A FIRST WIMBLEDON WEEK ONLINE 10% OFFERA FIRST WIMBLEDON WEEK ONLINE 10% OFFER

We’re serving up an ace and offering  ‘A FIRST WIMBLEDON WEEK ONLINE 10% OFFER’ for all wines linked below and ordered this week – delivered to enjoy during the second week of Wimbledon (and not in conjunction with any other offer).

It’s that time of year again. Day one has been and gone with a few shockers along the way…Who will you be supporting and what wine will you choose to match the players and competition?

Now everyone knows Djokovic at Number 1 is top of his game but who doesn’t like an underdog? Just a few vineyards away is his neighbour Grigor Dimitrov, the most successful Bulgarian tennis player to date, and we’re getting excited about him almost as much as we are about our Soli Pinot Noir 2009 at  £9.95 - £8.96 which is grown in his country and is defeating the Burgundies in straight sets.

It wouldn’t be Wimbledon without strawberries & cream and if you fancy a liquidised version then look no further than our new delicious Domaine de Pontfract Provence Rosé 2012 at £9.95 - £8.96 which is probably less expensive than a couple of portions of the real thing nowadays and prettier, paler and fruiter than any glass of Pimms.

With the shock of Nadal being defeated in the first round our strongest hope for Spain now lies with David Ferrer. He may not be quite as muscly as Rafa but just as our brand new Spanish wine Torre de Golba 2009, Ribera del Duero Crianza @ £14.95 £13.46 surprises you with its soft tannins and intense red cherry fruit, he may do just the same.

Del Potro won Bronze at the Olympics last year and is thirsty to get through the rounds at Wimbledon. Argentina has proven to produce award winning tennis players and wines and our Malbec Pascual Toso 2011 @ £9.95 - £8.96 has just the right balance of power and elegance which Del Potro will be aiming to achieve.

Regarded by many as the greatest male tennis player of all time Federer has effortless elegance and style. A lot can be said the same of Julien Collovrays wines which we’ve recently been making a racket about. They are fine and complex, unpredictable and mature. For a bottle of wine as classy as the Swiss player we recommend Collovray’s rich, balanced and creamy St Veran 2011 @ £16.00 - £14.40

This is Murray’s year. It has to be. I can’t handle the tears and emotion of last summer again. I doubt there is a wine in the world which could match the character of the Scot (certainly not one grown up North.) But try the ‘You can’t be serious…Murray’s won Wimbledon’ Champagne Henri Favre NV @ £23.95 - £21.56 because this would certainly be cause to celebrate in true British fashion.

 

 

The Loire is a wine lovers ParadiseThe Loire is a wine lovers Paradise

Running from central France all the way through the mid West it’s known as the ‘garden of France’. An abundance of vineyards and orchards in the region, the Loire valley has a place in every wine lover’s heart.

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The best wine decanter lurks in the kitchen.The best wine decanter lurks in the kitchen.

It’s a question that’s bound to divide a table of wine lovers. Could whizzing wine in a blender actually aerate it better than pouring it into a crystal decanter or using one of the many gadgets on the market?

The man behind the theory that blenders are best is inventor Nathan Myhrvold, who addressed the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago. Myhrvold told the assembled scientists a blender would not only perform the same role as normal decanting, it would be faster.

He brushed aside possible complaints about tampering with wine. “It’s food!” said Myhrvold, a theoretical physicist and applied mathematician who is the author of “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.” “Why is it OK with daiquiris and not with Bordeaux?”.

“Wine is part of a meal, but it’s also something that has a mystique about it that borders almost on the religious,” said Myhrvold. “What better area [on which] to shed some of the light of science, and say how much of that mystique is justified or not?

“Myhrvold believes that decanting wine “does change the taste of the wine for the better,” while also removing some of the sediment. His query is: why does the act of carefully pouring the wine into a decanter – “almost like the Japanese tea ceremony” – change the flavour?

He told the scientific conference there were three main theories: decanting brings in oxygen, which results in some undesirable flavour compounds being oxidised; it could create “out-gasing” – allowing the release of sulphur dioxide; it leads to the release of volatile compounds.

Using a household blender “somehow lacks the reverence,” Myhrvold told the conference, but he’s sure it works.”It turns out there’s a couple of reasons why,” said Myhrvold.

“First of all, it dramatically improves the flavour – particularly of younger red wines. And it’s much faster than other means.”It was time to do our own Vintner test. Myhrvold’s instructions for his experiment are pretty simple. Pour the wine into the blender and zap it on the highest setting for 30 to 60 seconds. Then let the froth subside before serving.

We selected two of our popular reds – the sort of wine that he’d suggested would benefit most from “hyper-decanting”: the £12.95 Main Divide Bordeaux blend and the £9.95 Bordeaux Supérieur from Château de Lardiley. One third of each bottle would go into the blender and be whizzed for 45 seconds – the midpoint of Myhrvold’s 30 to 60 seconds. Another third would be decanted in the normal way and left to sit for an hour, while the remainder would be poured direct from the bottle.

Interestingly, the wine samples that had been through the blender were the least liked by the Vintner tasting panel. Instead, the wines poured straight from our preferred Scarlett Willow personalised decanter were considered to have retained the most fruit and a linear structure.If we were to do the tasting again we would use higher-priced, more tannic wines. But then again, who wants to put our Mercurey from Château de Chamirey or Château Cissac claret in a food blender?Myhrvold concludes that there is another reason to use a blender: “The looks on people’s faces.”

This article first appeared in part on the Wine Searcher website. Scarlett Willow is offering our customers a 10% discount on their personalised decanters by using the code TV1013 on the website.

 

The Vintner Standard Issue 2The Vintner Standard Issue 2

Welcome to Issue 2 of the Vintner Standard. This is the diary of life at Vintner HQ with tales of the adventures of our wonderful little wine business as well as tips on what’s going on in the big bad world or wine. Life gets pretty exciting under the water line for us Vintners and we don’t like to hide any of the juicy bits.

Download the PDF here or if you’d like a good old fashioned paper copy of our wonderful broadsheet then please call Charlie on 020 7352 4083 or email .

Happy reading and we’d welcome your feedback.

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEDDING WINEHOW TO CHOOSE A WEDDING WINE

We’ve run many tastings this year helping happy couples decide on the really important part of the day – what to drink, so we thought it might be worth dropping a few tips.

The first quandary is what style of wine to go for.  Here we’ve got three tips to guide you:

1. Match the style of wine to the time and season of the wedding.  You’ll get through more white in the Summer and, depending on the menu, you’ll want a dry, fresh crowd pleaser for the white and a rich but gentle and smooth red.  Remember, you’ll always need a crisp, fresh fizz not only for the reception but for the toast as well.

2. Match the wine to the food.  The really simple rule here is don’t let either overpower each other.  The power of the wine must match the food so with a simple chicken dish, put an elegant and soft European white as opposed to an ‘all guns blazing Kiwi Sauvignon or a hugely rich Southern French Viognier.  An ideal choice might be a Soave Classico.  And for the red, go for a red with ripe, juicy fruit and low tannin – Our Operetta and our Côte de Brouilly would be perfect reds.

3. Buy wine that you would like to drink, not that you think your guests would like to drink.  Generally speaking, if you like the wine, your guests will too.  Trust your pallet!

4. And lastly, buy the right amount.  You generally want to over order so you avoid the worry of running out so a good guide is:

4 glasses of Sparkling per person (3 for the reception and 1 for the toast)4 glasses of wine per person – half white and half red depending on the type of wedding.