I think the connection between the wine and the restaurant is a little lost, or perhaps not emphasised enough.

In terms of food – I believe the chef really needs to cut down on the sugar and perhaps invest abit of his time researching other types of umami combos. However, this place does churn out excellent puddings – the fruit terrine is quite special and I could think of the myriad of wines which could compliment the dish.

Wines, well Neleen choose some excellent stuff for us, the wine cellar tour was very cool if abit brief, so top marks for that.

Perhaps they are still working out the kinks, after all it’s barely a couple of months old; as it stands, its merely an average wine restaurant, not particularly bad, but nothing particularly outstanding either. The all important price point – £8 starters, £20 mains is not expensive, but certainly not budget friendly either. For that sort of price range, there are lot of places which can produce a much more pleasurable dining experience. On the other hand, their set lunch menu is priced aggressively at £15 for two courses and £18 for three – a far more attractive option, and one I expect most diners to take if one so chooses to dine here.

A restaurant with half a view is nice to have, but in my humble opinion they need to pay abit more attention to the food if they are to please those who love to wine and dine.

The Gist of It.

High Timber Official Site
8 High Timber Street EC4V 3PA 020 7248 1777
£40pp plus wine

Verdict: Wines are good, food could be better for the price, overall could be alot more exciting that its current iteration.

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It has taken me almost three months to get here, but I’m glad I stuck to my seven part guns and have wrote about one my favourite subjects: wine.

In the end, when I’m reflecting on what I’ve said (and what I haven’t) , my knowledge on wine is but a grain of sand in the most expansive of beaches. So it is only appropriate that I highlight some of the best wine resources around the web to conclude this my quickie guide to wine.

1. Wine library TV … with Gary Vaynerchuk

a.k.a. the thunder show.

Forget Robert Parker, forget the spectator, the ultimo wine god of the web 2.0 generation is Gary Vaynerchuk. His video blog is up to number 594 and he reviews 3 or 4 bottles of wine every day. I’ve subscribe to him as a video podcast on my iphone for almost a year now and I’ve learnt so much from the Vaynerchuk. Not only is Gary really good at wine, he’s funny too. Join the vayniac movement now.

2. Vinography

If you are looking for a comprehensive wine blog listening in on the industry’s hearbeat then look no further than vinography. It certain does help that their wine reviews are superbly detailed write-ups too and their aroma card is a useful tool as well.

3. Dr Vino

Dr Tyler Coleman’s blog features a more personal commentary on the wine world, complete with the occasional wine review and some rather insightful and informative general pieces. I know this sounds a little strange, but it is nice to come across blogs which genuinely offer an opinion rather than just junk attention grabbers to get on the front page of digg. This one is a real gem.

4. Wine Terriors

You got to have a french wine blog in here. Bertrand Celce is a photographer, writer and wine lover who lives in France. Pretty obvious what his blog is about and his personal , diary style entries document his visits to various vineyards around france. Does make for pretty insightful reading about french vineyards and to me, almost a kind of promotional tool to visit french vineyards. I’m still saving up for my trip to burgundy.

5. The wine society

If you feel the need to join a club of like minded vinophiles then look no further than the wine society. Founded in 1874, it is possibly the oldest in the world and for 40 pounds gives you lifetime membership and it gives you a block of ‘shares’ in the club. Their wine plans are great and the website itself is a treasure trove of wine knowledge. Well worth a visit.

Inconclusively… 

I hope you found this little quickie guide useful, from now on, I’m going to be slowly adding wine reviews to my blogging arsenal. As usual, I’ll try my utmost to ensure maximum quirkiness in my commentary and in the meantime, here’s the quickie wine guide in it’s entirety:

Finally, ignore the critics, trust your own palette, try lots of different types of wine and as long as you love the bottle – then it’s a great bottle. 

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I think I’ve covered most of the wine basics in five parts and feel as if this would be the perfect post to write about some alternatives to the grape staple.

There is so much stuff out there to try, it would take you a lifetime to experience it all. The human quest to continually search for methods to refine the hedonistic has reached the point where you can find alcohol being made from pretty much all kinds of starch based foods out there. I’m not going to go into every single one, instead I’ll highlight the two which I think most of you will find interest in: sake & scotch whisky.

1. sake

Or japanese rice wine, is about as close as you can get to a wine alternative. The general conception is that sake is meant to be had warm… but the truth is, it’s meant to be had cold. Like wine, sake has several grades of refinement and each of them affect the quality and ultimately the taste. Without wanting to go into too much detail, the best sakes are made from using the purest water and having the rice milled to it’s tiny core , ie, stripping away all the rougher outer bits.

Great sake can be fragrant, fresh and pure – with slight hints of sweetness. Sake’s highlight is it’s purity – so you will notice the smoothness straight away when you drink it. Think, superior light cream, not hard like water, but almost like water, but protected by silk going down your throat. Great sake tastes like that.

Now as with wine, temperature plays an important role in sake drinking. The warm stuff is usually what is referred to as ‘filtered sake’ . Filtered sake is about the lousiest grade of sake you can get. Interestingly enough, it’s not made from rice … it’s made from the shells of the rice. While it still carries the same characteristics.. it won’t be as smooth as higher grade stuff, which is why it is served warm to thin out the hardness and to amplify the little flavour in the sake.

Real sake ( ok well, real to me anyway ) is served cold. Generally speaking, they fall broadly into two categories: dry & crisp or sweet & wet. Personally, I prefer it bone dry and crisp since you get the great flowery fragrance and purity coming through. But sometimes a little sweetness can be nice.

I alluded to sake grades earlier, my japanese is fuzzy, but if you keep the few items in mind the next time you run out to buy a bottle (or order in a restaurant) look for these things:

• Honjozo – filtered stuff, made with added alcohol and preservatives because of dodgy rice. Not very good. Usually served warm, equivalent of table wine.
• Junmai – Pure and made only from rice, pure water and koji ( the fermented bits) . Cold please.
• Ginjo/Dai-ginjo – Same as junmai but made from rice polished down to 60% its original size. Dai-ginjos is made with rice down to 50%. Served cold.
• Junmai Daiginjo – The above two but maybe added with residual alcohol to bring out more aromas and flavours. The top of the range. Can only be served cold.

