A walk to Victoria Park Village, Hackney

It was a bright, sunny day when we went for a walk along the Regent's Canal to Victoria Park in search of lunch.



We also wanted to explore the area just to the north of the park, called Victoria Park Village, which adds a touch of dash to Hackney.



The green taxi outside the Royal Inn on the Park is nearly as colourful as the flower arrangement gracing the bar.



Further on from the Inn on the Park is the Fish House where you can enjoy a huge plate of fresh fish and real British chips complete with mushy peas.



They offer a more complete menu in the evening and they don’t mind if you order a child’s portion, which would have saved us from ourselves… And you can always ask for a glass of wine which isn’t featured on the small menu.



After lunch the tour continued where we saw the finishing touches being put to the brand new wine shop Bottle Apostle due to open imminently. Using the innovative Enomatic wine system the machine dispenses servings of wine on a pay-per-serving basis using special credit cards that can be charged in the shop. Each bottle can have a different price per serving, as well as different measures. The wine is kept in good drinking condition by injecting nitrogen (an inert gas) into the bottle in the same volume as that removed in each serving.

There will be a total of 32 different wines to taste at any one time and when we tracked down the manager, Tom Jarvis, at his ‘office’ in the Lauriston he was hard at work with all the last minute details as well as full of enthusiasm for his new venture.



We visited one last shop in Victoria Park Village, the Ginger Pig butcher and delicatessen. Their first butchery opened in Borough Market in the 1990s and they now own three more shops in London supplied by produce from their Yorkshire farm. We returned home with a pork hock chosen from a selection of well presented meat. Next time a Hackney rolled rib of beef? This is another part of London which is exciting and interesting, and is approachable from both directions on the Regent’s canal.



I need say no more.

How To #1 - Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine

1. Grasp bottle firmly and hold at 45⁰ pointing away from you, aiming at no-one.

2. Still holding the bottle firmly, grip the cork and twist it to remove. Please, no loud popping - so infra-dig.

3. Pour slowly and carefully.

4. Enjoy, with moderation of course.

© The Wine Maestro & Wine Travel Guides

Our Christmas dinner

Wink had bought me a seasonal cookbook, Elizabeth David's Christmas. Compiled by Jill Norman, ED's longstanding editor, from articles and recipes for a book which never reached fruition in this great author's lifetime. As with all her books it makes a very good read as well as having lots of good recipes.

We had decided to have a capon this Christmas as there were only two of us (aaah!) so we bought a chapon de Loué weighing 1.6kg as suggested in the recipe and not the big bruiser one normally expects.

As suggested I prepared tomatoes with rice and walnut stuffing which cooked in the oven during the last 30 minutes roasting time.



The other vegetables were brussels sprouts enhanced with chestnuts, and roasted parnsips. A little wine stirred in the roasting pan made a light gravy for our Christmas meal.




Whilst roasting the bird we had our aperitif:
Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett 2002
Lovely elegant wine with a touch of lime on the nose and just off-dry. Good minerality, medium-bodied, refreshing completed by a long finish.


And with our meal we delved into the past with a mature Burgundy:
Faiveley Nuits St Georges Premier Cru, Clos de la Maréchale 1991
Good red in colour with brown rim. Aged blackberries on the nose with a touch of vegetal, this wine belied its age still being robust in body and flavour - chaptalised in what not a great Burgundy vintage. However the wine went well with the capon as none of the accompaniments were too strong in flavour. We enjoyed this little gem from the Webber's Wine Bar cellar - and we still have a bottle left!

The wines

Seyssel

We were off on a little wine tour, this time to Clairette de Die, when we broke our journey in Seyssel, yet another vineyard area on the Rhône.

Seyssel is just outside the Savoie and is known in the UK for its bottle-fermented sparkling wines, especially Varichon et Clerc Royal Seyssel (more about this later).

Just above Seyssel we climbed up through the vineyards to the village of Corbonod where we visited Maison Mollex, a wine producer and négociant. Their own production is sparkling, and still white wine made with 100% Roussette (the Altesse of Savoie).

Hence their 'smart' delivery lorry to supply local clients!

We visited the cave and saw their stocks of maturing sparkling wine. Very occasionally a bottle will explode but they are stacked in such a way that no damage is done to the neighbouring bottles.

The bottles are disgorged, to remove the sediment, à la volée – always interesting to see.

We tasted a couple of their Roussettes, preferring La Péclette 2006, from the eponymous 5ha vineyard. "Lovely ripe peachy fruit on the nose this just off-dry wine has good balancing acidity with a meaty finish."

As it was now midday we drove down to Seyssel where we had lunch at the Hotel Beausejour, the yellow building to the right, by the river.

Whilst Wink wisely ordered a seafood salad I indulged in the local speciality, La Friture, not dissimilar to whitebait. Accompanying it was a bowl of quinoa and tomato, so at least there was some healthy eating...

... though I had to have an ice cream!

To complete our visit to Seyssel we continued to the outskirts of the town to the Cave de Vins Lambert, an interesting wine shop that Wink was researching for Wine Travel Guides.

