Each May when the majority of our newly-bottled rosé wine range has arrived here in Mere we host a tasting to assess the vintage and compare and contrast offerings from different producers. Our chosen venue for this is Medcalf bar and restaurant in Exmouth Market, London EC1 [www.medcalfbar.co.uk] because its relaxed, urbane atmosphere seems to suit the genre and they have a secluded and sheltered private terrace which is ideal for tasting au plein air – undoubtedly the best way to sample pink wines.

Tired of big, corporate, free-for-all tastings we deliberately arrange for this to be a low-key and understated event by the simple expedient of not inviting many people. While this may seem commercially illogical it does make for a very pleasant atmosphere and ensures that those who do attend are unhurried and relaxed which are also important considerations when sampling subtle, berry-scented, summery wines.

The big variable, over which we have no control, is the weather. Rosé wines are very atmosphere sensitive and they never show at their best if it is overcast or, even worse, tipping it down. Fortunately, last Monday we were blessed with sunny skies and gentle breezes in the Metropolis prompting Jancis Robinson [www.jancisrobinson.com] to Tweet: ‘Perfect day for tasting Yapp’s interesting rosé range outside at Medcalf – will report.’

Jane Parkinson and Jancis Robinson assess our latest batch of rosé wines

The spectacle of two dozen different rosés lined up side by side is always a visual treat as there is a full spectrum of colours from a very pale ‘onion skin’ hued Reuilly Pinot Gris through the classic coral pinks of Bellet, Bandol and Cassis right up to the deep brick-red of an Irouléguy. My opinion is, of course, heavily biased but the 2010 vintage seems to be bien classique to me, with ripe red fruit aromas and flavours in abundance and plenty of deft wine-making in evidence. Personally I can’t abhor sweet, ‘jammy’, over-extracted rosé wines and happily there were none of these in evidence but bags of elegance and finesse which bodes well for carefree drinking this summer. My personal favourites were the delicate, bone-dry, Vin de Corse Sartène 2010 from Domaine Saparale, the ever-reliable Sancerre ‘Maulin Bèle’ from André Vatan and the rare Bellet: Domaine de la Source, made from pure Braquet, which I revisited over a delicious and highly convivial lunch of artichoke hearts, asparagus and hand-picked Dorset crab. Indeed – a perfect day!

I am delighted to report that the inaugural Natural Wine Fair which we co-hosted with 4 other innovative wine merchants (Les Caves de Pyrène, Aubert & Mascoli, Dynamic Vines and Wine Story, since you ask) in Borough Market from last Sunday until Tuesday was an unreserved, barn-storming success albeit one that was fairly exhausting for the organisers and exhibitors.

Natural Wine Fair - Isabelle Legeron addresses the Exhibitors

Carefully scheduled to attract visitors who might also be attending the leviathan London International Wine and Spirits Fair in Docklands, the NWF surpassed our expectations in terms of foot-fall and we have received heaps of positive feedback. In fairness luck played a fairly major part here as the venue, in the satellite Jubilee Market, is only partially covered and either heavy rain or broiling sun would have been problematic. As it was we had 3 days of hazy sunshine and soft breezes which made for a very pleasant environment in which to taste wine and fraternize with wine makers and merchants.
The first day of the fair was aimed at private customers who paid £18 each for the chance to taste up to 500 organic and bio-dynamic wines and meet the people who make them. There was some trepidation amongst the organisers as to whether we would attract enough visitors but some terrific press coverage beforehand helped boost advanced ticket sales and many more people turned up to pay on the day. With over 700 people attending on the Sunday the fair had got off to a superb start although we were under constant pressure to ensure there were ample clean glasses throughout the day.

Jancis Robinson interviews Ron Laughton of Jasper Hill

There was a good turnout from on-trade buyers and journalists over the following 2 days and we were delighted when Jancis Robinson tipped up on Monday afternoon and decided to interview and film the only New World wine maker present, Ron Laughton, of Jasper Hill vineyards in Heathcote, South Australia. Ron featured quite prominently at the fair because he was also the guest speaker at a talk on the New World Perspective on Natural Wine where he was introduced by NWF organiser and Master of Wine Isabelle Legeron. Ron gave his forthright opinions on everything from compost to irrigation observing that ‘if you need to irrigate you’re in the wrong place’.