Prices per bottle can range from anywhere between £5 to £££ (refuse to slap a number) , although if you spot a bottle which is a dai-ginjo or a junmai daiginjo going for around £30 and is refrigerated in the sake shop – then buy it. If you are in london, then the best place to buy sake is japan centre in Piccadilly circus.

If you want to eat sushi and drink sake try sake no hana (if you have deep pockets) which is Alan Yau’s latest venture and has an exclusive sake list with no wine on it. If you are hit by economic woe, then look up donzoko. It’s a great little japanese restaurant with the walls adorned with huge bottles of sake (a la kill bill style) . They also happen to house a japanese karaoke bar in the basement;  serving cracking noodles, great sushi and a huge sake list.

2. scotch whisky

There are actually lots of different kinds and they are made all over the world, but probably the most well-regarded ones come from the scotland. The ‘scotch’ is made from distilling malted barley several times until you get a golden hued liquid which carries the sweet fragrance of the beautiful malt it was made with, and also hints of smokiness which was imparted to it by the oak barrels it sits in for years and years before it gets bottled.

Generally speaking whiskies fall into two major categories, namely the single malts and the blended malts. Single malts are made of pure malted barleys from one distillery (hence it being ‘pure’) while blended malts  as it name implies, is a mixture of grains and malts. Whisky lovers lean toward single malts as it tends to produce whisky of more distinct character and taste. Having said that, it does not imply that blended malts are a slouch (far from it) as it can be argued that a blend of several good stuff invariable leads to a great drink in itself.

Of course, the only way to find out is to drink it.

The guiding principle in differentiating grades of whisky is by it’s age. Typically the lower range ones will be matured in their oak barrels up to ten or twelve years. At fifteen years, you’re getting toward the mid-range, eighteen is formidable and anything over twenty one years will be stunning.

Like wine, different whisky brands will have different characteristics, for instance it can range from being mellow & sweet, with hints of fruits & honey to being superbly strong, oaky and so hard it almost burns when it goes down. Personally, I think whisky is an acquired taste (well, arent all drinks an acquired taste?) as you really need to be able to tolerate the heat in order to appreciate it. And it can get very, very hot.

The brand names you should know about are glenfiddich ( sweeter I find ), glen morangie ( stronger ) , chivas ( for the blended aficionado ) and glenlivet ( well balanced ).

Of course, like wine – the lesser known producers will make stunning examples which are hard to find. If you’re hunting for a nice christmas present and you happen to be in London then you won’t go wrong with vintage house in soho. In addition to a super whisky section, they also have their own cellars (under the shop) and carry a wide selection of bottle matured champagnes such as a 78′ Dom. I’m told that matured champagne loses its fizz over time and turns into a buttery cream like the same way a french chablis ages. Well perhaps when there is cause for a huge celebration, I’ll go try it out and let you guys know about it – till then, I’ll stick with my budget conscious barolos.

Before I forget, if you really want to buy a ‘real’ bottle of whisky then the easiest thing to do, is to get yourself to scotland. You can start in edinburgh where you will find a smattering of whisky shops surrounding the beautiful castle. Be forewarned though because the rain is literally cats and dogs. Aside from that, it’s a beautiful city saturated in historic stone buildings… and also a hive for punk culture.

In part seven, the final post…

We’ve almost, come to the end now! that’s six weeks so far, next week is going to be the final post to conclude the seven part series so do come back for that one in seven folks.

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So you’re in restaurant and you’ve ordered all this wonderful food, but looked at the wine list and got stuck. You look up and you feel the stress of a table full of expectant faces giving you that ‘well, what do we drink look?’. Fear not, because here are some quick tips which will help you navigate through that peril.

Following on from part four (pairing food with wine), we’ll now move to talk about a few strategies to picking the best wine to suit the food when you are out and about.

1. Decide after you order food

It is only table manners to order what you want to eat ( I always do ) before you decide on what to drink, it helps the sommelier narrow down something cool for you. It’s no secret that your meal can be amplified several times when paired with the right vino, on the flipside, a bad bottle can ruin the whole experience when it feels like you are washing down that duck with turpentine.

2. The sommelier is your best friend

Ask him/her lots of questions. If a restaurant has a dedicated sommelier, its their job to help you choose. Even if you know alot about wine, don’t try to do his job, let him entertain you. Afterall, the sommelier drinks & buys everything on the winelist (full-time) , it’ll make for some great insights. I always learn something new when talking to sommeliers. So quiz him, ask him what’s good, what’s special, what’s worth it and what goes down well with that flamin’ steak.

3. Remember the great wine markup

This might break your heart alittle, restaurants tend to have ridiculous mark-ups on their wines. Something in the shops which sell for £10 might cost you anywhere between £25 to £30, if you’re lucky. Which is why I tend to avoid stuff I can find in the local oddbins. You might ask, ‘ How do I know if I can get it in a shop or not? ‘ , well, the truth is you won’t. This just comes with experience, but what I tend to notice is that serious establishments will have a couple of rarities from relatively unknown vineyards which haven’t achieved cult status yet. This works to your advantage because sometimes it can be unique and affordable. 

Do abit of jostling with the sommelier, reject the first few boring cab savs or merlots (unless if he strongly recommends it, in which case you can’t say no) he offers and wait for him to scratch his head and go ‘ Hmm, well actually we do have this really nice one from a random vineyard that you’ve probably never heard of..’ Result. Go for that.

4. Bottle, glass or carafe?

It’s quickly becoming a trend. Younger restaurants like Arbutus or L’Autre Pied tend to offer wines by the carafes… and this is a real godsend. Not only is it more wallet friendly, it allows you to try a wider range of wines during your meal. You can easily get about 3 small glasses from a carafe so if you’re in a group of three, I strongly recommend this and then just move on to another wine.

I don’t believe there’s such a thing as ‘the perfect wine for the perfect dish’ , no. I do, however believe that there are several candidates which go well with what you’re eating. And besides, if you’re having multiple dishes, there are many flavour profiles which have to be matched. Hence, the more variation, the better the meal gets, simply because there’s more flavour swirling around – heady.

