Ever Heard Of Gewürztraminer?

Neither had I until just the other day. Gewürztraminer is not a very well known grape and what a shame that is.


A common misconception is that it can only be found in Germany, yet it's first appearance was in the Alto Adige region, Northern Italy and it soon moved over to the Alsace, France. What can be said though is that this variety thrives in cooler climates. Therefore, you would think that the wine would contain many characteristics of other cool climate wines - I'm thinking Chablis, with it's flinty, mineral, citrus flavours with a high, refreshing acidity. Yet Gewürztraminer has relatively low acidity, commonly has a much more floral nose and stone fruits such as peach are prominent on your palate.


Gewürz means 'spice' in German, so don't be surprised if you find some ginger notes in the wine too.


Try a New Zealand Gewürztraminer: Villa Maria's (who are celebrating their 50th year of wine making http://www.villamaria.co.nz/) Gewürztraminer Private Bin 2009 which can be bought from numerous places online. This is a very pronounced wine in smell, medium bodied, medium finish, but just exceptional with fish or even on its own. Very good value too.

Cottonworth Sparkles All The Way From Hampshire

With the recent surge of English wine, more and more people are believing and trusting the quality of wine on offer. English Wine Week saw an increase of 350% in English wine, most of which was, in fact, sparkling.

My choice at the moment is Cottonworth Sparkling Rosé, which you can buy either from their website here for £16, or from other external merchants but for a bit more cost.

The year is 2009 and it has all the characteristics expected in a sparkling wine yet has powerful flavours bursting through with every bubble. Cranberries, strawberries and raspberries play on your tongue, delicately pink in colour, incredibly refreshing. Try with white fish, pork or turkey.

And oh, did I mention it was from Hampshire? Shocking, I know.

http://www.cottonworth.co.uk/

An Introduction - 'Myself and My Dreams'

By name, I am Tom Boxall. By occupation, I am a waiter. I started my career at The Chesil Rectory, Winchester, (www.chesilrectory.co.uk) and it was here where my aspirations begun. Beginning with the restaurant environment, my ambitions soon moved into the wine industry where I found a familiar uncertainty or lack of confidence amongst customers and the general public when approaching a wine list.

As a result, my dream became more focused on clearing the air between what the customers read on the wine list and what the customers actually want out of their drink. I feel with trends such as the 'ale revivals' and the 'local produce boom', now is the perfect time to re-establish our love and comfort with wine. 

My dream orientates itself around, what I like to call, a 'Wine Café'. I intend to run a wine shop - fine wines at good value prices - which doubles up as a casual, relaxed bar. I will also feature excellent, diverse spirits with the overall intentions to make drinking an experience as much as eating has once again become.

Further to this, I shall both lower the pretentiousness of wine; yet also educate those with interest in wine, origins, production and tasting by creating regular wine workshops. These workshops will be accompanied with platters of complementing flavours to the wine either produced by local caterers or chefs.

I plan on building strong connections and partnerships with local restaurant and hospitality businesses, enabling me to promote/sell wines on their menu or to set up joint events. The promotions would work both ways, in that I would sell their wines and they could incorporate a "can be bought at..." tag onto selected bottles.

This Café shall be called Fine Wine Café.

I have many more ideas to come, all involving a passion for wine and good food. But for now, this is my blog, for which I intend on reviewing wines, bringing awareness to events and to act as a platform for my future!

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