BASTILLE DAY

14 July 2011

§  South of France wine tasting

§  French music playlist

§  Complementary French cheese or charcuterie

board  offered for any bottle of French wine

bought

§  15% French wines

§  Buy one glass of French wine get one free

§  Set up menu from our French sommelier recipe

 including: glass of champagne, starter, main

course and cheese board

To book a table or for the wine tasting call on 0208 788 0345 

DO YOU SPEAK GERMAN?

Few days ago I went to Munich.

I knew that Bavaria was not a wine producing area but I was expecting to taste some great and somehow underrated German wines.

I tried learning German at school, but never managed to get into it.

Learning about wines, I found the German wines classification even more blur that the language.

First we have the table wines divided into:

·      Deutscher tafelwein= this is the lowest qualification. The wine must come from one of the four designated regions

·      Landwein= equivalent of French “vin de pays”, there are 17 specified areas of productions. The wines must be dry or semi sweet.

But it gets more complicated for the quality wines.

·      Qualitatswein bestimmter anbaugebeit (QbA)= wines generally undergo chaptalisation[i] coming from one of the 13 anbaugebiete (designated quality region)

·      Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (QmP) = Wine with special attributes. The grapes must come from a single anbaugebeit and from a single bereich (a district within a quality region consisting in several communes).

These wines are also classified according to their styles:

o  Kabinett= most delicate and crisp wines

o  Spatlese= “late harvest”; little sweetness and more body than the previous

o  Auslese= wine made from individually selected extra-ripe bunches of grapes

o  Beerenauslese= rare and expensive wines made from individually selected grapes ideally suffering from noble rot[ii]

o  Eiswein= “ice wines”; grapes picked frozen so the water is removed during pressing leaving an hyper sweet juice for fermentation

o  Trockenbeerenauslese= wine produce in minute quantities only on the finest vintage from grapes so affected by noble rot that they have shrivelled to tiny raisins.

Landing in the city of Oktoberfest with a massive headache after revising my knowledge of German wines (as tiny as a grapes picked to produce a trockenbeerenauslese wine) i didn’t expect regretting travelling without painkiller as my headache became worst in front of the underground ticket machine.

The classification of the tickets is as complex as the classification of the wines.

Single tickets cost 2.20 euros for zone 1; 4.40 for zone 2; 6.60 for zone 3; 8.80 for zone 4.

So far, I got it. But it becomes confusing next.

Steifenkarte (strip card) is divided into 10 sections; you will need to stamp 2 sections per zones you travel trough.

Only one section need to be stamped for children aged 6-14 for any distance

15 to 20 years old stamp only one section per zone.

Kurztrecke ticket should be use for short journey (up to 4 stops) or alternatively you can stamp one section of the Steifenkarte.

One day tickets Tageskarte or 3 days  (3-tageskarte) are available in 2 forms: for a single person or for a group up to five people. Nevertheless 2 children aged 6 to 14 counts for 1 person.

Weekly or monthly Isacard allow any number of the holder’s children plus three other children to travel free.

Children under age of 6 travel free. You are entitled to carry one dog free of charge and a child fare must be paid for any other dog.

But this does not apply for animals in basket or carriers.

Should I carry on?

I spent 40 minutes in front of the machine trying to figure out which tickets was the best for me and dreaming about my first glass of the finest German Riesling.

I was disappointed to find out that in Munich all the place where I have been were selling only bad landswein or Italian and French wines.

Munich is definitely a beer city.

They have a lot of “beer garden”, sort of pub with impressive beer lists.

Well, so beer it was all along these days.

Anyway, I had a lovely time, met lovely people in a lovely city (the architecture is mixed: you can find building in the classic, gothic and baroque style) nothing to regret, or maybe one thing: Everyone speaks English!

For me trying to speak the language aboard (at least the basic: hello, thank you, I don’t speak German, goodbye…) is a mark of respect and part of the trip.

But everyone was straight away speaking in English to me!

Convenient I must admit but disappointed once again.

So, do you speak German? Because I definitely don’t!

Michael Monte

Sommelier

The star and garter

www.facebook.com/starandgarterwinetastings

[i]Addition of sugar to grape must during fermentation to increase the alcohol content of the final wine

[ii]A parasitic fungus (Botrytis cinerea) that attacks ripe grapes and causes an increase in their sugar content. Certain wines, such as the French Sauternes and the Hungarian Tokay, are produced from such grapes.

From the 17^th to the 19^th of May the “international London wine fair” was held at excel.

Not only a major event in the on –trade industry to have the possibility to meet producer, winemaker or supplier; this is as well for me an occasion to taste some exiting bins.

For instance, it is only during this event that I treat my palate with few drops of “chateau d’esclans, Garrus”, a rose wine coming from Provence and mainly made from Grenache grapes.

Made by a highly skilled winemaker team gathered by the son of a Russian millionaire (Sasha Lichine), if this rose has been rated as the best rose of the world, it is as well the most expensive ( In UK a 75cl bottle for the treat will cost you around £90)

I will not discuss here if it is worth the price as I would rather save my money for my favourite wine making area (yes unfortunately my mother pass me on a part of her DNA and her taste for champagne)

So let’s not discuss further about this French rose made by a Russian millionaire’s son as for me this year the focus was on another son.

The big event, the son of the Christ, the messiah was Michael Mondavi and his wine called “M”.

His father, Robert Mondavi, originally from Marche in Italy, found his winery in 1966 in California. As the first major estate built after the prohibition in Napa valley, his goal was to produce outstanding wines able to rivals against the finest Europeans.

One of his most successful wine was “opus one”, a joint venture with “Baron philippe de Rothschild” from “chateau mouton Rothschild “(Bordeaux first growth)

As considering myself as part of a new generation of wine lover, a generation that the sociologists called “generation millennium”, I am always enthusiastic about the new generation of winemakers, so the thought of tasting Robert Mondavi son’s wine was making my heart beat fast. I had great expectation on that.

Tuesday 17^th, I am making my way through the stands. My map in hand, I am struggling finding the little spot where “M” by Michael Mondavi is showcasing.

I am expecting so much, my hands are almost sweating.

There we go the few drops are poured in my glass.

The colour is dark, dense, and ruby. On the nose I can recognise the typical aromas coming from the cabernet sauvignon:  black currant, plums and black cherry with some notes of more developed flavours: liquorice and charcoal and a touch of earth.

I can’t wait anymore, my palate is begging for it. I am having it, expecting a taste of paradise.

The balance is perfect, medium to full body, good level of acidity, high alcohol contents; the tannins are soft and rounded. The tannins management is impeccable, yes there is a lot but they are so soft and velvety.

Nothing is overpowering in this wine, all the components are in balance.

The length is long and you can feel the potential ageing. The palate is much earthier and developed than the nose: currants, spice, berries and oak.

But it seems to miss something..... Some kind of sparkle. If everything is well done and balanced, if the wine is an amazing achievement and can be called one of the finest cabernet sauvignon, it just felt that something was missing to match my level of expectation.

Maybe my French blood makes me too passionate and emotional and my palate is affected by my feelings. So before drawing a final review on this wine, I will give it a go once again, this time with a cool head.

Michael monte

Sommelier

The star and garter

www.facebook.com/starandgarterwinetastings

So is rose the first wine produce in history?