LONDON FOOD (III) – TABERNA DO MERCADO

Finding a restaurant in London on a Sunday evening proved quite the challenge. I had a (short) wishlist, but almost none of them were open bar for a Sunday roast. Luckily Taberna do Mercado is open 7/7, and just a stone’s throw away from the Truman Brewery where RAW 2016 took place. I was led here via Jamie Goode’s wine blog, and ever since the tasting of Portuguese wines that I organized last year, I was curious to discover more about Portugal’s wining and dining. Continue reading →

London Food (II) – Ottolenghi Spitalfields

Do I still need to introduce Yotam Ottolenghi? The man’s books can be found everywhere, but in all fairness, rightly so. I think that I have made almost everything that can be found in Plenty, bar a couple of desserts, and while Nopi proves to be a bit more challenging, it has done its part in many successful dinner parties. Procrastination meant that only the deli in Spitalfields still had a table for two on a Saturday evening and the place was packed. Service ran smooth though, and we were given ample time to go through the menu and wine list. Continue reading →

A DIFFERENT KIND OF PINK

There are a couple of tropes that you can count on in wine writing. Champagne is reviewed to bits around the holidays. March-April is all about Bordeaux with both supporters and critics of the primeur system basically repeating the exact same argument that they have had for the past five years. Summer is about rosé, which, based on what you read, is always better than the year before, higher quality, vintage-impact non-existent and seemingly the only wine you can chug when you pass 25°C, only to be completely forgotten and ignored come September. Continue reading →

ON MISTAKING MARKETING PLOYS FOR WINE

There are wine-related stories that should never find their way to serious wine media. Some of these are obvious. Take for example the recently launched “Pinot Meow” and MosCATo” wines for cats (the names alone are enough to make you cringe) which were luckily not taken up by too many publications. Other bits of news are not as clear-cut like this week’s Blue Wine launched in several countries and reported on in The Drinks Business or Decanter among other media. Continue reading →