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Tutored Tasting 12th May 2013

Our favourite champagne producer, Philippe Brugnon shared the secrets of his premier cru status vineyards with 20 guests at our shop. They all tasted his range of superb wines, from the non vintage brut, through to the delightful rosé made (usually) 100% pinot noir grapes. Guests had the opportunity to compare his current vintage champagne to a selection of back vintages. Philippe prides himself on producing wines ofgreat finesse and freshness. A light buffet was provided to show off the different champagnes compatability with food.

As a bonus Philippe was accompanied by Julian White, the British Ambassador of La Conferie du Sabre d'Or and the German Ambassador. they displayed the ancient technique of removing the cork from the champagne bottle with a sabre. Here follows some photographs taken on the occasion.

Lisa performing the "Sabrage" and UK Ambassador Conferie du Sabre d'Or

Rachel being knighted by the GermanAmbassador Conferie du Sabre d'Or

Jenna performing the "Sabrage" with the German Ambassador

Philippe Brugnonwith Nick preparing to swing the sabre

Philippe knighting John

Now for the tasting and dining table 1

Now for the tasting and dining table 2

New Wines For 2013

We have 24 new wines on offer for 2013 from France, Germany, Spain, Argentina and Chile. The prices range from less than £6 to £12.

The new Chilean wines are made by Ventisquero who have built a brand new carbon zero foot print state of the art winery. Their vineyards are 100% estate owned all of which have coastal cool climate - see picture opposite. Their impressive wine making team is headed by ex- Penfold’s (Australia’s most prestigious estate) chief winemaker “John Duval”. We believe they are distinctive high quality wines. Take a look
Our other new Chilean wines come from the Lapostolle estate which was founded in 1994 by French families Marnier (owners of Grand Marnier) and Lapostolle from Sancerre. Their motto “French in essence, Chilean by birth” sums up the style of this prestigious estate perfectly. Great wine at value for money prices. Take a look.
The two new Argentinian white wines come from Trapiche which is located in Mendoza at the foothills of the Andes mountains .We have selected them from their Astica range. Astica means "flower" in the original language of the Huarpes. The grapes come from the Cuyo region.The wines produced from are made in their honourand are suitable for daily consumption. Take a look

CUSTOMERS VISIT TO BOSCHENDAL & FRANSCHHOEK VINEYARDS FEBRUARY 2012

Customers Ruth and Michael Nash told us that they were going to take a holiday in South Africa with friends in February. They enquired if we could recommend a good vineyard to visit. We were only too pleased to suggest Boschendal and Franschhoek vineyards. With the help of both Estates we arranged tutored tastings at both locations. The following few photographs have been kindly sent to us by Mike and Ruth as a momento of their visit.

Visit the Boschendal Estate

Buy their wine

Visit the Franschhoek Estate

Buy their wine

The Boschendal Entrance Sign (meaning in Dutch - Wood Dale)

The Franschhoek Wine Cellar (meaning in Dutch - French Corner)

The Nash Party sampling the wine at Boschendal

A corner of the vineyard.

Cheers to a happy day out.

VISIT TO DOMAINE DE LA PROVENQUIERE - 27/08/2010

Two of our colleagues visited this vineyard in late August this year a few days before the vendange (grape harvest) was due to start. Normally white grapes are picked first and red picked later as they need a little longer to reach maturation. All the staff were busy cleaning and preparing all the equipment necessary for picking and pressing the grapes quickly so that the juice could be processed through primary fermentation prior to going into the main secondary fermentation tanks.

Their guide was the hospitable manager Francoise Hivert who took them around the Chateau first, followed by a viewing in the cellars of the chateau to see the processes required to make their wines. It was a very pleasant summer day typical of the Languedoc and perfect for the grapes.

The Chateau dates from the 15th century and was successively owned by the Jean Provenquiere passing to the Marquis of Puisserguier in the 18th century. In 1860 Paul Teissonière, Napoleon III’s Counsellor bought it. The Robert family became the owners in 1954 at which time much of the terroir now used for vines were apple orchards. The family decided that apples grew better in the cooler wetter climate of Normandy and replanted the area with vines.

As part of his UK trip to the Australian Wine Fair in London, Grant Bellvé, the International Manager of Tyrrell's Wines paid us a visit. We at Village Wines have always been great enthusiasts of Tyrrell's Wines and Grant was keen to show how much they value the support they have from the independent wine trade. We thought it would be rude not to sample some of their recent vintages which Grant had brought along. This re-enforced our view of Tyrrell's as a producer of the highest quality which has lasted for five generations of the Tyrrell family. The range of Tyrrell's wines offered by Village Wines can be found by clicking here.

We thought 25 years as an independant wine merchant was something worth celebrating so our annual pre-Christmas wine tasting seemed as good a time as any to lay on a "bit of a do", complete with a large cake and some special wines. As you can see below a good time was had by all.

Believe it or not we still retain our enthusiasm for bringing wines which have the stamp of originality and individuality to like minded wine-lovers. Of course much has changed in theworld of wine in those 25 years, perhaps the most striking being how much the overall quality of wine has improved. Deciding which wines to list has become much more difficult and sadly involves us in much more tasting! However, our dedication to continuously seeking out wines (and winemakers) that continuously provide quality and value for money, despite the many upward pressures on wine prices, has ensured we have a wine list of which we are justifiably proud

We have teamed up with our good friend Giuseppe Tomaselli, who has extensive knowledge of wine and food, to run evening wine courses in the comfort of your home. Each lesson will include how to taste wine, with six wines from Village Wines; how to recognise quality in wines, matching food and wine and much more, all for £15 per person. As a bonus all participants will get 5% off any wines ordered. More details are available on request and Giuseppe will be also at our own tasting to promote this new collaboration.

We at Village Wines have always prided ourselves on offering quality and value at all price points. Whilst we acknowledge that in wine the concept of “you only get what you pay for” is broadly accurate, occasionally we find wines that are definitely punching above their weight in terms of quality and price. We like to think that this is particularly evident in our current crop of new wines. Sicilian Fiano, South African Chenin Blanc From Franschoek and Portuguese Touriga Nacional are superb grapes in the right winemakers hands and allied to some fine examples of modern French and Italian wines all feature in our Newcomers “Six of the Best” mixed case which exemplifies the concept of quality and value.