The other day I noticed a local chef endorsing a set of wine glasses in one of our local newspapers, and at first I wondered why, or perhaps more specifically, why a chef? Certainly in the UK or the USA wine glasses would probably be promoted by a wine expert or wine journalist, a group of people who have now become well-known personalities in their own right. So why would the Galician press want to use a local chef (despite his Michelin star)?….. and then it dawned on me!

In the UK there are many wine journalists that regularly appear on television, whereas here in Spain, to the best of my knowledge, they simply don’t. The same applies to TV chefs. Cookery programmes in the UK are now so popular that some top chefs are never off our screens, and the States also has quite a number of famous TV personalities from within the food industry. By contrast there is simply no such thing as a celebrity wine critic here in Spain – yes, there are a number of well-known writers (such as José Peñin for example), but we simply don’t see them appearing on our TV screens, and therefore they are not familiar faces to the public at large.

One final thought. In the food industry it is often the chefs themselves, in other words the people who actually cook the food, who achieve fame and notoriety on TV, whereas in the wine industry it is rarely the winemakers, but more often the journalists and writers who become the familiar faces. Strange but true.

The other day I noticed a local chef endorsing a set of wine glasses in one of our local newspapers, and at first I wondered why, or perhaps more specifically, why a chef? Certainly in the UK or the USA wine glasses would probably be promoted by a wine expert or wine journalist, a group of people who have now become well-known personalities in their own right. So why would the Galician press want to use a local chef (despite his Michelin star)?….. and then it dawned on me!

In the UK there are many wine journalists that regularly appear on television, whereas here in Spain, to the best of my knowledge, they simply don’t. The same applies to TV chefs. Cookery programmes in the UK are now so popular that some top chefs are never off our screens, and the States also has quite a number of famous TV personalities from within the food industry. By contrast there is simply no such thing as a celebrity wine critic here in Spain – yes, there are a number of well-known writers (such as José Peñin for example), but we simply don’t see them appearing on our TV screens, and therefore they are not familiar faces to the public at large.

One final thought. In the food industry it is often the chefs themselves, in other words the people who actually cook the food, who achieve fame and notoriety on TV, whereas in the wine industry it is rarely the winemakers, but more often the journalists and writers who become the familiar faces. Strange but true.

Every few months we used to receive an attractive, professionally presented food and wine magazine called Spain Gourmetour. It was produced and distributed free of charge by ICEX, the Spanish Government trade office. The printing of this magazine has now “been suppressed” – no reason was given, but I have absolutely no doubt that it is down to budget cuts. Gourmetour and its accompanying website have now been replaced by a new website called Foods from Spain.

As the name implies this new site is all about the foods (and wine) from the different provinces of Spain, and includes information and recipes from around the country. As you might expect the recipes include wine pairing suggestions, albeit that the real detail of Spanish wine is covered on their sister website…. Wines from Spain (they must have spent hours deliberating over that name!) Believe me, there’s a lot of really useful information to be gleaned from both the food and wine sites, and I would recommend that you add them to your list of favourite tourism web pages too.

For example, if your looking for somewhere to eat there is a page listing some of Spain’s best Chefs, and consequently, their restaurants. It comes as no surprise that my own personal favourite here in Galicia is included on the list. Pepe Vieira, with its fabulous Chef/Proprietor Xosé Cannas. Don’t forget to pay them a visit when you’re next in the area, and tell them that I sent you! Their restaurant is a bit off the beaten track, hidden in the hills above Raxo (mid way between Pontevedra and Sanxenxo), but I can assure you, it’s well worth the detour.

Every few months we used to receive an attractive, professionally presented food and wine magazine called Spain Gourmetour. It was produced and distributed free of charge by ICEX, the Spanish Government trade office. The printing of this magazine has now “been suppressed” – no reason was given, but I have absolutely no doubt that it is down to budget cuts. Gourmetour and its accompanying website have now been replaced by a new website called Foods from Spain.

As the name implies this new site is all about the foods (and wine) from the different provinces of Spain, and includes information and recipes from around the country. As you might expect the recipes include wine pairing suggestions, albeit that the real detail of Spanish wine is covered on their sister website…. Wines from Spain (they must have spent hours deliberating over that name!) Believe me, there’s a lot of really useful information to be gleaned from both the food and wine sites, and I would recommend that you add them to your list of favourite tourism web pages too.

