Three Mature Wines (and some food)

A 1983 German Riesling, a 2014 NZ Riesling, a 2012 Rhône and a take-away restaurant meal

A neighbour was moving house and asked if I had any surplus wine packaging going spare; in return for a few cartons retrieved from the recycling, he proffered a bottle from the cellar, with the warning "It's a bit Madeirised, but hopefully OK".

I decided I had got the better end of the bargain and decided to put it up against another aged Riesling and some food from Alex Rushmer's Vanderlyle.

Opening the wine was surprisingly easy, if somewhat unconventional; applying the corkscrew, the cork slipped down the neck of the bottle irretrievably, so I pushed it all the way in then fetched a decanter-plus-tea-strainer and out it poured.

What else to pair with an aged Riesling but another aged Riesling?

Peter Ranscombe had recently tipped a 2014 Marlborough Riesling from Aldi and I'd been intrigued enough to buy a few bottles.

Freeman’s Bay Marlborough Riesling 2014 (£7.99, Aldi) sealed under screwcap, it has not evolved as much as a similarly priced and similarly aged Mosel Riesling from The Co-op.

Honeysuckle, citrus and a hint of petrol, zippy and fresh with lime marmalade and a slatey mineral thrill; falls away quickly but mineral-persistent on the finish. Thoroughly pleasant and off-the-beaten-track.

Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Spatlese 1983 golden topaz in colour, or Earl Grey tea, with aromas of bruised apple, a touch of old leather and some cellar mustiness but nothing approaching diesel or kerosene.

On the palate, stone fruit and citrus with toasted brazil nut and cashew, sultanas, beurre noisette and savoury, caramelised butterscotch; sweet-sour, saline-mineral and long. A well-knitted, complex and harmonious mass of wonderful contradictions; starts sweet and finishes dry, mellow yet energetic, fruited but savoury, oxidised yet fresh.

Very Good.

Drink as an aperitif or match with lighter game or mushrooms.

Domaine de Fontbonau Cotes-du-Rhone 2012 (£12.99, Cambridge Wine Merchants) Alex had suggested a gutsy Malbec to go with his main course, a multi-stage, two-day chili, so I picked out this warming, mature red.

A bin-end, fire-sale wine that had been destined for the restaurant trade; I bought several cases of this, and also sent a bottle to Peak District-based PR Francesca Gaffey as part of Dan Kirby's twitter wineswap.

Mature Rhônes are somewhat unusual as they tend to be consumed young, but this is ripe yet savoury, intense and supple with very fine tannins.

The Food - Vanderlyle

Vanderlyle and MJP@TheShepherds are the Blur and Oasis of the Cambridge Dining Scene; Alex was a Masterchef finalist and Mark has held a Michelin Star.

Starter

Rapeseed oil focaccia with blackened salsa; tomatoes and roasted chili, with cardamom and fennel seeds. Warm the bread, dip into the salsa; more amuse bouche than starter but very well-made.

Main

Carlin Pea & Morita Pepper Chili

Aged Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese

Braised Spring Greens

Spicy-savoury and rich; it took a few mouthfuls before we realised it was vegetarian (or at least meat-free); appropriately hearty and warming for a late-spring chill.

Dessert

Orange Poppyseed & Olive Oil Pudding Custard

More a light cake than a pudding, the most adept and elegant part of the meal.

With coffee

Vanderlyle "Black & White Biscuit"

A homemade Oreo - but so much better.

Footnotes: Deidesheim is a small, highly prestigious wine-growing village in Germany's Pfalz wine region. It is best known for its Riesling, which is by far the dominant variety here. Like other Pfalz wines, Riesling made here is fuller-bodied and richer than most other German Riesling, thanks to the region's relatively warm, dry climate.

Most Deidesheimer Rieslings are trocken (dry). Situated just a few miles north of Neustadt town, Deidesheim lies right at the heart of Pfalz's top vineyard area. The village and its vineyards sit at the foot of the Haardt mountain range, giving them a much-prized easterly aspect and sheltered position. This, combined with the rain shadow cast by the peaks above, makes for a warmer, brighter and drier macroclimate than those a few miles away.

