If it is possible to wrap a Union Jack around it someone has branded it a special ‘Jubilee’ product. Good luck if you are a collector for there are hundreds – special edition malts at hundreds of pounds, Jubilee Hampers and Union Jack encased chocolates. Who would have thought a tin of digestives could be so attractive and made ‘Jubilee’ with the addition of a ‘God Save the Queen’ musical box; Fortnums have one in the shape of their Jubilee Musical Biscuit Tin…

And it is also ripe for our vibrant beer producers to bring out summer specials – Cornish Brewer Skinner’s have their Royal Wave (complete with a tacky corgi and queenie atop a surf board) and Wadworth have released a small batch beer (1,200 bottles) of a uninspiringly named Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Ale.

Brewed ‘by hand’ at the Freeminer Brewery in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire two beers have hit the shelves of the Co-op – the aptly named ‘Jubilation’ and ‘Salutation’.

“Jubilation (4%) is a pale, golden-coloured beer made with malt from Warminster and Baramling Cross hops from Worcester to create a refreshing taste with a distinctively hopped finish. Salutation (4.5%) is a classic British bitter with the addition of two historic hop varieties, Goldings and Fuggles, creating a darkly-delicious beer with a satisfying bitterness”

Kate Jones, who is grandly titled as the Co-operative group’s “Head of Product Development and Farms” said

“The new Jubilation and Salutation real ales are quintessentially British and we ‘hopped’ at the chance to commemorate the Jubilee celebrations with these new beers”

The Co-operative Jubilation Ale and Salutation Ale are both available for £1.69.

A rare privilege, a few weeks ago, of a chance to sample some Texan wines here in the UK. You don’t see much, if any, Texan wine over here so to have these samples sent direct from the winery – Messina Hof – was a delight. The tasting, organised by Big Pinots, formed part of a country-spanning Twitter taste-off with bloggers scattered across America and in France in addition to us in the UK. All participants having previously met during the International Wine Tourism Conference earlier in the year.

The labels are highly attractive – the summer hats recalling lazy summer days down by the river, at the Henley Regatta for example, the workers in the vineyard giving a nod perhaps to those ‘inspiring the workers’ posters from the Soviet Era with the cherubs on the third remind me at least stone statues and sculptures found throughout European wine producing areas.

Messina Hof Wine Label Tripytch – the latest in the regular Sunday Snapshots series highlighting photographs with a wine related theme, whether bottles, glasses, vineyards or the back scenes of wineries.

Page 35 – Blagging It, about sets the tone.

“Now say one of the following:
If it’s a recent vintage: ‘Quite developed for a young wine.’
If it’s an older bottle: ‘Lovely developed aromas coming through’
If it’s from the New World: ‘Clearly New World,; lovely, vibrant fruit’

And so on. I imagine most in the wine trade have similar ‘stock’ descriptions when tasting an unliked wine just poured with pride by the winemaker for example, or when, after a whole day sipping and spitting you really cant think of anything meaningful to say, let alone actually taste anything distinctive. I certainly do. So if it works for the more experienced it can only be sound advice for the novice!

Such light-heartedness peppers the pages. In the opening chapter for example, the making of wine chapter, offers advice if you ever happen to be a grape picker in Canada faced with bears – scarper! The tone is light, easily absorbed but not lacking in the detail, the specifics and the useful.

Good, sound, realistic advice is offered on buying wines from corner shops, supermarkets and from independent specialists. Follow this with sections on the basics of matching food and wine, making use of a restaurants sommelier, poking a stuck cork with a pen and ‘if you like this… you might like’ sections and that’s the basics dealt with in the first 60 odd pages.

The remainder covers the regions, countries, grapes and styles of wine. While this can be a dull formulaic list in other books, here, thanks to the fresh design and light writing style it’s a pleasure to read; accessible too. Take the grapes of Alsace. Where else have you seen them acquainted with dog breeds? Riesling is a greyhound, Gewurztraminer a dyed pink poodle, Pinot Gris a Labrador and so on. Personally it seems a bit of a stretch to mark a Muscat as a dachshund mind.

