Just a short note to tell you all of some of our great new arrivals, now available online.

From France we have sourced some excellent wines from the Loire as well as from Rhone. Domaine Jean-Jacques Bardin produces superb Sancerre’s, red, white and rose. The rose is a stunner! Domaine Barillot’s Pouilly Fume is a real find too. Great character and aromas to this wine.

From the Rhone Valley we have stumbled upon an excellent producer of small quantity Cotes du Ventoux and Chateauneuf du Pape. Juliette Avril’s wines are elegant, refind and ultra-classy! We are extremely impressed with Avril’s Cotes du Ventoux -  ”Le Ventoux”.

From Argentina, further expanding our great range we are now listing two great Malbec blends from Colome. Colome is the newest estate being listed under the Hess label. Donald Hess has a tremendous knack of sourcing great wines for his growing wine company. These two wines, Amalaya and Colome Estate Blend are further examples of Argentina striving forward with quality, complex interesting wines as well as great value for money.

We hope that you enjoy them all!

Well if you are in the wedding spirit and were in Lewes last week, hopefully you made it to Lewes Town Hall’s Wedding Fair.

Superbly organised by the energetic Catherine Anderson, big thanks to her for all the efforts. On display were some superb wedding gowns and dresses of a bespoke design. Wedding cakes, photographers, a harpist,, shoes from The Shoe Queen and florists - great designs by the superb Hilary Moore of Lewes!

We were sampling of course. Some cheeky little wines of a nice price as well as displaying some great Spiegelau glassware, Dom Perignon, Breaky Bottom and some fine wines from France & Italy. On tasting were reds & whites from La Lande Vin de Pay’s/France and Campo Nuevo/Navarra in Spain. Really good juicy, drinking wines for only £5.95 each.

Additionally we tasted some excellent Champagne Truffles from Hope & Greenwood of London. We enjoyed them so much that, watch this space, they will be on our website pretty soon hopefully.

Weddings though, phew they can get a bit expensive!!

The Eastbourne Food & Wine School are delighted to now announce the dates and prices for the 2nd semester of their gourmet events.

All events are to be held on Tuesday’s now with a start time of as close to 7pm as possible. Classic Spanish food and Spanish Wines on 14th October 2008 @ £30.00 per ticket. Classic Pork Dishes and wines to match on 20th January 2009 @ £30.00 per ticket, Classic French Food and French Wines on 10th March @ £30.00 per ticket and The Gourmet Supper Event on 16th June @ £55.00 per ticket.

All evenings are held at The Culinary Arts Facility, Darley Road, Meads, Eastbourne. Once again all dishes are being presented by our galloping gourmet chef Steve Dennis and all wines are presented by and available from, The Sussex Wine Company.

We look forward to seeing you all there again soon.

]]> http://sussexinthecellar.co.uk/2008/07/29/the-eastbourne-food-wine-school-2nd-semester/feed/ sussexinthecellar http://sussexinthecellar.co.uk/2008/07/21/the-sussex-wine-club/ http://sussexinthecellar.co.uk/2008/07/21/the-sussex-wine-club/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:45:40 +0000 sussexinthecellar http://sussexinthecellar.wordpress.com/?p=45

Why join a wine club? Well there are various reasons that might tempt you to join our (any) wine club. One of the main reasons is that choosing wines can be tricky, especially if you are not completely aware of wines, grapes and styles. As an independent wine merchant we build our reputation on good advice, you like what we suggest so you come back and a relationship is built around trust!

Additionally, independent wine merchants can and do offer great wines that are not mass produced but are also reasonably priced. If you do enjoy a good wine, don’t wish to pay the earth but don’t want to buy something that is mass produced then there’s another good reason why to join a wine club. As a bi-product of non mass-produced wines, wines from small producers also tend to contain far less SO2 levels and over all chemical components. Many mass-produced and branded wines contain very very high levels of chemicals, especially SO2. Why is it that alcohol (wine) is the only consumable product available to buy in the UK with no list of ingredients?

There are a few more reasons which we shall highlight also. Many of us now have such little time and already shop online. This saves us additional effort and in-turn does create fewer car journeys, which is better all round. One big factor too is that you do save money. By joining our wine club we save you 10% at least on the mixed cases that you receive, most clubs offer a similar deal!

So in summing up here a few points - Saving you money, saving you the hastle and time, personally selected wines chosen to your specifications, better quality of wines with fewer chemicals and also don’t forget you can call us at any time to amend your case as you see fit.

Happy Sipping!

A hot debate indeed. It now appears that the “old guard” of France especially those of Fine Bordeaux & Burgundy are open to the concept! Having turned away in disgust for many years, the proprietors of Burgundy’s famous Domaine de la Romanee Conti (DRC) as well as Paul Pontallier of Chateau Margaux are now looking seriously into the screwcap closure as opposed to traditional cork.

Heresay some might say but it is fact that 10-15% of all wines bottled under cork end up corked/musty and tainted when we open them. Imagine spending £100 on a classic wine, savouring, nurturing it for years when at last the right occassion arises, only to find it is corked!

As a retailer we now find that roughly 75% of all our wines that retail for less than £10 are already in screwcap, both the new world and the old world. The barrier of fine wines is also now being crossed, not everywhere but it is creeping through. It does appear that screwcap closures can allow the slow breathing for maturation that a fine wine needs to reach its peak over several or indeed many years of cellaring.

We are interested to hear your comments, your thoughts on the matter. Should wines above a certain price remain in cork for that wonderful pop upon opening or should all make way for the cleaner more modern approach of the screwcap?