Jancis Robinson says of the 2009 vintage of this wine:

Georg Mosbacher, Deidesheimer Hergottsacker Riesling Spätlese trocken 2009 Pfalz 17 Drink 2011-2014

100% Riesling from Weingut Georg Mosbacher, a family-owned estate with nearly 45 acres of vineyards in the picturesque wine village of Forst, in Germany's Pfalz region. Vines are planted on clay sand with a high percentage of stones. The grapes were hand-picked and fermented with temperature control at 18°C with selected yeast in stainless-steel tanks. Bottled in May 2010.

Winemaker Juergen Dueringer. TA 7.1 g/l, RS 3.1 g/l.

Great to see a supermarket bothering with top-quality Germans! Honeyed nose. Very broad peppery palate. Lovely well-balanced stuff that is already drinking well and is chock full of fruit but not sugar. Really good! 13% £16.99 Waitrose (8 stores)

Dinner With Mark Poynton

A bespoke 4-course dinner from Mark Poynton of MJP@TheShepherds - and some matching wines

The combination of a "significant birthday" and yet another lockdown meant that the celebrations would have to be confined to something at home.

Looking for a way to make it memorable, I took up Mark Poynton's offer of a bespoke four-course meal.

Mark is chef patron of MJP@TheShepherds in Fen Ditton, just outside Cambridge, and formerly of Michelin-starred Alimentum.

Mark, who has appeared on Great British Menu, started his career aged 15 in Chester; after several quick promotions, he moved to Cambridge to work under Daniel Clifford for seven years at the two Michelin-starred Midsummer House. 

He then moved to Alimentum as Head Chef, became Chef Patron within a year and went on to gain a Michelin star and three AA rosettes.

Mark sent me a suggested menu and outlined the sorts of wines that would go with them.

The food needed little more than assembling or warming up and came with full instructions.

As to the wines, I picked out a few highlights of recent months and lined them up; this was not a time to be experimenting with anything new or unusual.

Aperitifs

Marks and Spencer Very Rare Dry Oloroso Sherry made by Lustau, this is a complex and warming yet bone dry Oloroso; rich and intense with spiced Christmas cake prunes, toasted hazelnuts and exotic citrus peel.

Colesel 'Cartizze Dry' Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG despite the name, a sweeter style of Prosecco from Cartizze, Prosecco's top region. Golden sandy yellow, delicate, fresh and elegant with a creamy mousse and aromas of ripe stone fruit; full and off-dry with white-flesh fruit and a mineral persistence. Very deft and precise.

Starters

MJP treacle and ale sourdough loaf, whipped butter

Cauliflower soup, pickled cucumber and smoked salmon, sourdough croutons

Very easy to make; just warm the soup and add the garnishes; serve with the bread and butter.

Wine match:

Von Kesselstatt Riesling Kabinett 2014 a light Mosel Riesling with plenty of age and evolution, at 8.5% it is generally too light for food, but went perfectly with a creamy soup. Complex, evolved nose of beeswax, old leather and diesel with yellow stone fruits, honeysuckle and citrussy sherbet with lively acidity and a zippy finish.

Mains

Red wine and oxtail suet pudding, creamed potato and glazed carrots.

Again, easy to make, just warm up the pudding and carrots in the oven, the mash in the microwave and the gravy (very rich) in the pan.

Wine match:

Red - as big as you like, were Mark's instructions, so there was only one contender here.

Domaine de Fontbonau Cotes-du-Rhone 2012 leather, mushrooms and sous bois with ripe berries, cool mint and complex, well-integrated, oaky vanilla spice; ripe yet savoury, intense and supple with very fine tannins.

Cheese course

Wensleydale and ale rarebit on sourdough crumpet, with apple and ale chutney.

