A brilliant night at "Bacchanalia" - our Christmas Wine Tasting Extravaganza!

Last night we held our annual Christmas Wine Tasting Event - Bacchanalia, hosted at both the Mill Street Restaurant and The Old Bakery in Kingsbridge. The evening was a great success with over 100 people turning out on rainy and blustery evening to sample some of our favourite wines from Red & White's extensive range.

The evening was split up into two linked events - a tasting of over 80 wines at The Mill St Restaurant and three themed Wine Dinners at The Old Bakery. The timings were very tight for the three dinners and we were a little concerned that they would over-run and chaos would ensue! As it happened, thanks to the hard work of the staff at the Old Bakery, Mill St and Red & White's team, and of course the goodwill and good humour of our lovely customers, things ran very smoothly and a good time was had by all.

Among the approximately 100 brilliant wines on taste these were some of my personal favourites.

Reds:

Boom Boom Syrah from Charles Smith Wines, Washington State. £16

Managing rock bands in Europe for a decade is not the usual background for a Washington State winemaker (a good degree from the University of California Davis is more the norm) but Charles Smith is not your usual winemaker. Extroverted and media-savvy, Smith's exuberance is only matched by his skill in the cellar and his passion for wine. The Boom Boom Syrah is perfectly named because it's a real fruit bomb! Charles Smith's words really do sum up this wine well: "Everything you want in a syrah....smooth, firm, fresh & dark...super dense purple with meaty dark fruit, Asain five spice & sweet tobacco. Intense yet plush texture...it will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!" It certainly did mine!

Huerta De Albala, Taberner, Southern Spain. £21.95

This cracking wine from Cadiz, produced by the same Bodega as our perennial best seller, Barbazul, is a blend of Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  It's deeply coloured, with intense and complex aromas of cassis, smoke and spices, alongside some herbaceous notes of mint and green peppers with a hint of zesty orange peel. Rich and dense on the palate with a fresh acidity and a long finish. Definitely one of my absolute favourites from our range and will be a Christmas treat for myself this year!. 

Whites:

Terras Gauda, Albarino 'Abadia  de San Campo' Galicia. £14

If you've never tried an Albarino from Spain's wet and wild North West Coast I urge you to give this one a try. It's quite simply one of the most pleasing crisp, dry white wines in our range and went down a storm at the tasting. Galicia is Spain's main fishing area and this wine evolved to match the region's cuisine perfectly. Intense, refreshing and sherbety. 

Billaud-Simon, Chablis 1er Cru 'Vaillons' Burgundy, £25.50

Purity and elegance are the aim of this family owned domaine, so no oak and temperature controlled fermentation are the order of the day. This is truly brilliant Premier Crus Chablis, rich and pure with a taut, seashell-minerality, finely balanced acidity and a long, clean persistent finish. My favourite wine of the night.

All in all it was a fantastic evening with some really lovely wines and I can't wait 'till the next event. Watch this space!

Dominic

BACCHANALIA - a Christmas orgy of Food and Wine

A Feast of Food and Wine at the Old Bakery and Mill Street Restaurants on Thursday 8th December.
Sup over 80 wines at Mill Street Restaurant selected from some of the World’s finest small producers, with stalls hosted by wine industry experts and Masters of Wine. Live Music and Champagne on arrival. A series of wine dinners will be running throughout the evening at The Old Bakery restaurant, with three Masters of Wine giving talks on their specialist subjects.The wines for these dinners are included in the ticket price, and the Old Bakery’s fantastic full Tapas Menuwill be on offer to compliment the wines.

WINE TASTING at Mill Street Restaurant, 6.30pm - 10pm

DINNER SCHEDULE at the Old Bakery Restaurant

• 7pm - 8pm Burgundy Wine Dinner hosted by John Atkinson MW

• 8.15pm - 9.15pm Natural Wine Dinner hosted by Tim Wildman MW
• 9.30pm - 10.30pm Spanish Dinner hosted by Liam Steevenson MW


Tickets £15 per person

book now by calling 01548 854 473 or by emailing sales@red-white.co.uk

Fingers Crossed for Red & White

Great news this afternoon:  Red & White have been shortlisted for the International Wine Competition's Regional Merchant Award, South West.

We're thrilled to have been shortlisted and looking forward to the awards dinner in September.  We, obviously, think we're much better than our two rivals for the award;  here's hoping the judges agree!