There we met Gérard Lambert who told us that he had bought the rights to produce Royal Seyssel, a sparkling wine made in Seyssel since the start of the 20th century by Varichon et Clerc. This company had been taken over by Boisset, a Burgundy négociant, who'd let its reputation slip.

So Gérard had negotiated (hah!) to buy Royal Seyssel in order to restore it to its former glory. He has built a new aging facility behind his wine shop and he proudly showed us the wine maturing. Good luck to Gérard in his brave endeavour!

To the Jura

We were on our way to the Mosel to do some riesling. What, you've never riesled? You should try it – it's a lot of fun!
Anyway, as we would be driving through the Jura (one of Wink's particular wine regions – she writes about it in Wine Report as well as on her website, Wine Travel Guides) we planned to make a few visits there.
I always enjoy the drive from Chinaillon to the Jura as to reach this region you can take the dramatic autoroute A40 high above Nantua and the lakes, aptly called L'Autoroute des Titans as you literally stride betwixt the mountains through tunnels and over high viaducts.

We arrived in the delightful little hamlet of La Combe just outside Rotalier to visit Domaine Ganevat.

We were ushered straight into one of Jean-François’ cellars where we started on a tasting of barrel samples of, first, his 2007 Chardonnays then to the next cellar to try some older vintages, still in cask.

Now we were joined by a couple of visitors; they’d dropped in just to buy some wine but were quickly brought up to speed with our tasting. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be spitting, as we were doing so I don’t how they were going to feel the next day!

Another visitor was Jean-François’ dog, Oscar, who wanted to join in with his master, especially when it involved helping him to look for the bung that had escaped behind the barrels...

At 13.30 we completed our tasting. Jean-François Ganevat is an exciting winemaker producing a big range of good wines. He is one of the recommended wineries to visit in the ‘Around Lons-le-Saunier, Jura’ in Wine Travel Guides.


Then we all went to lunch at La Maison de Revermont, on the outskirts of Beaufort, to give us sustenance before our next Jura visits...

Uruguay Tasting for Prostate UK at the Hoop Stock

Responding well to my treatment for prostate cancer, I have been very interested in the funding of research into this illness that is carried out by the charity Prostate UK. For a while now I have wanted to organise a wine tasting for this organisation so I was very grateful when my partner, Wink Lorch, suggested that she would like to host a tasting of the wines of Uruguay at a special event.

Michelle and Phil of the Hoop, Stock, kindly allowed us to use their upstairs restaurant last Monday, 28th April 2008 when 16 keen tasters came along to enjoy a selection of Uruguayan wines. As people arrived they were greeted with a glass of Catamayor Sauvignon, which went well with the smoked salmon, before sitting down.

I spoke about Prostate UK and then introduced Wink who took off with alacrity, sharing her knowledge and enjoyment of the wines of Uruguay and the winemakers, many of whom are now friends. Wink has visited Uruguay a number of times, as well other South American countries, and I was lucky to have accompanied her there a couple of years ago where I saw first hand how fond they are of her.

There were two more whites to try, then four reds before the evening concluded with a glass, or two, of the final red to accompany the light buffet.

With the raffle just over £400 was raised for Prostate UK. I am very grateful for everyone who attended this tasting, the wine producers of Uruguay, the Hoop and Wink. Have a look at Wink’s website Wine Travel Guides where you can subscribe to learn all you need to know how to visit the wine areas of France. You never know, before long there’ll be guides to Uruguay too...

Visit The Wine Maestro to learn more about what I do and details of The Wine Maestro Club.

The wines (with my tasting notes):

APERITIF: CATAMAYOR Sauvignon Blanc Reserve of the Family 2006

Region de Origen San José, Bodegas Castillo Viejo

Crisp dry with a touch of lime.

TASTING:

1 BOUZA Chardonnay 2006 Las Violetas (available at Great Western Wine)

Unoaked, this refreshing wine is dry with very attractive minerality.

2 PRELUDIO Chardonnay Viognier Roble 2006 Region Juanico

Dry with quite expressive oak – the Viognier in the blend adds an extra layer of complexity to the Chardonnay.

3 DE LUCCA Tannat 2006

The first Tannat, the red variety of Uruguay – lots of juicy plump ript red fruits. No wonder the Wine Society sold out of this wine so quickly!

4 MARICHAL Pinot Noir/Tannat 2003 Canelones
Pinot Noir 70%, Tannat 30%

Deep colour, the rich full fruit of the Tannat is complemented by the gentleness of the pinot Noir. An unusual blend but it works well.

5 BOUZA Tannat 2004 Las Violetas (available at Great Western Wine)

Deep colour, the rich full fruit of the Tannat is complemented by the gentleness of the pinot Noir. An unusual blend but it works well.

6 GRAN BODEGON 2004 Region Juanico, Establecimiento Juanico
42% Tannat, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc,
10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 2% Marselan

Definitely the total of this multi-blend wine is greater than the sum of its parts! Still on the road to full maturity one is assailed, pleasantly, by different textures and nuances.

WINE WITH SUPPER: PIZZORNO Merlot/Tannat 2005 Canelon Chico (available at Waitrose)

A lovely wine to complete the evening: good solid dark fruit flavours balanced by the gentle plumminess of the Merlot.