This week we have added the Crouch Ridge Bacchus to our range of tastings. Sometimes described as the English Sauvignon Blanc, it is a quintessential English Bacchus, Intensely aromatic with grapefruit, pear, peach, lime, and notes of nettle and cut grass.

1 of 2 Some of my favourite wines from my vineyard visits. In 2023, we visited the Gelsomino vineyard near Taormina in the shadow of Mount Etna. My favourite white- Etna Bianco Della Contea 2021-deliciously crispy tropical flavours & balanced minerals from the volcanic soil.

2 of 2 My favourite red was the Etna Rosso-lovely, delicate wine with raspberry fruit flavours, soft tannins and a long finish. Ideal with antipasti or on it’s own. Loved the amphitheater style of vine cultivation in such a beautiful setting.

For one of the best food & wine pairing experiences in the East of England you must try Kintsu Colchester A stunning menu with original & innovative combinations. Loved the Pump Street Chocolate with the Cherry & Mascarpone with sweet Tesauro Recioto della Valpolicella 2020 - Veneto, Italy.

To decant or aerate? Decanting and aerating can serve a similar purpose which is to increase the surface area of the wine in contact with the air to potentially improve the taste. I tend to decant older wines but have been experimenting with an aerator on some wines like these.

Perhaps the most impressive & theatrical was the spiral aerator used by the sommelier at Restaurant La Marquière in the beautiful city of Carcassonne for a bottle from one of my favourite wine regions, Languedoc- Roussillion (Faugeres) & a bottle of Tempus 2016 from Domaine Les Fusionels.

‘A rosé by any other name would taste as sweet’ (apologies to Shakespeare!) At Crouch Ridge we produce some excellent rosé wines but look at the difference in shade and hue ! Appearances can be deceptive! Rule of thumb says the darker the pink the sweeter the wine!

Our Pinot Noir Rosé 2021 is a clean, fresh Rosé bursting with all the red summer fruits. Delicate notes of Strawberries and cream on the palate with a pink grapefruit finish. The perfect wine to share with friends on a sunny day (or any day!).

Our 2022 premiere rosé is an elegant Provence -style rose, salmon pink wine with wonderful acidity. Fragrant aromas of fresh strawberries, wild berries and Summer oranges with a delicate oyster shell mineralogy on the palate. Vibrant and delicious. 6 hours on the skins.

Both our rosés are great with seafood and shell fish, vegetarian mezzo as well as mushroom dishes, and goats cheese. Not all very pink roses are sweet. Love watching our tasters try the 2022 first time. Come to Crouch Ridge and taste the difference for yourselves.

Sommelier stories- It’s all about the nose! The smell of a wine, sometimes called the "nose" or bouquet, is one of the most distinctive aspects of a wine. It also gives us an indication of the complexity of the wine and of its stage of aging.

The smell of a wine is a combination of its primary aromas due to the variety of grapes used to produce the wine, secondary aromas, which develop during the fermentation process, and tertiary aromas, which develop during the wine's aging process.

I keep my nose in shape by using these aroma kits for red and white wines. Love listening to our customers discussing what aromas they can detect on their noses before testing their palettes.

What a lovely way to spend a morning. Very important for a sommelier to understand every stage of the wine making process so today was picking Pinot Noir grapes at the beautiful Shotley Vineyard A glorious setting to grab your vine snips and bucket and get in amongst the grapes!

Just the gentle sound of bird song and the quiet chatter of the grape pickers in the Suffolk sunshine. Shotley has over 4,000 Pinot Noir vines planted in the late 1990s. Great to chat with the other pickers over an 11.00am coffee too.

Looking forward to enjoying the fruits of my labour- Shotley 2023 Pinot Noir-medium bodied with aromas of ripe cherries and blackcurrant, with a smooth earthy finish. We achieved high ripeness leading to a large percentage of the wine being barrel aged.

It’s Harvest time- but you can still come along an enjoy our award winning wines and a tasting session of either five or three of our amazing still and sparkling wines.

At Eataly & could not resist a glass of Gavi Di Gavi. Cortese grape- aromas of acacia & white peach. Starter-Fiori Di Zucca Fritti- Fried courgette flowers, ricotta & smoked provola. Second- Mezzo Pacchero All’ Amatriciana- Pasta, tomato sauce, guanciale & Pecorino Romano.

Have a great weekend #weekendwinetime