Monday 31 December 2018

An amazing 2018

It has been an amazing 2018, the highlight being my super Hubby retiring at the end of January allowing us to enjoy the year together.

When we bought this house in 1986, when we struggled to afford furniture, when we saved every penny for our wedding, when money was tight bringing up our two fabulous children, when I was diagnosed with MS, when I suffered a major injury to my left ankle in 2017, when all of these events happened I ... we ... never imagined we would both be retired in our 50s enjoying weekends away and many holidays. There's been a lot of pinching in 2018!

We have certainly enjoyed wine, food and travel - I've chosen my favourite photos (with the link to my actual blog post in the caption) - it's hard to pick my favourite but here are my highlights of 2018!

Hubby's retirement  - Time's they are a changing
Love Wine Guildford - a superb weekend in March 
It was tough but I climbed up Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury and Wells
CuvĂ©e Reserve is my online wine forum;  we have great fun sharing tasting notes, recommendations and new discoveries. Each spring we have a weekend away and this year six of us enjoyed a holiday in Burnham on Sea where we discovered a fantastic English Vineyard and enjoyed a private wine tasting in Weston Super Mare.

A top highlight - discovering Oatley Vineyard
Private wine tasting at Majestic Wine 
After missing a visit in 2017 due to my accident it was a delight to spend a week in Turkey at our favourite hotel.

Icmeler Sea Star and Turkish Wine
In May Hubby and I visited The London Wine Fair as a blog writer I am classed as Press, something I find quite surreal. I was taken away with how big the event was, if we visit again it will be over a couple of days.

London Wine Fair - familliar faces  - French wine - west to east European  
A superb week in France in June
Saint Vallery sur Somme
In June we celebrated our wedding anniversary with a few days in Birmingham enjoying the atmosphere of being in a pub for World Cup football game, an afternoon wine tasting and an amazing Zimmer v Williams concert.

Anniversary celebrations in Birmingham
As well as holidays abroad we also had some great England visits including discovering new vineyard, a favourite vineyard and many National Trust Houses. There is so much to discover here at home as well as new places overseas.

Dedham Vale Vineyard
The Bolney Estate
Shugborough Hall and Baddesley Clinton
In August we had an amazing week touring the Champagne region of France with our friends.
Champagne - Les Grandes Maisons - Les Autres Maisons
Our champagne tasting selfies
September saw us on a very special holiday, the first time in ten years that our son and daughter came on holiday with us - a holiday for four! We decided to go to Portugal as it was a country new to us all. Our villa was superb with it's private pool and so much space we nearly lost each other.

Portuguese Food and Wine 
It was definitely a pinch me moment when I was asked to be a Round 1 judge at The People's Choice Wine Awards; I had to pinch myself even harder when I was chosen as a Supertaster to be a judge in Round 2!
People's Choice Wine Awards 
October was all change as our booked Danube River cruise was cancelled due to low water levels - we rebooked for a Yuletide Cruise but decided to still go away .... a week in a caravan in Dorset..... it was fabulous, we visited so many National Trust Houses, discovered a new beer and visited one of the best English sparkling wine producers.

Cerne Abbas Brewery 
Langham English Sparkling Wine 
National Trust Houses 
Our year got busier and busier with November being a month of wine tasting events, all very different ending with a wine tasting hosted by myself and Hubby.

Love Wine Birmingham - a great day with great friends 
A bag of goodies from Waitrose Wine Festival 
Our wine tasting Scout Leaders - Wine Tasting Christmas Ideas
Although not planned it being an alternative booking, our final holiday could not have been more perfect. Our first, and certainly not now our last, river cruise from Budapest to Vienna with Rivieria Travel was superb.

Crusing the Danube at Christmas 
Hubby's first year of retirement has been amazing, not just our trips and visits but time together at home enjoying our garden. Weekends are no longer rushed and 'here we go again' is no longer a phrase in our house

I wonder what 2019 will bring; initially a few difficult weeks for our son who had a slight accident on his motorbike just before Christmas. He suffered a badly broken right wrist/arm and needed an operation to straighten and plate it and will be off work for quite a few weeks. I am waiting another operation on my ankle, this time to remove the metal plate and pins as they are causing restriction and irritation on my tendons.