“Like a dachshund, a dry Muscat can be appealing in an almost ‘cute’ kind of way – certainly distinctive, but not to everyone’s taste.”

Italy seems a little light in content with only Tuscany, Piemonte and the Veneto given coverage. And poor old Portugal is given one single page. A shame seeing the huge diversity, quality and interesting wines available from both countries, at least here in the UK. Perhaps the unusual grape varieties would put off the new wine drinker? But then Greek wines and their Xynomavro, Mavrodaphne and Assyrtiko receive fuller attention; but I would counter their wines are far harder to find.

But what a pleasant surprise in the final pages – an appendix on visiting English wineries (but then why list Nyetimber when visits are not accommodated? A minor quibble.

For someone just stumbling into their first experiences of wine Drink ME! How to Choose, Taste and Enjoy Wine by Matt Walls. Jauntily written in an accessible uncomplicated style.

“It’s a myth that you need some kind of special abilities to be able to taste and enjoy wine. If you have a nose and a mouth, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy it just as much as anyone else”

Drink Me!: How to Choose, Taste and Enjoy Wine is currently listed by Amazon.co.uk for £6.62 and is set for release from the 24th May 2012. The book is part of the New Voices in Food Series that includes Comfort and Spice by Niamh Shields.

Nothing says ‘great time’ quite like a grand collection of corks; and say what you like about screw-caps but they just ain’t as photogenic! Taken during a marvellous stand-up buffet at the Goretti Winery [Adegga / Snooth]this was just one little pile for they treated us grandly. The visit to the Goretti’s was part of the IWinETC post conference tour. For a fuller report head on over to read Marcy Gordon’s blog post and, on the IWinETC website, a take by Melba Allen, that happens to feature a photo of Sara Goretti taken by me.

Goretti Wine Corks – the latest in the regular Sunday Snapshots series highlighting photographs with a wine related theme, whether bottles, glasses, vineyards or the back scenes of wineries.

Sadly you cant, as a member of the ‘public’ visit this impressive Moet-built and Moet-soon-sold vineyard-surrounded edifice. This is the winery for the René Barbier range of wines, one of the properties of the Freixenet group.

One leaves with the impression that here, the slickly professional Freixenet people, are really not geared up for visitors. We saw just a smidge of the buildings interior, which incidentally has oddly element-exposed open upper floors, bar the reception room. A wander out to the front gates and the vineyards was about as far as a ‘tour’ gets.

Which isn’t to say the visit was dull. Far from it. The chap pointing at the board is Toni Domènech Pujol, head of Public Relations for Freixenet. His introduction to René Barbier had two main strands – firstly the choice of grape varieties (mainly local such as Xarel-lo, Macabeo, Parellada) and at what elevations they perform best at and secondly the implementation and use of ‘sexual confusion’ methods to dissuade those pesky insects (the vine moth, Lobesia Botrana) that like to plant their eggs in grapes which in turn cause rot in the grapes. And rot in grapes here is generally not liked! Certainly not by Toni and his crew.

Little strips of pheromone leaking plastic and dead insects in the capture points don’t make for interesting photographs, even with my highly developed skills! Vines are highly photogenic in comparison; although maybe not through my view-finder in the face of a chilling wind.

While not a 100% fail-safe method of vine protection this ‘sexual-confusion’ technique must have some positive results seeing as Sebastià Raventós Pascual, head of ‘greening’ at Freixenet has rolled-out the technique to other vineyards in the group, replacing the use of insecticides. Other environmental activities include lighter glass bottles (Freixenet cava bottles are 20g lighter than standard Champagne bottles) and water recycling inluding their own purification plants that, well, cleans the waste water before returning it to the municipal supply.