Team Yapp taste Jasper Hill wines

Jancis also gave the thumbs up to Pascal Labasse’s  Jurançon Sec: Domaine Bellegarde 2010 and Fredrik Filliatreau’s red Samur: Château Fouquet 2010 both of which she has short-listed as a strong contenders to feature at a gala dinner at her alma mater, St Anne’s college Oxford, later in the year.
Marc Imbert from Domaine Torraccia in Corsica attracted a steady stream of visitors eager to taste his dry white and red blends (made from Nielluccio and Sciacarello) as did two celebrated Provencal wine makers Sylvain Hoesch, from Domaine Richeaume, and Laurent Bunan from Mas de la Rouvière in Bandol. Xavière Brugière’s Pic Saint Loup L’Arbouse drew praise from the Tate Gallery’s wine expert Hamish Anderson and if that weren’t enough Gérard Basset (Master of Wine and World Champion Sommelier) singled out his white ‘Les Mûriers’ as showing particularly well. Bruno Ribière’s ‘rich and nutty’ white Grenache was another wine that Jancis rated highly and she averred that it could go well with cheese – a theory I intend to test imminently.
The Natural Wine Fair certainly scotched the myth that low-interventionist wines are all cloudy, feral and funky and made by blokes with bushy beards – there were a handful of those on show of cousre but they were a tiny minority illustrating that Natural Wine movement is a very broad church and its popularity is increasing.
The Natural Wine Fair had a definite buzz and the fresh feel of something innovative backed by bags of enthusiasm and goodwill and bit of good luck to boot. I for one can’t wait for the next one but I must remember to order more glasses!

In the current doom-laden economic climate it is rather uplifting to visit a nascent restaurant where few expenses have been spared and even the Matisse’s on the wall are original. I’m a sucker for a restaurant preview or ‘soft opening’ as they are known in the industry. There’s always a bit of a distraction with carpenters, photographers or PR gurus plying their trades on the shop floor as the ‘live’ deadline approaches but hey, you get to eat there prior to the dining masses and before the likes of A. A. Gill or Jay Rayner suggest you ought not to bother.

‘cassis’ (yes it is lower case) which is named after the Provençal fishing port and not the soft fruit, is the latest venture of the well-heeled and luxuriously inclined Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation (MARC), who also own Mayfair stalwarts the Greenhouse, Umu and Morton’s Club. Styled as a bistro offering ‘cuisine de Provence’ cassis is making a spirited effort to cast off the trappings of formal fine dining and loosen up a little. There are no table cloths and the dining area, which incorporates 70 generously spaced covers, is light and airy. The menu has a strong Mediterranean leaning and dishes are broken down into 4 sections: ‘Petites bouchées’ (literally small mouthfuls), Entrées, Plats Principaux and Desserts. The Petites bouchées are an enticing selection of (great value) pre-starters and one could (perhaps should) tarry here and possibly skip a later course. Three small slices of warm Pissaladière were faultless and five snails in pastry flambéed in Pastis were equally delicious with a deft aniseed kick. Most intriguing of all were little stuffed pastries called ‘Barbajuans’ variously filled with goat’s cheese, spinach or chicken livers – hot, tasty and uplifting comfort food to tickle the most jaded of palates.

When we visited on Monday lunchtime young chef sommelier Arthur de Gaulejac was on hand dispensing sage advice and some cracking wines by the glass. Arthur is passionate about wine but not at all stuffy and is well suited to the relaxed environment at cassis. He has assembled a 750 bin list that majors on Southern France but includes plenty of gems from elsewhere and a selection of over 80 wines under £50 – a boast few Knightsbridge restaurants of this calibre could make.

‘Entrées’, which fall somewhere between a generous starter and modest main course, also showed culinary imagination and technical flair. Globe artichoke stuffed with spiced mince and chorizo, was perfectly cooked and subtly seasoned as was a dish of fried squid with pessata, that had also been stuffed, in this instance, with Piquillo pepper.

By this juncture we were fairly well-filled ourselves but we managed to polish off a gamey-yet-soothing bowlful of pappardelle with wild boar and chickpeas – just the thing to accompany a brooding Bandol or robust Corsican red on a chilly winter’s day. A perfectly à point roast Landes duck breast was nicely offset by a sharp cassis sauce but it was greed not hunger that was driving us now.