Whatever the year brings I'm sure we will still be enjoying holidays, trips away, good food and superb wine ....
..... wishing everyone a Happy New Year ! 





Sunday 23 December 2018

Cruising the Danube at Christmas

It's very hard to put into words just how amazing this, our first river cruise was ..... and so this is a photo post!

First view of Budapest as we arrived at the MS Thomas Hardy

5 star floating hotel - superb surroundings with an amazing team of nautical and hotel crew,
our holiday could not have been better!

Matthias Church - Buda side of the Danube with amazing views over Pest

Views of Pest and it's stunning Parliament building

Our Hungarian picnic lunch in our room - delicious selection from the local market

Esztergom Bazilika as we cruised by overnight to Bratislava

Bratislava Castle, Town Gate and Town Square - a  beautiful city

The Watcher - one rumour says that he's communist era worker who is not bothered
about the work he’s supposed to be doing, another rumour is he’s
looking under the women’s skirts!

Thomas Hardy moored at Bratislava and the Novy Most or UFO Bridge built in 1972

Stunning Vienna, a city we will be visiting again to enjoy all it's glory

At the top of the bell tower of St Stephen's Cathedral - there was a lift!

St Stephen's Bell Tower, overlooking the Cathedral's intricate roof

Our overnight to midday sailing gave us the opportunity for room service breakfast -
it was just perfect sitting at our full length window watching the snowy banks pass by.

Snowy scenes as we sailed back to Budapest where the Parliment building looked even more
majestic with it's dusting of snow - first the city has seen in 6 years!

Artwork by the crew of our sister ship MS Emily Bronte 

Superb finale dinner - the amazing crew of 42 made our holiday very special

Good fun, great cruising companions, superb holiday



High above Budapest, drinking Hot Punch in Vienna, cruising by Parliment Building,
on deck in the snow and our very special floating hotel.
It wouldn't be our holiday without a few selfies!
A massive thank you to Riveria Travel; Peter and Sarah our tour organisers; our onshore tour guides with their great knowledge delivered with humour; our two Captains for their piloting skills, especially through the locks; third Captain Alina for her great hospitality; and all the crew on MS Thomas Hardy - it was an amazing holiday full of Christmas cheer!

The biggest thank you is of course for my amazing Hubby 
- I'm a very very lucky lady!

Monday 10 December 2018

Wine tasting - Christmas ideas

Since doing the first wine tastings for our Scout Leaders in 2014 they have become very popular events. We now hold about 3 each year and being the start of December it's always good to look at wines for Christmas

Our tastes have changed and developed since those first wine tastings. Everyone can now appreciate the difference between Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Shiraz so it's good to offer a wide variety. It's always fun to set the Headquarters up and prepare tasting notes.

Table set
Tasting notes ready
We began this time with a bottle of Arestel Cava made from Xarel-lo, Parerlada & Macabeo. A Lidl Cava that is usually £4.99 but was a special offer a few weeks ago at just £3.49. We offered orange juice to make a bucks fizz however only one person in the group added it to their glass of bubbles everyone else preferring it unaccompanied. It was quite citrusy with plenty of  lively bubbles. I paired this Cava with some sea pearls from IKEA, not caviar but seaweed, served on blinis it matched perfectly.


All of the wine for the evening came from ASDA, they have a great range with reasonable prices. Taking advantage of their 25% for 6 bottles offer it enabled me to buy some great wines for our set budget.

Our white selection
Extra Special  Soave Superiore Soave this wine was recommended by our daughter. She is still learning about all the different styles of wine and selected this to go with seafood. I really enjoyed this light fresh Italian wine with it's slightly nutty flavour, it would be a great seafood pairing.

Our second white was Graham Norton's Own Sauvignon Blanc. Such a great tropical nose, rich apple and citrus flavours this wine was loved by everyone. I served salmon pate as a pairing. It would be perfect served with a fish starter at Christmas.

The story of how Casillero del Diablo got its name with the disappearing wine thought go be the Devil stealing it is very interesting. This Pinot Grigio from Chile was full of pears and apples, quite a refreshing drink with a hint of tangerine on it's finish.

