Spring Wine Fair at new Arts Venue!

We are delighted to tell you that we have booked the main cafe and Cruso room at The Foxlowe Community Arts Venue in Leek for Thursday 19th April to hold a Spring Wine Fair.

For just £15 a ticket you will get to taste over 50 wines and spirits, and the tasting will be open between 7pm and 10pm.

Grab a glass, taste at your leisure, gossip with friends...this will be a relaxed and informal event at this beautiful historic building at the top of the Market Square.

Tickets available in advance only from The Wine Shop Leek. Call 01538 382408 or email us at info@wineandwhisky.com.

Maker's Mark Tasting Tickets Available

On Friday 9th December we welcome Jane Connor of Maker's Mark to Leek to host a tasting in the shop at 7pm.

There will be a festive Maker's Mark cocktail on arrival followed by a tutored tasting.

Tickets cost £12 each and only 20 places available.

Contact us on 01538 382408 or at info@wineandwhisky.com for tickets (in advance only).

Christmas Tasting Menu

We are delighted to be able to release the details now of the tasting menu for our event on Friday 2nd December.

On arrival

Graham's Extra Dry White Port

Beetroot Cured Salmon

Altano Duoro Branco 2010

Free range belly pork with balsamic & pineapple chutney

Graham's Six Grapes

Slow cooked wing rib of beef, served with celeriac mash, red wine jus

Altano Reserva 2008

Home made vanilla & salted caramel ice cream, dark chocolate surprise

Graham's The Tawny

Stilton and cheddar with homemade oatcakes

Graham's Quinta da Malvedos 1999

(tapas sized portions)

Tickets £40 in advance only from The Wine Shop. Call 01538 382 408 or email us at info@wineandwhisky.com.

Christmas Food and Wine Matching Evening Tickets Available

We are pleased to announce that tickets are now available for our Christmas Food and Wine Matching Evening to be held at the Peak Weavers in Leek on Friday 2nd December.

Chris Mooney returns to take us through a selection of wines and ports from the Duoro Valley, all matched to five dishes (tapas sized portions) each chosen to compliment the wine/port.

On arrival we will taste the new dry white Port from Graham's in the bar, to be followed by a 5 course menu, put together with Emma (to be published in the next day or so) to be enjoyed in the Peak Weavers' relaxed and intimate AA Rosette Awarded restaurant.

A previous winner in the Taste of Staffordshire Awards and members of the Peak District Cuisine, the Peak Weavers is renowned for its impeccable locally sourced food and this promises to be a wonderful evening.

Tickets cost £40 each, in advance only, from The Wine Shop. Call 01538 382408 or email us at info@wineandwhisky.com.

This will be our last wine tasting of 2011 and it would be a shame to miss it!

Leonie

Queen of the Moorlands Rare Cask Bruichladdich Edition XXXVII

I'm sitting in the bay window of lovely old house on Islay. The view over Loch Indaal towards the Big Strand and Port Ellen beyond is breathtaking. For the last couple of days I've been busy applying labels and duty stamps to our latest edition to the Queen of the Moorlands Rare Cask range and it's been one of our most exciting finds to date, not least because of how we found it and what an extraordinarily beautiful dram it has turned out to be.
A couple of years ago, we were approached by a somebody who had been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to own one of the very first casks that were filled when Bruichladdich was taken over by it's current owners after having been silent, mothballed for many years. He wondered whether we'd like to buy the cask and offer it to our customers under the Rare Cask label. The whiskies that we bottle under our label always have to be the best possible example of each particular distilleries house style so, in order for us to approve it, excellent wood policy would have to be apparent. Back in September 2001, these first few casks at Bruichladdich were primarily first fill ex sherry hogsheads, very well made, clean, tight casks, the staves of which had all been seasoned with a fill of rich, dark olorosso sherry.

The original owner of the cask and I have kept a close eye on how the whisky has developed with the wood over the last couple of years. The first time I nosed and tasted it I new it had the potential to be one of the very best drams I have ever tasted under an independent label, and a Bruichladdich that hasn't been matured in wine casks which seems to be the distillery's cask of choice these days.

Bruichladdich whisky under the new ownership became 10 years old at the beginning of September, and so it seemed fitting that, provided the whisky had reached maturity, that we would bottle the cask shortly after. I'm convinced that this whisky is the first single cask single malt to be released from Bruichladdich since it's 10th anniversary of the new ownership....a proper wee laddie at 10.

So last Friday, my daughter and I made our way over to Islay. All being well, the cask would be bottled that day too. There would be a long wait over the weekend until I could pick up the bottles on Monday morning so that I could get them all labelled up on onto the van and ferry to ship back down south.