Selflessly we forwent desserts but those served to the adjacent table did look very good. Service was both charming and efficient and the various breads (a qualitative barometer if ever there was one) were all delicious. Coffee was good and strong but not sufficiently warm – a very minor criticism of an otherwise faultless performance.

I’m not sure it’s good form to review a restaurant at the rehearsal stage, especially when you have a vested interest as a supplier and you weren’t presented with a bill but cassis represents a welcome breath of fresh air in the capital and – as Arnold Schwarzenegger would say – “I’ll be back!”.

cassis 232-236 Brompton Road, London. Tel: 020 7581 1101

There are few wine tasting venues that can match the regal splendour of Vintners’ Hall in the City of London and we are inordinately grateful to the Vintners’ Company for allowing us to visit periodically. Bedecked in oak panelling and dazzling with silverware amassed over 6 centuries this is a great setting for a wine tasting especially when the wine makers themselves are present.

On Monday evening last week 6 of our long-serving (possibly long-suffering) suppliers joined us in London to show off their wares.

Laurent Bunan, from Domaines Bunan in Bandol, was showing off his superb white and rosé wines which are little-known on these shores but are hugely popular on the terraces of the Côte d’Azur; where they make an ideal accompaniment to freshly caught seafood. Laurent also exhibited a brace of Mourvèdre-based reds. The Mas de la Rouvière 2004 is beginning to soften with bottle-age and is packed with briary, hedgerow fruit that puts one in mind of warming stews and braises. Laurent’s flagship ‘Cuvée Charriage’ is a belting great blockbuster – approachable now, if decanted, but a wine that will mature well over a further 5 years.

At the neighbouring table Christine Campedieu was dispensing samples of her inimitable Collioure. Her white ‘Les Canadells’ is blended from 70% Grenache Gris and 15% each of Grenache Blanc and Macabeau. It is slightly resinous with wild herb notes and a long, elegant finish – enough to transport one to the Catalonian coast at sunset as the waves lap against the shore… Christine’s red wines named ‘La Pinède’ and ‘Puig Oriol’, after the vine plots, are blended from Grenache mixed with Carignan and Syrah respectively. Both have a strong sense of terroir and a fine concentration of fruit. I thought the ‘La Pinède’ was the slightly more forward drinking of the two but if I can convince ‘her indoors’ that the kids don’t need new winter coats I might invest in both for the Cave Personelle. Not to be overlooked is Christine’s seductive, sweet, dark Banyuls Réserva. It is infused with complex raisin and fig flavours and is one of very few wines that can cope well with chocolate – or Christmas pudding for that matter.

Patricia and Olivier Luneau met at wine school in Beaune and honed their craft in New Zealand. They run a forward-thinking vineyard in Mentou Salon producing fruit-accentuated wines of enormous charm. Simon Hoggart recently described their rosé wine in the Guardian as being: “So delicious – fruity and rich and round and yet with a real strength.”  Their white wine, made from pure Sauvignon, was also showing very well in the current 2009 vintage. They must have mixed feelings about that as they lost three-quarters of the potential harvest to summer storms – fortunately they’ve generously agreed to uphold our usual allocation. Patricia and Olivier were also exhibiting their delightful red Pinot Noir that has a bright berry-scented bouquet and a savoury palate of ripe red fruit and supple tannins. It would make a splendid partner to a plate of charcuterie or crusty bread and a good coarse pâté.

Bruno Ribière, who has the privilege of working with small parcels of ancient vines in the Roussillon, drew quite a crowd with his characterful range of wines that are incredibly evocative of their sun-kissed locale. Encouragingly, Master of Wine (and aide-de-camp to Jancis Robinson OBE) Julia Harding even put in a personal order for some of Bruno’s dry white Grenache. It is highly distinctive with an almost sherry-like palate and a long, mineral-edged finish. Bruno is equally well known for his dark, earthy, reds as testified to by a trio comprised of a brooding Carignan (from 130 year-old vines), a rugged Côtes du Roussillion ‘Cuvée Tradition’ and his dense, age-worthy ‘Cuvée Cana’.

