Posted by peter | August 19th, 2010 (by peter & susie)
We are thrilled to announce the guest star appearance, for one night only, of the quite brilliant Helen Masters, winemaker at fabled New Zealand wine producer Ata Rangi.
We were lucky enough to visit Ata Rangi during our trip in February. Not only did we enjoy a brilliant, not to mention highly instructive visit and tasting but we also got to savour a fantastically convivial supper at Helen’s home.
(You can read Susie’s report of our visit and dinner here. And
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Posted by susie | August 12th, 2010 (by susie)
Do you like your holidays to be of the delicious variety?
Or perhaps you fancy re-living some gastro memories from recent times spent abroad?
Either way, I have a suggestion for you – which also works as a fine excuse to feature another fantastic Jo Pratt recipe, accompanied by my wine matching tips.
I’ve just done some work for a company called www.villarenters.com.
They wanted to promote some of their holiday properties on the basis of their gastronomic credentials – ie if
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Posted by peter | July 26th, 2010 (by peter & susie)
For those readers who think we’ve sunk into some sort of wine-soaked morass, or become wrapped up in newborn-baby bliss – think again.
While admitting that there is at least a grain of truth in both these charges – we have been busy on the wine front, and certainly revelling in the family fun – things have been as eventful as ever.
We’ve actually been taking advantage of this time to do some work under the radar (including quite a few tastings, which we’ll
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Posted by susie | May 27th, 2010 (by susie)
Stop press…
A quick note to let you know that English Wine Week 2010 kicks off this Sunday and runs until Saturday 6th June.
Don’t forget to look out for local vineyards, wine merchants, farm shops, delis, hotels, pubs and restaurants taking part in the celebrations and offering tastings, special menus and other wine-fuelled delights.
It’s a countrywide campaign to highlight English wine – and a great excuse to try a glass or two of the nation’s finest vinous
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Posted by peter | May 12th, 2010 (by peter & susie)
We’ve been doing our sums lately.
Our calculations run as follows: in the last three and a half weeks we’ve run three wine courses, welcomed a total of 77 people through the Winchester Wine School’s doors, cracked open 122 bottles of fantastic wines, and munched our way through 30 squares of Montezuma chocolate and 41 jelly beans.
This inaugural season of courses have proved a fantastic launch pad for the Winchester Wine School, with much fun had and loads of
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Posted by susie | April 18th, 2010 (by susie)
A quick note to let you know that if you missed this week’s Saturday Kitchen it’s now available to view on BBC iplayer, via the BBC website. The wine bits are at 0:16:30 and 0:55:45.
This week I matched the zippy, thirst-quenching La Basca Verdejo 2008 (M&S £6.99) to Adam Byatt’s (Trinity Restaurant) delicious Rosemary-roasted Monkfish with Nutty Couscous and English Asparagus. The La Basca is a punchy, summery wine that’s drinking beautifully right now and, to my
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Posted by susie | April 14th, 2010 (by susie)
There were two reasons I was particularly excited about today’s SK shoot in Welwyn Garden City. First of all, I had a couple of totally contrasting recipes to match a wine to (not always the case), and secondly, one of them was a warm chocolate fondant – my idea of heaven on a plate.
This coming Saturday the chefs will be Adam Byatt of Clapham’s superb Trinity restaurant and John Campbell, whose sensational cooking Pete and I were lucky enough to sample a couple of years
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Posted by peter | April 11th, 2010 (by peter)
Things had been so busy before our brief trip to Verona that we hadn’t had time to do our usual research in to the local restaurant scene.
But we struck lucky.
We bumped into a friend at Vinitaly who was immediately on the phone to the owner of what turned out to be Osteria Giuilietta, in the Corso Sant’Anastasia, right in the heart of Verona’s stunning, atmospheric old town.
Although the name hinted at a tourist trap, on the same level as the tack being sold in the Piazza
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Posted by susie | March 30th, 2010 (by susie)
While the rest of the UK wine trade is in Bordeaux slurping and spitting the much-touted 2009 vintage, I’m currently roaming around Ribera del Duero in north central Spain – as you will know from Peter’s recent posts on the site.
And very happy I am to be here too, though I’m not sure my teeth are any less black for it – wow these are seriously big wines.
For those who don’t know the region, Ribera lies in north central Spain and straddles the banks of the River Duero
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Posted by peter | March 29th, 2010 (by peter)
Susie had to rush off to Spain (Ribera del Duero, darling) shortly after Saturday Kitchen went out this last weekend, hence my post on her show.
Susie was in a bright and spring-like Amersham to find wines to go with dishes prepared by Nick Nairns and Donna Hay.
You can find all the recipes, as well as the entire show, on iplayer (available for one week only following broadcast) on the bbc website. (Wine bits at 16:45 and 54:25).
You can also read Susie’s blog on how she went
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