On the Saturday night I thought we'd head down to the Loch Indaal Hotel to see if we could persuade the landlord to let us watch the football, my favourite Stoke City at home to Manchester United in the premier league, a game I was sad to be missing given the probability of an unbelievable atmosphere at the Britannia Stadium. All the local lads in the pub were watching the rugby but they kindly switched over and joined me watching the heroic potters hold boring Man Utd to a 1-1 draw. I was having a pint with a lad called Craig and I noticed he was wearing a Bruichladdich sweatshirt. He asked me whether I was holidaying on Islay and I explained that I'd just had a cask bottled at Bruichladdich. He turned out to be the very man who had bottled the whisky for us the previous day. Islay is a very small island.

Sherry hogsheads like these are very difficult for distillers to come by these days especially given the fact that they will often need batches of 80 to 100 at a time. Bourbon barrels have often been preferred by scotch whisky distillers because they mature spirit very consistently and because of their shape and size. Bourbon barrels are smaller, and easier to handle. They are also uniform in size so make warehousing more efficient. Hogsheads however, do differ in shape and size so can be difficult for small distilleries to use their storage efficiently. Most hogsheads are made up from staves from ex bourbon barrels and it is rare to find a hoggy that has been made up from the staves of ex olorosso casks.

Our cask was a first fill, and given that peaty whisky can mature exceptionally well in a second fill, it is destined to be filled again for another lucky private individual. We'll look forward to sampling that over the years to come ;-)

The whisky has been bottled at the natural cask strength of a whopping 62.5%. Bruichladdich don't tend to water the spirit down to 63.5% as other distillers do, and the casks tend to be filled at around 70% which is why our whisky's strength is so high. We have not chill filtered the whisky, nor have we added any colouring.

So, the whisky is bottled, the labels designed, cut and applied, we are just waiting for our printed tubes to arrive and then we'll be starting to ship it out to our customers. There will be 100 bottles available at The Wine Shop in Leek and 100 at http://www.whisky-online.com/ for those customers further afield. Whisky Online specialise in shipping overseas. Both the Wine Shop and Whisky Online have started waiting lists so that customers may pre-order their bottles. To avoid disappointment, please contact us ASAP to add your name to the list and secure your bottles.



Number of bottles: 200
Filled to cask September 2001
Bottled September 2011
Strength: 62.5%abv
Cask: First fill ex sherry hogshead
Price: £80 per bottle


Tasting notes:

"This is Bruichladdich as nature intended, honest and uncluttered by overt wood technology. The colour is a rich mahogany in the glass. Then come the aromas, intense raisins and woodland fruits at first, then sticky toffee pudding, simmering spices and a deepening complexity. The palate follows the lead of the nose but develops further with flavours of liquorice and salt. A keen oily mouthfeel keeps the whole in balance and paves the way for a toothbrush defying finish. An uncompromising, memorable and beautiful whisky."
We're proud to have been given the opportunity to bottle and sell The Queen of the Moorlands Rare Cask Bruichladdich Edition XXXVII....thanks Peter!

Cha'n 'eil e soirbh!

David

Award Winning Spanish Fine Wine Tasting

I am pleased to announce the details of a very special evening that we will be hosting at the Peak Weavers in Leek on Tuesday 25th October.

Felipe Cabezon (pictured here with Tim Atkin MW) of Tinto Figuero in the Ribera del Duero will talk us through tasting 5 of their 6 award winning wines (being rated over 90 points by the Wine Advocate, and one of which having recently received the Ribera del Duero tropy above) highlighting the history and philosophy, vineyards and climate, and winemaking techniques.

As the range is only limited we will then serve a full glass of the Tinto Figuero '12' Crianza for you to enjoy by candlelight with a platter of olives, bread and cheeses selected by The Peak Weavers.

Vine growing couple Jose Maria Garcia and Milagros Figuero supplied fruit to the region's best wineries (including none other than Vega Sicilia!) from their family vineyards up until the late 1990s when they decided to produce their own wines and built their winery at La Horra.

In the heart of the Ribera del Duero the vineyards are cultivated only with Tempranillo and of the 53 hectares of vines belonging to Figuero 25 are over 60 years old.

Using minimal handling techniques, whole grape fermentations, gentle pressing and maturation in both French and American oak and in bottle, the first vintage was 2001 and they instantly shot to international success.

Felipe is completely charming (as you can see!), the wines incredibly seductive, and this will be a rare opportunity to taste wines that retail at up to £75 a bottle. Tickets cost £25 each in advance only and places extremely limited.

