We're gearing up for a rather special Burgundy offer later this spring (if Spring ever arrives, given the amount of snow we've had recently). Watch this space for a 2008 vintage special later. So it's perfect that we're now working with Caviste in Hampshire to select some amazing wines from some incredible producers for you. What Mr Caviste doesn't know about Burgundy isn't worth knowing.

Yesterday, a three-strong buying team left the UK by EuroStar for a two-day tasting tour of the region. They've just sent me their first update, and already I'm jealous of some of the wines they've been tasting! Especially as it's just been announced that this is officially our coldest winter since 1978, so a good hot cuppa seems rather more appropriate! Although it's funny how life always seems better after a glass of a stunning Mersault or Montrachet.

Mr Caviste, though, insists that they're working hard to sniff out the best wines at the keenest prices. Here's his first update, sent by one of the team from the back of a moving car driven by a grinning and very happy Mr. Caviste...

Earlier this morning we were treated to a showing of the wines from Bruno Colin. Bruno's wines demonstrate an incredible purity of fruit and are so elegant. The whites have a real mouth tingling acidity and are wonderfully fresh. The Chassagne Rouge 2008 was the pick of the reds for me with lovely ripe fruit and an alluring smoky, vegetal nose.

We've just finished a tasting at Bachelet Monnot where the brothers (see picture) have been producing exceptional quality Burgundy for the past 6 years. These young guys are incredible: their wines improve with every vintage and we were all blown away by their 2008's. Across the board their whites are rich, very concentrated wines with layer upon layer of rich, buttery almost tropical fruit characters. They also have a terrific acidity which gives them a streak of lemony freshness.

We all love these wines and are looking forward to showing them off to all our customers later this year.

Next up are Rene Lequin Colin and Vincent Bouzereau. Then a dinner in Puligny Montrachet tonight with many of the growers we met today.

We're focussing more on red Burgundy from the Cotes de Nuit tomorrow...

Why, when it's made from audulterated wine sold to look like Pinot Noir by fraudseters in the Languedoc wine region of France to major Californian producer Gallo!

I first got tipped off about this story by Alison when it appeared on the news wires while she was at work. It wasn't every long before it made the likes of Decanter online and the Guardian newspaper and even Radio 5 Live - thanks for the early tip Ali!

With such illustrious news content providers as those above i'm not going to comment much about the story itself. I'll leave that to Decanter editor Guy Woodward who labelled the episode a 'comedy' saying that this was Gallo's 'clumsy attempt to ride the post-Sideways Pinot Noir craze by peddling Red Bicyclette as an authentic French Pinot.'

'The world's biggest single wine producer being hoodwinked by a group of errant French vignerons is funny and depressing at the same time.'

'It doesn't say much for Gallo's professionalism that its buyers couldn't tell the different between Pinot, Merlot and Shiraz,' he said.

But it did make me think a bit about Pinot Noir. This is a grape variety that is very yield and site sensitive. To get the best out of it costs money in time and effort. Red Burgundy is the epitome of great Pinot Noir for most wine drinkers. Sure, the New World is fast catching up in many ways. In particular New Zealand Pinot Noir I think offers the best value Pinot Noir experience in the £15-20 bracket, but Burgundy is definitely where the heart is

In Burgundy especially it is the producer that is all important. Vintage matters, but even in so called 'off vintages' the good guys will make interesting wines.

Which is why we like to have people on the ground to taste the latest releases for ourselves, searching out the very best wines to offer to you here on Surf4Wine. We are just about to despatch our Burgundy buying team to check out latest release from some of our favourite producers - the likes of Christian Moreau in Chablis, Vigile Lignier in Morey Saint Denis, Vincent Bouzereau in Meursault, Bruno Colin in Chassagne Montrachet, Rene Lequin-Colin in Santenay and Bachelet-Monnot in Dezize les Maranges.

We'll try and post reports here direct from the vineyards, and then they'll be a full report on their return.

 Meantime, look out for wobbly red Bicycles! ;)

A post in honour of our very own Mr. Riesling, Stephan Mohr.

I just had a wonderful chat with Stephan just a few moments ago on the merits of blogging, or not in his case - he's just signed up for Facebook but can't be persuaded onto Twitter and is no more likely to start a blog as become vegetarian.

