Book your tickets for a Tutored Chocolate and Wine Tasting with BBC Good Food Magazine’s Sarah Jane Evans MW

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

In Association with The Chocolate Gourmet of Ludlow and Shrewsbury Do you love wine? We’re guessing ‘yes’ because you’re reading our blog… do you love chocolate? Highly likely… so here’s something to brighten your rather soggy May!

You may remember that I wrote a blog, about a year ago, all about the fun I had at the ‘Academy of Chocolate’ Awards in London. I had been invited by Sarah Jane Evans MW of BBC Good Food Magazine, to be a judge for the day. It was hard work (no, really) and it opened my eyes to just how much choice there is beyond the usual selection you see every day on the High Street. The results for ‘best chocolate’ in various categories, are on the Academy of Chocolate website and they really highlight how, like wine, if you delve beyond the big brand names, the best are often the ones made by artisan producers.

Fast-forward a year and we’ve kept in touch with Sarah Jane. In association with The Chocolate Gourmet of Ludlow and Shrewsbury, we’re thrilled to announce that she is visiting us in Shrewsbury to host a rather special tasting! Here’s what you need to know:

Sarah Jane Evans MWWho? Sarah Jane Evans MW is the wine writer for BBC Good Food Magazine, co-founder of the Academy of Chocolate and author of ‘Chocolate Unwrapped, a tasting guide to the world’s top chocolate bars‘.

What? A Tutored Chocolate and Wine Tasting with Sarah Jane. Tickets £25 each.

When? Thursday 31st May 2012 at 7pm (prompt – sorry we lock the doors)

Where? In our Tudor ‘Clive Tanner Room’ at Tanners Wines, 26 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury SY1 1XD

Why? So that you can discover the similarities between chocolate and wine, learn how to taste chocolate like a pro and decide for yourself whether wine and chocolate go together and if so, how they can. 

Chocolate TrufflesIf this is sounding rather appealing then all you need to do is decide who to bring with you! You can book your tickets now either by visiting us at Tanners in Shrewsbury or by telephoning 01743 234455.

(Please note – tickets, as always, are limited with only 36 available and we suspect they might be popular!)

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Touring Torrens, the reliant Robin is back from Bordeaux

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

Robin TorrensAllowing the dust (or is that hype?) to settle is often a good thing (writes Robin Torrens, one of our Fine Wine Consultants). Stephen Crosland and I enjoyed a full week of tastings from 16th – 21st April, all the way from the northern Médoc down to Sauternes.

The first thing to say is that 2011 clarets are nowhere near as bad as we’d been led to believe. This is in fact a very good, well-balanced vintage, which I felt was not far behind the 09s and 10s (quite a few of which we tasted in the châteaux we visited). Stephen agreed, when we compared separate notes, and while there were some particular stars in Pomerol, there were also some excellent wines on the Left Bank too.

It is a vintage to be careful at the cheaper end. We tasted some furry numbers at the negoçiant houses, and one or two have turned out lighter than expected. However, stalwarts such as Cissac and Tour de By have again done very well – the latter only a smidgeon behind the 2009, not quite the power of that vintage but making up for it with greater freshness and purity of fruit, a wine you can really enjoy in the mid-term. There is little doubt it pays to be in with the good winemakers, and with our experience of visiting every year, this is really paying off. Nothing that we don’t follow regularly managed to break into the ‘purchase’ list, so you’ll notice it’s a bit same-old…but these were the winners. We’re happy to leave the rest for our competitors!

The style is fresh in general, with fine tannin (not what we were expecting) and a general polish about the wines we enjoyed. My favourite areas were Saint-Julien and Pauillac. Margaux was generally ‘pretty’, Saint-Estephe more ‘structured’ (and it was very much affected by the late hail storm in September.) The top addresses made some excellent wines: Cos was very fine, Vieux-Château-Certan a contender for wine of the vintage, Pontet-Canet still improving with a luxuriously textured wine. The fruit on both Langoa-Barton and Léoville-Barton is tremendous, both will last well. Langoa wasn’t as ‘four square’ as I remember from the past, more generous in character. Léoville-Barton was fantastic in every department. Talbot was a stunner, and we hope we can get enough.