5. If there’s no love, then send it back

If you think your wine might be corked – then it’s perfectly ok to send it back. Although, this is rare, sometimes it can happen. What do I mean when the wine is corked? Well, if you feel like the wine has gone off and just tastes wrong then send it back. Its also the reason why the sommelier will stand by as he pours out a sip for you to swirl, sniff & taste. It’s just mainly to check for corkage. Of course, if you’re not sure, then just ask the sommelier, he’s your best friend remember? 

6. Remember your friends

Don’t leave out your pals and be sensitive to what others like/dislike. But you already know this don’t you?

7. Finally …

Have a great meal, have a great time and make sure you enjoy yourself because that’s what this is all about. If there’s something you particularly enjoy then by all means ignore all advice and go for it because you’re paying money so that you can enjoy it and not anybody else. That’s the beauty of food & drink, it’s something that’s incorruptable by opinion because if you think it’s good – then it is.

Coming in part six..

We’ve covered alot of ground in five posts about wine, and so in part six we’re going to navigate away from this subject and talk about some wine alternatives. Yup, you read that right, alternatives. See you in part six.

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Last week we talked about buying & storing wine. Hopefully you would have found the tips useful. Today, it’s going to be a relatively breezy ( though fairly contentious ) post as we move to talk about pairing food with wine.

You will appreciate that  different styles of wine work best when paired with particular foods. When paired correctly, the flavours can bounce off each other and help accentuate the overall profile swirling in your mouth. It’s abit like dunking donuts into coffee, or scones & tea or hot chocolate fudge sauce on vanilla ice cream. When complimenting flavours come together, it can explode.

Boom.

I’ll state now that it’s difficult for me to recommend specific bottles of wine, instead I’m going to suggest the grape varietal which best fits the food. For more information on grape varietals, read part one here.

As usual, an index of what’s covered in this post:

1. Meat
2. Fish
3. Dessert & aperitifs
4. On its own, a good book or a long conversation

Meat

Lets get the obvious ones out of the way first: Red meats. This will apply to lamb and particularly steak. As it were, red meats have quite dominant flavours and so its only logical to match it with meaty red wines. Purists will suggest that the peppery, fleshy and very full bodied shiraz will meet all your red meat needs, especially if you have ordered your steak medium rare, bloody and with a peppercorn sauce. I tend to find that australian shirazs work perfectly well for red meats, if shiraz is too big of a wine , then go for the smoother & fruitier option of an argentinian tempranillo or even a spanish rioja. I almost never drink white wine with red meat and frankly I don’t think there’s a white wine which can match up to a red. Although, I could be wrong, do let me know if I am (comments!) otherwise, unchallenged always order a full bodied red with red meat.

Poultry & pork , which I’ll lump together as white meat and appropriately, are best paired with white wines. Chablis pops into my mine straight away, which is both refreshing but creamy enough to compare against the texture of the meat. However, it’s not quite as straight forward as red meats, because there are quite alot of ways to marinate white meats and that means that it can get abit complicated when choosing wines. Let me try this then, if it’s a creamy, ‘wine’ sauce, then a Chablis or a chardonnay is really fine. If it’s a thai green curry or an red indian curry or even a heavy chinese sweet & sour sauce, maybe you want to try a cleaner & fruity wine to cut through all that thick and heavy sauce. Fruity italian pinot grigios and lychee flavoured austrain gwerztraminer are good bets. Generally, I wouldnt drink reds with white meat, however lighter body reds such as pinot noirs or merlots can be rather good choices to pair with white meat.

Ok, if all else fails, or if you want a wine which can match up with both white and red meats ie, you’re having more than three courses (you greedy bugger) , or more appropriately serving this at a party then plonk for a cabernet sauvignon. It’s softer than shirazs, it’s fruit driven but it’s not too light that it disappears behind the meat.

fish

Fish is very easy. Stick with white wine, almost any white and you will be quite safe. Of course, there are ‘bigger’ fishes, such as salmon or tuna and then the softer ones like cod or plaice. For the bigger ones, find a chablis ( you can probably tell I like it ) , one that has abit of age to it (perhaps a ’96) so it’s creamy and buttery, otherwise a light red such as a pinot noir is perfect.

With fish, I think it’s a chance to explore the different types of white wines which you haven’t tried before. I think you’ll be surprised with semillons and fish, do give it a try.

Dessert & aperitifs

Oh I love this part, I have a sweet tooth for sweet wines. Now, most restaurants offer pretty robust dessert wine options these days , but if you are searching for a couple of choices, then what you want are muscat grapes. The golden hued french sauternes is rich decadent and tastes of honey. If you want something a little less sweet and less heavy, then go for spanish sweet wines such as Pedro Ximenez. Personally, I would find a formidable German Riesling spatlese, which are late harvest rieslings. They are quite well balanced, smooth & rather light compared to most sweet wines. For something with tastes of nuts & dates, then you can do no wrong with tawny port. Anything 10 years old , or older will do just fine.

On its own, a good book or a long conversation

Am I the only one who unwinds in the evening to a cool glass of sauvignon blanc or a silky and perfumery beaujolais? I love a bottle for long conversations and it’s great way ( well, maybe not the best way ) to fall asleep while settling into a good book. When having wine on it’s own, always go for the lighter bodies ones, so that it’s easier drinking and less dominating. I find that abit of brie always goes well , but do prep a bowl of grapes, it tends to bring out the fruit in the wine and if you are drinking a pinot ( especially new world pinot ) then do have them with strawberries… you will be surprised, believe me.

Part five.

Officially passed the half way mark! In part five, I’m going to focus on getting the most out of ordering wine in a restaurant. See you again in seven day folks.

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Did you manage to put your new tasting skills to good use? Cool, we are about the half-way point in this series and I hope that you’re finding this helpful. If there’s anything you’d like to have included, or have any questions, please do leave a comment at the end of this post, I’ll happily incorporate your needs!

In part three, lets turn our attention to buying those special bottles and a few simple tips to turn your home into the pefect short term wine cellar.