A little bit more assembly work required here but still very straightforward; toast the crumpets, spread on chutney, then squeeze over the cheese before grilling until golden

Wine match: port. Tawny port is generally the best match for cheese, but I opted for a mature ruby.

Barao de Vilar, Lagarada Ruby Port lifted, dried red and black fruits, minty eucalyptus and aromatic roasted spices; fresh, supple, complex, substantial and harmonious. Being a bin-end, there is now a little bricking of the colour, the flavours are more evolved and the tannins are mellowing.

Dessert

Apple tarte tatin, calvados cream

Warm the tarte, serve with the cream.

A thing of beauty, the tarte was a single piece of peeled apple, wrapped up and cooked, as Mark's pictures show:

Wine match: Sauternes

Sauternes and tarte tatin is a classic match, so this was an easy choice.

Tesco Finest* Sauternes, 2015 sweet and luscious with evolved flavours of beeswax, honey, dried apricots, Seville orange marmalade, baked fruits with a citrussy refreshing finish; complex and concentrated.

Afterthoughts

The meal was very easy to prepare and serve and good value for both quality and quantity. It was delivered during the day all packed up with a full set of instructions.

What I realised from serving at home is just how much attention to detail goes into great restaurant service:

- ensuring everything (including crockery) is all at the right temperature at the right time

- getting the timing between courses just right

- getting just the right proportions of sauces so that there is plenty but not too much

- serving the right amount of several different wines with the food on a multi-course meal

Delivered meals from MJP@TheShepherds are  individually priced with 2 courses for £15, or 3 courses for a bargain £18.50 - that's probably cheaper than your Chinese takeaway from those other Delivery people!

The food will keep in the refrigerator for up to four days, and is also freezable. Instructions are provided with your order. There is an optional cheese course for an additional £6 per person if you wish.

Orders can be placed through the website: Home - Mark J Poynton (mjprestaurant.com)

Copper Crew - The Red

A red wine in a can from Copper Crew

Last year, I reviewed two canned wines from newly-formed Copper Crew, a white and a rosé, both from South Africa and both perfectly drinkable wines in their own right.

If wine in a bottle is a sit-down meal, canned wine is the equivalent of a take-away; it's all about the convenience and spontaneity and Copper Crew drinkers have made an art form of taking the wines to instagrammable locations:

The last picture here is by Manchester-based PR Francesca Gaffey (also my inaugural dnkrbywine twitter bottleswapee), overlooking the Peak District hills where I used to cycle at weekends as a teenager.

Copper Crew named their business after the fact that they are all gingers, so it's slightly ironic that they left their red wine until last.

There are just three of them, a winemaker, a management consultant and an ex-academic turned promotional guy. Spotting a gap in the market, they launched in early 2020 - just before the pandemic and lockdown.

The wines are pitched at the pleasant-and-interesting level; this is the sweet spot for on-the-go drinking. They are good enough that you will want to go back for more after the first can, but not so refined that you need to serve them in just the right shape of drinking glass to appreciate all the nuances.

Where I think they've got everything right is that there is plenty of easy-drinking South African fruit, but also a balanced freshness and enough substance to match them with on-the-go snacks and picnic foods.

I found the rosé to be the most interesting of the range with some complexity and sophistication. The white has a personality, but is marginally less compelling. The red is equally well-made and as pleasantly unassuming as an accountant eager for a promotion at a corporate dinner.

The Copper Crew Merlot 2019 (25cl can) ripe red fruits, plums, cherries and strawberries and a touch of spice; plush with fine-grained tannins and some persistence. Technically well-made and fault free.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Drinks nicely on its own straight from the can, match with picnic foods such as quiche, cold cuts and pork pies.

Postscript: resampled a few months later as part of a tasting, I find it has dramatically improved, becoming more open and interesting.

As all three founders of the company are on the call, including the winemaker, I ask about this. Sam, on the line from South Africa, tells me the wine is canned with a small amount of oxygen as it is designed to be consumed young and, unlike bottles, cans are hermetically sealed.

