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Love the Loire

Helen Brotherton — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:38:44 +0000

In between teaching on our WSET® Wine Courses this month, I’ve been busy dreaming up themes and ideas for our forthcoming programme of Gourmet Dinners and Food & Wine Matching events. I suppose being forced to open several bottles from each region with one’s students (we do spit, actually!!) constantly refreshes the memory as to what wonders there are out there to be sipped and studied. The region closest to home that has really made me sit up and be impressed, has been the amazingly diverse Loire valley here in France.

It perfectly wends its way westwards from the very
heartland of central France, giving us elegant Sancerre’s through a dazzling array of fizz’s, white’s, red’s
and pink wines, from searingly bone dry to lusciously and intensely sweet and honeyed. I know my students were all taken aback and seriously stupefied to discover the versatility and variety of Loire wines.

So I’ve opted to take this as my theme for our 1st dinner on the 12th March. Numbers are limited as we will be having a cosy indoor evening with a log fire blazing rather than our more extensive Summer events out on the Terrace overlooking the Med! We shall no doubt kick off with one of the many top notch sparkling wines from the region – made in the same way as Champagne (i.e. Traditional Method) a delicately creamy Saumur will be offered to whet the appetite whilst I entertain with some facts and figures about our chosen region. I’m hoping to track down some Smoked Eel for a pre-dinner nibble I
have in mind….. We shall then glide through a starter of Oysters with Spinach & Beurre Blanc alongside a perky, yeasty and intensely savoury Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie. You cannot think of the Loire without marvelling at the array of amazing goat’s cheeses so I shall conjure up a voluptuous Twice-baked Goat’s Cheese Soufflé with a Carrot and Sweet Vouvray wine sauce. The archetypal partner with high acid goat’s cheese is a wine similarly high in acidity (the mouth watering tingly sensation you
experience with some particularly crisp wines gives an indication that there is plenty of refreshing acidity). So we shall travel along to the far East of this great wine country and tackle a really excellent Sauvignon Blanc – a Pouilly Fumé from the producer Laporte – we tried the Les Duchesses PF on the Advanced course last week and it knocked many a pricier wine into a cocked hat, as they say!

The centre piece of the evening is probably going to be my take on Coq au Vin with a Loire twist – think tasty Guinea Fowl with a deep Red Wine Sauce – I’ll be introducing the much under valued but immensely subtle red wines of the region here: I’ve long been a fan of the silky, raspberry fruited Chinon’s and St Nicholas de Bourgeuil wines made from Cabernet Franc. But I’m still toying between that and another Fish course to illustrate how certain lightish red wines can work with fish….hmmm, Loire Perch in a Chinon Sauce, perhaps? The finale will be a delicious Pear Tarte Tatin, which if I can lay my paws on the pear species, Belles Angevines (from Anjou) will be absolutely authentic of the Loire – apparently the buttery squidgy caramelised pastry pud, the Tatin is believed to originate from the
area. Also, orchard fruits are text book collaborators in the food & wine matching world for the honeyed apple character of the great sweet wines for the Loire. Here Chenin Blanc comes into its own and I shall be unearthing either a Coteaux du Layon, a Montlouis or a Bonnezaux to meet the challenge.

And so with drooling lips I ask you to check out our Forthcoming Events page for more details and how to book for this fine Dinner experience –at 60€ per person all inclusive, this is a real must!
Look forward to seeing you in March!

Helen Brotherton
08.02.10

“Valking in a Vilmart Vonderland”

Helen Brotherton — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:35:31 +0000

Oh, gosh is that a hideously, schmaltzy, yuck way of introducing what we are up to over the festive period with Christmas? Sorry, folks, that’s me!! Bit on a wave of excitement here at FineWineWorks with our recent activities with our very own Vilmart champagne. Firstly, we’ve brought in a supremely experienced “Marketing Marvel” in the form of John Burke – a trusted friend, a graduate of all 3 levels of our WSET® Wine Courses with FWW (so he’s really seen us in action with a corkscrew), and coincidentally an amazingly experienced Marketing Consultant with a background history of working with some of the real big guns in the industry.

