“I didn’t tell you to create a Carry On Boozing” – Lord Sugar

Well.

What did you think of the English Bubbles episode of The Apprentice?

Tonight Lord Sugar challenged the teams with a task to raise the awareness of English wine. Judged at Bibendum HQ by some of the big names in the English wine industry – including our very own MD, Michael Saunders – it is a hot topic for the wine industry today.

Bibendum's MD Michael Saunders

With the Jubilee and the Olympics fast approaching, the world’s eyes are on English wine.

Yet the panel and Lord Sugar agreed – neither of the teams ticked the right boxes. Was it a case of delusions of “Grandeur”?

Team Ricky Martin in Bibendum's boardroom - they called their wine "Grandeur"

The show may be car crash television but it raises some questions.

Was this a lost opportunity for English Sparkling wine – or is English Sparkling Wine on The Apprentice a good thing in itself? For a moment during the show, English Sparkling Wine trended worldwide on twitter (a first?).

What did you think??

The Apprentice English Bubbles Episode on BBC iplayer

Take a look at Bibendum’s British Summer Time Campaign

by Juel Mahoney

by Juel Mahoney

Before the 2011 Bordeaux campaign began in March (and before we had tasted the wines), we put out the challenge to our readers To Be Your Own Robert Parker. “Taste the vintage for yourself”, we said, “and make up your own mind.”

And so they did. In their hundreds. A trek to Lord’s Cricket Ground. On a drizzly May afternoon.

98 Chateaux attended and most brought an older vintage to taste alongside the 2011s. In fact, this is the biggest consumer tasting of En Primeur Bordeaux in the UK.

Bordeaux in Action

As you can see from the above photo, Bordeaux superstars such as Pierre Lurton (Director of Cheval Blanc and CEO of Chateau d’Yquem) pitched in and poured their wines.

The tasting kicked off with a Masterclass of Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau d’Yquem with Pierre Lurton in the iconic J.P. Morgan Media Centre overlooking the famous cricket pitch. Where legends are born and made….

Co-hosted by Stephen Brooks, author of the soon-to-be updated The Complete Bordeaux – The Wines, The Chateaux and The People, the class compared and contrasted Petit Cheval 2001, Chateau Cheval Blanc 2000, 1998 and the 1988 in magnum. Tasting 1967 Cheval Blanc in the Press Box at Lord’s is certainly a fine way to spend an afternoon. The tasting finished with the delicious Château d’Yquem 1999.

Anthony Barton of Chateau Langoa Barton is always a good sport. Here is helping to set up the tasting… the word around Lord’s was that 2005 Langoa Barton was one of the ones you just had to taste.

As they say in the 12th Man  tapes, “Marvellous catch that!” Alfred Tesseron holding his new baby, 2011 Pontet Canet, looking happy with his wine released on the same day.

Pontet Cantet was a clear favourite of the tasting. However there were also many broad smiles (with very black teeth!) for the 2011 Sauternes and white wines. Especially the dry white wines from Domaine de Chevalier, Carbonnieux and Smith Haut Lafitte.

Many “Robert Parkers” in the room… making notes of the 2011 vintage….

Thank you for all those who attended the tasting… we had a great time and we hope you did, too. And also a big thanks to our great photographer for the event, Rory Lindsay. More photos from Bibendum’s Annual Bordeaux Tasting can be found here.

Over to you, Robert Parkers! Is that you in the photo? Were you there?

We would love to know….

What were your favourite wines from this year’s Annual Bordeaux En Primeur  tasting?

by Gareth Groves

How many glasses do you get from a bottle of wine? The standard answer used to be six, but in many pubs and bars in the UK nowadays, the answer is just three.

The large 250ml glass of wine has become a standard serving, often ordered at the same time as a pint or a gin and tonic, despite the huge differences in alcoholic content and, increasingly, price. The traditional round of drinks has become unbalanced.

