At a dinner the other evening, one of the other diners mentioned this great little wine bar in Covent Garden, called appropriately enough, The 10 Cases, which only ever has 10 cases of 10 red and 10 white wines on hand. As an added incentive to visit, once the 10 cases are gone, they pick a different wine to take it’s...
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Although I do tend to go on about champagne, I occasionally drink other sparkling wines. Freixenet sent me the Elyssia Gran Cuvee and the Elyssia Pinot noir, their premium cavas as an economical alternative to champange. I have tried the Elyssia pinot noir in the past and was left a bit wanting but I think they may have tweaked it...
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“Giro d’Italia” “Going Natural” “And Gamay for All” “Black Gold” “Without Words” “The Outsiders” “Sake” Those are not descriptors one would usually see as headings for a wine list but Nopi’s wine list is not exactly a “by the...
read moreLe Snob Guide to Champagne, despite the name, is a great little stocking stuffer for the champagne lover in your life. I met Giles Fallowfield, the author of this handy little book at a champagne launch, afterwards, during lunch he introduced me to his book and I had to the chance to chat with him about all things champagne. Le...
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When food and wine matching are done right, there’s nothing better. Although I am the Winesleuth, I find that wine with food is almost always better and I relish the opportunity when such occasions present themselves. Recently, I found myself a guest of The Winechap at Coq d’Argent in the City to not only sample the...
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What I like about Tsuru, besides their katsu curry and sustainability credo is their wine list. Emma, one of the 3 owners of Tsuru, is always tweaking the wine list, looking for wine that not only go along with their Japanese hot food and sushi but also follow their commitment to sustainably sourced ingredients. Recently, they’ve...
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2003 was a tough year to be a grape in Champagne. First they had to contend with an unusually cold winter followed by a deceptively warm spring only to be zapped by hail and not once, but twice by frost, the worst of which was on April 11th destroying up to 3/4 of the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay crop. To add insult to injury that...
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I went to The Four Seasons University in Florence, Italy. How’s that for an alma mater? Seriously, I was invited to take part in what they term their “university” to learn more about The Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels and, in this particular session, showcasing the regional and artisanal food and wine on offer. With hotels...
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Swine and Wine. Sounds like my idea of a very good night indeed and my friends over at DVine Wine teamed up with Lardy Da (cute) to put on a supper club-y type dinner the other night somewhere under an arch near London Bridge. A big sparse room, with concrete floors, art pieces scattered around the walls and a rockabilly bass...
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I, for one, am very pleased with this trend of chic cocktail bars in London. For some reason, cocktail bars seem to have taken off in the finer hotels of London. As cocktails originated in America, it’s not too surprising it’s in the luxury hotels (all those trans-Atlantic businesspeople) and it’s great to see...
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