Angludet summed up the Left Bank very well for me. Delicious fruit with lovely flavour which was very supple in the mouth: yes, they will last, but because the winemakers are so up-to-speed on taming the tannins we felt that, very like the previous two vintages, you won’t have to wait for years to drink them. With the price dropping back there is no reason to avoid them, providing you with some very good mid-term drinking.

The dry whites, everywhere, were simply fantastic. Surely this is the year to try them, and they really do knock New Zealand Sauvignon into a cocked hat. The Sauvignon character was usually underpinned with creamy opulent tropical flavours giving great complexity supplied by the Sémillon and sometimes Muscadelle.

Final notes: Drink your 2007s, if you haven’t tried them yet, they are absolutely super now, and we had several meals at the châteaux (it’s a hard life…) where they shone. The other vintage to approach is 2004, which has been quite awkward until recently, but is now starting to show a lovely fine, classic line with a hint of maturity creeping in, particularly in the Médoc.

You can keep an eye on the all-important prices by visiting our Bordeaux 2011 page.

Click on a thumbnail below to view my Bordeaux photo gallery…


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Bordeaux 2011 En Primeur – An Introduction

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

Stephen CroslandWe will be going out to Bordeaux next week to assess the 2011 vintage, when it is a bit less busy following the organised tastings. Some things are however already abundantly clear, the main one being that price will be absolutely crucial. The vintage is not 2009 or 2010 and pricing of the top wines needs to reflect this. We were delighted to see Christian Moeuix’ comment that he could drop prices of his top wines by 50%. Such realism is commendable and we very much hope that the properties that are currently talking about only a 10-15% reduction will reconsider their approach. The lesser properties don’t have the luxury of being able to reduce by this amount but we hope that there will be some effort to make purchasing worthwhile. [Editor's note - we've subsequently spoken to Christian personally in Bordeaux and in spite of being widely reported, he says he was in fact misquoted - it was a nice thought while it lasted!]

The next crucial factor is the variability of the wines. There are obviously some which are very good indeed – Pontet Canet for example is being very well received – but also some where there just isn’t the weight of fruit to support the structure. Selection will be crucial. Where the wines have been carefully made without over extraction there are some lovely, fruity, relatively forward examples. In terms of regions, Pomerol especially seems to have done very well indeed. Finally, dry whites and Sauternes, as so often in a difficult red vintage, are very good indeed and well worth seeking out. There seems to be a desire to get the campaign started and finished quickly, unlike last year where everyone waited and then released wines together so some were missed in the rush. We very much hope that things do happen quickly, before interest is lost.

Our Bordeaux 2011 En Primeur webpage features a list of the wines we expect to buy and prices will be confirmed as soon as we receive them, so if you’re interested in this year’s campaign, you may like to bookmark this page for easy future reference.

Click to view our Bordeaux 2011 En Primeur Offer

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Progress in Portugal – Awards, Tastings & New Wines

Posted on April 10, 2012 by

It’s been a busy twelve months for Tanners with Portugal…

Douro 2009 En Primeur OfferSaint George’s Day (23rd April) is traditionally the day when a Port Vintage is declared, and we were one of the first to taste the superb examples from Taylor Fladgate – Taylor’s, Fonseca and Croft all on top form, in fact probably our pick of the 2009 vintage now sadly mostly sold out. We followed up with a Lying Abroad Offer on the wonderful 2009 Douro red wines, which again went extremely well. The good value range from the Symington’s Altano winery and those of the Duorum project were well to the fore, as well as more established wines from Johnny Graham at Churchill Estates, Niepoort’s fabulous Burgundian styles and the ever-popular Quinta Vale D Maria.

In June, looking further south, we launched the Esporão Reservas from David Baverstock, genius winemaker in the Alentejo. David called in to Wyle Cop in the autumn on a visit over here, but the staff needed little extra incentive as they have become firm favourites in a very short space of time. A classy pair, warm and friendly with a lick of oak.

