Top Prize!

At Laithwaites Wine, we positively encourage members of staff from any area of the business, wine knowledgeable or not, to come and lend a hand at our events. We believe it makes our events unique and more authentic – it’s also vitally important for staff to feel connected to and to better understand our customer. For those on our extensive in-house wine education courses, it is a great opportunity to share the pleasure of what is being learned.

To reward our volunteers from the first six months of the year, we held a prize draw for a place at dinner at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons to one lucky winner - the more events you worked, the more entries in the draw. Here is a guest blog from our winner, Christian, who has helped at five events already this year, on his dinner prize:

“Le Manoir is Raymond Blanc’s stylish hotel and restaurant, situated amongst beautifully maintained grounds in Oxfordshire.

The restaurant at Le Manoir has two Michelin stars. I have no idea what you need to do to get three, but any restaurant that gains that status must prepare food that is almost celestial in quality. Being a fussy eater, I plumped for the vegetarian option, foregoing three of the most indulgent courses in the form of foie gras, lobster and angus beef steak, for a salad of compressed vanilla peaches, roasted red pepper with aubergine baba ganoush (note: Baba Ganoush is not, as I thought, a boxer) and roasted baby beetroots. All of the vegetables were grown on the estate’s two-acre kitchen garden and were harvested that day. There were three more courses plus canapés and to finish, coffee and petit fours. It was, to coin a phrase, a dinner fit for a King. A vegetarian one at least.

The dining room was resplendent, with it and all of the guests, draped in their very best finery. It looked as I imagine the final meal on-board the Titanic might have looked, but in contrast our evening was a triumph, without an iceberg in sight. Not even a lettuce. The evening was expertly hosted by our Events Manager, Ian Dunn. Before each course, Ian gave a brief description of the wines we were being served. Each one was a perfect match for the food. Laithwaite Grand Cru Vintage Champagne and elegant canapés, delicate Vermentino and ricotta ravioli, silky Pinot Noir from Central Otago with goat’s cheese and spiced cherries. My dessert was an exotic fruit raviole with coconut ice cream, matched with Botrytis Reserve Semillon from Australia. Oh, how the other half live!

All of this made for a fun atmosphere. Guests had travelled from far and wide to be there. The three friendly couples that dined on my table had come from Cornwall, Malvern and West Sussex. Despite meeting for the first time, the conversation was easy and relaxed. For many of the guests, the evening is a trip they make every year, but for me it was a very special treat, one that I feel very fortunate and grateful to have experienced. Should you ever get the opportunity to attend, I highly recommend it. All of our tasting events are fun and relaxed, but Le Manoir is truly unique.” Christian.

It was a great evening - lovely customers, attentive staff, exquisite food & wine. If this has inspired you to come along to one of our dinners, you’ll be pleased to learn that we are back at Le Manoir on Tuesday 15th November for a sumptuous seven-course menu gourmand or you can go for our lighter three-course Summer paella supper at Forbury’s in Reading on Tuesday 26th July.

Look forward to seeing you,

Ian

laithwaites.co.uk/events

Wargrave Village Festival

Biennially, Wargrave Village hold a fortnight of festivals and events to support village schools, charities and organisations and this year Laithwaites Wine have been supporting the festivities with a plentiful supply of wine.

The evening of Monday 20th June turned out to be one of the best events in their calendar. It was due to be a tough crowd; Paul Daniels had appeared the Friday before (the crowd had only paid £12.50 a ticket to see his act, whilst they gladly paid £17.50 for our tasting), so we knew we had to be spot on. Ian Fritz, John Kemp & I, along with Laithwaites Wine’s very own Debbie McGee, Jo Carrier, wowed the 250 strong audience with a wine ‘call my bluff’, Laithwaites style!

From the off, the crowd were eating out of the palm of our hand, Ian’s jokes, some more funny than others, kept the evening going with a swing, with all of the guests laughing, jeering, clapping and slurping it almost sounded more like a pantomime than a wine tasting.

We finished the evening leaving everybody in the marquee with the knowledge that when it comes to wine, Laithwaites know what we are talking about and that we have a fun time doing it, as well.