New Blood at The Wine Store

We've been looking for an Assistant Manager for the Wine Store for some time - blimey, it must have been March when we first started advertising!  It's about time that we found someone then, so it's great news for all of us that Dominic started on Tuesday this week.

Some of you may already know Dominic.  He's been working for Cranch's sweet shop for some time, both in Salcombe and more recently Totnes.  He's a great retailer, and getting stuck into wine with relish - I'm sure he'll know more than any of us pretty soon!

Look out for Dom's own blog, coming pretty soon.  He'll be blogging about his early experiences at Red & White, and especially the wines he's tasting as he gets to know out fantastic range.

Alsace Wine Tasting: The Brilliant Bruno Sorg

It's In-Store Tasting time again at The Wine Store. Expert Simon Hore will be visiting on Tuesday 24th May with wines from my favourite Alsatian winery, Domaine Bruno Sorg.


THE BRILLIANT BRUNO SORG with SIMON HORE
Date: Tuesday 24th May 2011.
Time: 7pm Start.
Venue: Red & White The Wine Store, 99 Fore Street, Kingsbridge
Tickets: £5 per person; call 01548 853 898 or email chris@red-white.co.uk to book yours today.

I first fell in love with these wines at a trade tasting in London a couple of years ago and whilst I've had the odd bottle here and there since, I'm really excited about getting to know the Domaine's range again. These are some of the richest and finest wines in Alsace, and we'll be tasting a fantastic cross section, from Gewurztraminer to Riesling, from AC to Grand Cru - there may even be a bit of red involved!

Alsace is a region that so often gets forgotten about, or confused with Germany, so it's high time the wines were put in the spotlight again - and what better way to learn about them than a Red & White Tastings.

Tickets are £5, and are available from today by calling 01548 853898 or emailing chris@red-white.co.uk. Watch out though, we've moved away from our usual Thursday slot to a Tuesday evening.

"Hooray, Hooray the Quarderna Via arrives today!"

The country is bathed in beautiful sunshine, the beaches are full and everyones' thoughts are turning to chilled rosé and white wines. This is the moment that we've chosen to announce the arrival of two brand new red wines!
In our defence, we have been waiting a few months for these wines to arrive - we expected them at the start of the year but problems with transport from Spain delayed them somewhat.

The title above is a quote from the man who helped find these wines for us, Tony Goddard. Many of you will know Tony and Gill, and they've been good customers of Red & White for many years. For most of that time, they've been doggedly trying to persuade us to buy wines from their favourite winery, Quaderna Via. We finally caved in late last year, tried the wines and loved them so much we ordered a pallet! Who better to tell you a bit more about the winery than Tony himself:

"We (my wife Gill and I) met George and his wine maker brother at Bodega Quaderna Via entirely by chance some three or four years ago. We were on our way back from Pamplona to Logrono when Gill suddenly said “Lets go in there”. Ever obedient I duly turned into their lovely bodega with superb views out over the rolling hills of Navarra. A generous wine tasting of their wonderful wine tutored by George in the large tasting room above the bodega and we ended up buying six cases and have been going back for more ever since! What else could we do but introduce them to Red and White?"

The wines are Initium - a blend of Tempranillo and Merlot and the brilliant price of £6, and Quaderna Via Crianza A touch more at £8.50, but excellent value compared to a similar quality Rioja.

I'll be opening these wines over Easter weekend, along with one or two other Spanish wines - white, I think sounds appropriate!

Begude Pinot Rosé

I didn't get around to posting a 'Friday Tasting Preview' yesterday, but here's a quick review of its star - the delicious Rosé from Domaine Begude.

James and Catherine Kinglake took over this Domaine in 2003, moving from the UK to make their home in the beautiful Limoux region, nestled amongst the foothills of the Pyrenees. Their specialilty is Chardonnay, with their top wines making their way onto Michelin starred lists throughout Europe - and even in Burgundy itself!  Red & White's relationship with them began in 2008 when Liam bumped into James in the Millbrook Inn (the Kinglakes have a holiday home in the South Hams) and has flourished ever since.

Domaine Begude, Pinot Rosé 2010
This is a wine that we always seem to sell out of halfway through the summer and then spend the next six months listening to ou customers clamouring for the new vintage.  We took delivery of the 2010 wine early this week so thought it best to get it straight into the store and opened for tasting.


Pale pink in colour with cranberry on the nose and a hint of pear, the wine is clean, racy and bone dry in the mouth and is positively bursting with fresh strawberry flavours with a riot of red fruits on the finish.  Vibrant and youthful, this is a brilliant apretif wine and I just hope we have some left when summer comes so I can enjoy it properly!

