Slow Wine?

It would seem like the next place we're going to for wines is very much keen on a topic dear to me - Slow Food. Their philosophy is:

"Great food and great wine sourced with an eager eye for provenance.

It is about the purity of the product, either raised, or grown, with sensitivity and compassion. It is about food and wine which is natural and free of additives and about artisan products that taste simply of their origin. It is about serving food and wine in a fun, friendly and stimulating environment and it is about the people who return to Terroirs and bring with them that sense of enjoyment and pleasure."

The place is Terroirs. It's on William IV Street in between Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross tube station, near Covent Garden. Next Wednesday, 21 October. I've booked a table at 7pm. Jimmy McDonald and his lovely wife Emma are coming along after their adventures around Europe, so please join us.

Ant

Rioja - that Spanish wine

It seemed the wine of choice last week at Pix. It so often is. I thought I'd look in to further, so here's some background:

Rioja is a wine named after La Rioja in Spain - in the north, south-west of Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona. Rioja is made from grapes grown mainly in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja. The grapes produced are Tempranillo, Granacha (or Grenache), Granciano and Mazuelo (or Garignan).

The three principal regions of La Rioja are Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja with each area producing its own unique expression of Rioja wine.

A distinct characteristic of Rioja wine is the effect of oak aging. It’s also something that affects it’s classification. Rioja red wines are classified into four categories.

1. Simply labeled "Rioja," is the youngest, spending less than a year in an oak aging barrel.
2. A "crianza" is wine aged for at least two years, at least one of which was in oak.
3. "Rioja Reserva" is aged for at least three years, of which at least one year is in oak.
4. "Rioja Gran Reserva" wines have been aged at least two years in oak and three years in bottle.

Is it the quintessential Spainish wine?

Pix

Pintxo

Spain is the name of the game next week. We're heading to a brand new pintxo bar on Westbourne Grove for Wine on Wednesday, 7 October 2009. So if you're keen for el vino and some Spanish tapas toothpick included, come along.

If you need more of a reason, I believe it'll be Liz Moynihan's final WoW in London before she jets off home soon. Also, show and tell on the evening will be provided by Vincent van Chaz. In keeping with the theme he is going to present biographical stories and 29+ sketches from his recent weeks travelling through Spain. Though this may only be partly true, Charles (the name he also goes by) will be there as he fleets through London, like Liz, homeward bound.

The bar is called Pix and is at 175 Westbourne Grove, W11 2SB. Closest tube is Notting Hill Gate on the Central Line.

I've booked a space for 7:30pm.

See you then.

Cheers

Anto

Cheese Cracker

Not too long after I arrived in London I noticed a little unassuming place on Moxon Street called La Fromagerie. It looked marvellous - a cheese room, walls of wine, artisan breads, fresh produce, leaf teas, a lovely sit down area..... I wondered how best does one do this place? Breakfast hopefully (I tried to once or twice), Sunday lunch (maybe), dinner..... well tonight I finally worked it out. Cheese and wine tasting. I've just come from there where it was an evening on Piedmont. Conveniently, the region where I was last weekend for the Slow Food Cheese Festival, so a wonderful follow up, and in it's own right exquisite. Patricia Michelson who opened the first shop in Highbury in the early 90's took us through a wonderful array of wine, cheese and food from the region in Northern Italy. It began with Prosecco and Grana Padana crisps, and ended with pears and quince poached with vanilla mascarpone, and in between included risotto, Ubriaco, Branzi, Taleggio, truffle cheeses, Barbera and Nebbiolo wines. No doubt you've heard of all of them. I certainly hadn't, many of them aren't publicly available apparently. It was a cracker.

http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/

Thanks Tess.

See you for Wine on Wednesday next week.

Antonioni

An Italian, a Frenchman and a Kiwi?

I went to the town of Bra in Italy last weekend for the Slow Food Cheese Festival. This event was brilliant. In any case, the reason I bring it up is because Bra is based in Piedmont in the North Western corner of Italy (just south of Turin) and is home to some of Italy’s best wines including Barolo and Barbaresco. Still buoyed by the trip on Wednesday night, I thought it’d be good to start with one of these wines...... alas, the Pavillion’s wine list wasn’t to be obliging. Not to worry, we stuck with Italy and tried a bottle from the Puglia region (the heel to Italy’s boot). Lovely, smooth and a little spicy – a bold-ish start. We also had our theme for the night… where have you been and what’s the wine like.

Next, Marty, who’d recently ventured to France for some canal boating along with a few wines, tempered things a little with a Beaujolais. The name derives from this historical province and wine-producing region in France located north of Lyon. It is a red wine made of the purple-coloured Gamay grape. The one we drank on the night was from producer Dominique Morel (Domaine de Gry-Sablon) from Fleurie. (There are ten specific Beujolais ‘Crus’, and Fleurie is one of them. My reading tells me that “Cru is a term which in Beaujolais can be loosely translated as ‘not crap’!”). Chilled slightly, light, nicely bodied, fresh, fruity and delightful – great choice.

To finish, Karl, one of our resident Kiwis on the night, took us to the New World. As we’re on the reds, it wasn’t going to be one of New Zealand’s cliché albeit outstanding Marlborough Sauv Blancs. Instead, it was a lovely Pinot Noir from that area by Kim Crawford. Beautiful. A good note to end the evening on.

As for it being the last of summer on Wednesday night, it certainly was the first day of autumn. A lovely night beside the bowling green nonetheless.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Autumnal Equinox

I'm trying to squeeze the most out of this summer. For the next Wine on Wednesday I've chosen a delightful little venue situated by a bowling green, yet right in the middle of town. I'm hoping it'll be a lovely summer's afternoon for us to enjoy a few quiet wines after work. I say summer, but in actual fact it will be the first day of Autumn, you see this year the Autumnal Equinox falls on the night before - Tuesday evening, 22 Sept. This is when night and day are nearly the same length as the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

So, on Wednesday, 23 September 2009, whether technically it's the last day of summer or the first day of autumn, come and join me for a relaxed wine or two at Finsbury Circus around 7/7:30pm. The place is called The Pavillion. Here's the website:

http://www.pavilionlondon.co.uk/

It's right in between Moorgate and Liverpool Street tubes.

Ant