For example, if your looking for somewhere to eat there is a page listing some of Spain’s best Chefs, and consequently, their restaurants. It comes as no surprise that my own personal favourite here in Galicia is included on the list. Pepe Vieira, with its fabulous Chef/Proprietor Xosé Cannas. Don’t forget to pay them a visit when you’re next in the area, and tell them that I sent you! Their restaurant is a bit off the beaten track, hidden in the hills above Raxo (mid way between Pontevedra and Sanxenxo), but I can assure you, it’s well worth the detour.

I remember once, many years ago, going to a summer evening dinner party at a friend’s house in London. He lived in a very good area, in a very nice house, and I thought he knew a bit about wine, so accordingly, I turned up at his door with a nice bottle in my hand. In fact, more than 20 years on, I still remember what the wine was….. a Pouilly Fumé from Domaine de Ladoucette (sorry, I don’t remember the vintage). To cut yet another long story short, it turned out that some of his guests enjoyed rather good ‘spritzers’ as an aperitif – he had diluted this beautiful wine with sparkling water and served it pre-dinner!

You might know that I am a bit of a purist when it comes to wine. For example, I prefer my Chablis (and my Albariño) without oak, and cringe at the thought of adding orange juice to Champagne. I don’t really like Cava, and I have to say that I think I would even baulk at the idea of adding OJ to Spain’s favourite sparkling wine. I just don’t believe in mixing a good wine with anything. What’s the point?

However, the other day I discovered a new product (new to me at least) that takes this idea to a new level – Chocovine! Yes, as the name implies it is a blend of red wine, cream and chocolate! Created in Holland it is apparently very popular, and its’ website claims that it is the number one selling chocolate wine in the United States. This claim makes me wonder, how many chocolate wines are there on the market? Perhaps I have been living with my head in a bucket, but I have never seen or heard of this product before.

Now, I do know that a robust red Zinfandel, or perhaps a powerful Cabernet Sauvignon might sit well with a bittersweet chocolate dessert, but the idea of actually blending them together makes my stomach turn. I’ll just stick to a nice glass of Sauternes with my Christmas dessert, or perhaps even a nice moscatel from Spain.

I remember once, many years ago, going to a summer evening dinner party at a friend’s house in London. He lived in a very good area, in a very nice house, and I thought he knew a bit about wine, so accordingly, I turned up at his door with a nice bottle in my hand. In fact, more than 20 years on, I still remember what the wine was….. a Pouilly Fumé from Domaine de Ladoucette (sorry, I don’t remember the vintage). To cut yet another long story short, it turned out that some of his guests enjoyed rather good ‘spritzers’ as an aperitif – he had diluted this beautiful wine with sparkling water and served it pre-dinner!

You might know that I am a bit of a purist when it comes to wine. For example, I prefer my Chablis (and my Albariño) without oak, and cringe at the thought of adding orange juice to Champagne. I don’t really like Cava, and I have to say that I think I would even baulk at the idea of adding OJ to Spain’s favourite sparkling wine. I just don’t believe in mixing a good wine with anything. What’s the point?

However, the other day I discovered a new product (new to me at least) that takes this idea to a new level – Chocovine! Yes, as the name implies it is a blend of red wine, cream and chocolate! Created in Holland it is apparently very popular, and its’ website claims that it is the number one selling chocolate wine in the United States. This claim makes me wonder, how many chocolate wines are there on the market? Perhaps I have been living with my head in a bucket, but I have never seen or heard of this product before.

Now, I do know that a robust red Zinfandel, or perhaps a powerful Cabernet Sauvignon might sit well with a bittersweet chocolate dessert, but the idea of actually blending them together makes my stomach turn. I’ll just stick to a nice glass of Sauternes with my Christmas dessert, or perhaps even a nice moscatel from Spain.

Believe it or not I am very careful about healthy eating, and certain treats are only ever eaten in moderation…. except once a year on my birthday! A month or two ago I wrote about our favourite local restaurant Tio Benito (Uncle Benito’s) where not only is the food great value for money, but the desserts are truly to die for. My favourite of all is the oven baked cheesecake – simply delicious!

