Countdown to Christmas cranks up again
After a complete dearth of blog activity, it is time to countdown to Christmas again. And we start with a rant.
I have been spectacularly useless at blogging for the past few months. We don’t have drains exploding and then collapsing this year (for which we say a daily prayer of thanks) but that doesn’t mean that it has been an easy time. Recovery from quite how bad last year was is still on-going and of course now we have the challenge of a recession to deal with plus a number of other exciting (for which you can read really kind of hellish) things, all part of the joy of being a very small business that would quite like to be a bit bigger.
It is not all utter gloom though, there have been highlights. Dancing for joy until 8am when Barack Obama won at our special Clapham Election vigil was certainly one and I can’t think of another just now, but I am sure that they are out there.
Anyhoo, I am resolved to do another count down to Christmas this year, with an entry every few days and at least this week, things should be really good as we have a fabulous ‘Judgement of Dulwich’ tasting this evening. We also have quite few of our ‘Saturday Table’ tastings coming up, when some of our favourite suppliers come in and open up lots of bottles. You can stop by anytime you like for a taste and a chat and it is generally really jolly and perhaps best of all in these troubled times, completely free! (Although of course we hope you will buy a bottle at some stage, even if it is not on the day). We have our first of these this Saturday, with Florian and Isaure (who sound very much like characters from a children’s fairy story, but who are in a fact a very charming, young French couple) showing a selection of natural, biodynamic wines.
We actually had a tasting with one of our favourite suppliers yesterday, who shall remain anonymous. As far as I am aware, London sommeliers do not tend to read this blog, but you can’t be too careful. He has a fabulous palate and really knows his stuff and had just spent the day lugging his samples around to a host of top London restaurants, for sommeliers and manager/buyers. If any pursuit deserves a medal of honour, or at least a vial of valium at the end of the day, then surely this is it.
It is no secret in the trade that over the past decade, jobs for those who take care of the wine in restaurants have far outstripped supply of people who have been properly trained and who know what they are doing. That is not too say that there aren’t extraordinarily qualified and experienced sommeliers working in London – Jason McAuliffe, Ronan Sayburn etc – but sadly these are hugely outweighed by those who have had only the minimum amount of training, often by people who wouldn’t know a great wine if it smacked them around the face either. The result of all of this is that superb, classic wines made with great elegance and finesse and stuffed full of complexity are largely ignored, passed over in favour of those with far too much oak and horribly confected fruit flavours.
We tasted both with him and the differences were stark and depressing. How anyone can put the latter in their mouth and then decide that this course, clumsy mix of aggressive, artificial flavours is the way to go is beyond me. The thought that this is going on does make me want to go and live on an island with birds though.
So much is being made of the importance of going back to real food, the quality of ingredients, Jamie Oliver running around teaching people to boil water etc (and I am not trying to be mean to him; I think that his campaign is hugely important and should be supported wholeheartedly). Yet, in an industry that is supposed to be inextricably linked to good food (and I mean the real wine industry; not that industrially produced sludge that the high street is awash with), there is complete disparity between the two.
So much for beginning this brand new blog-a-rama with something cheery, but still. This should be discussed and restaurants should be a lot more discerning about who they decide is going to be in charge of such an important part of what they do. The next few years are going to be very, very tough and if customers are (as they should be) getting ever more discerning about spending their money only at places that genuinely offer the best, at all levels, can they really afford not to?
It is not all utter gloom though, there have been highlights. Dancing for joy until 8am when Barack Obama won at our special Clapham Election vigil was certainly one and I can’t think of another just now, but I am sure that they are out there.
Anyhoo, I am resolved to do another count down to Christmas this year, with an entry every few days and at least this week, things should be really good as we have a fabulous ‘Judgement of Dulwich’ tasting this evening. We also have quite few of our ‘Saturday Table’ tastings coming up, when some of our favourite suppliers come in and open up lots of bottles. You can stop by anytime you like for a taste and a chat and it is generally really jolly and perhaps best of all in these troubled times, completely free! (Although of course we hope you will buy a bottle at some stage, even if it is not on the day). We have our first of these this Saturday, with Florian and Isaure (who sound very much like characters from a children’s fairy story, but who are in a fact a very charming, young French couple) showing a selection of natural, biodynamic wines.
We actually had a tasting with one of our favourite suppliers yesterday, who shall remain anonymous. As far as I am aware, London sommeliers do not tend to read this blog, but you can’t be too careful. He has a fabulous palate and really knows his stuff and had just spent the day lugging his samples around to a host of top London restaurants, for sommeliers and manager/buyers. If any pursuit deserves a medal of honour, or at least a vial of valium at the end of the day, then surely this is it.
It is no secret in the trade that over the past decade, jobs for those who take care of the wine in restaurants have far outstripped supply of people who have been properly trained and who know what they are doing. That is not too say that there aren’t extraordinarily qualified and experienced sommeliers working in London – Jason McAuliffe, Ronan Sayburn etc – but sadly these are hugely outweighed by those who have had only the minimum amount of training, often by people who wouldn’t know a great wine if it smacked them around the face either. The result of all of this is that superb, classic wines made with great elegance and finesse and stuffed full of complexity are largely ignored, passed over in favour of those with far too much oak and horribly confected fruit flavours.
We tasted both with him and the differences were stark and depressing. How anyone can put the latter in their mouth and then decide that this course, clumsy mix of aggressive, artificial flavours is the way to go is beyond me. The thought that this is going on does make me want to go and live on an island with birds though.
So much is being made of the importance of going back to real food, the quality of ingredients, Jamie Oliver running around teaching people to boil water etc (and I am not trying to be mean to him; I think that his campaign is hugely important and should be supported wholeheartedly). Yet, in an industry that is supposed to be inextricably linked to good food (and I mean the real wine industry; not that industrially produced sludge that the high street is awash with), there is complete disparity between the two.
So much for beginning this brand new blog-a-rama with something cheery, but still. This should be discussed and restaurants should be a lot more discerning about who they decide is going to be in charge of such an important part of what they do. The next few years are going to be very, very tough and if customers are (as they should be) getting ever more discerning about spending their money only at places that genuinely offer the best, at all levels, can they really afford not to?