No-one had tried 19 Crimes before: quite a striking range with its photo labels of convicts.  The history behind the bottles is linked to the 19 crimes that if committed would result in you being banished to Australia. This Australian  Chardonnay was creamy, buttery with plenty of honey notes. It really matched with pigs in blankets and chicken sausage and would be perfect with a roast turkey dinner.

Louis Jadot  Les Petites Pierres Chardonnay was our final white. A beautiful  white from burgundy this was a more traditional wine full of  apples. This wine is often served with roast dinners and this would also be perfect with a Christmas turkey dinner. It was the favourite wine of the evening.


Our RosĂ© was another from Casillero del Diablo. This RosĂ©'s the striking bottle caught my eye. It was a Shiraz wine with strawberries, raspberries and a touch of spice, not the usual sweet RosĂ© that most people like. Everyone thought it's a very different wine but quite liked it's dryness.

Our red selection
Trivento Malbec is a favourite wine with all of us. We've had this wine from Argentina at many of our tastings. If you are looking for a Christmas red you can't go wrong with this beautiful Malbec; deep colour, full of fruit with a super kick of space at the end. It always pairs well with steak so we tried some Jerk Beef.

Extra Special Valpolicella Ripasso made from Corvina Veronese, Rondinella & Molinara was an interesting wine. It has added body and depth which is produced by semi dried grapes being added for the second fermentation. It certainly added a richness and was the favourite out of all the reds we tried

19 Crimes The Banished Shiraz another wine from Australia linked to the crimes of England. This wine was very rich not as spicy as other shiraz wines but a full fruity round bodied red that paired really well with mature cheddar cheese.

Apothic Red was another deep fruity red with a background of mocha. Everyone thought it would be perfect with Christmas pudding with its blackberries, plums and deep fruitiness.

Fruitiness was abundant in our final red, Jam Shed Shiraz. I was very impressed with this wine especially as it comes from a village called Clare! It was packed full of jammy fruit perfect with our mini mince pies and Liebekuchen. A really rich red that you could sit back and enjoy at the end of a meal.

Our final drink of the evening was Cerne Abbas Gurt Coconut Rum Stout. A beer that we brought home from our Dorset holiday had mixed reviews  as not everybody enjoys a dark beer. I'd made rocky road with rich chocolate, salted peanuts, marshmallows and cherries to pair with the coconut and chocolate flavours in the stout. It was a split room based mainly on whether people liked coconut or stout or didn't like either.

In all our 'Christmas' glory 
Overall we had a great night and discovered some super wines that would be great with a festive dinner. It's always fun at our tastings and I'm sure there will be many more such nights in 2019!

Sunday 25 November 2018

Waitrose Drinks Festival

If you're looking for everything in one place then the Waitrose Drinks Festival is the one for you. The County Hall in central London on the banks of the River Thames perfectly matched the size of this tasting; huge building, huge event.

On arrival we each received a wristband with an electronic disc linked to our email. This enabled us throughout the show to tap exhibitors' tablets and after the event emails containing the details of the wines and spirits we tasted would be sent to our inbox.

I initially thought this was a great idea if a little cumbersome at times, especially for the exhibitors who were also pouring drinks and answering visitor questions.

Before the show itself began we visited the Taylors coffee and tea lounge which offered a variety of cookies chocolates and hot drinks. It was lovely to sit in the relaxing surroundings and browse through the brochure to look at which exhibitors to visit.

It soon became apparent that although we would have four hours it would be impossible to cover all the rooms and see all the exhibitors.

As I browsed the Waitrose brochure I was a little dismayed that it only gave a small description of each exhibitor rather than listing the wines and prices for each stand. We did find that there was a price list at each stand but it was hard to read especially when a few people were at the same stand.

For me a wine event is all about learning more of the history, the country, the grape and the producer of a wine. It was great to chat to each exhibitor to learn more about the wines they were highlighting. Unfortunately as the event had so many exhibitors: 53 wine; 24 spirits; 11 gin; 34 beer, cider & food; and 14 fizz; it was impossible to visit all.