Our only ‘no show’ of the evening was young Nathalie Margan from Château la Canorgue on the Montagne de Luberon. Sadly Nathalie was laid low by a virus on the eve of our tasting and was unable to join us. Fortunately her wines spoke for themselves and were well received in her absence. Château la Canorgue has pioneered organic viticulture since Nathalie’s father Jean-Pierre first set up here in 1978. Their white Côtes du Luberon, blended from Rhône staples Grenache, Clairette, Roussanne and Marsanne is grown at quite a high elevation and is fresher and zestier than most. Their delicious coral-pink rosé wine (from a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah) is also clean, crisp and palate cleansing – it works well with or without food. An intriguing Vin de Pays called ‘Béret’, made from (almost) pure Syrah (with a notional dash of Grenache) drew the attention of veteran wine scribe Malcolm Gluck who observed: ‘Plump yet very gripping tannins provide solid buttressing to svelte, mellow fruit.’  The more senior Château la Canorgue red (40% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 30% Carignan) has more complexity and length but reflects the same diligence and skill in the cellar and will be drinking well this winter.

Last but by no means least we were delighted to welcome Emilie Boisson from the acclaimed Domaine du Père Caboche in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Emilie and her father Jean-Pierre (who is serving his third term as mayor of the town) produce a fresh, racy, consistently pleasing white Châteauneuf-du-Pape from a blend of 40% Roussanne and 20% each of Grenache Blanc, Bourboulenc and Clairette. It is vinified in stainless steel and the malolactic fermentation is blocked by a combination of chilling and filtration. It is one of few whites from the appellation that is zesty enough to be drunk comme aperitif and is a personal favourite. The Boissons, however, are best known for their Grenache-based red wines that have been described variously as ‘sexy’, ‘seductive’, ‘hedonistic’ and ‘voluptuous’ (you get the idea) by no lesser personage than Robert Parker. The entry level ‘Petit Caboche’ is a cracking Vin de Pays, packed with red berry flavours over supple ripe tannins. It is a failsafe ‘crowd-pleaser’ for dinner parties and people suffering withdrawal symptoms from Downton Abbey. ‘Château la Côte’ is a precocious, (new to us) fruit-accentuated Côtes du Rhône Villages in the awesome 2009 vintage that proved very popular on the night and is a shoo-in for our next annual list. 2007 was a historic vintage in Châteauneuf’ so it was a treat to taste the Domaine du Père Caboche red which is drinking really well right now with a lovely warming palate of black berries and cherries and subtle briary undertones. I managed to cajole a swan-song 100 magnums from Emilie when she was still on a post tasting high – if you’re wondering what to drink this Christmas you could do far worse. Finally we finished the evening sampling the flagship ‘Cuvée Elisabeth Chambellan’ again in the magnificent 2007 vintage. It is deeper and darker than the ‘regular’ bottling and comes from 100 year-old vines on La Crau plateau. It made for a terrific finale to a wonderful evening. The general consensus from all parties being that we should do that more often!

An aperitif of refreshing rosé Bandol: Mas de la Rouvière 2007 was accompanied by a delicious amuse bouche of pissaladière. The dry, coral-pink, berry-scented wine was the perfect foil for the warm, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth pastry topped with anchovies, olives and caramelised onions. On my table we fought over the crumbs.

Next up was an equally appetising bouillabaisse served with golden, garlicky croutons and a pleasingly authentic rouille. This was partnered with the ideal wine – a 2007 Cassis blanc from Clos Sainte Magdeleine. The herb-tinged, slightly oily wine moved into a different dimension with the satisfyingly gritty bisque that accompanied mussels, prawns and firm white fish.

Our main course was a (very) generous rack of herb-crusted lamb, served rare with ratatouille. The accompanying red wine was a belter – an organic Côtes de Provence ‘Cuvée Tradition’ 2007 from Domaine Richeaume. This blend of Bordelais (Cabernet Sauvignon) and Rhône (Syrah) varietals is packed with sweet cassis fruit with savoury, minty undertones. It was wonderful with the lamb and equally successful with another Provençal delicacy – a mature Banon goat’s cheese that one seldom sees on these shores.

By this stage nobody actually required further sustenance, but an apricot tart of which Elisabeth David would have been proud (see Yapp ’09 page 10) was very happy in the company of a luscious, straw-coloured Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 from Domaine de Durban that was served ice-cold, in stylish little Parisian glasses. We then had coffee and sensible people (who didn’t abuse their rum rations) caught buses and trains home.

If you’ve yet to engage the Ambassador in diplomatic relations it’s high time you paid a visit. We’ll certainly be heading back soon.