Wine and technology geeks can tap into our vinous knowledge and the shiny iPad’s magical multi-touch screen makes reading easier and browsing and navigation far simpler, and much more intuitive.

Whatever time it is, wherever you are, take a look at the brand new Vintage Charts, producer Profiles and Wine Ratings. We have listened to your feedback on our iPhone App launched last year and we have enhanced the search functionality and you can now filter by price and vintage rather than just the previous keyword search of wine name, region, producer and grape. We have also improved the transactional function which means it’s now even easier to purchase through the free App.

But don’t fear – you can still enjoy original favourites like tasting notes from our Masters of Wine and the Virtual Wine School video tutorials.

This is the must-have upgrade for all Fine Wine aficionados, whatever the size of your cellar – or portable communication device!! Download the free App at: www.bbr.com/app.

Understanding Barbecue Cooking

Barbecuing is a fast-cooking method that seals in food’s natural juices and flavours.  The high temperatures quickly sear the outside of the food and carmelise its sugars and fats, which further intensifies the natural flavours and also adds sweetness to the finished dishes. Sweetness is often accentuated by the use of marinades and sauces, such as barbecue or sweet and sour sauce.  Sometimes there’s a chilli and spice element to be considered too, as well as the smokiness that’s imparted from the charcoal, so you need to serve wines that will balance any spiciness in the dish as well as complement the intensified natural flavours of the food.

Matching Wines to Barbecue Food

Grapes grown in hot climates ripen easily and the wines made from them are full-flavoured and taste sweeter/riper. Often there is more residual sugar in a hot climate wine than a cool climate wine, hence they seemingly taste ‘sweeter’. These characteristics match those found in barbecued food. The ripeness or sweetness in some wines also will balance the flavour of any smoke and any heat and spice. So hot climate wines like those from California, the Med, Australia and Chile are often the best choice.

For more delicious alfresco dining ideas, why not come along to our Wines & Beef Barbecue Day this Saturday 3rd July at Berrys’ Factory Outlet in Basingstoke?!

If you can make it along to the event then you can…

…SAVE 15% or more on everything in Berrys’ Own Selection, including spirits, wines and fortifieds – plus there’s at least 25% off all our other bin end wines

…TASTE a vast array of wines, specially selected with barbecues in mind

…TRY Sarah Purdon’s fabulous Belted Galloway beef which will also be available for you to buy (in limited supply so arrive early)

…GET A FREE Berrys’ apron worth £15 when you spend £100 or more in store and become the smartest barbecue chef in town this summer!

…TAKEAWAY a free copy of Berrys’ Wine & Barbecue leaflet, which is full of great wine matching tips and tasty recipes from our Head Chef

Plus Sarah Purdon, who produces the best beef we’ve ever tasted, will be on hand to talk about and offer you tasters of her sublime beef. Sarah will also have beef available to buy on the day, but supply is very limited, so, once again, you’ll arrive early if you don’t miss out…

The App allows you to browse our list of over 2,000 wines, as well as consult tasting notes, maturity guides and even watch the popular ‘Virtual Wine School’ videos from both iPhones and iPod touch devices.

Our web guru, Charlie Bennett, believes the App is the perfect way to allow customers to have access to the wine list and extensive information at any time. One of our favourite features is that it can be accessed without being connected to the Internet, so you can see all the wines and their details at any time, wherever you are – very handy for impressing friends in restaurants.

Other features of the App include the ability to check the information in multiple currencies, as well as options to display prices as single bottle, cases, or in bond, as well as a keyword search functionality which allows users to browse the list by wine name, wine region, producer and grape.

You can download it for free from www.bbr.com/iphone or http://itunes.com/apps/berryswinelist

The excitement has almost lowered to a low buzz following our success in last week’s wine awards.

On Tuesday night (1st September) www.bbr.com was hailed as THE best wine website at the Decanter World Wine Awards – and rightly so! Website Manager, Charlie Bennett, works tirelessly (and relentlessly) to constantly improve and evolve the site which Decanter describes as: “…setting a benchmark for wine retailing around the world…” They particularly identified this blog and our use of Twitter during this year’s Bordeaux En Primeur campaign as ‘exciting’ features.

The website was recognised further at the International Wine Challenge on Wednesday evening (2nd), when we received the ‘Direct’ Merchant of the Year Award, but more on that later…

On arrival to the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, the venue for the IWC Awards, Berrys’ representatives Rebecca Lamont, Simon Field MW and Charlie Bennett were requested for a photo shoot and presentation of certificates (see above). At this stage we found out we had won En Primeur Merchant of the Year, Rhône Specialist of the Year and been highly commended for Regional Merchant (London), Bordeaux Specialist and Burgundy Specialist – great start! My colleague Emily (the bastion of this blog) and I were greeted by the wine trade’s now infamous double act Charles Metcalfe and Tim Atkin MW. Despite our job normally just involving time-keeping and bag-holding, Tim insisted he had his photograph taken with us. We are, what he describes as, the best PR on the telephone (see below). Is that like saying we have faces for radio? Best not dwell on that…so I just had another slug of my Charles Heidseck fizz which had now warmed nicely by the oppressive heat of the room.

Soon after, the main event kicked off in dramatic style with lucky finalists swooping down the grand staircase to rapturous applause. Now it was time to reveal the rest of the prestigious Wine Merchant Awards. There were 13 categories and Berrys was shortlisted for Direct Merchant of the Year and Wine Educator…
…Fending off nine competitors including Waitose and Majestic, we were crowned Direct Merchant of the Year for bbr.com and our marketing collaterol and received a highly commended certificate for Wine Educator. You can hear our cheers of delighted captured on this short video clip…

Winning one out of 13 is awards didn’t prepare us to be crowned Wine Merchant of the Year ahead of the likes of Marks & Spencer and Majestic who had won other categories. Berrys’ buyer Simon Field MW was as shocked as we were and when he heard his name he wove his way through the crowd to collect the golden gong. This is the ultimate wine Oscar and one we hadn’t won for a couple of years so it was wonderful to be recognised as the best of the best.