I've known Stephan for years, almost ten of them in fact. He's a wine merchant too. We first met on one of the highly enjoyable Australian WineFlight trips arranged by the then head of Wine Australia in Europe, Hazel Murphy. In fact Hazel is in Australia right now with a reunion of some of the folks I went to Australia with all those years ago. I was scheduled to go, but a bunch of reasons prevented me. We do however have a man 'on the inside' who I hope will be filing a few reports for us.

Stephan and I have become such good friends that Stephan was best man at my wedding, and his wedding gift to Alison and I was honeymoon in Germany as his guests. Good food, great company and stunning Riesling. But also some good Bordeaux and Burgundy - a man of good taste is our Stephan.

So, back to Riesling and Stephan. Most of what I know and understand about Riesling is down to visits with Stephan over the years - we've visited vineyards and producers together, visited Austria as guests of Austria wine for VieVinum, and shared lots of good bottles. We have similar tastes - for example, in Stephan's eyes Riesling should only develop the oft-mentioned petrol aroma many tasters and commentators associate with it once it's matured. (And certainly not in its youth as far too many from the New Worlds seem to.) This is a view shared by many winemakers in Germany too I think. Who wants to drink petrol anyway?

With Riesling in mind, we come to today's Wine for the Weekend...

Rolly Gassmann Riesling 2004. Not from Germany (we do need a better selection please Stephan!), but from Alsace. Higher alcohol than many Riesling wines from Germany (although not all) and pretty much bone dry - just a hint of ripeness/sweetness on the end of the palate. Bright, steely acidity shines through the core of the wine. Grapefruit zest, pith even, hints of tangerine too. But zest not juice. A final twist of spice. Perfect for Chinese food really - and with Chinese New Year tomorrow, highly recommended. Anyone for Crispy Duck?

Isn't love grand? A little bit of love goes a long way. It certainly did for my wife Alison and I this morning, courtesy of JackFM the radio station where Alison works under her 'professional' name Ali Booker.

Jack's Morning Glory were chatting about the interesting way people propose to one another. I couldn't resist tweeting in to let them know how Alison proposed to me - and it wasn't even a leap year!

Andrew gets a shock. And he's never looked back!

Brings back great memories - and all the more pertinent this year as back in 2006 when Alison and I got married it was against the back-ground of a pretty bad diagnosis for Terminal Cancer. Four years on and Alison beating the odds and is in amazing health, all things considered - working every day and safe to say, enjoying every minute! Radio is Alison's passion, and every day she gets to live that passion with her friends at JackFM.

Now, if that's not cause for a glass of your favourite wine, well I'm not sure what is!

By the way, if Blog's are your thing and you fancy reading Alison's, well here's the link to Ali Booker's Blog. I think Ali writes with wit, wisdom and honesty. Not to mention a great deal of talent - but then I'm biased. But what the heck, take a look anyway!

I'd almost forgotten about this post that I had saved as a draft back at the beginning of January - I think I was waiting to write up with wines tasted while snowed in at home, but that somehow didn't happen. Never ever enough time!

Last night, while catching up on all the furore of the new iPad I downloaded some new apps for my iPhone, including the very nifty PhotoShop Mobile. Found lots of other less useful but highly enjoyable ones too - like Real Racing GTI (this free version sponsored by VM) and ZenBound. But it was the PhotoShop one that had me doffing my cap in admiration for those programming geniuses that develop these clever little apps - so much functionality in such a tiny little bit of software. I just had to share it with you here! Oh, and I definitely can't wait to get me one of those iPad thingy's either - perfect for surfing for wine from the comfort of your sofa

 
The first pic just shows a very snowy house and garden. The second one is using the PhotoShop application from the app store, working in sketch mode on that same tree you see on the left. Interesting effects with a few deft touches of the pointy figure.

Oh, and the wine was very good too - the recently arrived Crozes Hermitage Georges Reynaud from Domaine de Bruyeres. perfect with that evening's meal of rib-eye steak and garlic butter. Well, we had to keep warm somehow!

Binomio - it sounds like a character from the Godfather movie trilogy, doesn't it?

But actually it is rather stunning Montepulciano d'Abruzzo that we got to try today when Michael Palij MW, it's UK importer, popped into the office to show us some wines and discuss some upcoming promotions.