However, his view is that the change is due not so much the effects of the oxygen as just the different  constituent parts of the wine all settling down together over time.

Walking Cambridge

A book of eight walking tours around Cambridge

I have made Cambridge my home for the last twenty years and explored it with my wife, children relatives and a succession of visitors.

It's not a big city (that's actually one of the things I most like about it) so I thought there was little left to learn. This Walking Cambridge guide, however, still provides plenty of history to explore.

My go-to one-liners about Cambridge are:

- it does not have all that much to see, but what it does have is world-class

- Cambridge is basically a university and a hospital with a small, fenland market town wedged in between

A key historic distinction in Cambridge is between "town" vs "gown"; it's a sad truism that the history of urban Cambridge in no way compares with the history of academic Cambridge.

You could also add a newer, third category that has emerged only in recent years - of which I am one. London-commuters are those Cambridge residents who are neither "gown" nor "town" and in many ways have the least connection with the city.

For me, this was what I most enjoyed about Walking Cambridge; not so much the well-documented touristy stuff that I first discovered on moving here, but the more obscure local history that gives personality and depth to the streets I walk along to take my kids to school or got to the shops.

However, any visit to Cambridge necessarily starts with the academic side of the city centre; the winding cobbled streets, the river, the Backs and the first walk does exactly that, starting outside the great gate of St John's, covering much of the Backs and ending at Great St Mary's.

But Cambridge also has a history as a city; so whilst the University is what non-Cantabridgians first think of when they hear the name "Cambridge", those of us that actually live there also exist in the physical space of Cambridge as well as in its intellectual and conceptual aura.

Appropriately, then, of the eight walks in the guidebook, only one focuses solely on the world-famous college part of town; the remainder dive deeper beyond the well-trodden tourists paths and, in the process, tell more of the history of Cambridge as a city.

So, the way you might use this book depends on your relationship with Cambridge:

- if you have not previously visited the city, then start with the University Walk for its history and the Castle Walk for its views

- if you already know the well-trodden tourist areas of Cambridge, start with one of the suburban walks: the Station to Station Walk and Mill Road To Romsey Walk both take in my part of south-central Cambridge and include almshouses, the Kett and Foster families and the David Parr House.

Author Andrew Kershman describes being inspired to walk the streets of Cambridge, spotting unusual things and finding out the stories behind them, by the view from the tower of Great St Mary's in the centre of Cambridge and, having finished the last walk, "ascending the those same 123 narrow steps and looking down to recognise Senate House, the path from Caius leading to St John's and to the south, the road to Trumpington, passing the treasure trove of the Fitzwilliam Museum."

The guide itself advises:

- Walk along pavements embedded with flowers, discover how John Hodson rose from a college servant to become a rich man, only to lose it all in a famous scandal, and find a monument erected by the deposed prince of Siam in memory of his faithful pooch.

These walks will not only take you through ancient college cloisters to reveal Cambridge’s most famous sights, but also lead you far from the well-trodden tourist path, bringing to life long-forgotten voices and telling some surprising tales.

Author: Andrew Kershman

Price: £11.99

ISBN: 978-1-902910-66-6

Format: 320 pp, w105mm x h148mm

Full colour, 9 Maps, over 400 photographs

The Copper Crew - Canned Wine

A new canned wine from The Copper Crew

A winemaker, a management consultant and an academic decide to start a canned wine business just as the country goes into lockdown.

No, it's not the opening line to a joke, it's the story behind three ginger-tops who named their business after their hair colour.

The wines are sourced from South Africa and are ... well, really very pleasant.

So far there's a white (Chenin Blanc) and a rosé, with a red to follow.

Why canned wine? Why not?

Does all wine have to come in a bulky 75cl bottle? I don't think so.

The packaging looks great; it's sophisticated and iconoclastic. And certainly distinctive - even before you consider that pretty much every bottle of wine on the shelf looks virtually the same.

This is a product that is probably not after the wine-bottle market; it's more about pick-up-and-drink, or take-on-a-picnic. An alternative to canned G&Ts.

