A small departure from our normal Saturday wine facts day, and one that I am very happy to do as it helps my crusade to get people to use local shops and business. The only place in south Kent to buy fish is at Griggs of Hythe. They are right on the shore and local fish is literally landed from the fishing boats not more than a stone’s throw away and sold at their new shop. Andy the Boss is having a launch day soon so all come along and support him and his great team. He would like us to be there so you can savour some of our wines.
We will enjoy our four fillets of fresh mackerel, two lovely pieces of smoked salmon, some of Andy’s smoked fish paté, and kippers for breakfast.
So there you are. There’s no reason whatsoever to buy your fish (and wine) in Waitrose or Sainsbury or anywhere else that is not local. They don’t help the local economy anywhere as near as a locally owned business. The fish is fresher and cheaper than in the supermarkets and to get the full healthy benefits it has to be fresh whether its fish or any other fresh ingredient. Its a winner all round.
As we are a wine blog here are some pointers in matching your fish with wine. For the smoked salmon you need a sturdy white so why not try an oaked Chardonnay from Chablis. If you are not a Chardonnay fan there are some wonderful chenins from the Loire valley in France. Try a Saumur from Chateau de Chaintres. The wine is fermented and aged in old oak barrels so you don’t get any oakiness only a creamy texture from the ageing process. For the mackerel and Paté try a Riesling from Alsace. Domaine Dietrich has some cracking examples, or if you prefer a crispy fresh wine try our Muscadet sur lie from Haute Vrignais. All these wines are on our website http://www.gfwine.co.uk
Cheers.
www.loirewinetours.com Our wine tours
http://www.loirewinetoursblog.co.uk Our wine tours blog
www.manoirdegourin.co.uk Our self catering holidays
www.gfwine.co.uk Our wine shop
www.gfwineblog.co.uk Our wine blog
http://thestrictlywineclub.co.uk Our wine club
http://vintnersfinewines.co.uk Our wholesale wine shop
www.thewinefinder.co.uk Our wine import portal
Posted by:
Simon on: December 18 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
We are off to the Hythe Tennis club again tomorrow evening to tempt members with our wines and to deliver the wines purchased from us last week. We had a great reception and I hope we will get the same response tomorrow. Lets wait and see. We still have a few chrsitmas mixed cases left so give us a shout if you are anywhere in the area of south Kent. Details of the wines are on our website www.gfwine.co.uk Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 12 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
Our host from the tennis club Hilary who arranged the event at the club. Thanks Hilary.
Cathy and Sharon who required the proof!!!
Hey that was a great evening with the tennis players who braved the elements. It was extremely cold and still they played. Well done. We had an enjoyable time in the clubhouse with the players before and after playing and I can report that our wines were favourably received. We will deliver said orders next week to those who bought wine. Its not too late to order your christmas wines at www.gfwine.co.uk cheers
Posted by:
Simon on: December 11 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
We are off to do a tasting at the Hythe Tennis Club tomorrow evening so I look forward to members trying our wines. I'll be doing the christmas cases as they are proving to be popular for the festivities. We also have bottles for presents which I hope will go down well. Wish me luck! Jolly tennis rackets. Please pop down if you know where they are in Hythe near the Military canal. Our christmas wines are on the website www.gfwine.co.uk Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 9 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
We finished on a high with loads of people visiting us to taste our wines at the show in Excel. Many either do not know alot about french wines these days because of the influx of new world wines but after tasting they were greatly encouraged by the quality of our wines. The freshness and frutiness of the Loire Valley reds, the combination of smoothness and spicy tones of our Languedoc greanache/Syrah grape mix, our dazzling Touraine Sauvignon as liked by Tim Atkin the master of Wine, our white chenins from the Loire, and our chardonnay from Chablis to name but a few. A good all round performance. We can still deliver for christmas so have a look at our wines on the website. www.gfwine.co.uk Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 8 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
Day two just finished and was really busy. We had a really full day from 10am to 6pm with no respite. Loads of people wanting to taste our wine. We sold some mixed cases of our christmas wines, single bottles whites, reds and pinks, sparklers especially the red, and loads of our sweet wine tubes. Its not too late to come along to see us on stand W20 tomorrow. Be quick as we are running out of the tubes. Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 7 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
Day One of the show was a real slow start but by the end we were exhausted as it became very busy. Visitors like to leave the wine tasting to the afternoon for obvious reasons and it allowed them to take their purchases straight home. Very sensible. Working with our partner Namaste WInes on the stand was a great success. Barry Dass and I were very pleased with the reaction from people to see us working together with our Indian and French wines side by side. The wines from both Namaste Wine and GFwine are available on our website. www.gfwine.co.uk and can be delivered before christmas. Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 6 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
DO NOT FORGET TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE TASTE Of CHRISTMAS SHOW AT EXCEL LONDON STARTING AT 10AM. SEE YOU THERE. ITS ON UNTIL SUNDAY. STOCK UP ON THOSE WINES AND GIFTS. DON'T FORGET WE ARE ON STAND W20.
CHEERS.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 5 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
Rachel Allen will be at the show
Friday is F Day, Saturday is S Day and Sunday is also S Day making FSS standing for FunStompingStand. And its all happening at stand W20 at the tasteofchristmas show www.tasteofchristmas.com at Excel.London where you will find the best wines in Excel. BOUTIQUE, NATURAL, BALANCED, FINE, MINIMAL INTERVENTION, AND YES HEALTHY. If you drink your recommended units of wine the benefits from red wine are now accepted as being good for you but only if you drink naturally made wine without the use of the many chemicals used by some big producers to kill insects, and diseases in the vineyard and which are also used in the wine room. These may be very small but they can reduce the effectiveness of the good things in wine and also you ingest them when you drink the wine. How do they affect your health in the long term? Nobody knows so a very good reason not to drink plonk or wine you have no idea about what's in it, which basically stops you buying any wine in supermarkets. Great. Wine helps to protect the heart from coronary disease, prevents clumping of platelets in the blood, slows the process of ageing, has an antibiotic action against bugs such as Clamydia pneumoniae and helicobacter pylori, and lowers thr risk of cancer. So here's to your HEALTHY visit to our stand W20. Cheers.
Posted by:
Simon on: December 4 2012 • Categorized in:
Events 
There he stands put to the stake Guy Grainger
The fire engulfs him
His last throes
The final curtain
Yes I know its late and after 5 November but thats called Guy Fawkes night. I'm talking about Guy Grainger Night on the 27th November. If you missed it come along next year although we will need another volunteer. Any takers? What's this got to do with wine you may ask? Well its thirsty work. Try our wines at www.gfwine.co.uk We've some cases especially for christmas. Cheers.