Here’s an index of what is included in this post:

1. Where to buy wine
2. The alcoholic criteria
3. Storing the precious ones

Where to buy wine

There are broadly two ways to access wine, the easiest is t. pop into a wine merchants; the other is to subscribe to a wine club. A wine club is basically a subscription service which will then send you about a dozen hand picked bottles every month. Personally, I prefer going to a shop and picking out a bottle, but if you want to avoid the hassle of having too much choice (trust me, there really is too much out there) , you can leave it to a wine club to make the choices for you.

The five essential london wine shops

You’ve probably already seen my full write-ups on a couple of wine shops in and around London. Apologies to my international readers, although these are some places you might want to visit when you are next in London:

• For the budget concious beginner, Oddbins Chances are you will have seen one of the many Oddbins dotted around London. It is an excellent place for those just starting their adventure into the world of wine and for anyone who is drinking on a budget. Shops are independently run, so expect varying degrees of biasness, but they will all share a passion and knowledge of their selection. Affordable Chilean and South African bottles are good starts, however pay a visit to their fine wine stores in Notting Hill for full effect.

• For the serious wino and deep pockets, Berry Bros & Rudd Primarily purveyors of the very best french varietals, they also carry an excellent selection of other old-world wines, such as German rieslings and some interesting Italian barolos from 2000. Selections fit all kinds of budgets and their shop has largely remained unchanged since it first started selling wine to Londoners some 300 years ago! Staff are passionate and very knowledgeble, you can tell they love their vino. Shopping here is an experience in itself. Definitely a gem in the city.

• For the serious wino in west london, Robersons Their selection of fine Bordeauxs and Burgundies are eye-candy to potential buyers, while they also carry a large cross-section of international wines from Spain, America and Australia. Interesting features include a Lebanese bottle from Chateau Musar which is a must try just based on novelty factor. Fiercely independent, passionate about wine and one of the few places where the bold staff will recommend some exciting bottles to dare you to venture into the unknown. Viva la vino!

• For the wino who wants to try stuff in the shop, the Sampler Here’s how it works. Go to the store, get a pre-paid card and slot it into one of the wine ‘vending machines’ which have between 6 to 8 bottles showcasing a style such as Pinot Noir/Burgundy or Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay. Take a glass and simply press the button for the selection you wish to try. You can spit or swallow and then move to the next machine and repeat the steps all over again. This wine shop has a great concept and is a perfect way for beginners and aficionados alike to enjoy wine.

• For the new world aficionado, Cavas de Gaucho The wine supplying arm of the Gaucho grill franchise has opened it’s wine boutique to the public offering the same selection of over 150 bottles of the best Argentinian it supplies to its restaurant chain. The reds are particularly interesting being characteristically big wines which are fruit driven. Stunning examples of Tempranillos and Malbec are recommended. The wines are fresh, very smooth and goes down well with red meats. The boutique is small, but really it is all about quality.

Some better known wine clubs

There are a few wine clubs which not only offer a subscription service of sorts, but is also a member-based society which sends regular updates too. Here are a few which might interest you:

• The Wine Society Perhaps the world’s largest and oldest wine society, membership allows you to literally join the world’s largest wine fan base, lots of events and all kinds of wine plans catering to differing styles and pocket deepness.

• Stone, Vine and Sun They do a delivery dozen which comes straight to your doorstep starting at £72.50 for the stone case and £100 for the sun case. Mixed and varied, if you don’t know what you want, try this one.

• Berry Bros & Rudd In addition to an excellent wine shop, they also do a cracking wine club as well. Prices are high starting at £120 for their essential reds range and £180 for the Reserve ranges. Well worth it though as they carry all kinds of rarities. If you can afford it, then you definitely need to try this.

The alcoholic criteria

Im not going to attempt to cover all the bases, but when deciding what to buy, there should be a few criteria you need to adhere to while narrowing down the choices:

• Budget Probably the most important ( and obvious ) one. For beginners, always go for the something under a tenner. If you want to push it a little then upgrade to £20, but not much more than that. Of course, you will generally notice increasing quality as you scale up the price range, it’s not across the board, because wine’s abit strange in a sense that sometimes you can get a £5 bottle tasting alot better than one that’s ten times it’s value. So to be on the safe side, trying ten bottles each a fiver ( of all sorts of styles ) is probably a better way to start drinking than taking the plunge with a £50 Latour.

• Style This one is another rather obvious one, I’m going to cover matching food & wine in more detail in part four, but for a quick and fast rule of thumb, if you are going to drink with red meats then go for fleshy reds like a shiraz or a cab sav. If you are going for fish, then any of the whites will do just fine, particularly a nice chablis. If you are going to drink it on its own, then go for something of a lighter & sweeter variety. For a red, try a silky pinot noir, for a white, try a late harvest riesling or even a dessert wine such as a Sauternes.

• Lay or Now This may not be too obvious but wines either drink well now or they need abit of time to mature in a cellar. If you want to buy a bottle for immediate drinking ( ie: within the month ) , then just pop into a shop and get one that’s drinking well. Simple really. Unless there is a particular bottle which I love, I won’t buy bottles to lay down. Purely because of the fact that I don’t have a proper cellar to store the wine such that it can mature properly in a couple years’ time. Which is why I favour shops with good cellars. Though having said that, if its a really good bottle which has been cellared for years in the shop, by the time it’s ready to drink, it could also be several times what it was worth when it first came out. So if you are thinking long-term, then investing in a cellaring system maybe a good idea.

Storing your precious ones

Which leads perfectly into this section.

Now that you’ve bought your bottles, you really want to store it in decent conditions and not risk altering the content of the wine. I appreciate that not everyone has cellaring capabilities ready in their home, so I’m presenting a few easy work around tips which will work just as well in the short term.

The main enemies of wine are light, heat and vibration. When three of these elements combine and change dynamically and rapidly in the environment that your bottles are in, it can lead to pretty disastrous results, so you’d want to be able to understand their effects so that you can control them.