His past experience was with some of the biggest drinks companies (for example Diageo) where their marketing budgets were absolutely stratospheric! (he conducted the UK research that led to their sponsorship of the McLaren Formula One team with Johnny Walker Black Label). And its come to this….a non-paying position as Chief Marketeer and person “who knows what they are doing” with Fine Wine Works to truly launch, promote, encourage and assist us to endorse the extraordinarily different, “breathtaking” and exciting champagne house of Vilmart & Cie.
We’ve instigated campaigns with all the local media (check out the Riviera Times website and monthly publications, look out for our revealing interview in the Riviera Times and hear me whiffle on about the fab Vilmart champagnes on Monaco’s Riviera Radio). We’ve thrown caution to the wind and are madly offering a “first bottle free” when you order 12 of our gorgeous 92 Parker Points breathtaking “Vilmart Grand Cellier Brut NV” (normal RSP 35€). We have given an in depth interview which appears in this Dec / Jan “Riviera Reporter”. We’ve hooked up (‘scuse the pun) with Dan & Lucy Luger at Nice Rugby Club – watch this space for some rather exciting “co-promotions”, including a very romantic plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in February (are you seeing hearts, roses and pink Champagne….????)
We are, as ever, proud sponsors of the International Club of the Riviera and wearing my professional ex-actress “hat”, I was deeply content and happy to be asked to join the panel of judges for the International Schools of the Riviera Speech Contest on 13th November. I assumed my stage name of Helen Patrick for the evening, and was, (quelle surprise?), vociferous in my thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the contestants that night. Public speaking, holding an audience and enchanting, informing and illuminating them is no easy feat and I think the final winner and (very) close runner up performed a brilliant feat – well done!
A few people have been asking if I have a secret Mulled Wine Recipe as a Wine Expert and Gerant of FWW – yes, I do! Some of you came to find out for yourselves at the International Club’s “Fusion Christmas Gala” last Saturday on La Croisette, Cannes (see www.internationalclub.fr) for piccies. If you didn’t join us for a glass – my secret is to stud a whole orange with cloves, then roast it in the oven for 40 mins. Add to a large heavy casserole with a couple of sticks of cinnamon, 2 or 3 star anise, a couple of bottles of red wine, 1/2 litre of orange juice. A triple shot of port, a double of brandy and a single of Cointreau or triple sec and a scoop of sugar to taste (try fair-trade brown sugar for a richer, more caramelised character).
Our Vilmart champagne will also be offered at the ICR’s New Years Eve Event – c’est moi doing the catering so please allow a brief plug!
No surprise, then, as to what we shall be brandishing when invited for a social event over the festive period, and I’m afraid our long suffering friends and family will all (secret present alert*%$//???””£*) be getting a bottle of Vilmart champagne in their Christmas stocking this year 2009. It’s the wine of choice when celebrating anything – and here’s to all of us who have “survived” and indeed enjoyed 2009!

Helen Brotherton
07.12.09

Playing “Cupid” at the Table

Helen Brotherton — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:30:35 +0000

Food & Wine Matching Masterclass – “Playing Cupid at the Table”!
I know I keep banging on about our Wine Tasting Events and I appreciate it sounds like we are simply blowing our own trumpet, but when you trial a new format and it goes off not only without a hitch, but with follow up Thank You e-mails where the superlatives trip over themselves to exceed hyperbole, you can’t help feeling a little bit smug! Hee Hee!

Last Friday saw our inaugural “Food & Wine Matching Masterclass” here in Vence. The event was planned as a Degustation Menu of flavours and textures to be tasted alongside the appropriate wines. I introduced each course with a bit of Wine Anorak info on the style, provenance and background to each wine and an explanation of why the “Perfect Partner” dish accompanying it was going to illustrate how
certain wines work with certain foods – and also why some wines really don’t work with some food stuffs!
As Champagne was due to skip to the table alongside a Tasting Dish, the Welcome drink served was a bone dry, chilled Fino Sherry, alongside salty olives and Anchovy & Parmesan Palmiers. Next the Champagne, our sensuous and silkily stupendous, Vilmart Grande Réserve Brut NV with a plump and precocious Prawn – a large crevette with a simple parsley butter showed how the surprising sweetness levels in what is perceived to be a dry Champagne work well with sweet seafood such as prawns, lobster, scallops and crab. Along came the Goat’s Cheese and Thyme tart whose classic partner should be a Sauvignon Blanc such as a Sancerre – but as an unusual Sancerre was to be shown later that evening, I opted for a grape variety and wine which shared many of Sauvignon’s grassy, aromatic and

