Wine News, Wine events, Tastings: Tasting Room

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White is the new Armagnac

White is the new Armagnac Daily Mail -29th February 2008

Château de Millet Blanche £24.50,

Extremely robust, Millet tastes and smells like a Black Forest gâteau – the real thing, that is, not those frozen blocks you were fed as a child. Luxuriant notes of plum and black cherry make it ideal with caviar, charcuterie and foie gras – pretty much the staple diet of the whole of the Gascony region. Verdict Sour cherry notes. Serve frappé, in place of vodka, with dishes of smoked fish or caviar.

The last time we looked, Armagnac was brown and served with a cardigan. How things have changed. The traditional way to enjoy Armagnac is to swirl it endlessly in a balloon glass until everyone in the restaurant has left, the staff have all gone home and the manager is in tears. But the classic old buffer's drink is about to be reborn. Formerly known as an eau de vie, white Armagnac has been awarded an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée and is now called Blanche. The new breed of white Armagnacs are only aged for a year or two – which is why they're clear," explains Ben Brown (above), cocktail barman at London club Paper. "If you aged them in oak barrels, they would eventually turn brown, just like brandy.

Single Malt Whisky Tasting

SINGLE MALT WHISKY tasting

Friday 29^th February at 7.30pm

at the Tasting Room

£22 per head

There will be a range of single malt whiskies

showing the variation of types, regions, strengths and barrel finishes

Call asap and book your places (we will require full payment on booking)

as numbers are limited.

Cheers

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Royal Crescent Hotel Gourmet Wine Dinner

A truly wonderful event will be taking place at the

ROYAL CRESCENT HOTEL

A gourmet wine dinner featuring wines

from the Tasting Room

Wednesday 12^th March 2008

celebrating the finest that France has to offer

Click on this link to go to the Royal Crescent Hotel's Event page

for further details

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O Leary Walker Wine Tasting

We are very happy to welcome David OLeary......

David OLeary from the renowned Australian wine producer OLeary Walker will be here at the Tasting Room.

Based at Leasingham in the Clare Valley - this is a wonderful opportunity to meet one of the most progressive winemakers to appear out of Oz.

We currently list a number of wines from their portfolio but will be showing a more extensive range to taste on the evening of Friday 8^th, commencing at 5pm until 7.30pm. This tasting is free for members (£10 non-members). So if you are interested in meeting the winemaker and tasting his excellent range then please contact us to book a place

Country Living Magazine's Christmas Fair Top Ten

Country Living Christmas Fair

We've just returned from spending 5 busy days in London. We had the Bar Feature at this year's Country Living Magazine's Christmas Fair.

One word would describe it: MANIC

We've done the maths and here, in no particular order, are the gifts that were the 10 most popular from our stand at the show. (Click on the link to go to the product in question which opens on a new page and close page to return here):

Kingston Black - Somerset Cider Apple Brandy Aperitif £9.00
Glen Elgin - Cask Strength Single Malt Speyside Whisky 1991 £47.00
Bunnahabhain - Cask Strength Single Malt Islay Whisky 1997 £45.00
Caol Ila - Chill filtered Single Malt Islay Whisky 1996 £31.50
Armagnac 1988 - Chateau de Millet 70cl £32.00
Armagnac 1974 - Chateau de Millet 70cl £56.00
Edradour 10 year Old - Single Malt Whisky £32.50
Edradour Cream Liqueur - Single Malt Whisky and Cream Liqueur £13.50
Friar's Choice - Brandy based liqueur with honey and spices £17.95
Blanche d'Armagnac - Newly launched clear spirit from Ch. de Millet £24.50

I hope that this list easies your worries of what you should give them!

Cheers!

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Country Living Christmas Show

14th - 18th November

Next week we're piling into a large van and going up to London for 5 days. We'll be exhibiting at the Country Living Christmas Fair

We're not taking wine however, BUT we are taking:

Vintage Armagnac
La Blanche d’Armagnac
Malt Whiskies
Mead Liqueur
Sloe Liqueur
Port
Rum
Cognac
Grappa

So come and see us. We'll be the Bar Feature in the Pavilion.

Cheers!

Our New Gift Brochure

The Tasting Room Gift Brochure is out now

Our Gift Brochure has arrived from the printers and is available in hard copy if you come into the shop or as a downloadable PDF from our website. It contains some excellent ideas for presents, whether they might be for work colleagues, favourite customers, Auntie Maggie, mad cousin Keith or in fact anybody who might enjoy some alcohol.

We can send the goods out packed in wooden boxes or cardboard packages direct to the recipient or to any address on the UK mainland or indeed they can be collected from the shop.