A week or so ago was it was my birthday (that co-incidentally falls on a national holiday in Spain, unfortunately not in recognition of my special day). Late that morning Angela suddenly appeared in her running gear and announced that she was going out for a jog. A bit unusual, but not completely unheard of – I thought nothing of it. About 40 minutes later she re-appeared carrying a most unexpected birthday treat; a whole, freshly-baked cheesecake, still warm from the oven. She had arranged with the restaurant to make on extra for me. (By the way, Angela went by car and did not run the 15km to the restaurant!)

I rushed to find a bottle of Champagne in the cellar and quickly jammed it into the freezer (actually not a bad way to chill Champagne). I have no idea where this particular bottle came from, it was certainly not a Marque that I would normally buy, but to be honest the star of the show on this occasion was the cheesecake anyway.

Believe it or not I am very careful about healthy eating, and certain treats are only ever eaten in moderation…. except once a year on my birthday! A month or two ago I wrote about our favourite local restaurant Tio Benito (Uncle Benito’s) where not only is the food great value for money, but the desserts are truly to die for. My favourite of all is the oven baked cheesecake – simply delicious!

A week or so ago was it was my birthday (that co-incidentally falls on a national holiday in Spain, unfortunately not in recognition of my special day). Late that morning Angela suddenly appeared in her running gear and announced that she was going out for a jog. A bit unusual, but not completely unheard of – I thought nothing of it. About 40 minutes later she re-appeared carrying a most unexpected birthday treat; a whole, freshly-baked cheesecake, still warm from the oven. She had arranged with the restaurant to make on extra for me. (By the way, Angela went by car and did not run the 15km to the restaurant!)

I rushed to find a bottle of Champagne in the cellar and quickly jammed it into the freezer (actually not a bad way to chill Champagne). I have no idea where this particular bottle came from, it was certainly not a Marque that I would normally buy, but to be honest the star of the show on this occasion was the cheesecake anyway.

 The festival of San Juan is the celebration of midsummer’s day here in Spain. It’s slightly complicated in that midsummer’s day does not actually fall on the day of the summer solstice, which was four days ago on 20th June. You would be forgiven for thinking that the longest day in the northern hemisphere might also be the same as midsummer’s day, but not so…. To complicate matters slightly further the celebrations are not actually held on the actual Festivo of San Juan (24th), but on the evening of the 23rd. Bonfires, fire and water are the main features of the night, and according to tradition, if people jump three times over a bonfire on San Juan’s night, they will be cleansed and purified, and their problems burned away. 

Midsummer tradition is especially strong in northern areas of the country, such as here in Galicia, where pagan beliefs are widespread. Towards midnight bonfires are lit and when relatively safe, people jump over the fire shouting “meigas fora” (witches off!). The traditional drink is Queimada, made from a mix of Galician aguardiente, sugar, coffee beans and pieces of fruit. This is then set alight to ward off evil spirits.

Here on the coast the traditional food at this celebration is grilled sardines. Not only is it impossible to get the smell of burnt fish out of your clothes and hair, but the odour of fish and smoke still hangs in the air the following day!

The festival of San Juan is the celebration of midsummer’s day here in Spain. It’s slightly complicated in that midsummer’s day does not actually fall on the day of the summer solstice, which was four days ago on 20th June. You would be forgiven for thinking that the longest day in the northern hemisphere might also be the same as midsummer’s day, but not so…. To complicate matters slightly further the celebrations are not actually held on the actual Festivo of San Juan (24th), but on the evening of the 23rd. Bonfires, fire and water are the main features of the night, and according to tradition, if people jump three times over a bonfire on San Juan’s night, they will be cleansed and purified, and their problems burned away. 

Midsummer tradition is especially strong in northern areas of the country, such as here in Galicia, where pagan beliefs are widespread. Towards midnight bonfires are lit and when relatively safe, people jump over the fire shouting “meigas fora” (witches off!). The traditional drink is Queimada, made from a mix of Galician aguardiente, sugar, coffee beans and pieces of fruit. This is then set alight to ward off evil spirits.

Here on the coast the traditional food at this celebration is grilled sardines. Not only is it impossible to get the smell of burnt fish out of your clothes and hair, but the odour of fish and smoke still hangs in the air the following day!

You might be forgiven for thinking that the most famous thing about the village of Barrantes are its traffic lights (about 5 sets in the space of 200 metres – not synchronised), but you’d be wrong. Excluding Bodegas Castro Martin (that is not actually located in the village itself), there is a small family restaurant called O Tìo Benito, which loosely translated means With Uncle Benito, or perhaps At the table of Uncle Benito. Described in our local press recently as a ‘temple of cooking with a common touch’.