In the interests of a full review, I try it first from the can - as it's intended to be consumed - and then from a tasting glass to assess the wine on its own merits.

From the can it tastes fine and I would happily take it on a picnic or - as we are in Cambridge - a lazy river trip. It's a lot less bulky than a bottle and glasses and at 25cl is a sensible portion size. It's ripe and fruited in an easy-to-enjoy way, but still a decent wine - neither alcoholic fruit juice in a can, nor something overly complex that does not benefit from the packaging.

I think they've got everything right here; the wine tastes exactly as you would hope based on the format and the presentation.

The wine comes in cases of 6, 12 or 24 bottles with free shipping on larger orders and a per-can equivalent price of a little over £4. I find this a little toppy for the inherent quality of the wine, but sensible from a business perspective. Moreover, I suspect it's rather better value for the quality than other small-format alcoholic drinks.

The Copper Crew Chenin Blanc 2019 (25cl can) ripe yellow stone-fruits, some aromatic herbs, florality, white pepper and pleasant freshness with a slightly mineral edge. Technically well-made and deliciously enjoyable.

With plenty of ripe fruit, it works well as an easy-drinking sipper; match with picnic foods such as pork pies, chicken drumsticks and cold cuts.

The Copper Crew Rosé 2019 (25cl can) ripe, delicate soft red-berry fruits with some grapefruit and lime zest; supple and substantial with some gently creamy leesiness.

A little more food-friendly than the white, match with quiche, salads and picnic or bbq foods.

Thanh Binh, Cambridge

A midweek dinner at Thanh Binh Vietnamese restaurant, Cambridge

With two bored teenagers requiring summer entertainment and foreign holidays only for those brave and agile enough to make - and re-make - plans on the hoof, we opted to create the holiday vibe at home with weekend trips and family meals out.

So, we have a dining plan of restaurants to visit in Cambridge in the remaining weeks of the summer.

This week saw us at Thanh Binh, something of a hidden gem in the Cambridge dining scene, albeit one hiding in plain sight; located on a stretch of Bridge Street between the river and the road up to the castle, it is in a part of Cambridge that I tend to travel through more than consider as a destination in its own right.

Notwithstanding my two decades in the city, Thanh Binh has somehow never quite made it onto my radar as a place to visit. I can't really explain why other than it is the sort of place one rarely, if ever, reads about or hears mentioned.

This is all my loss of course; it's a neat and charming restaurant doing that most unfashionable of things - making consistently good, well-presented, unpretentious food.

And clearly there are people in the know; on a hot Tuesday evening in August in the middle of a pandemic, the place was full (all safely socially-distanced).

It helps, of course, that with #eatouttohelpout, the altruism of stimulating the local economy is a subsidised experience, but even at full price, it is not expensive.

Thanh Binh is a traditional, authentic, family-run Vietnamese restaurant with, apparently, one of the best chefs from Vietnam. I can't vouch for the latter claim, but this is pretty much all you need to know.

With starters and mains ordered, we all tried a bit of everything and found nothing that wasn't delicious - flavours, ingredients, seasoning, cooking and presentation were all faultless.

Those acquainted with Vietnamese food will find the menu familiar; newcomers can check out the restaurant website in advance or, like me, just ask the staff for recommendations; we ended up opting for soft shell crab, spring rolls, pancakes Phở Bò (beef soup) and a spicy duck curry.

Add in attentive waiting staff, a neat, if conservative, decor and there's really nothing not to like here. And in a touristy city like Cambridge, where few establishments need to rely on repeat business, that is no mean feat.

Another plus is the corkage policy; with no alcohol license, you just bring along one or more bottles of whatever you want to drink with your meal and pay a token amount for glasses - Cambridge Wine Merchants is just across the road if you plan to buy something en route.

Pro-tip: pre-chill your whites as they do not offer an ice bucket; and don't expect the standard-issue glasses to show off every nuance of your Grand Cru wines. We opted for a bottle of very pleasant and inexpensive fizz, the traditional-method Arestel Cava Brut from Lidl; fresh, uncomplicated and citrussy, it worked perfectly as an aperitif and a foil to the strongly-flavoured food.