You can download the Brochure and its all-important accompanying Order Form, which includes the prices, from the website by clicking here. They're both in PDF

Blog Site News & Images

Read more about our news and recent tastings on our blog site...

http://tastingroom.blogspot.com

Royal Bath and West Show

After glorious weather while we were setting up our stall at the Bath and West Show, we arrived (soon after dawn broke) the next morning feeling it was more like an early February day. Cold and very wet. Great start. We were in a group of stalls under the "Best of Bath and Northeast Somerset" umbrella(!) Read more

VINEXPO - Will's trip - June 2007

Will has just got back from his trip to France. He spent 2 days at VINEXPO, the major annual wine trade fair in Bordeaux. This was a convenient opportunity to meet up with some of our existing winemakers:

Gilles Ferran from Domaine des Escaravailles in the Rhone, Pierre Jacolin from his domaine near Menetou-Salon and also Jean-Louis Trocard from Bordeaux to name a few. Jean-Louis put on a fantastic boat trip with dinner on board for fifty guests. A three hour trip which coincided with an electrical storm over the city. Jean-Louis had just lost about 30% of his vine crop in one of his vineyards from a storm a few days before, so while Will was enjoying the hospitality, J-L was looking a bit anxious. He did tell us that the reason why his son, Benoit, was looking rather pleased, however, was that his (Benoit's) property, Clos Dubreuil, had just been named in the top 3 domains in a St. Emilion tasting at VINEXPO.

Hen Party Culture

A couple of years ago, if anybody had thought of mentioning that we, as a wine importing business, would be soon thriving on the hen party circuit, we would have laughed and perhaps shuddered a little.

Hen parties don’t do wine tasting, do they? Hen parties drink, yes, get rowdy and all the rest of it, surely. A ‘veiled’ excuse, if you excuse the pun, for a binge session and woe betide your soft furnishings and ornaments in your establishment.

Well, that is what we thought then. Read more...

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Ifor and Cash in the Attic

I mentioned a few weeks back that Ifor had been filmed during a tasting for the popular Cash in the Attic programme.

This Week's Top 10 Shop Sellers

As usual a very mixed range of wines. The Rose Champagne sneaked into the list due, no doubt, to the local romantics!

So in no particular order, here are the wines that were the 10 most popular from the shop. (Click on the link to go to the wine in question which opens on a new page and close page to return here):

Pic St Loup - Ch. de Valflaunes - Esperance. Red £8.95
Cotes du Rhone - Dom. de Boissan - Princes d'Orange. Red £6.95
St. Chinian - Dom de Gabelas - Tradition. Red £5.95
Bandol - Dom Gros Nore - Rouge 2000 £14.95
St. Emilion, Bordeaux - Ch. Franc La Rose Grand Cru Red £14.95
Mentou Salon, Loire - Dom. Pierre Jacolin White £8.95
Jurancon - Dom. Clos Thou - Cuvee Julie (sweet) White £8.95 (50cl)
Champagne - Michel Weynand Premier Cru Rose £19.50
Macon Villages - - Domaine Auvigue - Le Moulin du Pont White £6.95
Mixed case of 6 - from our "6 for £36" bucket (normal price £41.70) £36

Cheers!

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Local Free Delivery

Free Local Delivery

For all orders and deliveries in the BA1 and BA2 postcodes Tasting Room is now operating a free delivery service - once the order has been processed we will be in contact to arrange delivery at a convenient time.

New Spanish Reds - Sept 2006

We have just added two exciting new growers to our list of Spanish suppliers. We've taken rich and rewarding reds from Joan Sangenis and Bodegas y Vinedos Valle de Salinas at great value. Just right for the Autumn evenings ahead.

We had heard good reports of the suppliers for a while but took the opportunity to visit them whilst on a long weekend break a few months ago. We recommend that you try one of these great value reds.

Feedback from some of our clients

When collating the information for this site we received two comments from existing clients that we want to share with you:

"Will Baber carefully sources wines from individual estates of character and interest – and we have been delighted to list a number of these wines at Monachyle Mhor."

Tom Lewis – Monachyle Mhor Hotel, Balquidder, Stirling - Chef/ Proprietor
(BBC Great British Menus – Cooking for the Queen’S 80th birthday.)

"The great selection from Will Baber has complimented our food and service and the personal advice and attention to detail has evolved into a true friendship – he also has the same trials and tribulations throughout the football season as I. "

Marcus Ashenford – Five North Street. Winchcombe – Michelin 1* Chef/ Proprietor.

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