Dinner was served and the celebrating commenced into the early hours.

Berrys’ Big Red Nose Dinner with Ch. Latour and Jancis Robinson MW raised £23,500 for Wine Relief, one of the fundraisers for Comic Relief. The auction, also held in the cellars beneath Berrys’ London shop, saw 15 imperials of top Bordeaux wines from the legendary 2005 vintage raise £37,500 and another five lots made an additional £65,000. A further £6,000 was raised from the sales of Berrys’ best selling wine Good Ordinary Claret in the six weeks before Red Nose Day and £17,000 from a sponsored diet undertaken by 16 Berrys’ staff.

Wine Relief is the brainchild of internationally respected Master of Wine Jancis Robinson and her husband, restaurant critic, Nick Lander. They put their heads together to devise Wine Relief in 1999 which has fast become a key fundraiser for every Red Nose Day campaign since. Wine Relief has raised over £3.5 million as part of the Red Nose Day campaigns.

Jancis Robinson says she was speechless after the event which raised such an amazing total.

“While millions of Britons were watching what sounds like a distinctly superior night of comedy in aid of Comic Relief on BBC1, I spent last Friday evening in the cellars of Berry Bros. in St James’s, London at the wonderful Ch. Latour dinner which, with its small number of hand-picked, rare auction items and some extremely generous bidders, managed to raise an extraordinary total. Coupled with the sums raised by selling Berrys’ Good Ordinary Claret during the fundraising period and the famous Chunky Monkey campaign, which has seen sponsored weight fall off the likes of Jasper Morris MW and Simon Staples,” says Jancis who says she is delighted with the unbelievable total.

Separately at the Berry’s headquarters in Basingstoke, members of Berrys’ fine wine team Matt Tipping and Simon Lubawy (left) ‘did something funny for money’ by painting their heads red in a bid to mimic this year’s Red Nose design.

We can’t promise famous comedians and pop stars wearing funny red noses, but an extraordinary charity dinner will take place in the Napoleon Cellar, beneath Berrys’ London shop on 3 St James’s Street on Friday 13th March 2009. Bids are now being taken for the 50 remaining spaces available.

Berrys’ Big Red Nose Dinner will be hosted by Jancis Robinson MW, Frederic Engérér of Ch. Latour and our Chairman Simon Berry. A four-course menu prepared by Berrys’ brigade of chefs will be matched with nine vintages of Ch. Latour - 1991, 1983, 1981, 1978, 1975, 1973, 1971, 1967 and 1964.

Wine Relief is the brainchild of internationally respected Master of Wine Jancis Robinson and her husband, restaurant critic, Nick Lander. They put their heads together to devise Wine Relief in 1999 which has fast become a key fundraiser for every Red Nose Day campaign since. Wine Relief has raised over £2.7 million as part of the Red Nose Day campaigns.

“As someone who has been involved with Wine Relief from its modest beginnings in 1999, I’m delighted at last to have a chance to celebrate Red Nose Day with fellow fine wine lovers and some truly great wine, thanks to Château Latour and Berrys’ Big Red Nose Dinner,” says Jancis, adding: “Wine lovers have so far managed to raise a total of £2.7M towards the superlative work undertaken by Comic Relief in transforming lives in Africa and the UK over our five fundraising campaigns so far. Please help us make 2009 a record-breaking year for Wine Relief by coming along, taking advantage of our auction of some to-die-for lots, or just donating at www.rednoseday.com/winerelief.”

Berry Bros. & Rudd will also donate to Wine Relief 10% of all sales of Good Ordinary Claret, its best selling wine, in the six weeks before Red Nose Day. An online auction in aid of the charity will feature lots including a private tutored tasting with Jancis Robinson MW and Dinner for 10 in the Director’s Dining Room.

 With more than 1,000 years experience between them, The Bunch is a group of six wine merchants representing the independent sector. With growing competition from supermarkets and high street off licences The Bunch provides a voice for the independents, all be it quite a softly spoken one.

Former Berrys’ employee and now famed wine writer for The Daily Telegraph, Jonathan Ray, persuaded The Bunch to provide a mixed case of affordable wines perfect for those feeling the pinch. The final selection represents classy but modern alternatives to classics like Barolo and Bordeaux, Champagne and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Condrieu and Chianti – all for the bargain price of £99 including delivery.

Tantalise your taste buds with a delicious Viognier from Domaine de Coudoulet. This wine dances with delicate apricot notes and a peach-stone texture. Alternatively, the Gran Marius from Bodegas Piqueras in Almansa, Spain is great with red meats and cheese dishes.

Click Here for further details of the offer and a full list of wines with tasting notes.

To order this unique case drawn from six of the UK’s finest independent merchants at the credit crunch-busting price of £99 (inclusive of delivery), CLICK HERE or call 0870 900 4300.

We might be lacking the Caribbean sunshine and fading grandeur that Havana has to offer, but Barney has become an expert at making Mojitos.

They are not quite as good as those we enjoyed at El Floridita, crafted by Cuba’s top mixologists, but this is our recipe – perfected by my very own Tom Cruise. Enjoy!

• Two shots of Havana Club Anejo Blanco
• 1 shot of fresh lemon and lime juice
• 2-3 fresh mint leaves
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon Angostura Bitters
• Soda water
• Ice

Muddle the mint and sugar together in the bottom of a tall glass. Add the rum and citrus juice and stir. Add ice, top with soda water and finish with a teaspoon of Angostura Bitters and stir again.