Cool night

It was chilly. There was snow. Perfect for trying some wine last Wednesday. And, Ebury, in my opinion, put on a good show as a venue - convenient enough, sufficiently classy and professional without being pretentious and a wine list that matched that actually. The food also was above average.



To start, a couple of us tried the Sicilian white, Grecanico - an indigenous variety apparently which was lovely and refreshing to begin the evening. I've been getting more in to Sicily's reds lately, but hadn't tried any of their vino bianco. Now having done so, I feel Sicilian wine will be, where possible, more of a regular come wine ordering time. I did also branch out and try a Chilean Viognier. This grape variety had been a bit of an unknown quantity for me. Looking in to it - although it's traditionally from Northern Rhone in France, the New World, including Chile, does have its versions. There wasn't much memorable that struck me about it - I'd call it polite... and so it will remain a wine enigma for me for the time being. I'll have to try it with a Thai or other equally spiced South East Asian dish which it apparently goes well with.

Enough on white - it was an evening after all begging for winter warmers, so red naturally dominated. I know Kel had a go of a Spainish Garnacha (Grenache) which she hadn't done so before, at least knowingly. Its one of Spain's regulars, alongside Tempranillo. However, it was the Charamba from the Douro Valley in Portugal (the area traditionally famous for it's sweet red wine, Port, but is now producing some great drinking reds), which had the run of it on Wednesday night. There were others, one particular later in the night which I unfortunately can't recall. Perhaps that is testament to the evening, which following on from the Douro Valley lead, finished with a LBV (Late Bottled Vintage) Port. Lovely.

I will say on the food front, a few of us had the wild mushroom risotto with toasted pine nuts and parmesan. This was delicious and particularly enjoyable with the Chianti Classico we were drinking at the time. Cheers to Tuscany.

Thanks to all for coming along. Kel Murdoch, your last WoW before heading home to Aust? Thanks for being a regular supporter.

Keep an eye out for the next WoW - I will not be there, but my brother Charlie is looking to organise something for 24 February. Watch this space.

Ant