The view of the tree-lined drive way is the entrance to the winery, the building being behind you. On the right, just after the speed sign are Xarel-lo grapes, beyond them are planted chardonnay. The vine close up – impressively old vines at that – are the Xarel-lo, even at this early stage of their yearly growth cycle they are showing some significant shoots. The Chardonnay vines are even more advanced.
The other vine pictures (the open sky and next to the tractor, doing tractor-stuff between the rows) are Maccabeo, and are significantly further behind in development. What is interesting, fascinating if you are of a geeky nature, is that the Maccabeo will be harvested first…

In the UK the wines of René Barbier [Adegga / Snooth] are available for the on-trade only.

Rather pleased with this photo; so chuffed in fact that rather than keeping it for a Sunday Wine Shot slot later in the year, as originally planned, I’ve hastened its ‘release’ to today. In the dim light of the Freixenet cellars it is even more remarkable I managed to capture something useable handheld.

It is simply a stylishly lit wine cellar at Freixenet, somewhere in the extensive brick lined depths under the winery. Looking through the ‘passables’, as opposed to the ‘rejects’, taken during our entertaining tour practically all are strong enough to stand alone in this weekly showcase. More to come then…

As a follow-up to a rather enjoyable trip to Barcelona and Freixenet I’ve been delving into the delights of a memory stick. One of the files hidden within its virtual depths made mention of the famed ‘star-studded advertising campaigns’ produced by Freixenet, specifically one from 2007 that I’ve not seen or heard of before; probably because it was never shown in the UK. Certainly worth ten minutes of your time to appreciate the joyous quality of ‘Freixenet The Key To Reserva…’

I also like the second video with its quirky 1950′s style that manages to take in a little grape harvesting and underground riddling too.

In the never-ending hunt for great and not too expensive places to eat in London the Angel and Crown in Soho has to be one of my favourite places. Only been once mind and maxed out of the overly large portion sizes and gentle atmosphere. Ostensibly a pub with a couple of small rooms above used as a restaurant; this is one of those rooms just waiting for customers and a decent bottle of vino.

The latest in the series of wine related photographs published every Sunday under the Sunday Wine Shot moniker.

Cocktails, Cava and Transvestites – Freixenet Cocktails at the Martini Bar

It was the men’s reactions that were the most interesting as this aged transvestite sauntered into the room, brushing the heavy red curtain away with a scrawny arm, attempting to deflect the fabric from dislodging her hair-piece further. Some blokes visibly quake as the out-of-sight/out-of-mind boundary crumbles in the face of such a vision. With others the initial confusion is replaced by grins, good humour and laughs while others take a step back as the transvestites eyes scan the room for an attractive fellow to grasp and plant painted lips on to younger cheeks. For me I’m awash with relief as I remember that I’m way too old now for any such attention and then spy, as I find is usual, the eyes drenched more in melancholia than mascara. I’ve found that no amount of camp or flouncing can really mask that look.

Our encounter lasted just minutes. Enough time for Violetta to sing a few lines in Catalan, waving a CD recording of her best work, capture a waist and plant lipstick marks on the guys cheek before swishing back to the main bar. The Dry Martini Bar, an institution in Barcelona has been her evening hangout for as long as the ‘Speakeasy’ staff can remember. She was getting on a bit, if truth be told.

The atmosphere in this tiny back bar was one of bemusement and a few laughs. Plus a little relief as Violetta tottered off on chipped-heeled, white plastic shoes. Now I remembered the weighty camera hanging from my neck! The few pictures I managed to capture are poor, for which I apologise. Only the surprise and the really dark environment being the excuses that no amount of photoshop work can rectify.

We where there for cocktail instruction!

Poured over a spear of three fruits – pineapple, blackberry and raspberry – a vigorously stirred mix of calvados and brandy (2cl of each), topped up with the fragrant Freixenet Rosé [Adegga / Snooth] was the initial cocktail; the deft hand of Ernesto made our volunteers valiant efforts to replicate its creation look a touch ham-fisted. Not least with the ice-stirring, where cubes appeared to be flying all over the place, and that was before Violetta left those lip-stick marks on his flushed cheek!