I'm not going to try and put into words what the winery can do best itself:

'Binomio is the brainchild of two old friends: Stefano Inama from Azienda Agricola Inama in the Veneto and Sabatino Di Properzio from Fattoria la Valentina. The idea was simple and born from their conviction that Montepulciano is a native Italian grape of extraordinary potential. High yields and sloppy vinification had robbed it of character in much the same way as Garganega’s talents had been squandered in Soave. The Binomio vineyard – a stunning plot of old vine Montepulciano planted exclusively with the low-yielding ‘Africa’ clone in 1971 – was purchased in 1999. 2002 marked the completion of the Binomio cellars complete with the latest steel fermentors and a spacious, climate-controlled barrel room. Binomio 2001 was hailed by Wine Spectator as the greatest Montepulciano made and awarded 95 point; vintage 2002 was hailed 91 point. The unique combination of mountainous terroir, old vines, and a strict selection have allowed us to produce a wine which, displays the concentration and complexity for which Montepulciano is famous.''

Have you tasted this wine? What do you think? Why not rate it on Snooth? Then we can all read about it. Or better still, rate it on Snooth and comment here too!

Today is the start of the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon - even if you are not a wine blogger and just enjoy finding out more about the wines you drink, it is definitely worth taking a look at the various live feeds, tweets and videos (look under EWBC). These guys are looking at the very latest ways to get information from wineries and retailers out to you the wine drinking public with blogs, videos, Twitter and all sorts of other exciting and innovative communications forums.

One of the most important points in this kind of PR is authenticity - be true to yourself and your 'brand'.

Which made for a very special kind of irony when I was sent this link earlier today. Two types of communications on the same day. Couldn't be more different. One a win, one a fail. I leave you to decide which works best...

Two great write-ups for one of our favourite Barossa producers: Spinifex

First up, Matthew Jukes in MoneyWeek talking about the Spinifex Esprit 2006.

'Pete Schell is the guy behind the Spinifex label. He is a quiet chap and a contemplative and very astute wine maker. He set Spinifex in 2001 with the idea of making truly great wines from some of the oldest vines in the Barossa valley. My favourite of his current releases is '06 Esprit - a 34% Mataro (Mourvedre), 31% Grenache, 30% Shiraz, 5% Cinsault blend, which conjures up bonfire nuances, well-hung game and masses of macerated, oozing blackberries and plums. Seemingly tailor-made for hearty, autumnal recipes and able to scare the living daylights out of a Chateauneuf du Pape at twice the price, this is a stunning wine.' (By the way, he also was very keen on the Schwarz Wine Company Nitschke Block @ £21.50)

We look forward to scaring some of our Chateauneuf du Pape producers, it is nearly Halloween after all!

The second review is from Country Life, a magazine with a great track record of fine wine writing with the likes of Edmund Penning-Rowsell as a past wine correspondent.

'Spinifex Esprit 2006 mixes flavours such as mocha, chocolate, fresh tobacco, wild cherry and prunes. Spot on with big-flavoured dishes such as braised oxtail or venison.'

Two great reviews for a wine that is a perfect partner as we move towards the Winter months.

There's currently a lot of chatter in the press about Social Media with the likes of Twitter raising even more money to fund their continued expansion (an amazing story really when you consider that, as yet, they don't earn any!), plus David Cameron escaping censure from Ofcom for his Twitter-related outburst on Absolute Radio.

But where all these sites really come into their own is when you can access interesting, informative video - giving the consumer the chance to see the winemaker in action, and hear from his/her own lips their story. Wine is as much about the people that make it as it is about the aromas and flavours in the glass in front of you. Video is  a great way to breathe life into the subject, getting you close to the action and as near to possible to the producer without actually being there. Producers aren't the only one to make use of this type of media - Gary Vaynerchuk over at Wine Library TV does it to great effect, and we've been known to turn out the odd video here on Surf4Wine.

Below is a great little video via Decanter magazine of the harvest at Chateau Latour where they catch up with Penelope Godefroy, Quality and Research & Development Manager, as the 2009 harvest kicks off.

Much excitement here at Surf4Wine today as the latest release from New Zealand cult winery Astrolabe arrived - and we coudn't wait to open some bottles and share them with you here!