Clearly, when we’re working, we usually don’t have time to take lunch outside the bodega, but if we did, this would certainly be at the top of our list for local dining. Now, I’m not suggesting that this is a Michelin starred restaurant, but when it comes to honest, down-to-earth, great home cooking, then this is certainly the place to go. Run by Camilo Lojo, his wife Saladina and daughter Irene, this local landmark was established almost 40 years ago, and I swear that people have been queuing to get in ever since! I should tell you that the place is always packed (with locals rather than tourists), which is always the true indicator of good quality and value. Indeed, in my many years travelling the world as a buyer, I would always make a point of actively seeking out the small local restaurants that were overflowing with local people….. I have rarely had a bad meal working on this basis.

Tìo Benito is a place that we use to take visitors for lunch, so that they can savor the village atmosphere as well as it’s typical food. Famed for it’s Cod, Octopus, Cocido and other local dishes it has a fixed menu, and several other dishes that are rotated on a daily basis. It is also well-known for its award winning Tinto de Barrantes – the local wine that is guaranteed to stain you teeth a deep red colour. I’m afraid to admit that this is not my favourite tipple. On the other hand however, my personal recommendation is the selection of freshly homemade desserts, most especially the oven baked cheesecake, which is often still warm from the oven when it is served – heaven! I love this so much that Angela will often buy a whole one for me in place of a birthday cake. I don’t eat it in one sitting, but it certainly doesn’t last too long, and I only share it with others very grudgingly (typical old git that I am!)

We are currently slotting an oven and hotplate into our tiny kitchen in the Bodega, and I will write more about this later, but in the meantime we will have to settle for the table of our Uncle Benito.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the most famous thing about the village of Barrantes are its traffic lights (about 5 sets in the space of 200 metres – not synchronised), but you’d be wrong. Excluding Bodegas Castro Martin (that is not actually located in the village itself), there is a small family restaurant called O Tìo Benito, which loosely translated means With Uncle Benito, or perhaps At the table of Uncle Benito. Described in our local press recently as a ‘temple of cooking with a common touch’.

Clearly, when we’re working, we usually don’t have time to take lunch outside the bodega, but if we did, this would certainly be at the top of our list for local dining. Now, I’m not suggesting that this is a Michelin starred restaurant, but when it comes to honest, down-to-earth, great home cooking, then this is certainly the place to go. Run by Camilo Lojo, his wife Saladina and daughter Irene, this local landmark was established almost 40 years ago, and I swear that people have been queuing to get in ever since! I should tell you that the place is always packed (with locals rather than tourists), which is always the true indicator of good quality and value. Indeed, in my many years travelling the world as a buyer, I would always make a point of actively seeking out the small local restaurants that were overflowing with local people….. I have rarely had a bad meal working on this basis.

Tìo Benito is a place that we use to take visitors for lunch, so that they can savor the village atmosphere as well as it’s typical food. Famed for it’s Cod, Octopus, Cocido and other local dishes it has a fixed menu, and several other dishes that are rotated on a daily basis. It is also well-known for its award winning Tinto de Barrantes – the local wine that is guaranteed to stain you teeth a deep red colour. I’m afraid to admit that this is not my favourite tipple. On the other hand however, my personal recommendation is the selection of freshly homemade desserts, most especially the oven baked cheesecake, which is often still warm from the oven when it is served – heaven! I love this so much that Angela will often buy a whole one for me in place of a birthday cake. I don’t eat it in one sitting, but it certainly doesn’t last too long, and I only share it with others very grudgingly (typical old git that I am!)

We are currently slotting an oven and hotplate into our tiny kitchen in the Bodega, and I will write more about this later, but in the meantime we will have to settle for the table of our Uncle Benito.

As a bit of a foodie one of my favourite channels on TV is the Food Network, and very recently there’s a new programme that’s caught my eye. It’s called Meat & Potatoes (although not so much about the potatoes). The ex-chef and cattle rancher Rahm Fama presents the show and spends his time trawling all the best meat restaurants of the U.S. Now, I can tell you from my own experience that if you ever visit a steak house in the U.S. be warned, in fact, don’t eat for at least three days before you go. The portions are usually enormous (by European standards), the steaks are like door steps and are enough to feed your whole family for a week!