A two-course meal for four with corkage and non-alcoholic drinks costs around £50 after the government discount.

Support Your Local Indie - Use Them or Lose Them

You'll miss them when they're gone ...

Retail is a brutal business; sectors and businesses that seemed solid a few decades ago are now a bloodbath - high-street retail in areas like banking and fashion have been well and truly disrupted by technology.

The sectors that continue to do well on the high street today are the sorts of activities that you can only do them in person - nail bars, hair dressers and coffee shops.

There is a saying that with every purchase you make, you are making a choice about the kind of world you want to live in.

Do you want a vibrant, thriving local scene of independent businesses; or a cut-price clone town of standardised, race-to-the-bottom chains?

If the former, then don't forget that you need to keep visiting local traders to ensure they stay in business.

If you want your local independent wine merchant to be around in, say, February, then maybe consider spending some money with them in January. Less-but-better January might just ensure that your local independent can pay staff wages and put food on the table in the quiet season and still be there for you on Valentine's day, throughout the summer and in the run up to Christmas party season again.

Local indies in the Cambridge area include:

- Cambridge Wine Merchants, who have bars as well as shops
- Noel Young Wines, have a new wine shop and bar
- Bacchanalia, two sites in Cambridge including one in the hub of independent shopping, Mill Road
- Private Cellar, MW-sourced wines from a small internet retailer
- Thirsty and Thirsty and Hungry, small, quirky and iconoclastic - and that's just the owner
- Joseph Barnes Wines, handcrafted wines from small, independent chateaux

And it's not just independent wine merchants.

Be it your local pub, café, bakery or Spanish private chef, remember to use them or lose them.

Wines of the Gard at Thirsty

A tasting of Gard wines with Thirsty Cambridge

Sam Owens' vision for his Thirsty wine bars in Cambridge is that they should do more than just sell bottles of wine; they should be part of a European-style scene where you come for the local produce - artisan bread, cheese and coffee as well as a glass of wine - and stay for the atmosphere.

Go to more or less any French town and this is a way of life; you can make up an inexpensive "market picnic" from local produce. It is only a couple of weeks since I introduced the family to the joys of oysters and white wine at on the banks of the Charente. For just a few euros, we had six oysters, served on ice, with a wedge of lemon and unlimited fresh bread.

This sort of thing is rather harder to do in Britain, however, where regional artisan food is virtually non-existent and the combination of high shop rents and a northern, protestant work ethic discourages lingering in cafes.

However, none of that is stopping Sam from pressing ahead with plans to create a food-and-drink culture scene in Cambridge, of which more in due course.

Just back from a holiday in the Gard in southern France, Sam had brought some local wines to try out with a view to stocking them if they proved popular enough..

Gard is not an especially well-known region - just west of the Rhône but technically in Occitanie, it includes the appellation of Costières de Nîmes, but little else of any fame. This makes it a place of innovation and experimentation, with cheap land, plentiful sunshine and no heritage to maintain or be constrained by.

Most of these wines were labelled as vin de France as they are somewhat iconoclastic in style and do not conform to any regional archetypes.

I tasted through all of them with Sam and the style will be familiar to anyone who knows his palate - vibrant, fresh and drinkable with low tannins and low alcohol, a world apart from the standard Rhône characteristics of dark-berry fruit, spice, supple tannins and plenty of ripeness.

Mostly southern GSM-blends, there were also a couple of curveballs; a Sangiovese and a very funky-nosed Cinsault. However, the doozy of the pack was Partouze; made from 13 grape varieties, it is cloudy reddish-pink, chilled and tastes somewhere between fermenting grape must, cider and a hoppy ale. All of this in a good way.

Topping and tailing the tasting were perhaps my two favourite wines of the evening; Gard du Nord, a vibrant, juicy and compelling Grenache with lots of flavour yet just 12% alcohol and Mont de Marie, a more conventional Rhône-esque red with dark fruit and a supple texture.