Astrolabe is named after the famous ship which visited the Marlborough region in the 1800's and sank in the Marlborough Sound - something we don't think will happen to this wine! It is the vision of Simon Waghorn, a hands-on winemaker, relishing his role and nurturing Astrolabe as his own brand and baby and turning out stylish and expressive wines. Simon is one of New Zealand's foremost award-winning winemakers and the wines have developed something of a cult following.

First up, Astrolabe Awatere Sauvignon Blanc 2008. The Awatere Valley is situated at the southern end of Marlborough, which is itself located on the north eastern edge of South Island. The wine's slightly tropical with aromas of passionfruit and lime zest combining with lifted gooseberry. The passionfruit and gooseberry continues on the palate, with a tight, mineral core that supports the ripe fruit well.

Astrolabe Kekerengu Sauvignon Blanc 2008 comes from a single vineyard in the Kekerengu region. A big wine in every sense, not least reputation! Gooseberry, lime peel and currant leaf on the nose, following through to zesty palate with flavours of lime, gooseberry, white currant and green pepper. Dry and flinty finish with bags of ripe fruit. A top drop!

Definitely two wines to please the New Zealand Sauvignon lover... and we've more Sauvignons to add over the coming weeks too. Watch this space...

 ... Tinta del Pais is the name for Tempranillo when grown in the Spanish wine region of Ribera del Duero?

Not everyone has the same level of wine knowledge, so maybe these kind of how/why/where factoids might be of interest - what do you think?

 Perhaps a combination of web site articles, blog, twitter and even some newer things like 12second TV - Robert uses it to great effect on a variety of subjects - mostly wine - might work? I think we're going to give a few of them a go and see what happens. Your comments are very welcome...

Meanwhile, if you're looking for bite-sized info on what's going on in Surf4Wine-land (we've lots planned that we'd like to share with you) then follow us on Twitter... www.twitter.com/surf4wine

No sooner had I pressed 'publish' on my last blog than I noticed a mention for the Botani Moscatel from Jorge Ordoñez & Co on the Purple Pages section of  Jancis Robinson's web site (unfortunately you need to be a member of the Purple Pages section to read the report - but I thought it worth mentioning here)

Her colleague Julia Harding MW is cleary as enraptured with the wine as we all were on tasting it this morning.

And it also reminded me that I forgot to mention earlier the Malaga sweet wine from the same producer as the Botani.

The No. 1 Special from Jorge Ordonez is 100% Muscat; rich, unctuous, grapey - but lovely purity and balance. They are working with Kracher of Austria now, and this clearly shows in the sweet  wine. Excellent value sticky (very true description!0 and I think good value at £15-16 a half.

Clearly there are some good things happening in Spain. But as another tasting later in the day of some over-priced Ribera wines showed, it is definitely a case of looking carefully and sorting the wheat from the chaff - something you can be sure we do very diligently at Surf4Wine!

A bank holiday week-end AND a week off in sunny (well, mostly) Devon and I was back in the office with a huge spring in my step this morning, itching to put to work the ideas I'd dreamed up while drinking Doom Bar, drinking some fab S4W wines and eating fish down in Brixham.

Top of the list was to stop thinking about keeping the blog up-to-date, and start getting on with it...

I hadn't even read the zillions of emails waiting for me -and this was after keeping on topof them while away via my iPhone - and one of our favourite Spanish importers had arrived, laden down with various samples to try. As we're looking to develop our Spanish selection, the timing was perfect. Some of this will hopefully make the grade for S4W list in the coming months, once we've all chipped in with our views and tasting notes.

Highlights were the Naire white (100% Verdejo) and red (100% Tempranillo) pair which would be stunning value at £5.95 if we can do the right deal and get them down to that price. The euro not withstanding...

We tasted the amazing dry Botani Moscatel made by Jorge Ordóñez & Co in Malaga . Expensive, but very good - aromatic, but with a lovely spice and mandarin/lime zing to it too. Nice breadth and even richness for a Muscat, coming from being partly barrel fermented - and unusual winemaking technique for Muscat. Lots of aromatic wines are often spoken of as being great with Asian-inspired food - this wine really would work brilliantly. Very striking love it/loath it wine label too- it won a trophy for design at the recent Spanish New Wave wine awards.

