Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivée! Chez nous. So excited were we this morning that we had even planned the menu last night. Combining fresh young wine with food to eat in the early morning is always fun and this worked a treat. Free range eggs, wild boar sausage, garlic sauté potatoes and button mushrooms with the obligatory French stick, courtesy of our local Co-Op, (thanks, guys), created the perfect backdrop for this year’s Nouveau, which came from Majestic Wine Warehouse in Chelmsford, (again, thanks to Steve and the team). The order was placed with Gill yesterday and was waiting for me at 10.00am as promised. Don’t you love it when people get it right? Bottled by Domaine Pardon, this does not need to be repeated, it makes itself very clear from the word go. Forget the old style Nouveau, which was little more than bubblegum rosé and did nothing to help the cause of Southern Burgundy. This is deep red, smooth and with a remarkable level of tannin which should give the drinker great hope for the 2018 harvest right the way from Dijon down to Lyon.

 

If you weren’t thinking of diving in this year, think again, bibbers. Throw away those old preconceptions of the Gamay grape and take the plunge. Beaujolais Nouveau est de retour!

Sometimes, when rooting around in the darker depths of the cellar, one comes across something which should have been drunk ages ago, (unlike me). Step forward a Cabernet d’Anjou from, wait for it, 2013! The label was in good condition and the wine showed no sign of deterioration, despite its advancing years. So whilst Mrs W busied herself with the construction of a Toad in the Hole, I poured out a couple of glasses of the Loire rosé and plunged my hooter right in. Verdict? Uncomfortably good. I was expecting some oxidation and/or madeirisation, but despite slight tawniness around the rim of the glass, there was no obvious fading. The usual residual sweetness so familiar to those who regularly consume Anjou was there and as we didn’t accompany the wine with any food, it was a pleasant mouthful. I feel, however, we were very fortunate with this experience and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend trying really old rosé to my readers on a regular basis.

 

The aroma from the oven began to become quite apparent, so I switched us over to Nonius, again a wine which I found at the Chelmsford Aldi store. It’s a blend of Feteasca Neagra and Shiraz and the label states “Single Vineyard” and “Estate Bottled”. Whether this means the native Feteasca and ther Shiraz reside behind the same four walls is anybody’s guess, but a good blend it is, nevertheless. (It’s £5.49, by the way, if you were wondering). Cork driven, albeit plastic, which is quite nice. Having tried a sip or two before dinner, it was nice to try it with food, though at Mrs W’s suggestion, we decanted it fast and this really helped. It seemed a little closed at first but once we had swilled and swirled a bit, it started to open up into something really juicy and warm. The rich onion gravy, the delicious Yorkshire style batter mix and the Cumberland sausages all seemed to play their part in bringing out the Nonius’ flavour, though the addition of some lightly cooked cabbage gave it yet another taste dimension to enjoy.

 

Would I buy it again? Yes. Would I lay it down? Definitely. I would give it another two years in bottle, then serve it with a nice rich pie or casserole. I think it could be something to go with cheese too. Great value now, as I think in two years, it would drink to over £10.

Lots of reviews online for this wine, so I felt it only fair we should have a look at it.

 

Another of my Aldi finds and being a fan of Italian Vino da Tavola, I couldn’t resist either the label or the price. (£4.99). I love Sangiovese, having worked for Ruffino all those years ago, so I wondered long and hard about the heritage of today’s offering.

 

Very expensive presentation, this. Bouteille Antique, gold embossed label, neck foil proclaiming 94 points from Luca Maroni and individual raised glass crest on the shoulders. Quite a lot to live up to, we mused. It’s dark and deep in colour, rich ruby red in the glass with a hint of older wine in the mix. Jammy, fruity with quite a lot of residual sweetness. The more we tried, the more we liked. Could it possibly get better with age? At this price, one can only hope. Yes, reader, we have bought a few bottles to lay down and try again this time next year.

 

Oh, it went very well with cheese. Mature Cheddar, runny Camembert, Saint Agur.

The Pinot Gris 2017 from the Exquisite Range stood up well to its heady title. Aldi markets several wines under this umbrella, avoiding the usual fly-the-flag approach favoured by the cheaper wines on offer at around a fiver. It is clear and bright, with a light golden hue. Notes of pear and pineapple on the nose and is a really pleasant mouthful. It drinks well on its own and works well with fishy starters, pate and white meats. It doesn’t need much chilling, in fact serving direct from the cellar in the old-fashioned way works just a treat, though I suspect it would benefit from an ice bucket in the hotter months. Drink now and for the next 12 months.

 

We had tried the Lirac several weeks ago and decided to give it another whirl at the weekend. Presented in a traditional Rhone bottle with embossed village name, this is one to lay down, though its depth and supple nature permit current drinking well. Overtones of pepper and liquorice on the nose, this is rich, dark and warm. If you get the chance, buy 6 bottles and put them away for 12 months at least. You won’t be disapointed.

