This week, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape, which is a lovely small town just north of Marseille,for a study visit to learn more about Ogier winery and Rhone wine in general. So myself and 5 other Majestic staff members packed our bags and headed to CNDP for what promised to be an excellent trip. 

Arriving around mid-day, just in time for a fantastic lunch looking across the Rhone Valley at Hostellerie Des FInes Roches. The restaurant was situated in a castle, Anne our rep told us that the castle was around one hundred years old, as we sat in the front lawn with the sun beating down, the waiter opened a beautiful white Cote du Rhone, a blend of grapes, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulencm Roussanne and Viognier, which was a first to me and I must admit, it was one of the best wines I had tried in recent months. The wine was lovely and fresh, nice crips acidity. The nose had fanstastic sublte hints of delicate flowers and harmonised pear notes and rounded with almonds hints. The palate develops a beautiful freshness with a superb finish.

After we had polished of the white, a sublime CDR Rosé was then offered to us, this was a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah. This wine was unusual, the Rhone Valley is very close to Provence, where they are renowned for their Rosé, which are light fresh and crisp, The Rhone Valley Rosé was a lot more fuller and creamier than Provence. On the nose there were intense fresh red berries, grapefruit and rose, while on the palate, the attack and final freshness and vivacity, supported by notes of grapefruit and gooseberry. All this lovely wine was served with a fantastic Potato and Lamb gland Salad followed by pork fillet with vegetables and I was greedy enough to finish my meal off with a lemon tart. Not a bad way to be introduced to the Rhone Valley.

After lunch we went round CNDP looking at all the different types of vineyards, in Rhone they have 4 types of terrior, sand, pebbles, limestone and stone. This was interesting to see as these vineyards were so close to each other but would have produced completely different results because of the growing conditions. After the tour we were given some chill out time where we headed back to our hotel to relax and get ready for our cooking lesson at Bastisde des Princes with the well known Pierre Paumel.

Arriving at Bastisde des Princes, we were welcomed by Pierre and his wife, and were put straight into the kitchen and helping prepare dinner. For Starter we had roasted asparagus with smoked salmon wrapped in bric, a local flat bread, and cream sauce. For main course we had Lamb shoulder rolled with minced veal, olive tapenade and aubergine served with a vegetable ragu, I wish you could have tried this, it was outrageously good. For dessert we had a sublime strawberry compote which was soaked in Beaumes de Venise and topped with toasted meringue, it was FANTASTIC!! Now, I know you are all saying the food sounds amazing but what about the wine, well we started 2010 Clos de L'Oratoire white CNDP, again really thought the was fantastic, and would really recommend this to anyone and even letting it age for 3-5 years would really improve the wine even more. We followed the white with the red 2009 and 2011 vintages, they were superb. After a night of great food and drink we retired to our hotel for a well earned night's kip.

In the morning, it was straight to the winery to sample their full range of wines and give us an opportunity to see the winery. Sampling the wines was a great way for us to develop our knowledge of the types of wines that are grown in the Rhone Valley, also gives us an opportunity to give feedback on whether we feel they would be suitable to our customers. We sampled fifteen different wines and I must admit not one of them was a disappointment. After our tour we sat down for lunch which, as you can imagine was delicious, we started with fois gras, beautifully cooked duck, sublime French cheese and a lemon cake to finish off a wonderful trip.

Barbera is native to north-west Italy and where once it was used to produce very light wines, these days many producers are going for a fuller style of wine. This new addition to our range is a nice example of this; you can expect jammy blackberry and cherry fruit on the nose, leading to low but fresh acidity and low tannin to give a smooth, generous texture on the palate. This wine doesn't demand food, but nonetheless will match well with charcuterie.

I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to go to Argentina to visit some suppliers of our, Vinalba at the end of March 2013 for a study visit to learn more about their winery and Argentinian wine in general. After mulling this over for literally seconds, I decided that I would absolutely love to experience such a once in a lifetime opportunity and gladly accepted their offer, so myself and 6 other Majestic staff members packed our backs and headed to South America for what promised to be an excellent trip.

Once we had traveled to Mendoza via Sao Paolo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile, we were met at the airport by Alison and Nick who took us to our hotel where we changed and went straight out to meet Herve and Diane, owners of the Vinalba winery.

Herve arrived in Argentina in the early '90's looking for opportunities to invest in vineyards and start a winery. His vision was to plant Malbec, a grape he saw had great potential. He purchased very old Malbec vineyards and built the winery which he has since grown with his wife, Diane into several hundred hectares of vineyards where they now grow Chardonnay, Torrontes, Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot alongside Malbec.

They took us to their favourite restaurant, 1884 Francis Mallmann where we experienced our first plate of Argentinian cuisine. All of us from Majestic were just blown away by the quality of the food, in particular the quality of the beef, reared in Buenos Aires which was a fabulous match for the Vinalba Malbec. I had always been a massive fan of their wines but with the food we were being served, it was stunning!