Next up, the barrel fermented Cantocuerdas Albillo from Bodega Bernabeleva - although it looks like their web site is currently under construction. Albillo is a pretty much unknown (well, certainly in the UK) indigenous Spanish variety: lots of Burgundy-like flavours with minerality and zest to boot. A tad expensive at £18-19, but interesting and very good quality. In a sea of Sauvignon and Chardonnay it is wines like this that make Spain so interesting - especially as it is mostly red wines that we associate Spain with. In fact, we're not the only ones as the wine was recommended by Spanish wine guide Penin in a recent article in Decanter on white wines from Spain.

Of the reds the 100% Graciano from Vina Zorzal from Navarra was scented, plummy and rich while the Vina Marro Rioja from 100% Tempranillo was softly fruity and easy to drink, but with a core of firm tannins and minerality and just the right amount of oak.

The two stand out reds for me were Bajondillo - a blend of Tempranillo, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet with a cherry/damson nose and lots of ripe, dark fruits on the palate (se VERY gaudy label on bottom right of pic above), and  Paisajes V Rioja - cassis on the nose and a warm, spicy, curranty palate.

All in all, not a bad way to start the first day back to work after the holidays!

There's more wine tasting going on here at Surf4Wine than you can shake a wine glass at right now.

Earlier this afternoon we had  Francois Van Zyl, the talented winenaker at Laibach drop by in Overton to show us his latest releases. There were a red and white pair of Organic wines called 'Ladybird' - named after the ladybirds he used to kill bugs when he first went organic - and the top-end 'Claypot' Merlot which is limited to a maximum of 10,000 cases every year. The red Ladybird is a Bordeaux right-bank inspired blend that showed lovely plummy fruit and looks set to make a debut on Caviste's shelves soon - and here on Surf4Wine.

(This is my third attempt at a happy photo - come on Francois, smile - price negociations weren't that bad!)

On a hot Summer day in Hampshire, the wine that really took our eye was the Laibach Pinotage Rose; pale pink, cherry fruit flavoured and crisply dry - perfect for Summer drinking. In fact, it's so perfect that we have had it rushed into our warehouse today and it is on sale throughout the Caviste shops, and online here at Surf4Wine, NOW! Happy drinking...

No sooner had I arrived into our Overton office, grabbed a coffee and hit the email button than I was back out of the door again...

... The first email in my inbox was from David, for me to head to the Stockbridge outpost of Caviste and cover Rachel's day off. I shouldn't say I was so pleased to be going to Stockbridge for the day and not working with my lovely colleagues in Overton - but I was delighted (I don't think any of them read this blog, so I'm safe saying that!).

Apart from meaning I would be working in the gorgeous town of Stockbridge, and in our stunning shop there beside the little tributary of the Test (Apologies for not knowing its name dear  - I blame Roz in the S4W research dept for not being able to find its name on the OS map), it also meant I got to drive past Laverstoke Park Farm. I've been meaning to drop by and explore their farm shop ever since we teamed up with Caviste in back in May.

Laverstoke Park keep a herd of magnificent Water Buffalo, which they use to make a superb Buffalo Mozzarella. The plan forming in my foodie brain was for the Mozzarella to form part of a tasty little salad with the Avocado and ripe cherry tomatoes that I'd brought with me from home for lunch (yes, for once I was THAT organised!)

So, all that remained was to choose some wine to partner the soft, squidgy ball of pure white Mozzarella.

 So, what to choose.....

As luck would have it the answer was right in front of me (well, actually, I tripped over it as I scrambled for the security alarm on opening...) We have just taken delivery of the latest vintage of Rabbit Ranch Pinot Noir (If you are one of the increasing number of blog readers who are on Twitter too, then follow Rabbit Ranch (@rabbitranch) and also their 'Powered by Pinot' UK Ambassador - he's gone all 21st Century and is also on Facebook too - go Justin!)

Anyway, all that mention of Social Networking and too much techy stuff has made me thirsty!

It wasn't the Pinot that I enjoyed a glass of with my lunch - but its newly arrived sibling, the Rabbit Ranch Pinot Gris. Peachy, smokey and wonderfully creamy, with hints of toasted nuts - utterly delicious.

But fat and overweight, no sir. Elegant and full of poise. Enough acidity to cut through the natural fat of the avocado - not always the easiest of foods to partner - and the Mozzarella.

In fact, if this is what Tuesdays in Stockbridge are like, I think I'm happy covering Rachel's days off on a regular basis....

