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The Food and Wine Pairing Tasting
Wednesday 17th October 2018
The time has arrived to release the tickets upon you all for the next event here at Grand Cru. What will we be looking at you ask? Food!
Another first for us here, we have decided to show you all how to match your food to your drinks with a guided masterclass in complimentary flavours. We know a lot of people struggle to find something to really make their meal shine instead of being drowned out so let us take the difficulty away and replace it with simple, solid information. If you feel as if this sort of thing will be up your street and of use to you then get yourself down here! There are only 18 tickets available so don't miss your chance.
The tasting is going to be held at the shop on Wednesday the 17th of October from 7.30 to 10pm. As our licensing requires us to close the shop by 10pm latest we kindly ask participants to arrive at the shop by 7pm in order to begin and finish on schedule.
Instead of the usual accompaniment of meats, cheeses, olives and breads we will be giving a much more selected choice of food for the night to help us teach you exactly how it all works.
The cost of a ticket is £40 and can be purchased either by coming to our highstreet shop (open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-8pm) or by paying through Paypal using our website at:
In order to get yourself booked you can drop us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 020 8650 0085. We will get your place booked but remember we can't hold to a booking for more than five days if payment is not received.
IMPORTANT ! Customers who have purchased tickets online or vouchers which they wish to spend on tickets are kindly asked to confirm ASAP their attendance to the event.
We are looking forward to seeing you there !
Best regards,
The Grand Cru team
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Long time no see! We've had this beautiful juice since we opened as a shop but haven't spoken about it in a long time... do you think we should spend a minute to discuss this award winning Rosé?
Château Miraval is located in the Provence village of Correns, the first 100% organic village in France. All of the crops, including grapes, are grown organically in this wild and picturesque town. Tucked away in its own private valley, the château is surrounded by ancient woodlands and olive groves. Following ancient Celtic and Roman occupation, the property served as a host to monastic practice and as a home to members of the French court in the 14th century. Since 2012, the Perrin family has been involved in wine production at the estate, and has overseen investment in the latest wine-making technology and innovation.
Chateau Miraval Cotes de Provence Rose 2017 @ £19.95 - Buy it here!
The Miraval Rosé has an attractive, soft blush colour and is beautifully bright. Delicate perfumes of raspberries, peaches and white flowers exude from the glass. The palate expresses the Miraval soils with its impressive freshness, minerality and salinity, a signature of 2014. Great balance, good length and character.
You cannot get better than that. Perfection in a bottle. Cheers!
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Many of you know this one but we need to talk about it more often as it's absolutely fantastic. Malbec is a popular one as it is but a great one at a low price? This is the Malbec for you!
Kaikenes are wild geese, native to Patagonia, that fly across the Andes between Chile and Argentina. In the same way, Montes, the Chilean winery, crossed the Andes to set up in Mendoza. Their vineyards are situated in the heart of Mendoza and further to the south in Valle de Uco, where many of the premium producers are now sourcing their fruit. The focus is primarily on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, a variety that has been somewhat forgotten as Malbec has surfed one wave of success after another in the past decade. As a result, there are many old vineyards in Mendoza that produce excellent fruit. Kaiken's own vineyards supply 70% of their production requirements and 30% is from vineyards that they control.
The fruit for the Malbec Ultra was sourced from the Uco Valley. Variations in altitude and soil type result in grapes with distinct characteristics that give unique and highly complex wines. Grapes are sourced from three vineyards with unique characteristics. These vineyards are grown at different altitudes: Vista Flores at 1,400 metres above sea level, Gualtallary at 1,300 metres above sea level, and Altamira at 1,100 metres above sea level. In spite of location and altitude variations, all three soil types are similar: alluvial soil with some sand and silt on top of very rocky layers that provide excellent drainage and ideal conditions to grow highly concentrated grapes.
The 2014-2015 harvest presented mean temperatures well below historic averages. Only in March did temperatures approach mean or close-to-mean values. Red varieties were marked by slow ripening until late March, especially as regards berry sugar content. Then, halfway through April, ripening suddenly accelerated. This long ripening period yielded very expressive wines.
The must was fermented in small tanks under optimum conditions to preserve the individual vineyard characters and qualities. After one month of fermentation, including maceration, the wine was transferred into French oak barrels, one third of which were new and two thirds of which were 2nd and 3rd use barrels. The wine was aged in barrels for 12 months and was lightly filtered before bottling.