Cristiano van Zeller uncorks another masterpieceOctober saw the first ever ‘En Primeur’ Tasting of the Douro wines that we had earlier offered, with all the producers coming over for an extremely successful evening – Cristiano van Zeller (Quinta Vale D Maria) even managing to rope in a couple of local lady shopkeepers who happened to be passing as he arrived! 160 of our customers ‘grilled and swilled’, going away very content with their existing purchases, and adding more on the night.

All this activity was rewarded by an invitation from the Ambassador of Portugal, João de Vallera, to attend the Wines of Portugal Awards Dinner at the end of February. Duly suited and booted, I was delighted to receive on behalf of Tanners the Independent Merchant of 2012, just reward for James Tanner and John Melhuish who have championed them and the rest of the sales and marketing team here who have spread the word. Oz Clarke (Lifetime award), Olly Smith (Journalist of the Year), Jamie Goode, Julia Harding and Sarah Ahmed were among the staunch supporters gathered at the Embassy, as were friends from Waitrose and The Wine Society. It was a terrific evening; Charles Metcalfe got a medal that was almost as big as him, the wines were outstanding and the Ambassador as genial and amusing a host as you could wish to meet.

Tanners Douro RedThe icing on the cake for Portuguese wines at Tanners this year is the addition of the Tanners Douro Red to our own label selection. This wine exudes a lovely, juicy, black fruit character with herbs and peppery hints on the palate. Not only does it have plenty of depth but it’s also wonderfully rounded and approachable and all for a bargain price of £7.90 a bottle.

A brilliant example of what the Douro can do – now available to buy online here!

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Spice up Easter with these fantastic recipes to pair with Rhône wines and sign up for our next Masterclass

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

At the start of 2012 our Tanners branches introduced their ‘six step plan’ to ‘improve your wine knowledge’. OK, so the ‘six step plan’ bit might sound like we are encouraging you to stop enjoying wine, but actually the opposite is true!

They key, we think, is to learn more about wine in order to fully appreciate it. Lots of people first come to Tanners wanting to improve their drinking but not necessarily knowing where to start. That is why we are running half a dozen six-weekly promotions including tutored wine tastings (read more about the next one at the end of this blog), wine tasting cases, wine guides, food and wine matching ideas and competitions, each one focusing on a new region.

We have just started ‘step 2’ which is all about wines from The Rhône so I asked a couple of my friends at Tanners to come up with some recipes to match with wines from the region. Hannah and Mathew both came up with spicy recipes, I hope you are tempted to give them a try. If you like the sound of them, you can order their recommendations on our website by clicking on the links.

Lamb Tagine – recommended by Hannah Schwarzer

Hannah Schwarzer

My husband and I bought a case of wonderful Rhône red wines ‘Lying Abroad’ not so long ago with the sincere intention of squirreling them away for a few years. However, a few months on and we’re already down to our last bottle.

Yes, we are foolishly impatient, but the main problem is that Rhône reds are just so yummy with food; each time we cook a rich, meaty stew we can’t help pinching another bottle from their (now very roomy) home under the stairs.

Recently we cooked a lamb tagine, whose fruity sweet elements, balanced by deep meatiness and headily perfumed spice, make such a glorious match with Côtes du Rhône wines.

Rich and intense, but with a really pretty, ‘lifted’ feel, the following recipe and wine suggestions would make a lovely dinner-party pairing for spring. The tagine takes a bit of time but is so simple – and the results are just gorgeous!

Ingredients – Serves 4 people 

  • 2tbs ground cinnamon
  • 1tbs ground cumin
  • 2tsp crushed black pepper
  • 2tsp ground coriander
  • 2tsp ground paprika
  • 2tsp ground tumeric
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • A couple of packs of diced lamb (a cheap cut like neck)
  • 2 large white onions
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Stock cube (lamb or chicken)
  • 1tsp harissa paste (optional)
  • Half a pint of passata
  • Tin of chopped tomatoes
  • Splodge of runny honey
  • Small handful of raisins
  • Large handful of flaked almonds
  • Large handful of dried apricots (chopped in half)
  • 2 large handfuls of pre-prepared chickpeas (follow instructions on packet/tin)
  • Fresh coriander leaves