We had superb chats with all the wine exhibits we did visit - old friends, other recognised brands and some new discoveries.  It was superb to chat to our much enjoyed wine makers Les Dauphins who exhibited their range of Cotes du Rhone wine including a full and well rounded Chateauneuf du Papes. We are huge fans of  Les Dauphins enjoying their wine both here in the UK and whilst on our holidays in France.


It was also great to chat with Domaines Paul Mas and Rustenberg Wines both producers popular with us. Viognier is one of my favourite grapes and I'm always interested when a wine is a Viognier blend. Paul Mas Viognier Sauvignon Blanc was superb and transported me back to our Languedoc holidays.

I really liked the apricot notes in the slightly oaked Rustenberg Chardonnay and Hubby really liked the John X Merrimen Cabernet Sauvignon. A range of South African wines we both enjoy.



There were so many wine exhibitors I would have liked to stand and chat with. We did manage some time with PLB where I discovered their Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc and the delicious Royal Tokaji. It was great to find When in Rome exhibiting their wine boxes; we had met them before at Love Wine.

From the wines we did taste the one that stood out for me was a superb white from Sicily. Grillo is a grape used to make Marsala wine but this Rapitala wine wasn't a sweet wine. Nutty, crisp, full of lemon and apple Grillo was such a refined wine and without doubt my best in show.


Very conscious of time running out we decided to move into the Spirits and Gin rooms, both of which were huge with such a variety of exhibitors. Southern Comfort is a favourite spirit of mine, especially at Christmas; it seems I am not alone in this as the stand was so crowded I did not get chance to discover their cocktail recipes.

I did however have a great chat with J and B Whisky, not being a whisky fan I was very surprised and impressed with their cocktail ideas. Maker's Mark was another whisky stand I visited, mainly as our son enjoys bourbon. Their cocktail of Maker's Mark bourbon with Merchant's Heart ginger was very nice and a cocktail I will be making at home.


It was good to see Dockyard Gin at the Local Gin Bar. We had visited this independent distillery when on holiday in Chatham; their gin using 9 ingredients is one of my favourite. A new gin we discovered was Adnams'. Hubby has always enjoyed their beer, although he has yet to try their new low alcohol Ghost Ship (it wasn't at this event), and we both enjoyed Copper House Dry Gin.


With just three quarters of an hour left hubby decided to make a trip into the beer and cider room and I decided to make my way downstairs to the Champagne and Fizz. After a long walk back to the lift I made it down to floor 3 to discover a room full of fizz. So many exhibitors including English sparkling wines, but too many to do justice to or to learn about. It was great to see Bolney Estate again and I did discover an new English Sparkling Wine; Chalfor from Buckinghamshire.

Throughout the event food was served by waitresses; a good idea but in practice it was very difficult to balance everything and hold little pots of hot food. I know Hubby enjoyed the hand-held burger which was easier to manage whilst holding a wine glass and event brochure.

As we left everyone was given a tote bag containing miniature gins, soft drinks, beers, spices, tea, coffee, snacks, biscuits and a large magazine - a great goody bag if a little weighty.


As I mentioned before it would have been impossible for anyone to taste every wine, spirit, gin, champagne, beer or cider on offer and for me this event was far too big. I'm sure though that everyone visiting had a good time, quite apparant with the buzz as we made our way to the exit at the end of the event. It did feel more like an event for those people wanting a social afternoon with the opportunity to consume plenty of alcohol beverages. I have seen many comments suggesting this on social media with phrases such as 'fill your boots'.

Please don't misunderstand, we both had a lovely day meeting old friends and exhibitors we know as well as new exhibitors but we did come away a little disappointed. We felt rushed and had not been able to meet all the people we had hoped to.

Now at home I have received my email from all the exhibitors that had tapped my wristband. Hopefully in this post I have managed to highlight my favourites from the day. It has taken me a little while to work out which wine was on which stand as the links emailed directed me to Waitrose online shop instead of to each producer or supplier page as I had expected.

Personally I think the Waitrose Drinks Festival would have been better as separate events: a wine tasting event and a spirit/gin event. I did enjoy our day in County Hall but for me I prefer smaller and more personal events with more time and opportunity to discover more with each exhibitor - less is often more!