Jamie Goode, writing an article for the campaigning website Wine Option, noted that a 250ml glass of 14% wine will contain 35ml of pure alcohol. A pint of 3.8% ale served alongside will contain 21.5ml, that’s nearly 40% less. Two or three rounds into the evening and the wine drinker in this scenario is already well into official binge drinking territory.

The reality is that while that wine drinker may think he or she has only had a few glasses of wine, they have actually consumed a whole bottle; not a very healthy situation.

As an industry, we need to wake up and start thinking about smaller pours and here are three very good reasons why:

1. Health

Responsibility is a big issue in the drinks industry at the moment and rightly so. The UK has a culture of alcohol use and misuse and there are grave consequences for the health of individuals and society as a whole.

As an industry we need to do our bit. We are absolutely right to maintain that alcohol enjoyed in moderation has its place in society and to fight back against the neo-prohibitionists, but it is pretty hard to do so when we insist that a third of a bottle is a standard measure of wine.

We need to change our behaviour before the government changes the way the consumer engages with wine, and finances the country’s budget deficit in the process. Minimum pricing is already on the horizon and there is no reason to think legislation could stop there.

2. Price & Quality

Large glasses of wine cost more than smaller ones. That much stands to reason.

By sticking to the 175ml/250ml model, many on trade operators put a de facto limit on the quality of wine they can serve. There is a perception (probably a correct one) that no-one is going to order a £10 glass of wine alongside a £3.50 pint.

Too often, the result is that only cheaper wines are served by the glass to meet a pre-determined price point. This restricts choice and makes it harder for us as an industry to expose consumers to wines that are more exciting than just another identikit Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot.

If we pour 125ml as standard, we can sell brilliant wines by the glass at a reasonable price. The consumer would drink half the quantity of alcohol per glass and enjoy something that tastes brilliant and might just tempt them to come back another day.

In essence, we need to provide consumers with the opportunity to drink a sensible amount of something that truly excites the mind and palate, rather than just being accessories to the UK’s increasingly unacceptable culture of excess.

It is all about the…

3. Consumer Experience

Wine competes with beer, spirits and other beverages in every bar and restaurant around the country. Consumers have a choice about what they drink.

A goldfish bowl of entry-level Chardonnay that warms up quickly in a busy bar hardly contains the same excitement as a brilliantly mixed and garnished cocktail.

We need to find ways to bring wine to life – for consumers and for servers. I’ve spoken to several bartenders who privately admit they see wine as nothing more than a posh RTD.

What wine has going for it is its endless diversity, and its culture. Wine goes better with food than any other drink and food is better shared. As an industry we need to harness this. Let’s turn that 250ml glass into a carafe for two. Or perhaps, three small 50ml measures in a wine flight that introduces a Pinot Grigio drinker to the delights of Albarino and Gruner Veltliner.

We may reduce the volumes we sell but we have a chance to increase profits. Smaller pours of exciting wine at good cash margins – it isn’t rocket science. I would certainly rather pay £4 for a 125ml of something delicious, than £6.50 for 250ml of plonk, and I am pretty sure I am not alone.

Find out more about Smaller Pours, Bigger Profits on our website

by Juel Mahoney

We all have a first time. Some we want to remember and some we want to forget. At last night’s launch of his revised and updated book, Bordeaux – The Wines, The Vineyards, The Winemakers “A new look at the world’s most famous wine region,” Oz explained how it was a 1962 Chateau Langoa-Barton that first began his journey into the wine world. If you have ever seen any of his TV shows you will know this has lead to an adventure in wine far beyond Bordeaux. But you always remember your first time, especially if it is good.

When I first started in fine wine, Oz Clarke’s Bordeaux book quickly became an essential reference. His clear and friendly style was in stark contrast to some of the stuffy, starch-collared London Wine Merchant culture surrounding buying and selling Bordeaux wine. Why did it have to be like this?

As an En Primeur virgin, I found Bordeaux had its own language. Strangely to me, certain Chateaux names had the ability to make grown men cry (with tears of joy, generally). 

