On Wednesday April 18^th a chance has come up for us to meet the wonderfully named Francois Regis de Fougeroux MD of Langlois Chateau in Saumur. Francois Regis is charming and articulate he is not only the boss but for many years was the main winemaker at this relatively small producer.  Langlois Chateau is nowadays part of the Bollinger family thanks to a happy marriage between the two families.

They produce every type of Loire wine from flinty Sancerres, via sparkling Cremants and delicious red wines to prestige Coteaux du Layon a fabulous dessert wine. Francois Regis will present a cross section of his wines. He is much travelled having worked in his youth in wineries in Australia and California which gave him a real international insight when he came to take on the winemaking mantle at Langlois Chateau. 

I know Francois Regis well and I am very confident that this will be a wonderful evening. Tickets are limited so hurry and get yours.  The first 4 people to book will get their places free.

Having unfortunately had to cry off last year due to laryngitis Louis Boutinot is looking forward to making it this year to present some of the wonderful wines his family produce in Somerset West, South Africa. The estate is farmed bio-dynamically and Louis has promised to explain some of the mysteries behind these practices. They make a number of award winning wines that aim to emphasise elegance, restraint and a strong mineral character. The tasting will take place at The Wellington Hotel starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10

Friday 23^rd March saw the first meeting of our new wine tasting club the Sipping Society. It was well attended with 24 people enjoying a guide through some of Spain’s Wine regions led by myself. A very sociable evening was had by all. There are still a couple of places left if you think you would enjoy such an evening. Below are some tastings notes on the wines we enjoyed.

Olivella Ferrari Brut Reserva NV, Cava, Penedes £11.99

A blend of traditional Catalan grape varieties – Macebeo (40%), Xarello (30%) and Paralleda (30%) Using the champagne method known here as the Traditional Method as defined by the D.O. Cava, secondary fermentation takes place within bottle, the wine is then aged for 12 months before disgorgement and a further 18 months to 2 years ageing takes place. The wine has a dosage of only 8 grams per litre which means it is an excellent dry Cava its flavours not masked by the sugar as is the case often with cheap Champagnes. Lovely refreshing nose with lifted lemon & lime aromas, well rounded mouth feeling, fine yeasty notes proving its long lees ageing and a clean finish make it very drinkable.

Martin Codax Albarino 2010, Rias Baixas                               £10.99

Martin Codax is a large co-operative who are one of the driving forces in this area known as Green Spain. Codax started as a co-op of 55 families and now numbers more than 550 families who typically own only 1 ha of vineyard. The winemaker amazingly has some 2400 different plots to choose his fruit from which must be some challenge.

This area is renowned for its seafood (much of it caught in British waters) and the wine suits this cuisine perfectly being fresh citrus & tarragon scented with crisp acidity that brings out the best of the fishes delicate flavours. Best drunk young it has a slight petillance that lifts the wine.

Bodegas Naia, Rueda 2010                                                           £11.50

Established in 2004 this very modern winery situated on the left bank of the River Duero produces stunning modern examples of Spain’s best white grape Verdejo. They own 21 hectares of vineyard that is thick gravel over a clay base which gives the wines their lovely minerality. 12% of the wine is aged in New French oak barrels, where they wine is given the full batonage treatment ie the stirring of the lees with a big paddle. The resulting wine has only gentle notes of toast and brioche resulting from this oak ageing not surprising when you considered the lion’s share of the wine was aged in stainless steel. The wine has a lovely mouth feel with flavours of guava, white peach and lemon. Its underlined by the mineral flavours and the acidity is well balanced but present. It is capable of ageing well for a further 3 -5 years.

Baron de Funes 2010, Carinena Bodegas Esteban Martin £6.99

Carinena is in the Aragon DO and was first demarcated back in 1932 it was made fully up to a DO in 1960 making it one of the oldest recognised DO’s but perhaps it has failed to build on this impressive history. It has its own grape variety also called Carinena but doesn’t celebrate this enough instead the most widely planted grape variety is Garnacha followed by Tempranillo and then Carinena.

The area benefits from a continental climate with long hot dry summers and cold winters which keeps the vineyards healthy. Bodegas Estaban Martin was only founded in 2003 and is a family run very modern winery, producing attractive commercial wines. The vineyards are at altitudes of 400 – 800m above sea level which keeps them cooler.