The golden triangle of storing wine

• Light is kept to a minimum, zero light is best, but otherwise, ‘dark’ is fine. UV rays, or just light of any kind will destroy your wine over time.
• Heat or more precisely temperature. This is contentious, though I think it’s widely agreed that 13C is the best temperature to store wine. Too high it’ll go off, too low and you are limiting its chances of maturing properly and if you approach 3C or 4C, then you run the risk of the alcohol freezing and separating out of  the wine. Fluctuations can kill wine as it expands and contracts with the ups and downs in temperature, so a constant temperature landscape is very, very important.
• Vibration. The less the better. In fact, no vibration is the best. Believe it or not, if your bottle is constantly in shock & awe, it will do something really funky to the chemicals in the wine and severely disrupt the balance leading to all kinds of weird flavours. Always ensure that your storage space is free from vibrations.
• Your location in the world. Depending on where you live, the temperature, humidity and all kinds of other factors will come into play as well. Of course, I can’t really cover everything, so do keep in mind your average room temperatures.

Impromptu home wine storage

So you dont have underground space and you can’t be bothered to renovate your basement into a professional class cellar. You just want to make sure the few bottles you bought won’t go off. Here’s a few quick and easy tips for storing your bottles, depending on the length of time it will spend after being bought and then being opened.

• Within the month, which is considered short term, your wine is not really going to change that much, as long as the golden triangle of heat/light/vibration is observed. For wine storage anywhere from a few days up to a month, the fridge is fine ( both for whites & reds ). Temperatures are relatively constant in a fridge and the light ( which is a low lamp ) only comes on when you open it. Provided you don’t open and shut your fridge too often in a day, vibrations will be minimal.

• Up to six months For something stored in the medium term, you’d want somewhere that is more dependable and less accessible so you give the wine ample peace and quiet to ‘sleep’. If you have a storage room which is dusty and murky, look for the lowest spot and lay your wine down horizontally. Ensure that once it’s layed down (sleeping), you don’t wake it until you are absolutely sure you want to drink it. Wine that is layed doesn’t like to wake up unless if it’s for drinking. If you don’t have a storage room, then you can tuck your wine away comfortably in a cupboard which you’re not going to access to often. Temperatures are usually around 15C in a cupboard I reckon, but then again, this depends on your room temperature, so do make sure your house isn’t too warm. Otherwise, a cupboard is dark, vibration will be low and temperatures are constant. It’s perfect for the medium term.

• Six months to infinity If you want to store wine in the long term, ie: years, then cupboards and fridges aren’t going to cut it. You need a storage area that meets the criteria for storing wine and be sure that the environment stays consistent over the entire period. Thankfully these days, there are a multitude of specialised wine storage fridges on sale which feature tinted glass doors which cut out harmful UV lights and are able to consistently maintain a constant and at the correct temperature. I’m not going to recommend any brands but shop around for these wine coolers, for example. OK, these ones are actually quite expensive, but think about it, if you have hundreds of pounds worth of wine which you expect to become ethereal over the years, it would be a lot of wasted time if the wine cooler doesn’t do it’s job correctly. Get a really good wine cooler or don’t get one at all.

In the next post

Phew, so hopefully you found that useful. Buying & storing are two essential steps in the preserving the overall experience. In the following post, we’re going to talk about matching food and wine. A big topic in itself, I’ll try my best to keep things interesting of course!

See you in seven.

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Its a trend. London’s like that, stuff comes in and out of fashion. Wine bars used to be ( long long ago, in a galaxy far, far away) cool, then it kinda died but now its back and its all the rage. When I was hunting for one to write about, I thought it would only be appropriate to go to the oldest one in London; Gordon’s wine bar.

London Whining

We were suppose to check out Benares, the first indian restaurant to win a michelin star, but I couldnt get a reservation at a reasonable time. Caro did say that she was feeling more thirsty than hungry, so off we went to the oldest wine bar in London.

So lets talk about Gordons. It is known to have existed in the same spot in embankment since 1890 and stakes its claim as the oldest one in the city. Today, the wine bar is owned and run by Wendy Gordon. Much of her extended family helps with the business so, as they mention on their website, it is very much a family affair.. which means one thing, heart and soul. Ok thats two things, but you get my drift ( my drift? That’s the weekend manifesting itself…).

Down the rabbit hole we go…

Situated in the ‘tourisy’ part of London in Embankment, its by the river and its a nice spot. The outside looks ancient, like its been unaltered since the 1900s, so authenticity of its age is proved I suppose. Its downstairs, so you follow a very steep set of stairs down..

There are no ceilings, instead it’s all rock and very low in height. Im not a very big guy and even I had to bend down a little as we descended down the more cramped bits. Its so atmospheric! I don’t think there are any lights, so its very dark, instead the whole place seems to be lit by just the candles on the tables. There’s also an outdoor beer (wine) garden area, but I really came here to drink in the cellar environment. I believe there isn’t music playing in the background either, just the chatter from the huge crowd.

We went on a friday night and it was absolutely packed to the brim. Luckily, Caro managed to find us a some seats on one of the long tables. Its also rather warm, Caro had to strip off to just one layer. Strip for dramatics of course. I then proceeded to the bar to order us a few glasses.

I need to quence my thirst

The wine list is straightforwardly arranged by body, ie: light, medium and full-bodied. Most of the wines are available by the glass, but some of the more interesting ones go by the bottle. Both of us felt red and Caro wanted something full-on, so she went for the Chilean Shiraz. I spotted the Grovers “La Reserve” which is a cabernet syrah..from India. Wow, that’s pretty unique, never had wine from india so I decided to go for that.

The food is a sort of buffet bar. They have a selection of cheese with the usual suspects such as brie, gouda, camembert, etc. In addition, there’s cold meats, roast beef, chicken wings and chorizos. All the nibbles are pretty formidable, I mean, you’d come here for the atmosphere more than anything really.

Heart & Soul

I got to say, I was a little apprehensive about this, since I thought of it just to be just another wine bar. But this one is really nice. You sip wine right next to their cellars, so its all dusky and musky, candle lights, very warm and the light bouncing off the low rocky ceilings, its superbly atmospheric and dare I say, quite a romantic place to have long chats. I think the fact that it was completely packed out help add to that atmosphere.

