The historic Cellars beneath our London shop at 3, St James’s Street are the perfect venue for entertaining and, as part of our programme of events for Wine Club members this year, we are delighted to be holding an informative and enjoyable tutored tasting exclusively for members in the Pickering Cellar on the evening of the 11th of September.

Following a glass of Champagne on arrival, our resident Rhône buyer, Simon Field MW, will guide guests through the myriad of styles from the Northern and Southern Rhône. White Wines to taste include Condrieu and Hermitage whilst reds to be enjoyed include St Joseph, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie. The tasting will be rounded off with a delicious Beaumes-de-Venise.

This event is exclusive to Wine Club members and tickets are available at a subsidised cost of £60 per person. Please call 0870 900 4300 or log in to your Wine Club account online to order up to three tickets, or click here for further information about the benefits of joining The Wine Club.

Whether you’re a chameleonic Chardonnay or a complex Cabernet, sometimes it’s good to tempt your tastebuds with something new. Friends constantly tell me that finding their next palate-pleaser isn’t always a walk-in-the-park, so if you’re reluctant to risk your time and money on a vinous impostor, allow me!

I’ve set myself the (dreadful!) task of tasting some delicious, popular grape varieties alongside their lesser-known counterparts. As standard-bearers of style and quality from classical wine regions, I’ll be using Berrys’ Own Selection wines as the benchmarks, and will select alternative varietals around the same price point.

Part 1 – Chardonnay

This week I gathered a group of Chardonnay aficionados to compare Berrys’ White Burgundy with a Viognier and a Chenin Blanc alongside some monkfish and prawn skewers, and a fresh crab, walnut and pear salad.

Although the Big Daddy of white wine grapes expresses itself in different forms, Burgundy is Chardonnay’s spiritual home and I thought Berrys’ White Burgundy from J-Luc Terrier & Christian Collovray would be a wonderful example of a very affordable ‘old world’ Chardonnay which is well-balanced and elegant - the pure fruit balanced by just a whiff of oak.

Lured by the pure, unadulterated simplicity of the prawn and monkfish skewers combined with the effortless elegance of this wine, we found the combination perhaps a little too tempting - and had to make up another batch of skewers to try alongside the alternatives!

Switching sips:

Viognier

We found Domaine Michel Ogier’s 2005 La Rosine from Viognier’s spiritual home, The Rhône, was every bit as elegant and well-balanced as the Chardonnay.

Bursting with ripe fruit and sumptuous peach notes on the nose and palate, its more distinctive flavour was at home with the monkfish and quickly cosied up with the crab too!

Chenin Blanc

2006 Pecan Stream Chenin Blanc from the Waterford Estate in South Africa is stylistically very different to its Chenin Blanc counterparts from the Loire Valley. Boasting apricot and guava with impressive depth and richness, it combines the exuberance of the New World with the specific personality of the grape variety.

We found it to be a wine which boasts the same depth and rich texture of Chardonnay, with additional stunning pear aromas and guava notes, all of which were echoed beautifully by the pear salad.

Tried any exciting new wines recently? Don’t forget to let us know.

On September 12th, London Sales Director Lance Jefferson, aided by Ben Upjohn from Fine Wine Sales & Berrys’ Online Writer Katie McCarthy gave a fabulous Champagne tasting in Berrys’ Suite in the O2 Arena to Berrys’ customers. Customers arrived and were greeted with a glass of Pol and a tasting of 6 Champagnes. 

Lance managed to talk through each one before Prince’s perfomance on 12th September to a group of Berrys’ customers. Lance reports that the excitement of tasting Gosset, Pol Roger, Gratien, Billecart-Salmon and Gosset was equally matched by the sparkling performance of Prince himself. He said it adds a whole new dimension to tasting, with the brilliant rock venue atmosphere of the O2.

The only thing we missed was not having the addition of Elton John. A customer emailed me this morning to say he had a great time in our suite last night (He has now attended 4 Prince concerts - 3 in our Suite) and that Elton John appeared on stage with Prince! Could that have made the Champagne even better?

This introduces a facinating question. How much does atmosphere contribute to our pleasure of tasting? Our respose to a particular wine can vary enormously according to our mood, company and time of day.