The wine is very vibrant in colour with attractive punchy fruit. It delivers soft easy fruit and some sweet tannin’s. It is very good for the money.

Las Rocas Garnacha ‘Vinas Viejas’ DO Calatayud 2008     £15.99

Bodegas San Alejandro is a co-operative situated in the DO of Calatayud to the South East of Rioja. They have some 1200 hectares of vineyard growing at altitudes of between 750 – 1200 metres which assures a long growing season with picking often not commencing until October. This wine is made by Jean Marc Lafarge of Chateau Saint Roch a property in the French Pyrenees so he and his team are not unused to the challenges of grape production at such altitudes.

This is one of my favourite wines from our Spanish selection it offers an attractive nose of sunshine, spice and leather, the colour is quite light reminiscent of an old burgundy and there is indeed a hint of gaminess on the nose. In the mouth there is red fruit, spice and a crunchy acidity that makes it the perfect companion to a plate of finely sliced Iberico ham.

Medievo Seleccion Especial Tempranillo , DOCa Rioja 2009         £8.99

Another modern winery established in 2001 in the Rioja Baja which is to the south of the Region where soils are more fertile and the climate notably warmer than for Rioja Alta or Alevesa. They own 220 hectares on comparatively poor soils keeping yields down. Rainfall is low at only 400mm. The wine is aged in 80% American oak and 20% French oak. The American oak gives the noticeable sweet vanilla notes in what is a fleshy commercial style of wine. Deep colour quite blousy easy drinking simple stuff.

Urbina Crianza Rioja 2006                          £12.99

Family owned single estate winery who own 75 hectares of vineyard. Four generations have farmed here. They have 65 hectares of Tempranillo & 10 hectares of Garnacha, Mazuelo & Viura. They produce about 400,000 bottles of Red and 50,000 White and Rose. They grow old bush vines, the grapes are hand harvested and they use no pesticides or weed killers.

This classic style of Rioja is made from 95% Tempranillo and 5% Graciano/Mazuelo the vines are an average of 30 years old. The wine is aged for 12 months in American oak and a minimum of 6 months in bottle before release.  This was one of the stars of the night. It has that classic Rioja combination of oak, sunshine and red fruit that makes the wine such a good companion to slow roast shoulder of lamb. The balance of acidity and fruit is perfect and the wine has just the right amount of complex tannin’s to age well.

Prios Maximus Roble, Ribera del Duero 2010     £12.00

From the famous village of Pesquera de Duero comes this 100% Tinta del Pais (Tempranillo) wine. Forty year old vines produce the fruit and the wine is aged in American oak casks for 12 months. Ribera del Duero is the home of Spain’s most lauded and expensive wine, Vega Sicilia. The regions vineyards are planted at between 750-800 metres above sea level and there is a big drop in temperatures as night time falls by as much as 15 or 20 degrees. This causes the vines to ‘chill out’ and leads to a longer growing season. But with the danger of frosts at both the beginning and end of the season.

Prios Maximus is a big beasty of a thing – think Russell Crowe in Gladiator. its dark and swarthy with rich opulent fruit, powerful complex tannins underline this power and mean that its complexity will help it age well. Drinkable now but you may want to take it with a good rich stew.

Tahon de Tobelos Reserva Rioja, 2006                   £24.99

From a winery founded in 1999 by its current director Ricard Reinoso situated on the edge of the village of Brinas. The winery is an architectural statement in its own right with glorious views across the vineyards and the River Ebro. It is situated close to other famous names of Rioja such as Roda,Muga, Tondonio & Cune. They have 3 ha of vineyards close to the winery and a further 15 ha further afield. The vines are on average 50 years old. They age in a selection of French, American & Hungarian oak barrels which are replaced every 4 to 5 years.

Now to the wine dark garnet red in colour it has a superb intense nose that bursts from the glass, damson, black cherries and spice, toasted oak. Huge wine big tannins some grip but not overly so. Structured but approachable it lingers on the palate inviting slow retrospective drinking. A wine to be savoured with friends over a good meal, game, red meats and mature hard cheese would work well. Undoubtedly a star.

Salut

Sean

This weekend in store we are having a spring clearance sale with a twist. I have a whole load of new wines waiting in the wings to join us but first I must clear some shelf space. Therefore I have put on the middle table all those wines where we only have a few bottles left. All are highly drinkable and some are exceptional but for various reasons, change of vintage, new supplier or no longer available in the UK I am replacing them.