Haven’t really seen Caro in quite a while and she has since become abit of a sporting fanatic, squash to be exact. This was the perfect place to catch up. We stayed on till it closed at 11 and finished with an affordable bottle of Rioja between us.

OK, maybe its more stone than rock? What is the difference anyway? Perhaps its a mixture of both. Im wondering if its artificial, did they used to construct buildings out of solid slabs of rock back in the day? Maybe that’s why its still standing. Hmm. Musings of a drunk London eater.

Its a great place to catch up with old pals from yesteryear and I must say, the whole setting is very memorable and abit of an experience in itself. Its nice to see a revival of wine bars and on a more general note, wine becoming more ‘mainstream’. Now that autumn seems to be in full swing, cosying up in candle light and stone with good mates seems a great way to unwind after a long weeks’ work.

And for once, I’m going to act on my own advice Nic, Nicole, what are you doing tonight?

I love visiting wine shops, most feature these cool and creaky wooden floors. A little musky and dusty, in London the shopkeepers are almost always very cheerful and friendly. I mean, you got to be if your job is to sell not just a drink, but an experience to your customer.

Established since 1698

Primarily purveyors of very fine french varietals, you will also find that they carry a nice port & whisky collection. In addition, their other Old-world and European selections are also quite formidable.

Before I get to their wines, I want to talk about the shop itself, it’s really atmospheric. The inside is rather small, and it doesnt feel like a wine shop at all, as most of the bottles seem to be hidden away. As you stroll in, it’s like walking into 17th century London.

The staff are all very well dressed in smart suits, but exude a friendly glow and make you feel surprisingly relaxed and comfortable. Being that BBR are in the very posh end of Mayfair, I was half-expecting an epic showing of the stiff upper lip coupled with famously snotty service… but none of that here. The shop may look 17th century, but the staff certainly have moved on with the times. They are helpful, warm and most important of all, know their wines.

Literally, they are like walking wine encyclopedias.

I’m quite amazed at how much they know; it was here that I learnt that German rieslings (mostly from the Mosel region) come in 3 different varieties which are characteristically either dry, medium-sweet or very sweet. This has something to do with the time of harvest and the amount of sugars present in the wines during vinification. The person serving me was really clued-in. Best of all, they sell the different types of Rieslings in the shop. Rest assured it’s on my list so look forward to my riesling review and comparison post sometime in the near future.

Selection of wines

These guys have been around for a long time, and this translates into reputation and connections. I will note that the store features a cellar in the basement ( a real plus if you are a fine wine afficianado) , so you can be assured of well-layed wines which are undamaged by the harsh vibrations & light from the shop floor.

While predominantly french, I was recommended a nice looking 2000 italian barolo by G.Mascarello, costing £40. Bit on the pricy side, but I trust the professionalism and feel really confident its a great bottle.

My parents are in town next week, so I’ll post a review up soon… with a little assistance from the man who gave life to the man who gave life to London Eater. (intentionally intended.)

I suppose you’d expect prices to be sky high here, but it’s not the case at all. The shop features very nice wines that fit all kinds of budgets. They also managed to get a few smaller vineyards to brand their wines under the BBR banner. Although I’ve not tried it yet, they do feature Burgundies at X price. here.

I’m a stickier for rarity. I was on the look out for an upbeat and crisp bottle of white, but with a bit of creaminess, basically something a little refreshing and challenged the staff to recommend me a bottle that would fit the description under £20.

She started with some petit chablis, but then suggested this bottle, a 2003 Vouvray by Dorleans which is apparently a very small area and run limited produce. It costs a meagre £10.50.

This bottle was very sturdy, really crisp and clean in taste, but carried a hint of creaminess too. No oak whatsoever. The other thing I noticed was how lively the wine was, like it was freshly bottled and had a very light natural fizz in the finish. The livelyness really surprised me. Amazing for the price, it tastes as good as any £30 Chablis grand cru.

If you are searching for the best (and the rarest) french wines, this is the place to go, as far as London is concerned. The one thing that you will find lacking is their selection of new world wines. I was in the market for a jammy californian pinot, but the closest they could offer were pinots from Marbororugh NZ, and even that came relunctantly recommended.

Tasting the juice and eating the wine

In addition to the excellent shop, they also hold events (tasters and dinners) down in their atmospheric cellar. I wasn’t allowed to venture down there, but check it out here. Some of the events are very reasonable, like these one, which features full tasting events starting from £65.

Ok, £65 is not exactly cheap, but relative to other stuff out there, I’d much rather do it in a 17th century cellar with walking encyclopedias than a rented ‘seminar room’ in some dodgy office block in canary wharf.

I’m looking to sign up for some events here, but if anyone of you are interested in joining me, be sure you let me know (leave a comment below).

Next to the wine society, these guys probably boasts, in my opinion, the best selection of wine in the UK. Not only do they carry the best of the best, its also the more rare French wines that nobody really heard of that caught my eye.

Wines here suit all kinds of budgets, not having to suffer in quality and a top-notch cellar that preserves and stores wines correctly. Coupled with a knowlegeable staff whose recommendations will fit exactly what you want, you can be assured that all the bottles you buy from BBR will be great. Really worth a visit.

Welcome back folks. Last week we talked about what the different grape varietals were and their fundamental characteristics. Did you try the Diablo Pinot or the Dr Loosen Riesling? If not, maybe I didnt entice you quite enough, if you did, then well done on you!

Ok, in this edition, its all about understanding your bottles. We’ll start with the physical appearances and then move inwards and give you the basic tools to help you understand what wine really is. By the end of this post, you should be well equipped to confidently narrow down what you want and start enjoying it properly. Remember now, wine is not about getting drunk or about what other people say is good, its all about you and what you think is good. 

Here’s what’s covered in this post:

1. Gear you might need
2. What the labels mean
3. Prepping the bottle
4. Prepping the nibbles
5. Look, Sniff, Smell & Taste
6. After Taste
7. One last thing…

Gear you might need

Lets get started with some basic stuff you might need. If you’re going to take wine abit more seriously, then its worth consider some simple gear to keep around the house:

• Waiter’s Corkscrews 

I swear by the waiter ones, they are compact, cheap and never fail. I don’t really believe in the 100 quid fancy bottle openers which need a 30 page manual to operate. This one from Amazon is available for £7.50 and will do just fine. Its a nice way of wowing your friends when you open a bottle with one of them. 