Tecchie Stuff:  100% Pinot Noir, Organically grown, fermented and matured in stainless steel and bottled in January 2011.

COMIC RELIEF TASTING:

THE GREAT KINGSBRIDGE WINE QUIZ

Yes folks, it's time to warm up those tastebuds, get the brain cells working and put your hands in your pockets at Red & White's GREAT KINGSBRIDGE WINE TASTING in aid of Comic Relief on Thursday 17th March.

COMIC RELIEF WINE TASTING: THE GREAT KINGSBRIDGE WINE QUIZ
When? Thursday 17th March 2011, 7pm start
Where? The Wine Store Kingsbridge
Teams: Any size is fine - join in on your own or bring an entire rugby team, the more the merrier!
Tickets? £10 per person (all proceeds go to Comic Relief so we're charging a bit more than normal), available on 01548 853898 or email chris@red-white.co.uk

It's Comic Relief, so whilst I can't guarantee the quality of my jokes, this will definitely be the most fun you've had at a Wine Tasting since D'Arenberg accidently added laughing gas to 'The Laughing Magpie.'* Rest assured, you won't need to be a Master of Wine to take part, this is going to be nice and easy and we'll chuck in a few quirky games along the way.
As well as putting your wine knowledge to the test for a great prize we'll be spending the next three weeks thinking of more great ways to raise money for Comic Relief, to include:

• The Obligatory Raffle - for great wine prizes, of course.
• Fine Wine Auction - We'll be auctioning off one or two rather tasty Fine Wines on the night - bring your chequebook, you're going to need it!

So get your team together, prepare those charity donations and get your tickets booked today - call 01548 853898 or email chris@red-white.co.uk

(All donations for the raffle or Fine Wine Auction very gratefully received!)

*D'Arenberg didn't actually do that - I did say I couldn't guarantee my jokes!

Wine A Bottle of Wine at this week's Mini Tasting

That's right, this week's mini tasting is your chance to wine a bottle of delicious wine!

We'll be tasting one wine blind, and the first person to correctly guess what it is will wine a bottle.

It's as simple as that.  All you have to do is join us from 4pm on Friday or any time on Saturday, taste the wine, make your guess and hope you're right.

I wonder who will win...

Friday Tasting Preview #5: Guggable Cab Sauv

Sadly for you, I'm not foolish enough to preview the competition wine, so here are my notes on one of the wines I've just brought in to refresh the 'everyday favourites' section of the shop.

Kintu, Cabernet Sauvignon 2010  £6
Although Red & White have sold this wine for some time, for some reason it's only just found its way onto the shelves of The Wine Store.  Cabernet Sauvignon is the red grape that Chile initially built its reputation on.

In the reliable climate of the valleys between the Andes and Coastal mountain ranges, Cabernet Sauvignon ripens much more readily than it does in, say, Bordeaux, and gives fruit driven wines of eminent gluggability!

A vibrant ruby red, with red cherry on the nose and a palate full of forest fruits, the tannins here are soft and supple and the wine's retined a real freshness.  Lovely, lifted red berry fruits on the finish round off a wine that may not the most complex or serious but is emminently drinkable, especially at (an increasingly rare) 12% ABV!


Tecchie Stuff:  100% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in stainless steel with no oak.

Friday Tasting Preview #4: Pretty Sancerre Rose from Andre Neveu

It may be just a little predictable, but I can never resist a drop of something pink at Valentine's day.  Surely this is the one day of the year when a little bit of kitsch is allowed?  I'm a dedicated dry rosé man though - noneof your "white" zindfandel here please - so this wine from the Loire valley should be right up my street.

Don't believe my tasting note?  Join me at  tonight's free Mini-Tasting  from 5pm to taste it for yourself.
 

Andre Neveu, Sancerre Rosé, 'Le Grand Fricambault' 2009  £16
Most people imagine Sancerre to be an exclusively white wine producing area, but the reds and rosés from these vineyards can be equally successful.  Indeed, the area was a flourishing Pinot Noir district in the 19th century and this is the grape that is now uses to make both styles of wine.
This single vineyard wine, made by the fifth generation of winemakers at family-owned Andre Neveu, is made using the 'saignée' method, which involves bleeding some wine from red wine fermentation vats after only a few hours contact with the skins and is the method used for nearly all rosé (with the exception of some champagnes).