Indigo Wines at Thirsty

A tasting of Indigo Wines at Cambridge's Thirsty & Hungry

He doesn't have spiky hair and studs, but Sam Owens is still something of a punk; the man behind Thirsty and now Thirsty & Hungry (they also serve food), he is energetic, visionary and iconoclastic.

The Thirsty empire is not just about selling drinks, but more a social way of life and bringing people together. The wine list changes regularly and is low on classics or standards; instead there is a real mixture of places, grapes, production methods and packaging.

The consistency of Thirsty is in the quality and the style, a well-made, vibrant freshness; it is a place where you go to explore rather than simply return to the same again.

The latest addition is a range of wines from Indigo, a multi-award-winning importer with a reputation as one of the UK's most interesting independent importers of quirky, artisanal wines. With a particular strength in Iberia, they champion small producers who practise low intervention approaches.

My highlights were:

Dão Branco (Alvaro Castro, Portugal)  bright and fresh Portuguese white made from indigenous varieties with zesty citrus and a  mineral finish

Soplo (Rafael Cambra, Spain) fresh, perfumed Garnacha with touch of earth and leather

Dajoar (Andreas Bender, Mosel)  off-dry with a playful sweetness that balances out the crisp acidity. This is beautifully bright and fresh, with plenty of green and yellow fruits, great intensity and grip on the mid- palate and a long mineral finish

7 Fuentes (Suertes del Marqués, Tenerife) a blend of several plots, all on volcanic soils, and its main component is the wildly aromatic Listán Negro, followed by a small amount of Tintilla (aka Trousseau), juicy and refreshing

Christmas Afternoon Tea At The Old Bridge Huntingdon

Afternoon tea at the Old Bridge in Huntingdon

Once every few years, we make the short trek up to Huntingdon from Cambridge and visit The Old Bridge, owned and run by MW John Hoskins.

Whilst other places wax and wane, the standard at The Old Bridge never seems to vary. The food is always well-made, the wines excellent chosen and the ambiance varies by seating area.

The most traditional part is the pubby bar, the edgiest is the wine shop with stripped floors and an oenomatic machine dispensing wines in taster, small and medium sizes.

A bit like London buses, I had occasion to visit The Old Bridge twice on either side of the same weekend. First to catch up with a contact and then for Afternoon Tea with colleagues.

For the catch-up, we sat in the Wine Shop and tasted our way through a few whites and reds whilst comparing notes on business issues.

The 2017 ‘Wild Ferment’ Assyrtiko from Gaia's Santorini was mineral, linear and precise; the 2015 Chardonnay from Richard Kershaw in Elgin, South Africa was adept and complex.

Moving on to the reds, a 2015 Lemberger from Simonroth, Schnaitmann in Württemberg, Germany was bright, juicy and cherry fruited. The only bum note was a 2013 Cab Franc from Seneca Lake, by Red Hook Winery in Finger Lakes, USA. This was the most expensive of the wines and for me the least impressive.

A few days later saw a return visit for afternoon tea - a couple in the party opted for a glass of Prosecco while I returned to the wine shop for another hit of the Assyrtiko.

We started a choice of  tea or coffee  and were then served delicious finger sandwiches (smoked salmon and cream cheese; spicy chicken Egg mayonnaise; Beef, watercress and horseradish), scones with Jersey cream, strawberry jam and butter plus three mini cakes.

Three Wine Men in Cambridge

The Three Wine Men event returns to Cambridge

Another year, another Three Wine Men Christmas tasting; this time round there were noticeably fewer local independents.

With just a three-hour slot and over 30 exhibitors in the hall, there was no chance to get round everyone. So I focused on local heroes and noteworthy wines.

Cambridge Distillery

Meeting both of these criteria was Cambridge Distillery whose gins are something of a revelation. Owner Will Lowe cites three points of difference from pretty much any other gin you might try: all botanicals are fresh and seasonal, all are distilled separately and then blended separately.

