Bring on Brunello

I'm lucky enough to be in Tuscany at the moment and so am taking the opportunity, as much as possible, to sample some of the vino locale. It's sometimes difficult to know exactly what you're drinking as the trattorias (small, local, often family-run restaurants) give it to you in a carafe. Fortunately, in this area, more often than not it is Chianti and typically very good tasting and value for money. However, I have come across one particular wine, more in the Enotecas, which is a magnificent vino rosso and that is Brunello. Brunello is the local name which the town of Montalcino has given to Sangiovese (Tuscany’s grape of choice). In so doing, Montalcino has made Brunello famous. It is widely and highly regarded in the wine world - known as a great red and one which improves with age. So, if you see it on a menu, and it’s in your price range (it can tend be a little expensive), have a go.

Manouche is the Word

The carrier pigeon finally arrived in Italy with the message to say that WoW is on at Manouche this week, Wednesday, 24 March. As I am away, my brother, Charlie will be "hosting" the evening.

This is a small French wine bar in the basesment at number 61, whose name literally translated means "gypsy" in French. Perhaps it'll be a little bohemian..... they also talk about it being a perfect place for "tête-à-tête" - a head-to-head or face-to-face - so I'm sure it'll be a great spot for wines and I look forward to hearing what it's like.

7pm onwards. It's on Goodge Street in the heart of Fitzrovia, so Goodge Street or Tottenham Court Road tube stations will be your best bet.

http://www.manouche-winebar.co.uk/

Cheers

Ant (and Charlie)

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

Green & Blue and Azerbaijan

In the lead up to tonight's "something new" theme, I thought I'd share a couple of wine related firsts I've had recently.

I'm currently staying at East Dulwich in London's south-east. Down here is the lovely Lordship Lane, which I can encourage a visit to. There's not only some great pubs and cafes, but there's a fantastic wine shop, deli and bar called Green & Blue. These guys specialise in smaller producers with most of the wines being organic or biodynamic and the shop was voted Best Indepedent Wine Retailer in the UK, so you can be assured it's reasonably good. They also run regular wine events, with the tastings typically happening on Wednesday evenings (prices ranging from £16 to £35). So, if you're looking to try something new, head to Lordship Lane to find Green & Blue sometime.

The second story involves a night out at a friend's place. This particular friend regularly visits Azerbaijan on work trips and he thought we should sample a bottle of the local Azer wine. I loved the idea of branching out, but unfortunately we didn't like the wine so much. Not to worry. I've now gone from knowing nothing about Azer winemaking, to getting a small insight. And, while I certainly wouldn't profess to at this stage be a fan of or more to the point know much at all about the winemaking in Azerbaijan, I have since learnt that the country has quite a rich wine history - apparently before the arrival of the Arabs in the 7th century, the Tovuz region was known as the oldest land of quality wine-growing. Further, Azerbaijan and its western Gyandja-Tovuz region is traditionally a wine-growing territory home to famous Russian, German and Azeri historical figures, scientists, proprietors and millionaires. Interesting. For more, including how the French are now there trying to aid a renaissance of sorts, I can lead you to the website below.

http://www.vine.az/

Something new. See you tonight.

Something New at Ebury

Next Wednesday, 10 February, we're going to head down to the Ebury Wine Bar, on Ebury Street, SW1W 9QU, in between Victoria and Sloane Square tube stations.

http://www.eburywinebar.co.uk/contactus.php

In the name of going for a theme - I'd like, as much as possible, to encourage all to go for something new - try a wine that you haven't tasted before. We'll see how that goes. Have a look at the wine list on their website in the meantime.

I'll be there from 6pm onwards, so please join whenever you can.

Also, with my impending trip to Tuscany I'll look to put on a bottle of Chianti Classico at some stage and even finish the evening with a final winter Port.

Hope to see you there.

Ant

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary

Wholefoods and Reidel put on a brilliant tasting last Wednesday night. Very informative, worthwhile and value for money. Get along to one and keep an eye out for the glassware - Reidel know what they're doing. Fascinating to sample the wines out of the different glasses and compare the taste of a certain wine in the different styles of stemware. Who would have thought the nuances of glassware had such a role or affect on the taste of wine. In any case we've now got a better idea as to which wines work better in which styles of glasses and conveniently Reidel tend to name their glasses after the particular wines they suit.

Cheers

Aus Clarke and Grape Expectations

I thought before the wine tasting tomorrow night I'd share what Australia's expert on wine, Oz Clarke, has to say about the matter, including his tips.

"Wine's about pleasure. If it doesn't give you a buzz, there's no point to it.... The thrill about wine is that every bottle tastes different. That's why you like some wines, and don't like others. It's taste. Some people like broccoli. Some don't. It's the same with wine. Follow the flavour, and you'll soon be making sense of why different wines taste like they do: grape varieties, regions of the world, they're all different. Tasting wine means understanding what you are drinking - and enjoying it more..... to help you find the stuff you like and the stuff you don't. Now, how to taste wine?

1. Read the label
2. Look at the wine
3. Smell the wine
4. Take a sip
5. Spit or swallow?
6. Jot down your impressions."

Looking forward to it. See you tomorrow.