This wine is all about texture and persistence.  A charming salmon pink colour, it has a subtle nose with roses, strawberries and redcurrants on the palate but it's the mouthfeel that's really impressive.  Bone dry, it manages to combine taut acidity with a rounded, full mid-palate and finishes with a burst of redcurrant fruits which seem to stay in the mouth forever afterwards.

Tecchie Stuff: 100% Pinot Noir from the Grand Fricambault, made using saignée method and rested in stainless steel tanks.

Friday Tasting Preview #3: Great Greeks

My rather belated New Year's Resolution is to drink more interesting wines, so here I am tasting what most be one of the more unusual whites in the shop.  Greek wine can get a bad press with the general public but this is a unique and exciting wine land with both brilliant wines and fantastic potential thhrough the application of modern winemaking techniques to ancient indigenous grape varieties.

Gentilini, Robola of Cephalonia 2009  £12.50
The white grape Robola is native to the Ionian island of Cephalonia where it is grown on vines trained low to the ground on mountain slopes.  The british governor of the island Charles Napier (1782 -1853) described it as like drinking "a wine made from stone" - let's hope that this wine, made by one of two small but forward thinking family wineries on the island has a bit of fruit too!

Pale yellow in colour, this turns out to have a gently lemony nose with notes of grapefruit and just a hint of almonds.  It's a realy refresher this - lots of acidity with a relatively neutral mid-palate which if anything expresses the stoniness Napier talked of.  The finish has real crunch though and good carry with fennel, aniseed and more nuttiness.  This may not be bursting with aromatics but I can just imagine polishing off a bottle with a freshly caught fish in some picturesque greek harbour, so bring on that Devon summer sunshine and away we'll go!

Tecchie stuff:  100% Robola from high altitude vineyards on Cephalonia.  Cold fermented at 14 degrees celcius and kept well away from oak.

Australian Wine Extravaganza: The Highlights

Now, that is a way to celebrate Australia Day - even if we were a bit late.  We decided to go big for our first tasting of 2011 and last night opened every single bottle of Australian wine that we stock.  A bit of a marathon taste you might think, but there's certainly no better way to get a handle on a country's wines!  We ran the full gamut from sparkling to sweet, but for me it was the reds that stood out, both in terms of quality and variety.  I've picked out one which I especially liked below, but frankly could have chosen one from a number of contenders including D'Arneberg's Dead Arm, Clonakilla's Hilltops Shiraz and Penny's Hill Grenache


Dean Hewitson, Ned and Henry Shiraz 2006
Dean is one of the nicest men in Australian wine, and also one of the country's most talenteed young winemakers.  After studying in California and making wine under great names like Brian Croser, Hewitson set up on his own in 1998, originally renting vines in the Barossa Valley and borrowing winery space, though he now has his own winery and is buying up parcels of old vines outright. 

Ned and Henry is on expressive form tonight, with an energetic bouquet full of blueberry fruit and well integrated, spicy French oak notes.  The palate is clean and crystal clear with more red than dark fruits, a suggestion of menthol and a hit of classic Barossa alcohol.  It's deliciously smooth and certainly ticks the 'drinkable' box but posseses a long finish which denotes real class.  Seems a shame to throw the leftovers away really... so I'll leave them here for you to taste over the weekend!


Tecchie Stuff:  Shiraz with a drop of Mourvedre are dry farmed in old Barossa vineyards and see around 15 months in French oak barriques

Friday Tasting Preview #2: My Burn's Night Dram

Not one to miss out on the blindingly obvious, I reckon that the perfect theme for this Friday's Mini Tasting is Single Malt Whisky, just in time for Burn's Night on Tuesday.  We'll be sampling the whisky of four distilleries from across Scotland, but my preview is a beautifully balanced Islay malt.

Connoisseur's Choice, Caol Ila 1998  £35.50
Now, whilst I appreciate malt whisky wherever it comes from, I'm a bit single minded in my personal consumption - I just love Islay malts.   Anyone who's visited the island and smelt it's salty, peat smoke aroma and then tasted the whiskies will attest to their expression of terroir, a concept more familiar in the hands of Burgundian winemakers.
Though perhaps less exalted than its neighbours, Caol Ila is the largest distillery on Islay and much of its production goes into Johnny Walker.  The best expressions carry a sweet maltiness under the peat smoke which make it more approachable than monsters like Laphroaig.