Well, there’s now some bad news for all you carnivores out there – those dreaded researchers have been at it again. They now claim that eating even small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami on a regular basis can increase the likelihood of dying early by a fifth, and eating steak increases the risk of early death by 12%. The study by the Harvard School of Medicine found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.

In reality this is nothing new, because it’s apparently down to the amount of salt (in the case of processed meats) and saturated fats. Replacing red meat with poultry, fish or vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods cut the risk of dying by up to one fifth – again, nothing new. Either way, it looks like the health police look set to terrorise meat-lovers into submission….. Sorry, I have to finish now, I’m just off to enjoy my Full English Breakfast!

As a bit of a foodie one of my favourite channels on TV is the Food Network, and very recently there’s a new programme that’s caught my eye. It’s called Meat & Potatoes (although not so much about the potatoes). The ex-chef and cattle rancher Rahm Fama presents the show and spends his time trawling all the best meat restaurants of the U.S. Now, I can tell you from my own experience that if you ever visit a steak house in the U.S. be warned, in fact, don’t eat for at least three days before you go. The portions are usually enormous (by European standards), the steaks are like door steps and are enough to feed your whole family for a week!

Well, there’s now some bad news for all you carnivores out there – those dreaded researchers have been at it again. They now claim that eating even small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami on a regular basis can increase the likelihood of dying early by a fifth, and eating steak increases the risk of early death by 12%. The study by the Harvard School of Medicine found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.

In reality this is nothing new, because it’s apparently down to the amount of salt (in the case of processed meats) and saturated fats. Replacing red meat with poultry, fish or vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods cut the risk of dying by up to one fifth – again, nothing new. Either way, it looks like the health police look set to terrorise meat-lovers into submission….. Sorry, I have to finish now, I’m just off to enjoy my Full English Breakfast!

No, it’s not the title of a new Gene Pitney song (although that might be difficult as he passed away almost exactly six years ago). It’s actually the time that it took for my meat to arrive from Aberdeen!

Here in Pontevedra there are some things that money just can’t buy…. Scottish beef, pork sausages, rack of lamb, Barbary duck to name but a few. Of course you can find one or two reasonable alternatives, but just occasionally you have to push the boat out and treat yourself to the real McCoy (no, that’s not a rare breed of Scottish beef).

When I was in England at Christmas I found a fabulous online butcher, Donald Russell, who deliver all around the UK. I had a rib of beef sent to my sister’s house so that I could cook a traditional roast lunch for her and her husband. The meat was fantastic, but at that time it didn’t even cross my mind that this butcher might be able to do international delivery. The great news for me is that they do, and so I trawled their website looking for all the things that I can’t buy easily in this remote corner of Galicia. Once a month a courier service collects all the meat orders for Spain – shock frozen and packed in dry ice. 25 hours later they’re in your home freezer….. a very impressive and efficient service.

It was just as well that I had one completely empty freezer, because it’s not any more. All I have to do now is get cooking.

No, it’s not the title of a new Gene Pitney song (although that might be difficult as he passed away almost exactly six years ago). It’s actually the time that it took for my meat to arrive from Aberdeen!

Here in Pontevedra there are some things that money just can’t buy…. Scottish beef, pork sausages, rack of lamb, Barbary duck to name but a few. Of course you can find one or two reasonable alternatives, but just occasionally you have to push the boat out and treat yourself to the real McCoy (no, that’s not a rare breed of Scottish beef).

When I was in England at Christmas I found a fabulous online butcher, Donald Russell, who deliver all around the UK. I had a rib of beef sent to my sister’s house so that I could cook a traditional roast lunch for her and her husband. The meat was fantastic, but at that time it didn’t even cross my mind that this butcher might be able to do international delivery. The great news for me is that they do, and so I trawled their website looking for all the things that I can’t buy easily in this remote corner of Galicia. Once a month a courier service collects all the meat orders for Spain – shock frozen and packed in dry ice. 25 hours later they’re in your home freezer….. a very impressive and efficient service.

It was just as well that I had one completely empty freezer, because it’s not any more. All I have to do now is get cooking.

It’s always really nice when a private customer takes the time to write to us to tell us how much they enjoyed drinking our wine. For me this is much better than any gold medal at any wine competition. As I have always maintained, it is the end consumer that really counts – if they really like our wine and come back to buy it again, that is the greatest accolade that we can ever have.