Method

1. Combine all the dry spices in a large bowl then add the lamb and mix until completely coated.
2. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole dish then add the coated lamb.
3. Leave it to fry (stirring occasionally) while you slice the onions and crush the garlic.
4. After the meat has browned (5 mins) add the onions and garlic and fry for a couple more minutes.
5. Throw in the stock cube, a pint of boiling water, the harissa (optional), the passata and the tinned tomatoes and then mix.
6. Bring to a simmer then cover and leave to simmer very gently for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
7. Add the honey, raisins, almonds, apricots and chickpeas and simmer for a further 30 mins (leave the lid on if it’s getting too thick, or take the lid off if the mix could do to thicken up a bit).
8. Mix in a handful of roughly chopped coriander leaves and serve.

This dish is lovely served with lemony, herby couscous.

Wine Matches

Hannah Schwarzer RecommendationsTry it with La Font du Vent, Notre Passion, Côtes de Rhône Villages, Signargues 2009 - this is a stunning red with sweet violet and kirschy top notes underpinned by oodles of supple, jammy bramble fruit and hints of creamy cassis and rich black cherry. The estate is well-known for its Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but this ‘mini’ version represents astoundingly good value.

or

Château du Grand Moulas, Côtes du Rhône, M Ryckwaert 2010
A real charmer, Château du Grand Moulas has been on Tanners’ list for decades now – it’s so good that we keep going back for more! If you’ve ever attended one of our ‘Meet the Producers’ tastings, then you’ve probably met winemaker, Marc Ryckwaert, who regularly pops over to present his range, always speaking exclusively in heavily-accented French which bewilders staff and customers alike! His passion for his wines knows no bounds, and this lovely Côtes du Rhône exemplifies his honest, terroir-driven, juicy fruit and elegant spice style. Soft strawberry meets rich blackberry – delightfully easy-drinking.

Barbecued Steaks - recommended by Mat Evans

Mat Evans

With spring upon us at last, and the good weather we seem to have had over Easter in the last few years, many of us will be looking for any excuse to get the barbie out of the back of the shed and getting that charcoal nice and hot!
It’s difficult to pair many wines with the smoky, charry flavours imparted on barbecued meat; and these meaty dishes often have spicy marinades too. But one area has wines that seem to cope with these big flavours with ease…the Rhône Valley.

Try these recipes and the matching wines and get a few friends round to try them, hopefully it will be the perfect recipe for a successful Easter BBQ! These recipes don’t need precise measuring, just adjust them as you see fit – if you want it a bit spicier, add more chilli. Just remember to get the charcoal burning white-hot before you start cooking.

Ingredients – Serves 4-6 people

  • 1kg Rump Steak
  • Olive Oil
  • Chilli flakes, 1tsp
  • Rosemary, finely chopped
  • Garlic, 3 cloves, finely chopped
  • Dark Soy Sauce, 1tbsp
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 Star Anise, crushed
  • Root Ginger, 1-inch cube, finely chopped
  • Flaky sea salt and ground black pepper

Method

1. Put all the ingredients together except the salt and pepper in a large tub and marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
2. Take out of the fridge 90 minutes before cooking to let the meat come up to temperature, otherwise the meat will still be cold in the middle if you like it rare.
3. Just before placing on the barbecue, sprinkle well with salt and pepper to season and place on the grill. Keep turning every minute or so until you have a lovely crust on the outside, and brush with the marinade every couple of minutes.

To check how well done the meat is, use your hand as a guide! Place your thumb on your index finger and then prod the fleshy part at the base of your thumb with your other hand. It should be quite soft, and this is how your steak will feel when it is rare. Move to your middle finger; this is medium, and your ring finger well done. If the steak feels like it does when you place your thumb on your little finger it’s probably best to start again!

Once the meat feels slightly underdone for the way you want it, take it off the coals as it will continue to cook for a short period and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes. This will make the steak lovely and juicy, even when well done. Slice it thick and serve with some salad.