Will

From coast line to fell side

Firstly, many apologies for the lack of action on our blog recently. We haven’t slipped into early retirement or anything, quite the reverse. Benares (in Mayfair, not Uttar Pradesh), Westminster (no ash clouds!), York, Torquay, Portsmouth, Le Chai au Quai, Swansea, The Arch, Reading and Le Manoir would be the ultra-brief way to sum up our movements in April and May.

After a brief lull for half term hols, Will and I returned to Portsmouth on Thursday last week and, amidst many a pirate gag, boarded HMS Warrior where we were joined by a hard-working Laithwaites Wine crew and 250 eager customers. It kept dry for us and the Spinnaker Tower gleamed in the sun, but it was sadly too breezy to serve the Champagne on deck. Warrior makes a really splendid venue – her benches, chains and, unsurprisingly, weaponry on the Gun Deck make for interesting, unusual and atmospheric surroundings. It is an incredibly popular event. Sales of rosé wine (especially Nine Tails Moscato) reflected its continued popularity as well as the recent dry, warm weather.

While Will had a deserved weekend off, next day I drove (for five and half hours!) to Penrith.

I love The Lakes. I think I can safely say that the whole Events Team loves The Lakes. Being a ‘southern softie’, it’s a long way from home for me - it was Tony & Barbara’s longstanding links to the area (and my Dad’s tales of his 1950s Outward Bound course) that first led me to its rugged fells and tranquil waters – but it is always worth the trip, rain or shine.

So I was really looking forward to our third visit to Dalemain House near Ullswater for our Wine & Food Show on Saturday. And evidently so were the customers, arriving in really relaxed and cheerful mood, in bright sunshine and blue skies (in the morning at least). Taxis and mini-buses shuttled repeatedly from Penrith, the clang of the cattle grid announcing each new group of arrivals. Some walked in from neighbouring villages, others came by bike. Dalemain’s rose-tinted façade does make a fantastic backdrop for our big white marquee and the vibrant gardens are a peaceful and calming escape from grey suburbia.

In the tent it wasn’t quiet – quite a hubbub of laughter and conversation, chinking glasses and appreciative sipping. The select Cumbrian food producers present certainly played their part, offering their organic cheese, meat, bread, preserves, mustard and Dalemain’s own speciality, marmalade, to sample and buy – I read that Tony & Barbara’s larder is now well-stocked – I think everyone bought something.

The taxis reappeared and ferried everyone off home – even the seemingly-forgotten Holmes party eventually.

And once it was all over we reflected “We had a great time - the customers did too. Shall we do it again?”

[EDIT:] You can see the photos here on facebook

Ian

PS. Congratulations to Gerard Basset of Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest on the award of his OBE in the Queen's Birthday honours. Fantastic!

15 Tastings Later

Hello! It’s been a couple of weeks since we last wrote and a lot has happened in the world of events since then. We have already held 11 tastings and 4 dinners this year! Highlights include Hotel Terravina, Cardiff, and The Grand Hotel, Brighton (pictured left), where our tasters were welcomed with a glass of Champagne in the Pavilion Suite overlooking Brighton's seafront.

It’s always really interesting for us after each tasting, to see which wines proved to be the most popular. We’ve recently had a look at all of the wines shown across the 65 tasting events we held in 2010 and found that overall, the top 3 most ordered wines were:

1. Pillastro Selezione d’Oro 2007
2. The Black Stump 2009
3. Andresen 10 year old White Port

It’s great to see that the White Port has done so well - it’s one of those things that many people are a little unsure about until they actually get to try it… and love it!! That’s the beauty of tastings; you’re able to taste new or unusual styles that you might usually steer clear of, and often find something you adore that you may never have discovered otherwise!

We have lots to look forward to over the next few months, starting with our annual Vintage Festival in London on 15th & 16th April. We’re hoping that our daily ritual to ward off ash-clouds works so that our producers make it this year, after last year’s volcanic eruption left many of them stranded all over the world!

We’ll let you know how it goes.