The second cocktail had one 2cl measure each of vodka and peach liqueur, again both stirred rather violently in ice before straining, topped up with the white Freixenet Cordon Negro cava [Adegga / Snooth]. The garnish here being a single slice of star fruit. Neither cocktails have names and I left unsure as to why not and if they appear on the Martini Bar’s regular list or not. Work in development perhaps as there was talk of previous trials having contained apple juice.

Whatever their provenance or intended listing potential they were rather tasty

Those plush banquettes, white jacketed staff and impressively stocked bar-shelves at the Dry Martini did not, sadly, see us linger; after the Violetta entertainment and Ernesto Freixenet demonstration we were whisked away … we did spot Violetta the following evening heading back to the bar (the hotel being just a few doors up from Martini Dry). She was wearing the same red dress with wig positioned correctly.

Dry Martini Bar and Speakeasy: Aribau, 162-166 08036 Barcelona, Spain.

Today is World Malbec Day; who decides these things? Wasn’t it World Chardonnay Day a few weeks or so back? Wasn’t there a push for a Zinfandel Day late last year and a Sauvignon Sizzle dureing the summer? One forgets… As there are more grape varieties in Italy alone than there are days in a year we could be in for a grape-day tussle eventually! While the active wine-folks on twitter and facebook often support such special ‘days’ simply by opening an appropriate bottle one can’t help wonder exactly who benefits. If such events are little more than marketing promotions little thought or imagination seems to be dedicated to them.

Except for this one instance.

Last April, to celebrate World Malbec Day it was revealed that Kent’s Chapel Down Winery would vinify Argentinean Malbec grapes to make, what would be termed, a “Kent Malbec”.

The project was designed to be an opportunity for Chapel Down to get experience of new grapes, new techniques and put an English spin on one of the world’s most popular styles of wine.

The grapes, air-freighted to the English winemaker by Wines of Argentina from the Gaucho estate near Mendoza, were fermented slightly cooler than is traditional in Argentina [as Chapel Down wine-maker Andrew Parley was conscious some intercellular maceration would have taken place in transit] before the wine was matured in new American oak for nine months.

The result is a sublime ‘big red’ wine (abv 14%) with a blackcurrant, blueberry and raspberry nose, silky tannins and a long finish of berry fruit and garrigue herbs.

It’s a great match for a grilled Argentinean steak or a lovely bit of English lamb.

I’ve been sent a bottle but have decided to give it horizontally positioned on the wine rack for a few years (five perhaps?) as they reckon that while it is “ready to drink now” it would also be a “Great Keeper, benefitting from cellaring for up to 10 years”.

“An English Salute”, as the wine has been named has its official launch day today – World Malbec Day.

According to European Union laws the bottle doesn’t contain wine and thus it has to be referred to as a “fruit based alcoholic beverage”.

In fact they can’t even call it a Malbec because, while no one is disputing that the grapes are Malbec and were grown in Argentina, this “beverage” has been made in England. Chapel Down can’t sell it either. Instead it will be giving away this “fruit derived alcoholic beverage from produce sourced outside the European Union”.

Interested oenophiles will need to buy some of Chapel Down’s own award-winning English sparkling wine to secure a bottle of “An English Salute” but, says Frazer Thompson the Chapel Down CEO:

“This is a chance for fans of English and Argentinian wine to get their hands on something that is genuinely unique.

“English wine in general is going to be in short supply this year but this wine will be in even shorter supply.

“It will, quite literally, be impossible to buy.

“We’ve had loads of enquiries from buyers about the wine, but I’m afraid that we can’t sell it, only give it away as samples.

“So we have decided to do just that.”

To buy some delicious Chapel Down wine and claim your very own limited edition bottle of An English Salute, visit www.chapeldown.com