Tasted neat, the nose is full of peat ash and marmite with just a hint of salinity.  Whilst the palate is drying the peat doesn't dominate, and though it's difficult to find the richness that sherry casks should impart, there's a really evocative seaweed character here.  A drop of water (distillers often taste at around 20% ABV where the full spectrum of flavours is most evident) softens the smoke revealing delicate tea and apple peel flavours. I'm surprised by the lightness of touch here as I was expecting more power - but this is truly impressive for a 12 year old malt.

Tecchie Stuff:  Malt from the Port Ellen distillery with phenolics (peat influence) of 35ppm.  Spirit distilled in 1998 was aged in refill sherry casks by independent bottlers Gordon and Macphail and bottled in 2010 at 43%ABV.

Make your mind up this Friday Evening (21st Jan) from 5pm by tasting this alongside three other exciting single malts.

New Arrival: Bruno Sorg

I've been a big admirer of Bruno Sorg's wines since I first tasted them a few years ago. They have a delicacy and purity of fruit that runs through his entire range regardless of grape and Muscat, and their consistently high quality year on year is astounding. Production from his vineyards, which include vines in three Grand Cru sites, is tiny - just 5,000 cases - so we're lucky to have got hold of a few cases which have just arrived in-store.

Though many of us know Alsace for its Gewurztraminer, it's Riesling that the locals aspire to make great run from so Sorg's perfumed, grapey Muscat 2009 (£17) is joined by two brilliant Rieslings - the young, fresh, limey Riesling 2009(£14.50) and the majestic Riesling Grand Cru Florimont 2005 (£21).  Sorg's Grand Cru wines need at least four years in the bottle, so it's wonderful to be able to offer you something just coming into it's own!  A full tasting note will follow, as soon as I've got my teeth into a bottle!

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Friday Tasting Preview #1: New Portugese Red

Right, my first New Year's resolution to go booze free in January lasted about 6 days, so here goes Resolution number 2 - to actually use this blog. I thought a great way to get started was to begin bringing you tasting notes on the wines I've been drinking and especially previews of the wines on show at our Friday Evening Mini Tastings. Here goes!

Terra d'Alter, Tinto 2008 £8.50
The wines of Terra d'Alter landed in the shop just before Christmas so I haven't had a chance to get to know them properly until today. The winery was founded in 2004 and is the latest project of Australian winemaker Peter Bright (of Bright Brothers fame), with a focus on applying new world winemaking to traditional portugese varieties to produce top quality, premium wines from the hot, dry Alentejo region in southern Portugal

Ripe and juicy, this is an easy-going (and not exactly premium at £8.50) red with the emphasis on the fruit. There's just a hint of cigar box spice on the finish but otherwise this is all about plum aromatics and bright raspberry/strawberry fruits. With its medium body, soft tannins and well integrated alcohol this is a charming introduction into the wonderful world of Portugese wine.

Tecchie stuff: Aragones (Tempranillo to you and me), Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira, 6 months maturation in French oak.

Make your own mind up and try two more Terra d'Alter wines at tonight's Friday Mini Tasting (Friday 14th Jan from 5pm).





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New Year, New Wines

It's been a quiet start to January on the new wines front, though we've got an awful lot of exciting juice on the water heading this way.  While we're waiting for these to arrive, there are still one or two choice morsels to get your teeth into:

We've long been fans of Seresin Estate's biodynamic wines so it's a joy to welcome their Chardonnay to the Red&White fold with its classic barrel fermented Kiwi stylings. 
Our Portugese section has been long overdue a re-vamp, so the arrival (admitedly just before Christmas) of a quartet of delicious wines from Terra d'Alter in southerly Alentejo is a relief - two whites and two reds including the estate's flagship 'Outeiro' (now there's a wine with Robert Parker's name on it!)
Greece has been in similar need of attention but we now boast a Robola (crisp, refreshing white from Cephalonia) and Red Nemea from Gentilini and a Mavrodaphne of Patras (sweet red) alongside old faves Hatzidakis Santorini and Melikos Muscat.
Last but not least, a couple of exciting wines from iconic producer:  Gaston Huet's Demi-Sec Vouvray 'Le Mont' joins the dry wine from the same vineyard, and, just in time for Chris' birthday, a couple of bottles of Krug Grand Cuvee have turned up from somewhere!

We'll be opening some of these wines (though sadly not the Krug) at Friday Mini Tastings over the next few weeks, and watch out for more exciting new arrivals, coming soon!