Mix 6 is £6.99 on this delightful, fresh offering. Infused with aromas of citrus and pineapple, this wine does not have its grapes listed so we were a little in the dark. Spain is producing some really light wines these days and we found this one suitable for a wide variety of purposes. We give it 6/10, preferring our system of awarding marks out of 10, rather than out of 5. Don’t serve this too cold, or you could mask its delicate flavours.

 

The cat is Ernie. He thinks it should be called Finca El Gato.

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A little break with tradition today, inasmuch as Mrs W and I decamped to The Riverside Inn in Chelmsford on Friday for the latest of head chef Andi Walker’s now legendary tasting menus. Having experienced several of these culinary delights over the past few months, we decided to incorporate this visit into the wine blog. Sommelier Ben had already been charged with the job of pairing courses with suggestions from within and outside the Riverside’s Wine List, so we felt that despite the selections would not be truly “blind”, we gave him free reign to recommend whatever he saw fit to go with the menu.

 

The prequel you can see on the bar table is Deep Fried, De-Boned Chicken Wings with Mustard Mayonnaise. A scrummy amuse bouche if I say so myself.

 

Starter was Potato & Sage Terrine – amazing flavours, no ingredient overpowered another, an explosion of flavours in the mouth. Loved the mushroom purée which was feather light and tasty. The Pinot Noir from Escale in the Languedoc went so well.

 

The Smoked Haddock Chowder was a peppery soup with duck yoke served in a teapot – sounds crazy, looked and tasted delicious. Loved the buttery, crunchy sweetcorn. The Pinot Gris from the highly rated house of Trimbach in Alsace was a scythe through the flavours and cleaned the palate after each mouthful.

 

 

Three cuts of 48 Hour Slow Cooked Pork, each with its individual flavours and textures were paired with apple compote and fried onion. The flavours exploded in your mouth and the Gavi from one of my favourite producers in Piemonte, Fontanafredda, cut through the melee in your mouth perfectly. Being something of a traditionalist, I would have gone for a light red, but Ben’s choice was a welcome change.

 

Peanut Butter Sandwich next – peanut butter ice cream, topped with raspberry coulis and bitter chocolate crisp; the chocolate was almost bitter in flavour but it worked so well with the buttery peanut ice cream and raspberry coulis. Teamed with the Moscato d’Asti, again from Fontanafredda, which had a slight spritz, we were treated to a delicate tease of sweetness to counteract the chocolate.

 

Finally, Dark Chocloate. Creamy ice cream with bitter chocolate shards over solid frozen chocolate laced with oats, an intense flavour of rich chocolate in all sorts of textures. Ben’s final surprise of the night was a Late Bottled Vintage Port with this. The rich fruit of the port cut through the creamy richness of the chocolate, leaving us with complexity en bouche.

 

Masterchef Professionals’ Andi Walker was recently voted Essex Chef of the Year 2018. If you haven’t made it Down By The Riverside yet, then you need to get your calendar in order. The tasting menus are available at £40 per head on Friday and Saturday nights, with a wine pairing at £25 per head, making them the best value night out in Chelmsford. The Riverside is a convivial, cosy and welcoming hostelry, with stylish decor and Listed Building elan.

When I first joined the wine trade back in 1983, a wise old sage said to me, “Remember this, a glimpse of the label is worth a thousand years’ experience”.

 

I have never forgotten those words and often remind others when they are getting a little ahead of themselves. It was alleged back in the 1980s that a blindfolded tasting was organised for 10 of the most eminent Masters of Wine. Six of them, apparently, failed to tell the difference between red and white wines… Now, whether that is true or not and according to the Internet, this story is morphing into urban myth, it is a warning to all those who attempt to mislead by virtue of “staged tastings”. Naturally, the wines were of similar weight and served at the same temperature, but the pitfalls still exist.

 

I came across an interview with Steven Spurrier in the excellent Boisdale magazine this week, which prompted a little retrospective research into the now infamous tasting which the great man conducted in Paris way back in 1976. Already established with his wine school and shop, Spurrier had become increasingly enamoured of the growing reputation of estate wines in Napa Valley, California via his association with American business partner Patricia Gallagher. He had the ears of some of France’s most respected wine writers, so when he invited them to a tasting at his premises, they accepted gladly. I recall drinking some of the wines of the 1970s whose reputations often exceeded the reality of the product, so the idea of celebrating the growing stature of American wines during the 200 anniversary of US Independence must have excited Spurrier. He wanted these doyennes of French vinous superiority to see just how far the New World had come in recent years. What happened next shocked the world of wine. The Californians did so well that they trumped the best of Burgundy and Bordeaux by a country mile. One eminent French wine writer was so surprised by the outcome that she demanded her notes back and has never spoken to Spurrier since.

 

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is what can happen at a blind tasting. If you have no axe to grind, what have you got to lose?