Wine Matches

Mat Evans RecommendationsTry this with Le Pigeoulet des Brunier, VdP de Vaucluse 2010 - a blend of mainly Grenache which will cope with the spicy flavours and give delicious ripe fruit, but with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault for crunchy tannins and peppery Syrah too. A perfect combination!

If you’re more of a white meat person – the marinade for this recipe can also be adapted for chicken drumsticks; just remember to replace the dark soy with light soy. This would pair perfectly with the Perrin Reserve, Cotes du Rhone Blanc, a blend of Grenache Blanc, Bourboulenc, Marsanne and Roussanne which works well with the limey character of the marinade, with a lick of ripe fruit to balance out the spice.

Don’t forget, if you want to learn more about the wines of The Rhône Valley and you can make it to Shrewsbury on Thursday 26th April at 7pm, then you can book a place at our  next Masterclass – led by Tanners’ very own Pam Paul. Aimed at beginner level, she will guide you through a broad selection of wines from this diverse region and help you explore the nuances the Rhône has to offer.

Tickets are £15 per person and are guaranteed to sell out if our recent South African Masterclass was anything to go by! You can book your place by calling us on 01743 234455.

UPDATE 16TH APRIL: PLEASE NOTE OUR RHONE MASTERCLASS HAS NOW SOLD OUT. PLEASE TELEPHONE US IF YOU WISH TO BE ADDED TO THE RESERVE LIST.

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Romanian wine comes out of the twilight years… Howard gets his teeth into a couple of new arrivals!

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

Romania is certainly not the first country that springs to mind when thinking of tasting something new (writes Howard Hutchins, Wine advisor in our Shrewsbury Cellar Shop). But perhaps it should be!

Tanners have just started stocking Romanian wines for the first time in living memory, with the Paparuda wine range hosting a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Grigio. They have been extremely well received by staff and customers (and the national press come to that). With both coming in at under £6 a bottle, they also offer seriously good value for money.

Cramele Recas - Photo from the Recas websiteThere is little dispute that Romania has the perfect conditions for quality wine production with its varied climatic and geographical conditions: it has a great history of wine production dating back centuries and is in fact, Europe’s fifth largest producer. But, it’s fair to say, it has had a bit of a turbulent history, with political struggles not really helping its wine industry. However, things are changing – following the privitization of vineyards in the 1990s, there has been massive investment. A great example of this is the new Recas winery, from where we’ve sourced these wines.

View a large map of the approximate winery location

The Paparuda wines, named after a Romanian rain ritual, are made from grapes sourced from a 625-hectare estate located on the fringes of the Transylvania and Banat regions near the city of Timisoara in the west of the country. Wine has been produced here continuously since 1477, in the last 10 years both the vineyard and winery have been completely and exhaustively modernised. The whole process from vineyard to bottle is undertaken in the most modern and most environmentally friendly way.

The winemaking team consists of Australian Hartley Smithers and Nora Iriate from Spain, who between them are veterans of over 50 harvests spanning many of the worlds wine producing regions. They oversee the production of these modern fruit-driven wines and they’re doing a good job. To put it bluntly a serious amount of expertise, and money come to that, has been invested in this project and it is reflected in the quality of their wines:

Paparuda Pinot Grigio

Paparuda Pinot Grigio 2011 12.5% ABV
£5.90

A great value Pinot Grigio packed full of ripe honeyed fruit, with just the right amount of freshness to make it brilliantly moreish and keep you coming back for more!

A perfect party wine or an ideal compliment to those light salads that spring demands.

Paparuda Pinot NoirPaparuda Pinot Noir 2011 13.5% ABV
£5.90

Fragrant and fruity Pinot Noir with plenty of ripe red fruits, strawberries and raspberries, fresh and crunchy with hints of spice.

A delicious wine that would work well for those that like red with fish or chicken. There certainly aren’t many places in the world where you can find a Pinot Noir of this quality at this price.