Jo x

Lincoln was where I hosted my first ever solo wine evening

Lincoln was where I hosted my first ever solo wine evening with Laithwaites Wine, so it was a great pleasure to return there on Tuesday evening to host another evening at The County Assembly Rooms, with 12 more months under my belt.

On this occasion, I was joined by a great team of staff and I was very pleased to welcome some extra help in the form of our very own Head Winemaker extraordinaire Mark Hoddy from Le Chai au Quai and John Thorne from De Bortoli Wines, Australia.

Over 140 guests hurriedly entered the hall and poor Richard (our logistics expert and all-round safe pair of hands) was rushed off his feet pouring samples of the tremendous Haton Champagne as people rushed to make a start.

Old friends Michael and Mary Davenport joined us from Cote Hill Cheese once again and customers were treated to their excellent, locally produced, international award-winning cheeses.

Several wines stood out on the evening in my eyes (none more so than the wonderful La Font del Bosc 2005, Maury AOC care of our very own Mark Hoddy) and positive comments, coupled with pleas to return sooner next time were discussed at the end of the evening with the departing groups of smiling customers.

All in all, a great night was had by all; I even treated the staff to a Chinese afterward to celebrate!

See you all soon,

Will

PS. From Ian:

Just back from supporting Rose Murray Brown MW’s Wine Relief) (part of Comic Relief) tasting in Edinburgh. Great fun! If you haven’t done your bit for Red Nose Day yet, why not take a look at this special Comic Relief reds mix chosen by Oz Clarke – drink and donate in one go!

On The Road!

Sorry it’s been a while but we have been non-stop since our first tasting of the year in Swindon at the end of January!

After Swindon came Colwyn Bay in North Wales, Norwich, Cardiff and then Godalming (at the incredible Charterhouse school!) for February. We then kicked-off March with our annual trip to Nottingham last week, which was great fun, as always!

We’ve had some super producers from all over the world join us at these events, from Sussex to South America! Federico Boxaca of Bodega Familia Schroeder, Patagonia, Argentina, wowed the crowds with the Schroeder Estate Malbec 2009 in Norwich. Sam Lockyer from Stonewall Estate, New Zealand presented 4 cracking wines from Marlborough at Colwyn Bay, and our English Sparking Wine from RidgeView Estate in Sussex, presented by the winemakers, proved to be a great way to start to the night for our tasters in Godalming and Nottingham!

Due to popular demand we have already booked another evening in Cardiff at The St David’s Spa Hotel for November this year. Let us know if we’re due a visit to your town; we’re keen to bring our wine to as many of you as possible: eventsfeedback@laithwaiteswine.com

Next up: Lincoln and Brighton for tastings this month, plus Ian will be hosting a Wine & Dinner evening at one of the Top 10 hotels of Britain, Hotel TerraVina… delicious!

Hopefully none of you have decided to give up wine for lent, in which case we hope you can join us at a tasting very soon!

Take Care

Jo x

P.S Pictures of our tasting can now be found on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/laithwaites?sk=photos

Back to School & Marmalade

70 customers braved the worst that the Irish Sea could throw at them to join us at the beautiful Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, last Tuesday.

We were joined on the evening by Sam Lockyer from Stonewall Estate (New Zealand) and guests were tempted by a wide variety of wines including the top 3 wines of the evening; Pillastro Selezione d’Oro 2007, Spier Signature Collection Pinotage 2009 & Domaine Servin Les Pargues 2009 Chablis.

The staff had a brilliant time chatting with customers and I’m so pleased with all of the positive comments that I have received since the evening.

John braved the elements on Sunday, with an early drive (5.30am!) to The Lake District to attend the Marmalade Festival at one of our favourite locations, Dalemain.

John had been asked by owner Jane Hasell-McCosh to present the Merry Marmalade prize (marmalade recipes including alcohol :-D ) to winner, Fiona Bird. Laithwaites sponsored this category (unsurprisingly!).

We return to Dalemain in June for our own Food and Wine Show – you can book tickets here. It is one of our favourite events and it will give you the chance to taste plenty of wine (and local Lakeland foods) and time to visit the vibrant, award-winning gardens too!

Will