Asda's wines

I've never been into an Asda, far less considered it for wine.

However encouraged by the list in this month's Decanter magazine of the medal winning wines from the recent Decanter World Wine Awards I ventured to my nearest Asda, five minutes walk from my office in Canary Wharf in London.

What a disappointment.

The shelves were not only less than half full but I saw French, South African and Californian wines all mixed up on the shelves together. I felt sorry for the member of staff who was on his knees opening boxes and stacking shelves. It was his first day on the job and I had to point out the difference between reds and whites.................... What a contrast with the nearest Waitrose where all the staff have some kind of WSET qualification.

And not a medal winner in sight.

It will be a while before I'm encouraged to visit Asda again.

Wine related photography

I'm a sucker for good wine related photos.

Receiving the invite for the Navarra tasting next month reminded me there are quite a few inspirational sources of photos be they of modern wineries, vineyards during the seasons or simply of the settings of vines and vineyards in the surrounding countryside (think of the rolling hills of Chianti for example.)

The tasting I went to the other day perfectly illustrates the beauty of vineyards in a natural setting when you see the wonderful pictures on their web site.

I've always been a keen photographer since my teenage days and my collection of digital photos numbers well over 10,000. Seeing the pictures has prompted me to do something about my own collection of wine photos. At the moment there is a very loose, disorganised and incomplete collection on Flickr.

One of these days I'll get organised and if I had to swap jobs with anyone else right now it would be with the author of Wine across America. Now researching and preparing a book like that would be my ideal job. Think of the fun you could have with all the tasting along the way also!

Man O'War vineyards

I attended the UK launch of New Zealand wine producer Man O'War Vineyards in the lovely setting of Smiths of Smithfield. It was hosted by Stokes Fine Wines who have started importing the wines. Man O'War are based on Waiheke Island off the coast of the north island.

The winemaker Duncan McTavish took us through the 6 of their wines that Stokes are selling. The highlight for me was the 2008 Ironclad a blend composing 52% merlot, 27% cabernet franc, 10.5% malbec, 9.1% petit verdot and 1.4% cabernet sauvignon. It was a lovely perfumed wine with black fruit and some herb on the nose. On the palate there was almost a hint of sweetness and a great balance between the acidity and tannins. A rich, rounded and long wine. It will retail for £24.

We tasted 3 of their "white" label wines all clear expressions of the varietal - pinot gris, merlot/cabernet franc and a syrah. The "black" label wines are made to show more complexity and were the Ironclad, a chardonnay and a syrah.

This is an impressive operation where I get the feeling money is almost no object. Imagine growing your pinot gris on another island which you can only get to by boat. The production costs alone for this wine must be quite high. The web site is worth checking out. Given the beauty of the vineyard locations it must really inspire everyone to do their best to produce wine worthy of the location.

Stokes are starting small with the number of cases they are importing and the wine will be found in places such as harvey Nicks. The wines are cheap but the whole operation feels like a quality business.

All in all an interesting morning.

Pass with merit

After around 800 to 900 hours of study and who knows how many hundreds of wines tasted, I finally got my final Diploma grade - pass with merit.

I'm delighted needless to say.

I think I'll celebrate with a glass of wine..........................

Current wine blogs

I note Robert over at The Wine Conversation has republished his list of UK blogs and is seeking updates. Given my previous post about my desire to re-energise my wine adventures I’m going to take the opportunity to check out some of the ones on Robert’s list that have slipped below my radar.

During my Diploma studies I found that I kept referring to the same ones over and over again. These were;

• Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages – not strictly a “blog” but from the sheer volume of authoritative and quality updates this is the most useful site I use
• Jamie Goode's Wine Anorak – given his scientific background he is always informative and is well travelled. The wines he tastes also are just the wines I want to taste/usually can afford
• Andrew Jefford – he has a unique writing style and any Diploma student who wants to learn more about wines having a "sense of place" would be well advised to follow Andrew’s writings
• Simon Woods – I like his sense of humour and irreverent approach and the wines he tastes again are the ones I want to/ought to be tasting
• Robert Macintosh – his sheer drive in promoting the use of the web and social media in the context of wine is to be admired. The quality of his links to other sites means he always uncovers some golden nugget on the web that would otherwise be missed

So I’ll use Robert’s list to broaden my reading although I sense I’ll continue to use the above links for the majority of my forays into the web.

The picture by the way is of Chateau Ausone right on the edge of the town of St Emilion taken on a trip there in June.

Light reading, heavy drinking

If you are off on your summer holidays and wish some light reading for the journey or beach, you could do worse than buy Paul Torday's The irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce.

It's about a man who is a passionate wine drinker and gets through 4 to 5 bottles of Bordeaux, having inherited a huge cellar from a friend. It's full of references to Petrus, Pomerol, Palmer and other illustrious Bordeaux names.

I've only read about 70 pages so far but I'm keen to see what happens. His health from drinking so much has obviously suffered but as with most alcoholics he is in denial. And it's this denial which brings a dark humour to the book. That, and the book starting with him in this alcoholic state, is making me read on to find out how he got to this state.

Light reading but still wine related.

Where next for Grapefan's wine adventures

The blog has been quiet - too quiet - of late. I have been indulging my passion though;

* tasting 4 or 5 bottles a week at home
* following my favourite blogs
* reading Decanter's September issue with the California supplement
* keeping in touch with like minded people and comparing notes

However I feel there's something missing now the Diploma studies have stopped and I need a new project. But I can't decide what it should be.

I've thought about Master of Wine and decided if I was in my 30's rather than my 50's I'd do it. It's quite an expense and commitment for someone not involved full time in the trade or wanting/needing a new career.

There is always the final level 5 Diploma stage. Maybe I'll look into this but the idea of lots of depth in one subject isn't that appealling.

I've also thought about teaching, maybe local adult education. Being a freelance management consultant I'm quite happy in front of groups of people and in a perverse way quite enjoy it. I suspect this is a very limited opportunity with lots of competition but councils cutting back their provision for budgetary reasons.

I could always go back to occasional work in a wine shop and I'll certainly keep helping out at trade events, reading, attending trade tastings and judging.

I need something to get my teeth into for my own vinous pleasure however and to give this blog a sense of purpose. It is called Grapefan's wine adventures for a reason. There are many random blogs out there and I'd rather mine wasn't just one of them.

Mmm - food for thought.

PS the picture of the cellars of Chateau Franc Mayne is taken from a recent trip to St Emilion