Most credit and debit cards accepted over the phone and we can post tickets out to you. Call 01538 382408 or let us know how many you'd like reserving at info@wineandwhisky.com.

http://www.tintofiguero.com/

What a lovely night this promises to be!

Léonie

Save over £25 on our new Wine Club Case Deal for £80

Stock has arrived today for our new Wine Club Mixed Case Offer and this weekend we'll have every one of the 12 wines open to taste in the shop.

The Mixed Case Offer at £80 includes a bottle of each of:

Alamos Torrontes

New referred to as Argentina's signature white grape Torrontes is popular with fans of Gewürztraminer because of its spice and perfume. Catena's Alamos example is completely unbaked allowing the expressive aromatics to explode from the glass with aromas of citrus, peach, jasmine and herbs which all follow through onto the palate. The must have wine with the chinese take-away!

Claude Val Blanc

Our ever popular French blend from the Languedoc needs little introduction. This particular vintage is nice and ripe with plenty of Vermentino character coming through on both the nose and palate. You should always have a bottle of this in the fridge on stand by...

Lourensford Sauvignon Blanc

This is green, green, green and yet benefits from the Lenor effect of a bit of Semillon in the blend. The 'big bro' to our bestselling River Garden, this has a greenish tinge in the glass, has asparagus, gooseberries, green pepper and green figs on the nose, all of which follow through onto the palate. More of a food wine than RG it's great with salads, grilled chicken and cold meats.

Caliterra Reserva Chardonnay

One of our bestselling Chardonnays, the secret of its success lies in the clever use of just enough oak (50% of the wine for 6 months) to give lovely mouthfeel and complexity as opposed to any creamy or overtly woody notes. It remains fresh and lively with tropical aromas and flavours and in this vintage there's just a teeny tiny splash of Sauvignon Blanc.

Deakin Estate Moscato

In response to the growing demand for wines with a lower alcohol content we decided to give this lovely, fresh slightly spritzy Aussie white a go. Sadly the summer didn't really happen but this is still great for lunchtime or just a glass of fun in front of the telly. Quite sweet and surprisingly good with cheese!

Alamos Extra Brut Pinot Noir Chardonnay NV

Made by prestigious Catena, by the champagne method, this Argentinian fizz has elegant bubbles in the glass, attractive apple and tropical fruit and minerality on the nose, with a whiff of fresh toast, and nice appley acidity on the palate. High altitude vineyards are key and it's a great alternative to Prosecco!

Alamos Bonarda

Every vintage change for this wine is met with eager anticipation as it's one of our favourite reds despite significant variation in style each year. The 2010 is like a big boisterous puppy, with vibrant red cherries, violets and raspberries on the nose and an adorable juicy palate of plums, more red cherries and raspberry. A rustic twist of spicy black pepper on the finish just to keep you on your toes. Great stuff!

Claude Val Rouge

The Mas family who make Claude Val have been vineyard owners in the Languedoc since 1892 and fourth generation Jean Claude is now at the helm - 'one of the Languedoc's movers and shakers' (Tim Atkin MW). Unbeatably good value.

Lourensford Shiraz

The big brother to River Garden this single varietal South African red has had a staggering 18 months in French oak (and yet is under a tenner!) and will therefore i) age really well and ii) stand up to some pretty robust red meat dishes. Deep in colour, with youthful aromas of crunchy herbaceous fruit the palate has sweet fruits, dense texture and dark chocolate notes on the finish. Impressive!

Caliterra Reserva Merlot

This Chilean example also has a little Carmenere and Shiraz blended in which, in addition to 10 months in barrel, adds enormously to its complexity. Essentially though it's all about the fruit - soft, smooth cherries and plums and just a hint of vanilla and coconut.

Castillo di Clavijo Rioja Tempranillo

Probably the lightest of the reds here this is cherry red in colour, with fresh fruity aromas and lots of red fruit on the palate. From a relatively young cooperative working with small, local growers using state of the art facilities to produce modern wines for early drinking this has spent 6 months in mostly American oak.

Katnook Founder's Block Cabernet Sauvignon

An old favourite of ours which we've struggled to buy at the right price given the unfavourable exchange rate. Happily it's back and is as aromatic, generous and classy as ever, with this vintage showing plums, vanilla and a hint of mint on the nose and nice structure on the palate, with plums and mint following through. Seriously good Coonawarra.

Wines retail at £6.49 - £14.99 a bottle.

Contact us at info@wineandwhisky.com or call us on 01538 382408 and we can deliver locally free of charge (national next day delivery £10).