The next day we were taken on a long drive into the Andes where we experienced just how important the climate is in Argentina, in particular the altitude. We took a ride on a horse into the Andes, which in itself was an absolutely fantastic experience. At the altitude we were at (around 1200 metres) the air was so clean and fresh but the sun was still blistering. Herve and Diane talked about how this has such an effect; too high and Malbec wouldn't ripen and too low, the heat would be far too hot leading to over ripe grapes with low acidity. When we visited the vineyards at Vinalba later on in the week, we did a vineyard tour and saw spectacular views over their land and saw where they are intending to build more vineyards. I think that one thing I learnt most from the vineyard visit is that terroir is so important. Anyone who thinks that terroir does not exist outside of Europe only need to pay a visit to a country like Argentina to know just how much influence this has on the wine there.

Towards the end of the study trip, we were given the opportunity to blend our own wine to potentially be made into a small exclusive parcel. Blending wines was a great experience but trying to find the right balance is certainly an art. You need patience, time and most of all a very sharp palate! We all made a different blend, using different quantities of the wines given to us to make our own individual blend.

I had a great time on this study trip with Kim, Jenny, Elizabeth, Pedro, Phil and Mark. This trip was not just an amazing cultural experience, it showed us all just how much care, attention and passion goes into the creation of their wines. Herve, Diane and their team are so passionate about creating the perfect wine, sacrificing quantity to ensure supreme quality is achieved. I was a fan of their wine before and always followed their winery with interest but I am now truly converted; I love Argentinian Malbec, it is not an easy wine to make well but Vinalba certainly achieve the best results. But it is not just about Malbec – Torrontes, Chardonnay and their 'Bordeaux blend' are other wines produced by Vinalba which are suberb. I cannot thank Herve and Diane enough for giving us the opportunity to learn more about their winery and wines produced. I will happily reminise to you about my Vinalba trip when you come into store, talk to you about their wines because for me it was just such a wonderful experience!

This week, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape, which is a lovely small town just north of Marseille,for a study visit to learn more about Ogier winery and Rhone wine in general. So myself and 5 other Majestic staff members packed our bags and headed to CNDP for what promised to be an excellent trip. 

Arriving around mid-day, just in time for a fantastic lunch looking across the Rhone Valley at Hostellerie Des FInes Roches. The restaurant was situated in a castle, Anne our rep told us that the castle was around one hundred years old, as we sat in the front lawn with the sun beating down, the waiter opened a beautiful white Cote du Rhone, a blend of grapes, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulencm Roussanne and Viognier, which was a first to me and I must admit, it was one of the best wines I had tried in recent months. The wine was lovely and fresh, nice crips acidity. The nose had fanstastic sublte hints of delicate flowers and harmonised pear notes and rounded with almonds hints. The palate develops a beautiful freshness with a superb finish.

After we had polished of the white, a sublime CDR Rosé was then offered to us, this was a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah. This wine was unusual, the Rhone Valley is very close to Provence, where they are renowned for their Rosé, which are light fresh and crisp, The Rhone Valley Rosé was a lot more fuller and creamier than Provence. On the nose there were intense fresh red berries, grapefruit and rose, while on the palate, the attack and final freshness and vivacity, supported by notes of grapefruit and gooseberry. All this lovely wine was served with a fantastic Potato and Lamb gland Salad followed by pork fillet with vegetables and I was greedy enough to finish my meal off with a lemon tart. Not a bad way to be introduced to the Rhone Valley.

After lunch we went round CNDP looking at all the different types of vineyards, in Rhone they have 4 types of terrior, sand, pebbles, limestone and stone. This was interesting to see as these vineyards were so close to each other but would have produced completely different results because of the growing conditions. After the tour we were given some chill out time where we headed back to our hotel to relax and get ready for our cooking lesson at Bastisde des Princes with the well known Pierre Paumel.

Arriving at Bastisde des Princes, we were welcomed by Pierre and his wife, and were put straight into the kitchen and helping prepare dinner. For Starter we had roasted asparagus with smoked salmon wrapped in bric, a local flat bread, and cream sauce. For main course we had Lamb shoulder rolled with minced veal, olive tapenade and aubergine served with a vegetable ragu, I wish you could have tried this, it was outrageously good. For dessert we had a sublime strawberry compote which was soaked in Beaumes de Venise and topped with toasted meringue, it was FANTASTIC!! Now, I know you are all saying the food sounds amazing but what about the wine, well we started 2010 Clos de L'Oratoire white CNDP, again really thought the was fantastic, and would really recommend this to anyone and even letting it age for 3-5 years would really improve the wine even more. We followed the white with the red 2009 and 2011 vintages, they were superb. After a night of great food and drink we retired to our hotel for a well earned night's kip.

In the morning, it was straight to the winery to sample their full range of wines and give us an opportunity to see the winery. Sampling the wines was a great way for us to develop our knowledge of the types of wines that are grown in the Rhone Valley, also gives us an opportunity to give feedback on whether we feel they would be suitable to our customers. We sampled fifteen different wines and I must admit not one of them was a disappointment. After our tour we sat down for lunch which, as you can imagine was delicious, we started with fois gras, beautifully cooked duck, sublime French cheese and a lemon cake to finish off a wonderful trip.