Today marks the first of many wine articles I have planned over the coming months. I started in the wine trade way back in 1983 after spending three years behind the bars of some of Britain’s most iconic pubs. In those bygone days of pints under a pound, basket meals and drink driving, wine hadn’t really made much of an impression on the pub culture, though food was already becoming more and more an important part of the bottom line. The cheese and ham rolls and pasties had given way to Sunday roasts, steaks and home-made pies by the time the 1980s had appeared. Once the early recession had given way to yuppies, red braces and LoadsOfMoney, the role of the pub began to change and by the time I took over my last pub in 1983, there was clearly a need to pep up the wine list. I inherited white and red in ghastly 2 litre screw cap bottles, (back in the days when screw caps didn’t actually work and the chances of oxidised wine making it onto the shelves was high) and having tasted it, decided that there was no way we were going to dish up that bilge to the punters.

 

So out of the phone book came a local wine merchant, a pleasant ex-military type who brought along some rather nice samples. I had already discovered wine in the late 1970s, courtesy of Laytons at the side of the old St Pancras station in Midland Road, where we would go for tastings on a Saturday morning, so by the time I got to the old KF Butler and Company tasting at the RAC in the spring of 1983, I was hooked. Fast forward to 1986 and I was working as a Sales Manager for Eurobrands Ltd, a newly created subsidiary of Remy Martin, Campari and the old FS Matta Italian wine merchants of Soho. Several happy years were spent with them, selling such prestigious brands as Krug, Charles Heidsieck, Louis XIII Cognac, Pio Cesare Barolo, Ruffino Chianti, Faustino Rioja and some delicious Burgundy and Bordeaux estate wines. Between then and 2002 when I sold my last wine company, I worked with some of the most highly respected names and houses in the wine trade, tasting, selecting and selling. I have been lucky enough to have sampled all the great wines of the world, visiting vineyards and properties alike. I am a member of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, the Coteaux de Champagne and the Chevalerie des Verres Galant in Cognac.

 

Each week, I am going to talk about wines for less than £10, which I have sourced locally in Essex, from supermarkets, wine merchants and vineyards. The criteria will be simple and for those of you coming to join me for the monthly tasting in my cellar, the tastings will be conducted blind.

The sliding doors moment. Or what I like to call, the “random visit to the Co-Op” moment. You think you’re going to work, then you suddenly veer off in the direction of the local convenience store and bump into an old friend whose band has broken up and he’s just started a new one and they’re looking for a sax player. Which I am not.

I started ‘playing’ the sax back in 2012 and had lessons with one of Britain’s finest, namely Mr Steve Turner, now of Madness and numerous appearances as a session player at Glasto et al. Managed to acquire a couple, then did very little as life began to take over. So, back to the Co-Op car park and there we are, talking music and bands. They don’t want a second guitarist, they tell me, but a sax player? Now you’re talking. (Well, I wasn’t).

So, last night, I went to the rehearsal rooms in Witham and spent three hours with a great group of blokes who call themselves, “Double Barrel”.

Got the alto back from the repairers. Rang my old sax teacher, (see above) and I’m going to see him on Monday. And so it begins.

Sooner or later, they catch you out. Bright, shiny stickers designed to lure the unwary or the preoccupied into buying. Yes? And they are all at it. Plastered all over the “convenience” section nearest to the front door, serried ranks of sandwiches, wraps, soft drinks laced with fattening sugar and/or the carcinogen Aspartame, advertised as “The Meal Deal.” What they don’t tell you is that half the products contained within the shelves are “not in the Meal Deal, sir.” I have just had the experience in Marks & Spencer Chelmsford and I would suggest you avoid the place until the management can be persuaded to sort this mess out. I am already sick and tired of being misled by their sub-standard ritually slaughtered chicken, beef and lamb; rejected as Halal by whichever Certification Board has been involved the ghastly business of endorsing animal cruelty, but this took the biscuit today.

Over the past months, I have experienced the same rip-off meal deal scams in Tesco and the Co-Operative, so called champion of the working classes. In fact, thus far, the Co-Op is the worst, having overcharged me every single time since last summer in three different Co-Ops in Chelmsford. Yes, I look for the stickers, yes, I look for which items are ostensibly included in said “Meal Deal”, but all I see is that it is a good “deal” for the supermarket and a poor one for the good old British consumer.

I will now be monitoring all the supermarkets via this medium and Twitter and will be reporting on the latest miscreants as we go. Today’s was particularly expensive, as M & S tried to charge me £6.65 for one sad looking salmon sandwich, a tiny bag of crisps and what appeared to be a bottle of watery squash. You could have either the “Diet” version or the “Fatty” version, both of which seemed to be chock full of additives. I remonstrated with the staff, who basically told me that neither of the sandwiches I had chosen were “in the Meal Deal.” So don’t put them on the shelf, then! Or is that what they are instructed to do by senior management? For God help anyone who has bought a “Meal Deal” with other shopping. How could you know what price they have charged you unless you check the receipt? And who wants to do that when there are dozens of hungry office workers etc in the queue behind you, tutting?