So instead of the usual boring old sale I have taken all the prices off and you can make a lucky dip of 6 mixed bottles for only £45. The wines originally ranged in price from £5.99 to £17.99 with quite a few around the £9.99 area. Choose well and you could get over £100 worth of wine for only £45.00! I won’t tell you specific prices or which wines are the most expensive ones, but I will drop hints to make sure everyone walks away a winner.

The offer is only available in store I am afraid and only for this weekend so we look forward to seeing you and good luck

Salut

Launch of the Howden Sipping Society

I have been asked on numerous occasions to start a regular tasting group, particularly by those people who have taken our ‘Introduction to Wine’ course. The aim of the Sipping Society would be to look at a wide range of the worlds’ wines and wine making regions in depth. Each tasting would have a different theme depending on the speaker.

I have lined up many of my Wine Trade friends to come and present on areas of their expertise. Some of the speakers already lined up: Richard Kelly MW on South Africa, Robert Steel on Italy, David Clouston winemaker for Black Cottage in New Zealand, Julia Langshaw on Burgundy with other exciting speakers to be confirmed.

But I also want to explore other areas of wine so we will also look at food and wine matching to see what works and what does not. We may take a single varietal such as Chardonnay and look at the effect of different wine making techniques on its eventual flavours. There are so many areas to explore.

The Society will meet eight times a year, the dates are below and members will also be entitled to a free ticket to our annual ‘Food & Drink Extravaganza.’ Plus members will receive a 20% discount on tickets for any other tastings we may hold, not to mention special offers and first notice of new wines listed.

The meetings all take place on Friday evenings, kicking off at 7pm with the intention that the formal part of the evening is finished by 8.30pm. Leaving plenty of time to pop out to a local restaurant or to just open another bottle and keep on chatting. They will take place in the upstairs room at The Wellington Hotel, Howden.

The cost of membership is just £100 payable annually. Places are strictly limited.

Dates for 2012

Friday March 23^rd

Friday April 20^th

Friday May 18^th

Friday June 22^nd

Friday September 21^st

Friday October 26^th – Annual Food & Drink Extravaganza

Friday November 23^rd

Friday January 25^th

Friday February 22nd

To apply for membership drop me a line to sean@flourish-and-prosper.comand I will send you an application form

http://bit.ly/x0kwka

Fish and Chips  - Champagne - its all about the ying and yang of expensive and affordable, greasy fingers meets refreshing acidity,drink it sat on a sea wall and try and wipe the smile off your face.

Curry - assuming its not too spicy then a good fruity red will work well, avoid wines with too much tanin.  De Bortolli Pinot Noir, Nieto Malbec both work well

Roast Chicken, crispy skin and all the trimmings - Chardonnay - because this will bring out all the buttery flavours of that tender white meat.  Remember Chardonnay is cool now

Grilled Fish - Loire Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre or simple Touraine Sauvignon work very well with Fish like Dover Sole or Plaice.

Mussels - Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand just loves mussels,garlic and crusty bread to mop up all those lovely juices.

Roast beef,Yorkshire Puds - Claret - not terribly original but when it works why change it. The Cabernet dominated blends will work the best. Leather, blackcurrant and a stiff upper lip.  How British!

Must go feeling hungry now!

Oh and we can also sell you two beautifully simple Titanium Crystal Champagne Flutes from Schott Zweisel that will see to it that your Champagne is even more delicious.  Drinking Champagne from her golden slipper is always a mistake much better to drink it from a proper glass and Schott have designed these glasses to ensure the bubbles zip across your palate whilst the aromas tickle your nose and not the other way around!

Two Scott Zweisel Diva Champagne Flutes in a gift box  cost £20.  Currently they are only available in store

Melt the heart of the one you love with a mixed case of romantic wines. I have put together a special case of 6 bottles of our sexiest wines that send the perfect valentines message. From Passion has Red Lips to the secluded Hidden Bay you cannot fail to send out a message of Lurve!

The case costs only £50 but includes

Passion Has Red Lips

St Amour les Paradis

Pasion de Bobal

Emeri Pink Muscato

Miopasso Fiana

Hidden Bay Sauvignon Blanc

See our Mixed Case offers for full details