Kaiken Ultra Mendoza Malbec 2015 @ £13.95 - Buy it here!
Brilliant, deep ruby-red, with a wonderful display of rich aromas. The nose is enticing and spicy with black fruit aromas. Good structure and soft tannins lead to a finish that is fresh, complex and long, with fruit notes and subtle undertones of rosemary, thyme, and dry flowers.
You won't find anything on the same level as this in the same price range. It is an absolute stonker! Cheers!
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Now this is how you do a Nerello Mascalese. The guys at Vigneti Zabu are about to show you what this wine is all about.
This is a young estate in southwestern Sicily, whose vineyards caught the eye and winemaking talents of Valentino Sciotti. Valentino (of Gran Sasso and Vesevo) saw they had great vineyards and a good winery but were missing the necessary expertise to make wines the market required. Valentino and his team of young winemakers have taken the raw materials and transformed them into wines that people want to drink.
The vineyards for Vigneti Zabù were planted in 2005 on the hills around Lake Arancio in Sambuca di Sicilia in southwestern Sicily. The uncontaminated area of Sambuca di Sicilia is a rich land with ancient vineyards. Lake Arancio, with its crystal-clear water, creates a perfect microclimate for viticulture.
Vigneti Zabu 'Il Passo' Nerello Mascalese IGT 2016 @ £12.95 - Buy it here!
Bright red ruby in the glass with intense aromas of red fruits, spices and red flowers. The wine is vibrant, full and intense with a bright red fruit character. Warm, with a silky texture, it is well-balanced with a persistent finish
A long time favourite for us and we think it'll stay that way! Cheers!
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Big names equal big wines and you cannot go wrong with Leoville Barton. These guys have the history, the skill and the proof to back them both up. Read on to find out more.
Château Léoville Barton is a vineyard in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Léoville Barton is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths) in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.
Unlike many of its peers, Château Léoville Barton has no château building; the wines are made at Château Langoa-Barton with which it shares ownership. The château depicted on Léoville Barton's label is actually that of Château Langoa Barton.
Léoville Barton, along with Château Léoville-Las Cases and Château Léoville-Poyferré was once part of the vast Léoville estate. The estate was purchased by Hugh Barton in 1826, and continues to be owned by the Barton family, of Irish descent. The current owner Anthony Barton began running the estate in 1983, along with its sister property Château Langoa Barton. The previous owner was Anthony's uncle Ronald, who died in 1986. The two St. Julien properties have the longest continuous duration of ownership by the same family of any of the other current proprietors in Bordeaux.
Chateau Leoville Barton, Saint-Julien 1982 @ £190 - Buy it here!
"The color is still a dense, even murky, opaque ruby/garnet. The wine offers up notes of licorice, cedar, black truffles, and sweet currant fruit. The wine is enormous in the mouth but still has some rather gritty, high tannins. It is a classic St Julien, with meat and black currants, great structure, and an amazingly youthful, vigorous feel."
Wine Advocate 94/100
Do not miss out if this sounds like a piece of you! Cheers!
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We begin this week with something at the cheaper end of the scale. Especially considering it has an extra 15% off at the moment. Let's find out more!
Alpha Zeta was started in 1999 when Liberty Wines set out to produce a range of modern, fruit driven wines from the hills outside Verona. Working with leading New Zealand winemaker, Matt Thomson, our aim was to work with growers (rather than buy bulk wine, which is standard among most wines from Verona at this price) to obtain ripe grapes (by reducing yields and picking later) and then, using Matt's expertise, preserve these flavours in the finished wines. The result is a realisation of the potential inherent in Veronese viniculture.
The vineyards are situated in the hills outside Verona in the Valpantena Valley. Cool currents blow down the valley from the foothills of the Dolomites, moderating the climate and enabling the grapes to ripen slowly. This helps the grapes to retain their aromatic compounds and acidity. The soil is poor and chalky so the vines are put under stress which helps to produce superior quality fruit.
Alpha Zeta 'R' Rosato 2017 @ £9.50 - Buy it here!
Pale pink in colour with a hint of red, this wine has attractive aromas of strawberries and cherries, which are complemented by subtle floral notes. This wine is dry on the palate, with a vibrant red fruit character and a fragrant finish.
We thought it was a brilliant choice for the price. Hopefully you do too! Cheers!
