But hey – we’ve crammed in a serious amount of stuff: as well as being flat out with our Wine Courses for Yacht Crew (these courses ARE open to everyone, but certainly in the Spring and Autumn we find its mostly yachties eager to expand their CV’s), we’ve been busy with various other Wine related activities.

 

February saw us head down to Montpellier two days to the biennial Wine Trade Fair “Vinisud” which showcases suppliers and producers from all round the Mediterranean. Although there were a few faces from Spain, Greece, Italy etc, the bulk of the exhibitors were from the Languedoc Roussillon, Provence and the Rhône Valley. We worked tirelessly searching out some cracking wines – a couple of which will be making their way onto our small list soon. There were some real surprises too – wines which jumped out and grabbed you by the throat saying “don’t overlook me”!   White wines from the Rhône for example: nutty and peachy white St Joseph’s & Châteauneuf du Papes; a fine, spicy and tremendously characterful Gigondas from Domaine Santa Duc showing the classic white pepper and bramble jelly traits and of course the secret seafood wine of the Montpellier region is the delectably grapefruity Picpoul de Pinet. Oh, and rather than stay in a faceless Novotel in town, we elected to stay a 20 minute drive away from the exhibition centre in the quirkily historic fortified town on the edge of the Camargue, Aigues Mortes – a bit of a treat at the end of each day wearing out the shoe leather!

 

On into March and a trade tasting of Spanish wines in Nice – a day of tasting gutsy Ribera del Duero’s and raunchy Riojas meant that we ended the day looking like second rate vampires with stained teeth and ghoulish grins.  A particular favourite was a barrique aged Tempranillo called El Albar from Toro DO – a bouncing baby at 15% ABV – my notes reel off descriptions of “tobacco, plums, vanilla, stewed tea and leather” – sounds odd when you read it back but I rated it a cool 9 out of 10 – we shall be listing it soon.  Some of the Cava’s were a bit lean and mean though, and apart from our unabated loyalty for our lovely Vilmart champagne, I think my fizzy tipple would more likely be a Prosecco from Italy rather than a Cava….On the Spanish whites, my only other score of 9/10 went to a little known DO Montsant in Catalyuna for a sumptuous caramel oak and peachy affair from Grenache Blanc with a touch of apricoty Viognier – not a flimsy beast at 14.5%, but oh so beautifully balanced – superb!

 

Last but not least, and the thinking behind this blog’s title is a manic trip to the UK (driving thankfully, so no volcanic hold ups) to attend a 3 Day Professional Spirits course at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in London. We hope to add this course to our portfolio of course offerings next year but I wanted us to experience it first hand, to gain a greater insight into the weird world of Spirits and of course to taste a full range of them! We tasted 59 Spirits & Liqueurs over 2 ½ days and frankly, even though we spat everything out as we went along (believe me, you HAVE to!), you still imbibe a tiny amount of alcohol each time into your bloodstream through your gums.  V. glad we were on public transport and staying with friends in town – still got funny looks on the tube, though – stinking of brandy and pernod and goodness knows what else!  Fascinating though, but hard work – a brow furrowing challenge of tasting, evaluating and comparing 5 different Vodkas at 9.00am on Day 2 was daunting.  Eye-openers included understanding the different recipes for the various “botanicals” in Gins and realising that you really need a base spirit of 40% ABV to “carry” the aromas properly – no more Gordon’s or Bombay Sapphire for me – positively wishy wash when compared with say, Plymouth or Beefeater!  Aged golden Rums from the Caribbean were astounding – and remarkable value for money compared with some Cognacs and Armagnacs – the class winner was a stunner from Guyana, a Demerara 15 year old rum called El Dorado – we all struggled to spit that one out.  And on the downside, however necessary it is for making certain cocktails nothing, but nothing will make me think that Pisco is anything other than filthy!!

 

So our Spirits raised we are back on the Riviera (listening to the rain on the terrace..) and looking forward to continuing to take life “one sip at a time”.