I still struggle to understand the raison d’etre of En Primeur (although I am sure I am not alone) and chalk it up to historical trade reasons between UK and France. And sure, most of the people who buy Bordeaux (especially now) have a certain-level of income. But there is so much more to this region. Bordeaux has an importance to the world of wine stretching further than the actual wines.

What is so great about Oz Clarke’s book is how it distills his life’s knowledge of all wine into one book on his first love. Bordeaux is so much more than geography. Although if you are interested in the particulars of each Chateaux, that is in there, too.

Every line has been revised and updated – making this edition an essential reference for every wine lover. Even the most jaded wine merchant.

Here I had a quick chat to Oz last night about the topic of the moment – Bordeaux 2011. Enjoy!

 
If you would like to taste the 2011 Bordeaux vintage for yourself, there are still tickets available for our Annual Bordeaux Tasting Extravaganza. Join us there!

How do you eat and drink in true Emilia-Romagna style? Recently Poderi dal Nespoli and Michelin-starred chef Marco Cavalucci visited Tennent’s Training Academy in Glasgow to give a hands-on demonstration.

Poderi dal Nespoli is a family-owned winery situated south-east of Bologna in the heart of Romagna’s Sangiovese territory.  One of the food epicentres of the world, Emilia-Romagna boasts famous food towns such as Parma, Modena and Bologna (that’s some of the world’s best cheese, ham, balsamic vinegar and pasta - right there!).

After an apero of white wine Le Coste with antipasti of Parmigiano Reggiano and salame it was time to get to work.

 Time to make pasta!

Gathered together around a table with eggs, flour, wooden boards for rolling out the pasta, and rolling pins, Carla, the pastry chef, speaking in her local dialect of sfoglina, demonstrated how to make traditional pastas of Romanga – cappelletti, tortelli, strozzapreti and garganelli.

In the UK, pasta is often the main meal; in Italy, pasta is just the starters.

After two delicious first courses, the second course of lamb and thyme was paired with the Sangiovese Prugneto. The herbs in the lamb perfectly matched this delicious savoury red. Prugneto has a distinctive “hand-drawn” label was first inspired by a visit to Brigitte Bardot during a trip to the Cote d’Azure in the 1960s and looked great on the table.

The day was rounded off with dessert of cream and sprinkled chocolate with a sweet wine called a passito, a 100% Sangiovese di Romagna called Teluccio.

Together in the kitchen, cooking and sharing a glass of Sangiovese, and generally, having a good laugh – Nicole from Poderi dal Nespoli confessed, “It feels just like home!” 

Bottles empty and stomachs full, it was time to end the day well satisfied after experiencing a little bit of Emilia Romagna in Glasgow – cooking pasta, drinking wine and eating well. Thanks to Poderi dal Nespoli and Tennent’s Training Academy for showing the true spirit of Emilia-Romagna, sharing their wines and way of life with us in this great cooking and training space.

Now you try!

Recipe: Strozzapreti with traditional ragù

Ingredients for 4 people

for strozzapreti:

500 g flour

3 white egg

salt

water

for ragù:

200 g ripe tomatoes

100 g minced beef meat

50 g minced pork meat

30 g parmesan cheese

20 g onion

20 g carrots

20 g celery

1 dl dry white wine

2 shallots

1 bay leaf

2 basil leaves

extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Make the strozzapreti mixing flour, white egg, salt and water till obtaining an homogeneous dough, take little pieces of dough and rubbing them obtaining the strozzapreti. Mince the vegetables and brown them with olive oil and bay leaf. Add the minced meat and slowly brown it. Soak it with wine and let it evaporate. Cut the tomatoes in small pieces without skin and seed, pour half of the meat, salt, pepper and add a touch of water. Cook till the ragù is reduced. Take the shallot off the skin, thinly slice them and keep them in cold water for few minutes. Brown shallot in a touch of olive oil, add the left over tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, add the ragù and let boiling. Deep fried the left over shallot, salt them and dry them out with kitchen paper. Cook the strozzpreti in salted water and dress them with the ragù. Place them in the middle of the plate with deep fried shallot all around.