Will's house gin is the Cambridge Dry Gin - fragrant, floral and perfumey with juniper and menthol, a firm grip leading onto a round sweetness. Very Good.

A step up is the Cambridge Botanical Gardens Gin with flavourings picked from the Botanical Gardens just up the road from the distillery. With rosemary, lavender and apples descended from Newton's tree, this is a more nuanced and elegant gin. Very Good Indeed.

The Truffle Gin is flavoured with white truffles from alba and is intended as a digestif, a gin for whisky-lovers. The musky white truffle dominates the nose leading to more juniper on the palate. Very Good.

Thorne Wines

New kid on the local oenological block is Thorne Wines, run by James Thorne, formerly of Cambridge Wine Merchants.

The white Rioja Perica Olagasa Blanco 2017 is a complex, nutty, fresh, leesy spicy old-school Rioja. Good.

The red Perica Olagasa Reserva 2010 is fresh, youthful and still primary with bramble fruits and spice; mellow and harmonious.

Also good and tasted on a previous occasion is the Vondeling Chardonnay.

Thirsty

Wine merchants inevitably reflect the personalities of their founders; Thirsty's wines are iconoclastic and zeitgeisty. There was South African Southern French / Pinotage blend with juicy fresh berry fruit, a Southern French Chardonnay that was fresh with a southern warmth and an orange wine that was highly drinkable and pleasant rather than challenging.

Chateau Musar

A vertical of Lebanon's Musar showed how this amazing wine develops: the 2011 red, the current vintage, is complex, harmonious and meaty with dried red berries, spice and freshness and just the beginnings of some secondary woodsy undergrowth alongside dried red fruits. Very Good.

The 2000 is paler with more secondary aromas of sous bois and truffles, but the fruit is still good and it will continue to age. Very Good.

The 1998 is very pale and almost tawny port-esque, very harmonious and mellow. At a peak and my top of the three vintages on show. Very Good.

I had not known about the Musar White, but got a chance to try the 2009. Complex, with nuts and oaky spices, waxy and old school, it is a unique textured wine that somewhat defies definition but is in the same category as amontillado, vin jaune and white Rioja. Very Good.

New Zealand Wine

If you think New Zealand is just Sauvignon Blanc, then look away now.

Greywacke Chardonnay 2014 is a complex, elegant and ageworthy oaked Chardonnay; fresh citrus and orchard fruits, gently toasty oak. Substantial and deft. very Good.

Greywacke Pinot Noir 2014 fresh, delicate and crystalline with elegant red fruits; supple and harmonious. Very Good.

Sud de France

Quality, consistency and affordability were all high here - these were some really lovely wines.

Domaine Morin-Langron Etiquette Noir 2017 fresh, elegant and long Picpoul. Good.

Ch Canet 2017 waxy, spicy, warming southern white blend. Good.

Domaine de Cebene Felgaria 2015 pruney fruit, feral, mineral red blend; concentrated, supple and fresh. Very Long. Very Good.

Ch de Prieure des Mourgues Grande Reserve 2015 poised, focused, concentrated St Chinian red blend. Fine tannins and will age. Very Good.

Alpine Wines

Swiss wines can be lovely, but they are always expensive; if you set next-door Burgundy as a benchmark, then they are reasonable value.

Provins Petite Arvine Grand Metral 2016 fresh, lemony and elegant. Good.

Three Wine Men in Pictures

Another year, another Three Wine Men tasting in Cambridge

Master Distiller Will Lowe of Cambridge Distillery.

 

Superb aged wines from Lebanon's Chateau Musar.

 

New kid on the block, James Thorne of Thorne Wines.

 

More than just Sauvignon - wines of New Zealand

 

 Well-made and ageworthy, with plenty of southern fruit; Languedoc Top 100

 

Alpine wines from … Alpine Wines



 

 

Iconoclastic and funky - the wines are not bad either. Thirsty Cambridge.