As wine trade magazine Harpers goes to press the rumours circling at Westminster suggest the Chancellor is planning to delay this year's Budget beyond the customary mid-March period, writes Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

So what I hear you say...Well in some ways the delay gives us in the industry more time to present our case and as the weeks roll on it is becoming ever clearer that the wine sector is feeling the chill wind of recession.

A few weeks ago Constellation announced 50 job losses. Now Gallo are consulting on cutbacks in the UK and in the last few days the word from around the industry is of scores more job losses to follow.

It's grim news for a sector that has achieved such sustained growth over the years and in normal circumstances not something I would wish to crow about.

But the fact is that job losses, cutbacks in investment and the extra burden that implies for the state with increased costs of unemployment graphically illustrate what we have been warning politicians about for some time.

You can't go on taxing the product to high heaven and imagine it call be soaked up with no consequence whatsoever.

What's more it's becoming ever clearer that declining sales also have a consequence for revenue from excise duty. In the six months from April to September 2008, Treasury revenue from excise duty on alcohol was £137 million lower than forecast.

That shortfall will scarcely comfort those in the drinks industry facing either unemployment or a year of uncertainty.
We're in this together which is why we and the other main trade associations in the drinks industry have come together to make a joint Budget submission this year.

The industry simply cannot withstand a further tax increase and we are urging the Chancellor to reverse plans for the tax escalator and promise no further tax increase in this year's Budget.

The truth is that the tax regime in the UK is making this country an unattractive market in which to invest. Why bother investing in building and marketing a brand if a customer turning up to buy a case is effectively going to see more than half of it sequestered by the Treasury?

We are not arguing for a handout, unlike others. We simply ask not to be hit again. The fight is on to persuade the Chancellor to rethink.

(Don’t tax more – don’t give us handouts)

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Up to 400 branches of Threshers, Wine Rack and The Local off licence chains could face closure as its owner re-evaluates its portfolio.

First Quench Retail, which runs all three brands, is reportedly in talks with the landlords of their unprofitable branches.

The group is looking to cut overheads and improve profits. If negociations are unsuccessful, the stores in question will close, it was confirmed.

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Anglo Overseas, one of the world's major wine shippers and wine logistics companies, has gone into administration.

Administrators Vantis Business Recovery Services, appointed on 16 January, said the company's European parent, Ziegler Group, is not affected.

Anglo Overseas Limited has 15 sites across the UK, with a head office in West Thurrock. It has two bonded warehouses, including 'what is probably the second-largest bonded warehouse in London', Vantis said.

The business was forced into insolvency following a prolonged period of exceptionally difficult trading conditions, a statement said. Seventy of the company's 210-strong workforce have been laid off.

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Sunday’s normally a day to take a break from the business. To spend some time with the kids, kick back with the missus and generally forget about the world Out There. And then Anthony Worrall-Thompson popped up on TV and radio wherever I tuned.

Say what you like about AWT (and many have), there’s precious little schadenfreude to be had watching a man explain on the evening news why his business empire has all but collapsed. If even the celebrity bubble is bursting, where does that leave the rest of us?

The truth is, now is a challenging time to be in the trade. No, ‘challenging’ is too management-speak a word to use…..Let’s try ‘bloody scary’ instead. Pubs are closing in numbers not seen for years. Even the off-trade seems to be suffering with  up to 400 branches of Threshers, Wine Rack and The Local off licence chains under threat. And it’s not just something that affects our trade. Sales of booze between April and September last year provided the Treasury with £137 million less tax than forecast. I suspect the industry’s lobbying the Chancellor hard to avoid another tax rise on alcohol in the next budget too.

So enough whining – what can be done?

Quite a lot to honest.... as a business you can sit back and wait for tide (this recession) to wash you away, or you can get proactive, and do something about it. And believe me, I know what I'm talking about here!

To illustrate this point, two great videos from wine marketing phenomenon Gary Vaynerchuk (I don't often use the word phenomenon - here I use it quite deliberately!). If you haven't already you should definitely check out his Wine Library TV web site.The style isn't for everyone, but no one can deny that this man is good at what it does - the evidence is in how he's transformed his business, and become the 'go to' guy for web2.0/social media marketing.