Recipe by Chef Marco Cavallucci – Ristorante La Frasca  http://lafrasca.it

Poderi dal Nespoli blog and facebook 

Pictures – Copyright © Luca di Filippo www.lucadifilippo.com - see more pictures of the event on flickr.

On a sunny Monday, 40 chefs came together to enjoy a sumptuous feast cooked up by acclaimed chef Tom Kerridge. As part of the  Chef Eats Out initiative by The Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, it brings together budding new chefs to get creative foodie-type juices flowing.

Hosted at Tom’s two Michelin starred pub/restaurant The Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Bibendum was approached to put together a wine tasting menu worthy of Tom’s delectable dishes and quite frankly, as this would mean we would also get to sample some of his creations, we whole-heartedly obliged.

After a glass of fine bubbly in the garden by champagne house Bruno Paillard, our hungry bellies were guided to their seats.

First up was the crispy pigs head with pancetta and artichokes accompanied by a glass of the Navaherreros Blanco by artisan Spanish producer Bernabeleva. In my head I was imagining Tom emerging from the kitchen, pigs head hooked under arm, maybe still honking a bit, but in reality the dish that came out was elegance itself.

This was also very helpful as I was able to park the ‘un-phased, in fact, very excited about said potentially scary food item’ look I’d been practicing in advance of the lunch (because when you like food you have to make out like these things don’t really scare you, even if they do a bit). Presented in a perfect crispy oblong, the meat had a rich texture and almost gamey flavour to it, whilst the strip of crackling and artichokes made the dish a textural delight. Like the food, the wine had an honest, gutsy nature to it and where Tom pushes the boundaries with his food, this up and coming Spanish producer does so with its new breed of boutique Spanish wines.

Many bundles of parsley had been sacrificed to make our next dish, of which we were very thankful for – parsley soup topped with croutons, smoked eel, bacon and cheddar tortellini.  We figured that if there was in fact a world in which wine and food were joined in holy matrimony, Lageder’s Haberle Pinot Bianco, a cool sort of character, would take one look at the aforementioned parsley soup slinking down the street, do a double take and exclaim ‘my, how perfectly green you are’.  Thankfully we were right, and days later we are happy to report they are still very happy together.

Palate cleansed, we clippety clopped onwards to the main event – loin of Cotswold venison with another potential scary food item (ox tongue), Bérigoule Mushroom, English Asparagus and Prickly Ash. What better vinous beast to pair this hearty dish with than Journey’s End’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch, South Africa.  The smokiness of the venison, saltiness of the ox tongue and meaty quality of the mushroom set off the leathery, savoury quality of the wine sublimely. Tom told me he thought the wine was ‘lush’ and if it’s good enough for Tom, well, it’s good enough for us.

And now my friends, we reach the end of our culinary and vinous adventure with a very chocolaty pudding, topped with salted caramel and muscavado sugar ice cream. Tom tells us it took 4 days and a rather cumbersome process to make the chocolate square, so perfectly square and chocolaty, and we do agree that it was very square and chocolaty indeed. Enter the Maury Grenat 2009 by Els Pyreneus, a dessert wine built with cocoa in mind, this little number sent our chef friends into fits of joy.  This wine delivers a smooth, sumptuous treat for your taste buds and happily chuckles in the face of those ‘wine and chocolate- yeah right’ sceptics.

All in all we had a jolly nice day and were excited that so many of the chefs wanted to chat to us about the amazing wines we’d been drinking. What we’d hoped to do was make sure that the honesty, attention to detail and personality found in Tom’s food could also be found in the chosen wines. Producers like Alois Lageder (Alto Adige), with his gravity fed, sustainable winery and penchant for playing classical music to his barrels, and Bodegas Bernabeleva (Castilla Y Leon), with their pioneering attitude to wine making and use of native Spanish grape varieties are, quite simply, what this is all about folks.

To find out about up and coming events, check out the Caterer & Hotelkeeper website

View all Bibendum’s food and wine events

“The 2011 Sauternes and Barsac are great.” And so ends University of Bordeaux Professor Denis Dubordieu’s paper on the Bordeaux 2011 vintage.