Barbera is native to north-west Italy and where once it was used to produce very light wines, these days many producers are going for a fuller style of wine. This new addition to our range is a nice example of this; you can expect jammy blackberry and cherry fruit on the nose, leading to low but fresh acidity and low tannin to give a smooth, generous texture on the palate. This wine doesn't demand food, but nonetheless will match well with charcuterie.

I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to go to Argentina to visit some suppliers of our, Vinalba at the end of March 2013 for a study visit to learn more about their winery and Argentinian wine in general. After mulling this over for literally seconds, I decided that I would absolutely love to experience such a once in a lifetime opportunity and gladly accepted their offer, so myself and 6 other Majestic staff members packed our backs and headed to South America for what promised to be an excellent trip.

Once we had traveled to Mendoza via Sao Paolo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile, we were met at the airport by Alison and Nick who took us to our hotel where we changed and went straight out to meet Herve and Diane, owners of the Vinalba winery.

Herve arrived in Argentina in the early '90's looking for opportunities to invest in vineyards and start a winery. His vision was to plant Malbec, a grape he saw had great potential. He purchased very old Malbec vineyards and built the winery which he has since grown with his wife, Diane into several hundred hectares of vineyards where they now grow Chardonnay, Torrontes, Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot alongside Malbec.

They took us to their favourite restaurant, 1884 Francis Mallmann where we experienced our first plate of Argentinian cuisine. All of us from Majestic were just blown away by the quality of the food, in particular the quality of the beef, reared in Buenos Aires which was a fabulous match for the Vinalba Malbec. I had always been a massive fan of their wines but with the food we were being served, it was stunning!

The next day we were taken on a long drive into the Andes where we experienced just how important the climate is in Argentina, in particular the altitude. We took a ride on a horse into the Andes, which in itself was an absolutely fantastic experience. At the altitude we were at (around 1200 metres) the air was so clean and fresh but the sun was still blistering. Herve and Diane talked about how this has such an effect; too high and Malbec wouldn't ripen and too low, the heat would be far too hot leading to over ripe grapes with low acidity. When we visited the vineyards at Vinalba later on in the week, we did a vineyard tour and saw spectacular views over their land and saw where they are intending to build more vineyards. I think that one thing I learnt most from the vineyard visit is that terroir is so important. Anyone who thinks that terroir does not exist outside of Europe only need to pay a visit to a country like Argentina to know just how much influence this has on the wine there.

Towards the end of the study trip, we were given the opportunity to blend our own wine to potentially be made into a small exclusive parcel. Blending wines was a great experience but trying to find the right balance is certainly an art. You need patience, time and most of all a very sharp palate! We all made a different blend, using different quantities of the wines given to us to make our own individual blend.

I had a great time on this study trip with Kim, Jenny, Elizabeth, Pedro, Phil and Mark. This trip was not just an amazing cultural experience, it showed us all just how much care, attention and passion goes into the creation of their wines. Herve, Diane and their team are so passionate about creating the perfect wine, sacrificing quantity to ensure supreme quality is achieved. I was a fan of their wine before and always followed their winery with interest but I am now truly converted; I love Argentinian Malbec, it is not an easy wine to make well but Vinalba certainly achieve the best results. But it is not just about Malbec – Torrontes, Chardonnay and their 'Bordeaux blend' are other wines produced by Vinalba which are suberb. I cannot thank Herve and Diane enough for giving us the opportunity to learn more about their winery and wines produced. I will happily reminise to you about my Vinalba trip when you come into store, talk to you about their wines because for me it was just such a wonderful experience!

Innis & Gunn is a specialist independent brewing company, established in 2003, its beer has gone on to be the most popular British bottled beer sold in Canada, and second most popular in Sweden.

According to Innis and Gunn's website, the process by which they barrel ferment their beers was discovered in an ironic accident: the intent was to create a scotch whisky with ale flavours. To do this, a special beer was created which would then be stored in the whisky barrels. After the beer had conditioned the barrels, it was to be discarded and replaced with the whisky. The brewers noted that the process had an agreeable effect on the beer, and thus aging the beer became an end in itself.

Innis and Gunn Blonde is lightly oaked for 37 days in American oak leaving a light vanilla oak character to this fruity blonde beer. Best Served well-chilled for maximum refreshment

£18 a case

Thats only £1.50 a bottle!

Casa d'Aragona, 2010 Salice Salentino, Italy Only £6.99 a bottle!!

Salice Salentino is a small town in the middle of Puglia, Italy's 'heel', and was recognised as a DOC as recently as 1976, although wine has been made in this region since Greco-Roman times.

This wine is a blend of the two principal native local red grapes. Vibrant cherry red with a garnet tint acquired through ageing. A ripe red fruit character and round texture are accented by dry spice and tobacco notes, and supported by sinewy tannins.

A great accompaniment for rustic salami, smoked ham or game dishes.