crisp acidity characteristics – so a Verdejo from Rueda in Spain made it’s entrance. The last white of the night was a smoothly balanced and delicately oaked Beringer Chardonnay from California – here I think I excelled even myself with a dish which could have won the vote for yummiest of the evening: An Open Ravioli of Tea-smoked Chicken with a Smoked Ham & Cream Sauce.
The reds opened Act II with the mysterious Sancerre – a Red version made from 100% Pinot Noir which with its light tannins and crunchy acidity made it a cracking partner for a rich, meaty fish – here, Griddled Swordfish with Mushroom Gravy. The next duo of wines came out together to illustrate how tannins in youthful and more mature wines can work in rather different ways with meat: transport your mind and imagination to our groaning table and think youthful and high spirited young Bordeaux with rare, juicy Cote de Boeuf and a more restrained and regal mature Bordeaux with a slow cooked, melt in the mouth Beef Daube. An interesting and thought provoking exercise…
Next – a “bit of cheese” – served French style, i.e. after the Meat course, but English style with a couple of crackers rather than a plouche of salad.
Guests could elect whether to continue drinking the
remnants of their red wine with the St Agur or whether to take my advice and try the salty blue cheese with a sweet, Sauternes look alike, Ste Croix du Mont – same grapes, same region (Bordeaux) – quarter of the price!! This pudding wine was then challenged to match or clash with our Dessert Duo – a Nougatine Iced Parfait with a Mango & Mint Salsa and / or a Dark Chocolate Mousse. I’m not going to give the game away on what works with which or indeed whether those two magnificent Bordeaux wines were up to the task…No, you’ll have to find out for yourself at our next Food & Wine Matching Masterclass on 14th August! Check the Forthcoming Events section on our website for details.

Helen Brotherton
03.07.09

A Wine Tasting Event on our Terrace

Helen Brotherton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:46:35 +0000

An enquiry back in April to organise and run a Wine Tasting Event and Lunch for a Gentlemen’s Club evolved into quite a happening! Firstly, the club is called the CRAFT Club – I envisaged (foolishly), a group of sedate gentlemen whose hobbies included building Sydney Opera House out of toothpicks or wild flower photography and happily started planning a gentle and not too challenging wine tasting for these charming chaps. When I was advised sometime into my planning exercise that CRAFT stood for “Can’t Remember A Flipping Thing” Club and that there are branches in all sorts of exotic places round the world, I realised that a more tongue in cheek and fun day was more appropriate.

So we kicked off with our legendary FWW Welcome cocktail (home-made Vin d’Orange with Sparkling wine) and bowls of Spiced Nuts and Olives on the back terrace. A real cosmopolitan and international set started to arrive – really interesting men with tales to tell and hailing from Germany, Sri Lanka, the UK, Holland, America and beyond. Through to the front terrace with a view of the Mediterranean and the first challenge was the Guess the Grape – a brief introduction to Wine Tasting (how to Swirl, Sniff & Slurp – Spitting was optional), although I have a sneaky suspicion that most of them were already well versed in the art! Then 2 Mystery Whites and 2 Reds were poured and using my potted Bluffer’s Guide to Grape Varieties the guessing commenced. A very different atmosphere to our Fun Wine 4 Women event back in April, as the chaps, split across two tables on the terrace immediately started issuing challenges & competitive bets to each other.

Having well and truly earned their lunch, we started with a Goat’s Cheese & Spinach Tart with Citrus & Pine-nut Dressing – a perfect match for our now revealed, “Villa Maria” Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. We then invited them to partake of a splendid cold buffet with dishes designed to be sampled with each of the Challenge wines. As usual, I’d over-catered and there was easily enough for 20+ (we had 15 Club members attending), but when I saw some of them returning to the buffet table for 2nds, 3rds and even 4ths, I gathered they must be quite enjoying the grub! A Smoked Salmon & Crayfish Salad (with a delicately oaked Beringer Chardonnay from California), Griddled Tuna with Mediterranean Vegetables (heavenly with a lightly chilled French Pinot Noir) and a Rare Roast Beef with Pickled Red Onions and Salsa Verde (coped admirably with a juicy Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon). Our standard cracking value “Sweetie” (the Sauternes lookalike, Ste Croix du Mont) was served with Roquefort Cheese and following hot on its heels was a squidgy Eton Mess (Strawberries, Meringue & Cream with a Raspberry Sauce), again a delightful foil for the pudding wine.