Is there a need to say any more?

Indeed, they are great in 2011. Yet it seems sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac can have many good vintages but only gain interest in a great vintage. Otherwise they are ignored by most Bordeaux drinkers and investors (except for those generous souls who buy Sauternes to treat family and friends on special occasions or rainy weekends).

These wines are sorely undervalued compared to how much work goes into making the wine. And how much pleasure it provides. This is not all bad news – it can mean you are getting incredible value.

“For Sauternes we only make money, on average, over a ten year period. It is a very small profit and the output is tiny,” says Christian Seely, the MD of AXA Millésimes when we visited him to taste Chateau Suduiraut 2011.

A labour of love

Why? The wines are risky and expensive to produce and hail from tiny pockets of land in southern Graves. The Chateau depend on perfect weather conditions to rot the grapes across the whole vineyard at the same time. When this happens they are unreplicable in the world – they have an unparalleled richness and complexity which ends with a mouth-watering freshness.

There is a shift in Sauternes to create less gooey and heavy wines and emphasise the freshness. However, the taste of sweetness can be deceptive. The sugar levels have never been higher, but the perception on the palate is fresher.

2011 Vintage in Sauternes and Barsac

The weather conditions in 2011 were perfect for fast concentration of the sugar in the grapes. Morning mists in September followed by temperatures of 30 degrees for several days created a burst of Noble Rot. In 2011, you will often find excellent freshness and acidity. The pure botrytis gives the wines complexity and depth with a long, chewy finish.

 “In 40 years of making wine in the region, I have only seen this phenomenon twice, in 2009 and 2011,” notes Professor Dubourdieu.

Olivier Castéja, owner of Château Doisy-Védrines, Barsac Second Cru Classé, says in French Wine News: “… the juice is fabulous: rich, complex, and pure, with extraordinary fruit. I’ve never seen juice with such even quality. It is a totally atypical year”.

Due to the high sugar levels the wines at the top Chateaux will peak between 15-20 years and many will continue to develop for decades. Petit Chateaux provide plenty of pleasure between 5 -10 years.

If you enjoyed 2001 and 2007, then stock up on 2011. Even the biggest names are undervalued compared to other First Growths. And your friends and family will love you for years to come. This is a great year for Sauternes and Barsac.

Visit our Sauternes Page for all the latest releases of Sauternes and Barsac 2011

Taste 2011 Sauternes for yourself…

All these wines (and more than 80 Chateaux) will be available to taste at our Annual Bordeaux Tasting Extravaganza on May 9^th at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

If you would like to taste these spectacular wines for yourself, tickets are available here.

At the Empanada market stall in Primrose Hill - Chango Empanadas

by Juel Mahoney

To celebrate Malbec World Day*, Bibendum and Argento Wine wanted to test whether a well-known idea in Argentina works on a rainy day in London. An idea that can be summed up as:

Have Empanadas, Will Party.

Empanadas are little pastry parcels of meaty joy found all over South America. Wherever there is a party or a local festival, you can find empanadas. This is the food equivalent of a non-stop party animal.

With this excellent meaty snack so prevalent in Argentina, is it little wonder why Malbec is Argentina’s national grape?

Meat and Malbec is a match made in heaven.

In fact, Malbec World Day is celebrated on 17^th April every year around the world to commemorate the day in 1853 when Argentinian president, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, officially decided to transform Argentina’s wine industry. He later went on to become President, and you know the how story went for Malbec… Argentinian Malbec is one of most loved wines in the UK.

So we decided to put the empanada and Malbec theory to the test.

Argento Malbec and Argento Selección Malbec

We took a group of hungry lunchtime staff, a plate of 30 steak Empanada from our local Empanada lady, and three different types of Malbec from Argento Wines:

• Argento Malbec
• Argento Malbec Rose
• Argento Selección Malbec

There was a serious risk of a festival in the staff kitchen in London on a wintry Spring day. The Argento Malbec Rose was popular at lunch time, but I found the Argento Selección Malbec went best with the juicy steak and pastry combination.