In the first video he talks about how to publicise your business (he's talking about video blogs but the example works for anything - especially wine). And in the second he talks about going out ‘Stop crying, think, wipe your tear and crush it!’ Anyway, I’ll leave you to watch the video!

For me it’s not all about cheapest prices (although good value is very important – subtle distinction). It's about offering something different - not being one of the crowd. Having imagination, flair, quality, great service

This recession will end. And when it does the companies that gave great service, tried hard to go the extra mile, looked after their customers, kept communicating, listened to their customers and never gave up trying... they'll be the ones still there and the ones that customers will want to use over and over again in the future. Love your customers people, and they'll love you!

Just picked up this news story via a Decanter magazine exclusive. The International Wine and Spirit Competition previously partnered with Harpers trade magazine in the UK, but that media partnership was over when Harpers was sold to William Reed Publishing. See full story at Decanter via links below. Good news though, IWSC has new backing and so looks safe.

IWSC goes to Drinks Business
The International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) has just announced a partnership with trade publication the Drinks Business. [More...]

The UK has become the world's biggest importer of wine. 'Britain has overtaken Germany to become the world’s biggest importer of wine, shipping a total of more than 1.6 billion bottles from wine-producing nations such as Italy, France, Spain, America and Australia, according to figures out earlier this month...' (quote from The Times, 14th January 2009).

But, the wine industry in the UK hasn't escaped the effects of the recession: wine sales in the UK dropped by more than 3.5% in 2008 and the drop is predicted to continue as the recession takes hold.

So, are there still ways to get decent wine in these credit-crunched times? I would say absolutely! But don't take my word for it - courtesy of the BBC, wine journalist and all round wine boff Olly Smith, takes us through some options for good value in the recession in this video (click the image or the link to play).

So, what are Olly's top tips? South Africa, Chile and Austria. And if you are looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio, look no further than Picpoul de Pinet from the Languedoc in the South of France.

Up early today to take No.1 child's French Exchange student to train station to go home - and glad I did get up extra early as 15cm of Snow overnight!

A quick scout round my favourite sites with the first cup of tea of the day, while waking up and waiting for teenagers to move semi-consciously through the bathroom (at least they are washing, so I should be grateful I suppose!)

Anyway, a few stories I missed yesterday as I was at Wine+ in London all day talking to Viniportugal and others about social networking for wine, courtesy of Decanter magazine's news section...

First up, something unusual for Bordeaux-lovers and collectors...

For sale: Latour, Margaux and Mouton hidden from Nazis
UK auctioneer Bonhams is selling 1920s bottles of Latour, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild and Ausone that were hidden in a bricked-up cellar in Guernsey during the Second World War.

And more evidence of the recession hitting the wine trade...

Kendall Jackson cuts jobs
Large-scale job cuts have been made at Jackson Family Wines in California – with unconfirmed reports that 170 employees have been made redundant.

If it was April 1st I might be tempted to dismiss this next story. Whatever next from ultra-conservative Bordeaux...

Bordeaux to test Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay, Syrah, Zinfandel and Chenin Blanc could be grown and produced in Bordeaux if the French appellations body approves trials of the grapes later this month.

In the tradition of a well-known UK news anchor; and finally...

Lucian Freud commissioned for Mouton '06
British artist Lucian Freud has created the label for the 2006 vintage of Château Mouton-Rothschild

Oh, and in view of the exceptionally Wintry weather in UK in last few days, we might all be glad of some hearty and warming comfort food. So this article from today's Times is very apt...

10 comfort food recipes
It's time to dump the diet and make some uncomplicated comfort food for cold nights — Times' cooks show you how

OK, that's the wine (and food!) news for now folks... catch you later!

PS, old beer news which didn't get blogged last week... I'm not sure if it isn't all just one grand PR exercise, but Marco does have something of a point re. the price paid for quality, craft-brewed beer vs. cheap and nasty bog-standard wine (although the world has gone truly mad when beer is £5 a pint!)...

A pint of hand-crafted, artisan beer seems a steal at £5 a pint

Some lunch time reading (magazine propped up while I eat my fish-finger sandwich and drink earl grey tea!)  just brought up this little gem from Decanter magazine: Vineyard in heart of Haut Brion to launch its own wine .

... A small vineyard in the middle of the Haut Brion domaine is to begin bottling its own wines. Haut Brion themselves were, unsurprisingly, unavailable for comment!