A round of Vin Triv, our much loved Wine Quiz over coffee and then a spirited final Wine Wizard Challenge (the question “Can you tell the difference between Red, White & Rosé wine?” gave us a duelling representative from each table) – I can’t tell you the “twist” in the challenge here as it will give
the game away……! But a Champion for the Day was duly crowned and our happy guests finally started to wend their way home. If I mention at this point that it was gone 4.30pm when the last one left, I think you’ll get some idea of the day! George Kasilyake did a magnificent job of organising the lunch from the Club’s point of view and FWW certainly excelled themselves with the presentation on the day. An e-mailed thank you from a Craftsman ended with the quote: “….a landmark occasion. A great and enjoyable lunch.”

Helen Brotherton
03.07.09

Wine Tasting Dinner Event in Antibes

Helen Brotherton — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:27:42 +0000

I think it’s fair to say that we are still reeling from the success of our 1st Wine Tasting Dinner, held at the fabulous “La Forge” restaurant in Antibes last Wednesday the 22nd April!

The day started pretty well too, with a meeting with the CEO and Winemaker of our chosen FWW Champagne, Vilmart & Cie. Laurent Champ happened to be holidaying nearby in Juan les Pins, so it was a chance to meet and explore how our businesses could work together. Once we’d explained in more detail about our Wine Tasting Events, the Wine Training for Yacht Crew and our small (but perfectly formed) Wine List we have now launched for clients here on the Côte d’Azur, he realised that we could be the gateway into the market on the Riviera that he doesn’t yet have. Vilmart export more than they sell in France, hence their cult following in the UK and USA (see previous BLOG for more details about this gorgeous fizz!)

So, the Dinner itself! We’d “sold” the idea of a fun wine tasting dinner to a selection of people, some through business contacts, some because they were involved in various Clubs & Associations here on the Riviera and some because we believed they just loved and adored wine. We quickly filled the places available, and alas, even had to turn a couple of folk away a few days before. The event was all
pre-booked and pre-paid and the room upstairs at La Forge being quite intimate we had no choice but to close reservations a couple of days before the event.The idea was to launch our new Wine List by tasting through a selection of the new International wines and also to showcase some of the Wine Games & Challenges and general Wine Entertainment that we can offer to groups and corporate & private clients. So we kicked off the evening with glasses of Vilmart Grande Réserve Champagne and once the guests were assembled, I took the opportunity to explain a little of the mystery and magic of Vilmart and what makes it so unusual. After a more general welcome from Nigel,
the guests were seated and the first White wine was served – “blind”! The idea was to challenge the guests to a sort of “Call My Bluff” game (we call it “Call My Quaff!) and to have us, the experts, describe 3 x different possible white wines that they could have in their glass and to leave them sniffing and swirling before deciding which of the experts “description” was correct and which were bluffs! Thus our Los Arbolitos Sauvignon Blanc from Chile was introduced – with only about a 1/3 of the room guessing correctly but unanimously enjoying the grassy yet tropical Sauvignon! Out came the Moules Farcies – juicy and garlicky and perfect with the crisp, clean fruit flavours of the Chilean white.

The next challenge was a “Guess the Grape” – I gave a brief “Idiots Guide Wine Tasting” and the main classic Grape Varieties and what to look for in terms of smell & taste, accompanied by a handout and then Didier, our charming and unbelievably cool and efficient waiter for the night, poured not just one, but two glasses of different Red wines for the guests to guess. A stonkingly good value 2nd wine Bordeaux (l’Oratoire de Chasse Spleen 2004 – so mostly Cabernet Sauvignon) and a smoothly seductive Rioja (Bodega Muriel Rioja Reserva 2001 – so Tempranillo the grape here) foxed all but a few of the assembled but all agreed that the magnificent Lamb dish that accompanied it was delicious. I think on a show of hands afterwards the Rioja just nudged it as the best match! Dessert was a royally rich Crème Brûlée – I’d also asked for some Roquefort cheese to be brought out as well so I could explain how our marvellous little “sweetie”, the Sauternes “look alike”, Ste Croix du Mont, works SOO well with salty blue cheese yet also complements a creamy dessert. Having explained the marvels of “noble rot” to make sweet wines, the guests tucked in. We then had a fast and frenzied round of “Vin Triv” – our Wine Trivia Quiz which brought out everyone’s competitive natures and got, well frankly, quite heated! After a “sudden death” tie-breaker, we had a winner and yes, Maurice Hardaker, our champion for the evening across all the challenges, was duly presented with a bottle of Vilmart Champagne.

What a night! The noise level in the room as people chatted, networked and socialised; the corresponding hush of intense concentration as wines were nosed, swirled, sipped and explored; and the admittedly rather gratifying applause and thanks at the end of the evening gives me a sneaking suspicion that it was rather a success!

Helen Brotherton