Oh that last bite is the best! Wash it down with a juicy glass of Argento Malbec.

Malbec World Day is now celebrated around the world. Since leaving its native France in the 19th Century, it has become an international jet-setting variety with many passports.

However, our conclusion is Argento Malbec and Empanadas puts a lot of smiles on peoples faces – a little taste of Argentina in London. But wherever you are today…

Happy Malbec World Day!

* Pedants may ask, why Malbec World Day (MWD) and not World Malbec Day (WMD)? Malbec is about love not war (or wmd)!

Now, you might think we are biased but we LOVE Moscato d’Asti from Vietti here at Bibendum. There’s always an exciting electricity in the room whenever a bottle is opened. Oh, the anticipation…

It is a sweet, frizzante, low alcohol wine at only 5.5% made in Piedmont in Italy. It tastes of peaches, rose petals, zingy ginger and heaven.

I had a fun chat with the owner of Vietti, Mario Cordero when he was here today at Bibendum HQ and asked him – “what do you traditonally eat when you drink Moscato d’Asti?”

“It’s a wine we could drink every moment of the day… ”

Grazie, Mario. Here’s a fun chat over a few sweet bubbles, SALUTE!

“We three kings of Pomerol are…” Ben Collins sang as he walked between the vines from La Conseillante to Vieux Chateau Certan (VCC) from L’Eglise Clinet. Next stop, Le Pin.

What a difference a day makes. Today we are singing. Crossing the river from Bordeaux to Pomerol, we found a different story than that on the Left Bank.

Why?

The Right Bank has a clay soil which protects the vines during drought by trapping the water around the roots (the limestone of Pauillac had the same effect). When we asked about the adverse weather conditions of last summer, we were met with blank looks by some in Pomerol. For many on the Right Bank, 2011 is a normal vintage and business as usual.

Of course it is difficult to assess a vintage solely on how the superstar wines taste – but we certainly had fun trying.

“Of course it has a long finish, it’s the poshest wine in the world. What do you think the finish is going to be like?” Ben Collins snapped at Cheval Blanc, as we reached for the apocryphal stopwatch.

Cheval Blanc is a wine Ben takes personally: it is not only his favourite wine but counts many vintages among his closest friends. The standards (and the expectations) are high – and for this vintage, were met. There is a new tasting room (or chai) as big as Terminal 5 where even the vats look as desirable as handbags.

We sat on the roof in the sunshine and did not want to leave… especially after a glass of the excellent 2011 d’Yquem, which was too good to spit out. The dew on the vines sparkled in the spring sunshine around us.

Unfortunately we had to return to earth and get back to work. On to the larger tastings representing the communes of the Right Bank where it is easier to see a general pattern of the vintage.

Generalisations are always dangerous in Bordeaux, but increasingly we are seeing this as a Right Bank vintage. Where the Left Bank is more classic and restrained in style , the fruit on the Right Bank is richer and ripe. The good news is, if you enjoy wine with lower alcohol, you will prefer many of the wines from this vintage to the 14-15% beasts of, say, 2009.

To finish, a quick word about pricing. Everyone says they are coming down, the only question is by how much. The UK trade must be sounding like a stuck record to the Bordelais as we constantly make the argument of putting the drinking consumer first with significant reductions on the prices of 2009 and 2010. There are lots of nods and smiles, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Top 5 Right Bank (in no particular order):

1. L’Eglise Clinet
2. La Conseillante
3. Le Pin
4. Ausone
5. Vieux Chateau Certan

Honourable mentions: Figeac, Canon La Gaffeliere, La Pointe, Feytit Clinet, Rouget, Fonbel, Simard, La Chenade and Les Cruzelles.

2011 is a vintage serious buyers really must taste for themselves.

Tickets are available (but selling like fast) to Bibendum’s Annual Bordeaux Tasting. 100+ Chateaux. Lots of 2011. Lots of older wines. Lots of winemakers. Wednesday, 9th May at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London. Don’t miss it.