Press Comments
“A soft, herbal pinot with red cherry, tarragon and fresh tobacco notes, and rather Italian in character. Serve Cool.”
Susy Atkins, The Sunday Telegraph, Stella Magazine – Jan 2012

I think these are exciting times, with Romanian wines emerging from the shadows. The Romanian wine market is certainly in its infancy but there is no doubt that Romania is starting to make big strides in the international wine market. It is almost certain that the next few years will see plenty more wines coming from this part of the world.

To see what all the fuss is about, why not try the Paparuda wines for yourself?

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Should I invest in wine?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

Robert BoutflowerFor previous generations, fine wine buying was all about having a nice big cellar under your house and filling it with an annual order placed during a long and boozy lunch with your wine merchant! How times have changed. Even in relatively recent times, say twenty years ago, investing in wine meant buying two cases on their first release, sitting on them for ten years while the contents mellowed and became drinkable, followed by drinking one and selling the other…to fund the purchase of another two cases just released! It made perfect sense, and the canny connoisseur of the past ‘invested’ in a fair bit of classic claret, a little red Burgundy and perhaps salted away some vintage Port for the long-term.

In general terms, the wine investment market has revolved around Bordeaux, an area that produces just the right quantity of premium red wine (claret) that lives long and has a proven pedigree. Burgundy is much more problematic; the properties are a bit small, not providing enough cases per se to encourage decent trading however great and sought-after the wines. German Rieslings (hock and Mosel), although classy, age-worthy and with pedigrees going back centuries, have suffered a calamitous fall in popularity, while the new kids on the block from Chile, Australia, California even, simply haven’t been making the styles for long enough for traders to amass enough confidence in their length of life.

Lafite RothschildSo where are we now? Times they have a’changed. The Bordeaux market, around which the current investment bubble has been created, is a simple one of supply and demand…with the extra factor of fashion being mixed into the brew. Fine wine, particularly a handful of the top estates and labels, have been fought over for years by collectors, and suddenly there has been more money – from Russian oligarchs and Chinese businessmen coming to the table. We are talking about a claret such as Château Lafite-Rothschild which the ‘expert tasters’ in the world wine trade have consistently marked in front of their rivals, increasing each vintage exponentially in price. It is true that quality has soared as technological advances in wine-making have taken much of the risk of a ‘poor’ example being made, while rising temperatures have ensured Bordeaux’s vines produce riper grapes more years than not, but it is pure speculation that has driven the price sky-high. The greatness of a château’s wine depends on its location, the terroir factor. Neighbouring properties, and wines judged on tasting to be just behind Ch Lafite have seen the worth of their wines climb, as the finite quantities available across all the area’s properties filter into the system. Prices rise across the board, in a self-fulfilling spiral upwards.
Can we all cash in, and where does the bubble leave the old ‘two case’ theory? Sadly, you now need a much larger chunk of cash just to keep up with the market, and some prices are breathtakingly high compared to even six years ago for the same wine.

Buying wine En Primeur means buying before it's even in bottleDon’t despair however. You can still get on the ladder, and buying en primeur (i.e. on first release often before the wine is even bottled) from a Tanners Lying Abroad Offer gets you a lower price than when it hits our shelves a year or so later. Be careful if you are lured to the internet – many internet firms make promises they don’t always keep, as they can’t source the big names in the first place. At Tanners we have great connections with our suppliers, as well as the experience to winkle out some outstanding ‘unknown’ names and their lesser-known wines. These aren’t just from Bordeaux either; if it’s good drinking you’re after, then places like New Zealand and Portugal’s Douro Valley are making some superb stuff which will repay a little time to give you stunning drinking at a fraction of the cost. You can store your purchases with us too, so you don’t even need a cellar any more, and if the storage is ‘In Bond’ then there’s no excise duty or VAT to pay until you want your wine released for drinking.

To conclude, the en primeur market comprises plenty of labels that probably will rise in value in the current situation, but if you climb on board for investment purposes you’ll need to bring a bigger stake than in the past. The diversity of wines however, available to buy this way, has never been stronger. And finally, while we have no crystal ball to say how much money you might, or might not make… you can always uncork your asset and enjoy drinking it!

Click here to read more about En Primeur at Tanners and how you can store your wines with us…

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