One unusually bright and sunny Sunday in May, I went down to Sussex to visit Albourne Estate. Situated about an hour’s drive from London, the vineyards are in an idyllic setting amongst the green and rolling hills of southern England. The estate was founded and is run by winemaker and co-owner Alison Nightingale. Alison...
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Vivat Bacchus, despite it’s Latinate name, is a wine bar and restaurant in Farringdon specialising in the wines of South Africa. Begun in the mid 2000’s by Gerrie Knoetze, there are two branches in London, the other being at London Bridge. Vivat Bacchus mainly serves food influenced by Cape cuisine but also has British...
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It looks like we may be getting summer this year. I certainly hope that last week wasn’t it for the Great British Summer! With that in mind, I’m sure people are looking around for Summer Party venues. Over the past two weeks or so, I’ve been invited to a few places that would be ideal. The well established...
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Recently I was invited to a masterclass of pasta making and wine tasting with the Wines of Abruzzo. Abruzzo is located on the eastern shoreline of Italy, east of Rome and south of Marche. The region may not be as well known as other regions of Italy but it has plenty to offer in both food and wine. Chef Danilo Cortellini (of...
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Late night cocktail bar, Ray’s Bar in Dalston recently launched their new summer menu and to coincide with that, they are offering 50% off their new cocktails this week only. “From long and short concoctions, to sweet and savoury flavours, many of the cocktails comprise unusual spirits from around the globe, including...
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I attended a Bologna Hills food and wine tasting evening the other day at well known Italian restaurant Burro E Salvia in East London recently. The Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi was in town to show off the delicious pastas, meats and wines of the region. Situated in the hills surrounding Bologna, it is the capital of the...
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I recently attended a dinner hosted by Franciacorta producer Bellavista. We met at Italian restaurant Margot in Covent Garden for what promised to be an enlightening wine and food matching occasion. Franciacorta is often said to be Italy’s answer to Champagne and, while it is made using the same method and uses chardonnay as it’s...
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So what do you do if you’re a microbiologist in the Antarctic and need something to do in the off-season? Start a winery of course and in India no less! To be fair, Ashok Surwade is Indian and from the Nashik Valley so it might not be such a huge leap of faith but still – he was an Antarctic researcher before chucking...
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The Nashik Valley is known as India’s Napa Valley so it stands to reason that there would also be a wine trail. While the wine trail is still quite small, only 3 wineries at the moment (Sula, York and Soma) what it lacks in size, it certainly makes up with in the quality of the wines and the winery resorts. I popped into Soma...
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Last week I went to the launch of Pop Up Japan at Proud East. Proud East is perched on the towpath of Regent’s Canal in Dalston and is really such a lovely location. I love walking along the path, especially at sunset… I was there for the the Japan pop up but Proud East is a pretty neat concept being a half indoors/half...
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