This photo was taken by one such customer here in Spain, who as you can see enjoyed his Christmas meal with fresh oysters washed down by a lovely, refreshing glass of Casal Caeiro. To quote him, he said it was the “perfect marriage”…. Indeed, when we are tasting with customers at various wine fairs around the world, I always say that the only thing we are missing is a plate of fresh oysters to go with the wine!

I have to quickly add that oysters are really not the most photogenic of foods – it’s no wonder that some people are put off just by looking at them. I have however, no doubt that they were absolutely delicious.

It’s always really nice when a private customer takes the time to write to us to tell us how much they enjoyed drinking our wine. For me this is much better than any gold medal at any wine competition. As I have always maintained, it is the end consumer that really counts – if they really like our wine and come back to buy it again, that is the greatest accolade that we can ever have.

This photo was taken by one such customer here in Spain, who as you can see enjoyed his Christmas meal with fresh oysters washed down by a lovely, refreshing glass of Casal Caeiro. To quote him, he said it was the “perfect marriage”…. Indeed, when we are tasting with customers at various wine fairs around the world, I always say that the only thing we are missing is a plate of fresh oysters to go with the wine!

I have to quickly add that oysters are really not the most photogenic of foods – it’s no wonder that some people are put off just by looking at them. I have however, no doubt that they were absolutely delicious.

In France the English are affectionately known as ‘Les Rosbifs’, which is probably fair enough, as we often refer to them as the ‘Frogs’. Of course both of these ‘friendly’ nicknames are determined by our respective eating habits – the English love of Roast Beef, and the French love of eating anything that moves (and a lot of things that don’t)! I suppose it could be worse, at least we’re not known as ‘Les Poissons et Frites’…….

Anyway, the subject of my post for today is the New Year treat that I gave myself yesterday, on New Year’s Day. I bought myself a Rib of Beef (which is much easier said than done in this land of ‘ternera’), and cooked it with all the usual English trimmings – crispy roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, a rich dark gravy and a jar of horseradish sauce (that I actually acquired on my recent visit to New York!)

Just to relate this anecdote to the wine business, the gravy was made with just a hint of Madeira, and the whole meal was washed down with a bottle of Chateau Palmer 1986 – yes, you are reading correctly, a 25 year old bottle of Margaux, that was just delicious. (It’s perhaps a bit odd to think that this wine was harvested 5 or 6 years before the birth of our daughter who was sitting at the table with us).

The other English connection is that Chateau Palmer itself was bought and owned by an British Army General, Charles Palmer, in the early 19th century, and since 1938 it has been part-owned by the Sichel family – Bordeaux Merchants for generations, but a family with a very strong English connections. Indeed, it was Charles Sichel who originally gifted me this bottle more than 10 years ago.

And finally, simply allow me to wish everyone visiting our site and/or our blog a very happy and prosperous New Year.

In France the English are affectionately known as ‘Les Rosbifs’, which is probably fair enough, as we often refer to them as the ‘Frogs’. Of course both of these ‘friendly’ nicknames are determined by our respective eating habits – the English love of Roast Beef, and the French love of eating anything that moves (and a lot of things that don’t)! I suppose it could be worse, at least we’re not known as ‘Les Poissons et Frites’…….

Anyway, the subject of my post for today is the New Year treat that I gave myself yesterday, on New Year’s Day. I bought myself a Rib of Beef (which is much easier said than done in this land of ‘ternera’), and cooked it with all the usual English trimmings – crispy roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, a rich dark gravy and a jar of horseradish sauce (that I actually acquired on my recent visit to New York!)

Just to relate this anecdote to the wine business, the gravy was made with just a hint of Madeira, and the whole meal was washed down with a bottle of Chateau Palmer 1986 – yes, you are reading correctly, a 25 year old bottle of Margaux, that was just delicious. (It’s perhaps a bit odd to think that this wine was harvested 5 or 6 years before the birth of our daughter who was sitting at the table with us).

The other English connection is that Chateau Palmer itself was bought and owned by an British Army General, Charles Palmer, in the early 19th century, and since 1938 it has been part-owned by the Sichel family – Bordeaux Merchants for generations, but a family with a very strong English connections. Indeed, it was Charles Sichel who originally gifted me this bottle more than 10 years ago.

And finally, simply allow me to wish everyone visiting our site and/or our blog a very happy and prosperous New Year.