• Nice glasses & a decent decanter
  Cheap ones break easily so you’ll want to get something a little more resilient. Wine glasses come in all shapes and sizes these days (some even without a stem), so you’re spoilt for choice. I get mine at Berry Bros & Rudd or the Sampler they do some very nice glasses, do check it out.    

• Wine savers 

Again you can either spend a fortune, or you can get really cheap ones from Amazon here, two for £4. These are useful, especially when you can’t finish a bottle in one go.

What the labels mean
So now, you’re in your local wine shop and you’re searching for a bottle, but you’re not sure what the labels really mean. There’s really only a few things you need to pay attention to:

The front label

There’s normally quite alot written on the front labels.

Like the ones above for instance (a sample of what I keep in my cupboards..). Generally speaking all you really need to know is producer, vintage year and grape varietal.

However below is a more in-depth look at what it all means:

• Chateau XYZ

Name of the vineyard or winemaker, sometimes if it’s a big name like Louis Latour, you’d just see his name. 

• Burgundy, Beaune, Margaux, Douro 

The region in which it was produced, also an indication of the grape varietal (see part 1 for more) 

• Vintage year

A vintage year normally means that the wine is made from grapes picked from a single year and a single vineyard. So think of vintage wine as being pure. Non-vintage is the opposite, its blended with different grapes varietals from either other vintages or from other vineyards altogether. Wine critics usually test vintages every year and publish their results in the form of a vintage chart. The chart gives an indication of how good all the wines from a specific region is, in that year.

The above image is an extract from the wine society website (which i recommend checking out by clicking this). Its quite self explanatory really, white box means its good to drink now (ie: smooth, no stickiness) and red box means store in cellar (ie: wine is not ‘ripe’ yet, very sticky if you drink it now as opposed to a few years from now)

Generally speaking, you can use the vintage chart to give an indication of the overall standard of all the wines in that year. Most shops have their own vintage charts too, so if you are buying a bottle of wine, do keep in mind to check the vintage chart before you commit a purchase.

• Grading *this applies to French wine*

French wine is regulated and the quality control method is called ‘Appellation d’Origne Controlee’ (AOC) .

Though, in my opinion, its a pretty loose quality control system since a lower grade wine can sometimes taste as good as something several grades up. The following is generally how it works:

VIns de table/Vins de Pay

Blended wines in which the grapes used as well as the production methods are a little murky. Basically this is your run of the mill table wine (or house wine). Typically the cheapest stuff.

AOC

This means that the wine you are buying adheres to a specific set of quality control measures such as throwing away 5% of the lousiest harvest, or controlling the purity of grape varietal used (ie, less blended with other grapes). This is the basic level of french wine.

Further AOC classifications

Within the AOC grading, there are the exceptional grades. Depending on region, it’s worded slightly differently. But generally speaking, if you see the word ‘Grand Vin de XXX’ it normally means that the wine is the made from the best 5% of the grapes from a single year. This is further divided into the ‘Premier Cru’ and the ‘Grand Cru‘, with ‘Grand cru’ being the ultimate distinction.

However, it should be noted that while grand crus are generally more expensive than premier crus, it does not neccesarily mean that it is better. It’s just an indication of the ‘potential‘ that it could be better. Confusing? Yeah well, welcome to the wacky world of wine.

For the layman, if you get a bottle which is either a premier or a grand cru coming from a good vintage year and is from a star producer (and quite possibly a hefty price tag), then you can be assured that it is of some sort of quality. 

The back label

Not all wines necessarily have a back label, especially the more reputable ones. The ones that do, mostly carry an informative tasting note, which is helpful in describing what it takes like, but not necessarily if it’s actually good or not, and also the alcohol content. To me, this is really quite an arbitrary figure, but just in case you need to know, wines are typically in the region of 12.5% to 14.5%.

Prep the bottle

Most people tend to skip this step, but I think that this is probably the most important step to getting the most out of your wine. This is the funky aspect of wine: it’s a ‘live‘ drink. It’s taste actually changes with the way you treat it. The reason being that the chemicals inside wine changes quite distinctively with changing conditions. Below are just a few things you should do after you pop the cork:

• Temperature 

This is crucial, warm-ish temperature brings out the fleshiness and the flavours, and cold-ish will stifle the flavours leading to crisper, cleaner palette. It’s also the same reason why cold lager taste good and when warm it sucks. For Reds, ideally 15 – 18 C, but room temperature is fine, as reds tend to carry more distinctively creamy, chocolatey flavours, its better served at room temperature. For whites, stick it in the fridge for at least 6 hours to get it down to about 12 – 15 C, or until it’s nice, cold and steely, brrr.   

• Decanting 

When drinking a red, it’s always good to decant it properly. Decanting can help ‘mini-age’ a red to remove any horrible tannins and make for a smoother drinking experience. This is otherwise known as letting the wine ‘breathe‘. Reds of all budgets can benefit from this step.

Here’s how you do it: 

Slowly trickle the wine it into your decanter, making sure you give each drop of wine, enough time to breathe some air and not chuck the whole bottle in, otherwise that just negates the whole process. The reason for doing so, is such that you give each and every drop as much contact time with air as possible, giving it maximum chance of oxidising.

After that, rest it for one hour (ie: open your bottle at least an hour before you want to drink it). And you should be good to go.

If you don’t have a decanter or can’t be bothered, just leave the bottle (with the cork off) for an hour before drinking it. You can also do a quick comparison by taking a sip the moment you open it and then trying it again in an hour, let me know if you notice any differences.

• Get an ice bucket 

Whites don’t really need time to breathe, but they do need to stay cooler than usual. Purists will tell you that if you drink your wine straight out of the fridge, then you are drinking it too cold, personally I think there is some truth to this, you don’t want your white to be too cold, but don’t let it warm up to room temperature, so as long as it’s ‘cool’ then it’s fine.