Classic Wines of Spain has now sold out.

We are still taking bookings for our fantastic Portfolio event in November (date to be confirmed), from 6.30pm - 9.30pm at The Brasserie in The Needlemakers of Lewes. £25 per ticket, 50 places available. Come and join us for an evening or gourmet food and your chance to try a huge selection of wines from our list.

Another extremely successful night run by the Eastbourne Food & Wine School at The Culinary Arts Facility, Brighton University.

As a culmination of the first set of 5 evenings, an Argentinean Gourmet Supper was held. Steve Dennis, our resident chef prepared in front of all, a wonderful 3 course Argentinean supper. Wines to match from The Sussex Wine Company.

First course, wine of-course! Canai Sparkling Brut NV, an easy drinking quaffable sparkling wine that went down extremely well!! First food course was a Soup Puerto Madryn, a fish stock soup laced in sumptuous seafood and fish, matched beautifully with Crios Torrontes from Susana Balbo. An aromatic wine of power, weight and elegance, matching the slight spice of the soup very well indeed.

To follow was grilled Medallions of Beef Chimi-Churri, chilli butter sauce. The beef was sourced locally by Steve and was magnificent, eaten rare with the fantastic grilled chilled butter, what a treat! The beef was matched with two wines. First Estaciones de Valle Gouguenheim Shiraz followed by Juan Benegas Malbec. Both wines went down well but the Malbec was drained of every drop. A massive wine yet elegance and matching the beef to perfection.

Last course, Pancakes with caramelised Pears in “Dulce Leche”. This was like eating a warm melted Caramac Bar, pure sugar rich heaven. Now let me tell you, trying to find an Argentinean dessert wine to match with this dish was not an easy task. However we did find a cracker - Santa Faustino Tardio Noble, unusual sweetness more akin to some kind of mild fortification but due to the grapes of late harvest Torrontes and Tocai. A proven perfect combination as every bottle was drained dry!!

For the hardiest amongst us, a few beers were sank afterwards at the local pub, so a fab night was had by all. A very very special thanks to everyone involved in making this a superb night - Steve Dennis, Tony Speigal, Sam and Linda!

Next Eastbourne Food & Wine School events are being penned in for:

1. October: Spanish theme
2. January: Pork and
3. March: French theme.

See you all there!

Georgie & Ben

One of the main reasons that we love Italian wines so much is that their production is mainly geared around indigenous grape varieties. Not only indigenous to Italy but many are local to specific regions.

For instance Corvina, Molinara & Rondinella are unique to Veneto in the production of Amarone and Valpolicella. Cortese is unique to Piedmont in the production of Gavi and so on. Another cracking unique Italian white grape is the Fiano grape.

Fiano hails mainly from Campania but now also a specialist quality grape in Sicily. Try and imagine a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay and you have Fiano. Wonderfully aromatic, medium to full-bodied on the palate and enough acidity to keep the wine refreshing and firm.

Two great Fiano’s that we list online are both from Sicily. Mandrarossa Fiano from Cantine Setessoli is a Gold Medal Winner and at only £7.95 a superb wine both in style/character and value for money. More recently we have listed the superb Fiano La Cometa from Planeta. A family run estate producing excellent wines as well as their world class Planeta Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

So if you do like your white wines but are getting bored then try Fiano, you will not be disappointed!

So our first Lewesian wine tasting event went down extremely well with a great group of people and some fantastic wines to boot!

Present at our new unit in Lewes we decided to show some great examples of different Italian wines. Kicking us off was the superb Prosecco Rustico Valdobbiadene NV from Nino Franco. This wine never fails to impress, creamy mousse with delicious apple and citrus notes. To follow we had the Fiano from Mandrarossa of Sicily. A gold medal winner and at only £6.95 a bargain, unique and delicious!

To follow came a flight of reds. Trescone from Lamborghini. A Sangiovese and Merlot blend, Bolgheri Rosso from Michele Satta, a Sangiovese/Cab/Merlot blend. Then two new wines from our most recent additions to our growing Veneto collection. The Valpolicella Ripassa of Corte Figaretto. An elegant, ripe wine of character and delight! Lastly the Amarone of Corte Figaretto which was superb too, ripe and ready now and elegant rather than a block buster. Long growing finish and impressive.

We finished off the evening with some great antipasti from Lazzati’s, Lewes’s premier Italian restaurant.

Thanks to all! next up Spain in September.

Wow! What a show. Spread over the three days, June 5th, 6th & 7th set in rural Ardingly, West Sussex. A mecca for all things countryside, UK produce, farming equipment, great foods, great produce and great wines on tasting.

We were situated in the English Wine & Food Pavilion and displayed a whole host of great UK produce. Carr-Taylor Sparkling Rose, Carr-Taylor Vessel Still Rose, Carr-Taylor 1066 White, Breaky Bottom Cuvee Alex Mercier 2003, Breaky Bottom Kir Royal NV, Organic White Champagne Truffle Chocolates, Mellow Yellow Rapeseed oil, Hepworth Brewery Organic Blonde and Hepworth Brewery IPA Iron Horse.

Needless to say all went over well with the tasting public, an estimated 80-85,000 visitors over the 3 days! Phew, nice to sit down though!  For all food lovers out there this really is a must visit show. Additionally  The South Of England Society present an Autumn Fair in early September which we hope to attend.

We’d like to thank all our suppliers for their support, all the great people who visited us and bought from us as well as the event organisers for hosting and managing this superb show so well!!

See you again next year!