Posted by peter | September 2nd, 2010 (by peter)
We have just had some very special freebies passed our way and we want to share!
Here’s the deal: the next people to book two places on one of our autumn wine courses and quote the code ‘WWS-WIN’ can win one of two very special prizes – your choice as long as stocks last!
Prizes will be awarded on a strictly first-come first-served basis and our verdict is final.
Other than that: go for it! We look forward to hearing from you.
You can contact us by email or during office
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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 peter | August 18th, 2010 (by peter)
Continuing the theme of our ‘And finally…’ compilations, three news items have caught my eye over the last few days.
With two of them, I didn’t know whether the appropriate response should be raucous mirth or head-in-hands bewilderment.
And with one, there was both laughter and tears – but the latter were a direct result of the former. (If you’re in need of a really good wine-related belly laugh, fast-forward to the end of this piece for the link.)
First up, then,
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Posted by peter | June 30th, 2010 (by peter)
Many things have been happening lately, much of which has passed under the radar of our usually all-seeing site, so I thought I’d put together a brief round-up.
As those close to me have been all-too-painfully aware of late, I’ve been slaving away on my Master of Wine dissertation this year. It’s been a gruelling but ultimately enlightening experience – which came to an end last week with formal submission and a large sigh of relief.
Now I have to wait with all digits
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Posted by susie | May 19th, 2010 (by susie and peter)
St. Joseph ‘Les Chaponnes’ 2008, Sainsburys, £10.99
Just about to hit the shelves of your local Sainsburys is this fabulous Northern Rhône red.
It was shown last week at the Sainsburys Spring press tasting and it’s a wine that blows you away with its typicity, harmony, and sheer value for money – especially when you consider what you often end up paying for pretty tasteless examples of St. Joseph.
The problem with St. Joseph is that it produces an awful
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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 peter | May 7th, 2010 (by peter & susie)
Yesterday we received the following press release from the Co-op about their planned new vineyard in Gloucestershire, where planting is due to start on Monday (10th May), “subject to weather conditions”.
Though this is by no means the first such initiative by a major UK retailer (see our previous blog here about Waitrose’s vineyard at Leckford), we thought it was interesting given the way it followed on from Peter’s piece about the state of British wine
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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 peter | April 18th, 2010 (by peter)
Yesterday, as Susie was being feted by Michelin-starred chefs on Saturday Kitchen for some great wine choices, the Winchester Wine School officially opened for business as we held our first ever wine course.
This was a very special occasion for us – something we’d been looking forward to for a long time.
In the event, I led the course (Susie having prior obligations on the day), though generally we’ll be looking to host these kind of events together in future.
I’ve asked
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Posted by peter | April 16th, 2010 (by peter)
Gerard Basset has won the title of World’s Best Sommelier in Santiago, Chile.
Though born in France, Basset has adopted the UK as his home and was representing this country in the competition. Formerly the wine brains behind the Hotel du Vin (the first one being the splendid site in Winchester), Basset now co-owns and runs the hotel Terravina in the New Forest with his wife, Nina, where Susie and I had a very enjoyable Sunday lunch not too long ago.
Basset is both a Master
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