• Corking

This is a pretty rare occurrence (I’ve only ever experienced it once), but you’ll notice it right away, because the wine will just smell really horrible, like somethings gone off. If you feel like you’re drinking something that really tastes weird (ie: too sour or just bad smelling), you are more than welcome to send it back (if its a restaurant) or return it to the shop, merchants are more than happy to deal with this issue. 

Prep some nibbles

If you are going to have your wine with food, then you can skip this step completely (there will be a separate post about pairing wine with food in part 4) . However, if you are tasting wine on its own, then its a good idea to pair it with some nibbles to enhance the experience:

• Ham

If your budget stretches, get some fine spanish iberico ham from selfridges, they are sweet & nutty, really tasty. Otherwise, your local sainsbury should do some very nice italian parma hams (min 18month aged if possible) for a tenth of the price.

• Strawberries, rasberries, blueberries, all berries

I tend to find that most reds will have flavours complementing any one the red fruits. Helps in identifying the actual flavours in the wine itself too.

• Apples, Grapes & Honeydew Melon

These go hand in hand with good italian or spanish ham.

• Get a good Baguette

Surprisingly, bread, especially french baguette go well with wine. If you are a first timer and find the alcohol taste too strong, then a little bit of baguette can actually help smooth that out.

• Cheese & Crackers

Ah yes, how can i forget this classic combo. I prefer soft cheeses, like brie or camembert, but if you are a hard cheese kinda person, gouda is interesting and you will be surprised by Parmigiano-Reggiano (or parmesan), not the grated kind, but the real thing, hand carved so you can get nice big chunks. 

• My nibble plate

I put together a quick nibble plate of red grapes, strawberries ( ok they’re not really in season..) , parmigiano reggiano, brie, some bagguette and lovely parma ham wrapped with rocket. All from sainsbury’s for low, low prices. 

What are you actually tasting?

You’ve got everything setup and now you want to start drinking. Surely you’ve seen people swirl their glass, stick their nose in and then blurp something about hints of this and that after they took a sip. So, what are they actually doing? Here is the short version:

1. Look for colour
2. Smell the aromas
3. Swirl your glass
4. Taste it while sucking in air
5. repeat

Keep reading for the long(er) version.

Look for Colour

Pour yourself a nice glass about and fill about 1/3 of the glass. Don’t fill it up, because the next thing you will be doing is to swirl the glass.

But first, take the time to look at the colour of the wine. Is it a really dark purplish red? Or is it a velvety soft translucent, almost pink colour? If it’s white, then is it a golden hue colour? Or a washed-out cream colour? You’ll be surprised at the many variations of colour wine can have. 

Look for the subtle details, trust me once you start noticing these little aspects, it’ll help you appreciate it more.   

Swirl

Now time to swirl that wine. Don’t be shy, swirl hard, but gently, don’t spill it all over. This is essentially an extension of the decanting philosophy of letting the wine breathe. How to swirl you might ask? Hold the glass by the stem, push it down against the table, and then give it a good 10 or 20 swirls. Weee..

Smell

Once the wine has taken in much needed oxygen, it should help bring out all the aromas and let the wine wake up. Now don’t be shy, stick your nose right down into the glass. Seriously, don’t be shy, it’s why wine glasses are shaped the way they are. The fat bit is so you don’t spill the wine all over the place when swirling, and the narrow bits is for your nose to capture all the aromas.

Breathe in everything, close your eyes if you wish, concentrate and then try to idenfity the different smells you detect. If you can, try and identify them with what you think it might be (ie: floral, peachy, lemony, vanilla ..etc). You might find it abit difficult to tell at first, but just make sure you still your nose in for a good minute or two and let the aromas take over. Take the time, It’ll come to you, really it will.

Taste 

Time for your first sip, and I do mean sip it. Let the wine flood your mouth and slowly coat all areas of your tongue, so all your tastebuds come in contact with it. What do you taste? Can you describe the flavours? Is it flowery? Peppery? Berries? Plums? Chocolate? Can’t taste anything? No worries, take the time, the flavours will come, you just need to be patient.

Getting bored? Then try this, you can further oxidise the wine but taking in more air with the sip in in your mouth.

Here’s what you do:

1. Roll your tongue up such that you are cupping the wine on your tongue
2. Open your mouth just enough and start sucking in air
3. While sucking in air, make sure your tongue is still balancing the wine on your cupped tongue
4. Practice until dribbling stops 

Confusing? The best way to describe this is just to watch someone do it. Gary Vaynerchunk runs an excellent video blog called wine library tv where he tastes bottles daily. By the way, I’m a Vayniac.

This is the link to his latest episode and he’s tasting burgundies from the calssic 2005 vintage. Ok so all the time the wine has been spending on your tongue, you should have also been registering all kinds of flavours. Take your time to understand what each of the flavours are. It’s fun!

After taste

If you have a spitum, then you can spit it out if you wish, but I normally scoff everything I drink.

If you are having trouble identifying the flavours, then check out vinography.com’s aroma card. They explain taste and flavours far better than I possibly can, also gives you a more detailed explaination of what to look for. They also provide an aroma card with all the different types of flavours you might come across.  

Keep in mind these four simple steps to wine tasting, and before you know it, you’ll be an expert yourself.

The more wines you taste and the more you take time to understand the aromas and flavour profiles, the more you’ll find out about your own palette and what you prefer. So the next time you are picking up a bottle of wine, you should be better equipped to pick up something that will suit your tastes.

(ie: I like lighter wines, vannila and strawberry flavours, silky texture and smooth, no oak because I hate it, oh and something that is drinking well now… and under a tenner if possible)

One last thing..  

Wine lasts about three days in the fridge before it goes flat. With wine savers, maybe a week before it goes off, so do keep that in mind whenever you open a bottle. The general rule of thumb is just to finish it when you open one, if its a bottle that is high in tannins, then the wine tends to smooth out after 24 hours. 

Anything kept over 3 days will start to lose it’s flavour rapidly.

Coming in part three

Ok that’s part two guys, hopefully, now you’ll have a basic idea of how to understand your bottle and the fundamentals of tasting wine. Next week, we look at some places to get nice bottles, how to buy them and how to store them properly, see you in seven!