No sooner had a I pressed 'go' on my earlier note about Twitter than one of my Twitter contacts, @thewinesleuth, AKA WineSleuth, pointed me in the direction of this article about Twitter  in the The Times.

Some of you may already have picked up on this article, so apologies, but for those that haven't I thought it worth mentioning here - especially to those just getting into the whole twitter thing.

I think Twitter is great way to communicate; quick and to the point, with interesting options for pics (TwitPic) and video (article on Mashable re. video in Twitter, and sites like 12seconds) now too.

And now it looks to be heading mainstream with the breaking of recent news stories, like the plain in the Hudson and the amount of use it got during the recent presidential election and inauguration.

 Also, the wine trade is proving very innovative with its use of Twitter too with ideas such as Twitter Taste Live and wine bloggers posting their blog posts directly to Twitter - liked we do here at Surf4Wine.

So, for those that haven't yet, check out Twitter. And for that are already there - Happy Twittering!

Twitter is great for keeping people posted with what you are doing (business and friends), and seeing what else is going on in the world in area's you are interested in. Check out wine people who Twitter. If you haven't caught the Twitter bug yet, check out this video on Twitter.

I love technology and gadgets, and really enjoying interacting with my friends and contacts on Twitter... so many innovative new products coming on stream from developers for great ways to use Twitter.

One great fun app I saw today, which may be old news to seasoned Twiterr-ers, is to create a mosaic of your Twitter friends/followers. Check out mine above.

Follow me, Andrew Chapman, on Twitter 

Follow Surf4Wine on Twitter.

Happy Twittering!

Financial Times

The new négociants of Burgundy, Jancis Robinson
'One of the things I found most exciting about my extensive tastings of 2007 burgundies was how many of the best ranges of wines were made by new or recently revamped producers...' [More]

 The Independent

The recession shouldn't affect wine sales too badly. The world will not stop drinking wine, Anthony Rose
Lies, damned lies, and statistics? Look away now if you don't want to know about how the wine world will shape up in 2012... [More]

 The Times

Bargain wines: get more for less, Jane MacQuitty
With fine wine merchants feeling the pinch alongside everyone else, I had expected there to be loads of mouthwatering, cut-price grand cru burgundy and cru classé claret on offer this sales season... [More]

Reacquiring a taste for whisky, Samantha Lyster
The last time Samantha Lyster drank whisky she swore never to touch it again, that is until she tasted a £290 dram... [More]

The Telegraph

 Top 10 Loire wines, Jonathan Ray
The value and variety of lesser-known labels can be surprising... [More]

The Guardian

The Trouble with White Bordeaux, Victoria Moore
Sancerre drinkers have it easy. Devotees of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, too, have a straightforward time when it comes to finding a wine that will make their shoulders slacken with satisfaction. Though there are good and poor wines, and distinctions in style between producers, there is a commonality that almost always makes it possible to satisfy a particular thirst.

But this isn't quite the case with white bordeaux... [More]

Just seen this on the BBC News site: pensioner told, no ID, no wine

My reaction was: 'Oh for heaven's sake, whatever next'

My wife's reaction was 'bloody hell, I should look that good at 68!"

Headlines today make grim reading for our industry: six pubs in the UK closing a day, alcohol sales down by eight percent, brewers posting profits warnings..... Even in our little market town (pop: 10,000) we've already lost a wine bar and a pub, along with a major retail chain shop and 3 estate agents. Suddenly it's getting VERY close to home.

So it's not surprising to read the official figures: beer sales in pubs were down in the last three months of 2008 by nearly 10% on the same period the year before. That's a whopping 1.4 million fewer pints. Not a headache for the consumers, but a huge one for the pub owners and let's not forget the poor old Treasury who must be missing all that tax.

If my friends are anything to go by, staying in is the new going out. Why drink at an expensive pub when you can enjoy yourself at home, with friends and family, for a fraction of the cost? And now that we're all a bit more wine-savvy, who doesn't baulk at paying what we know to be way, way over the odds for a bottle of average wine with a meal out? Last week-end I spotted a bottle of Bellefontaine Chardonnay that we sell for £5.50 marked up to £15.99 in Center Parcs of all places. 

 We're all more careful with the cash (see Victoria Moore's Saturday Guardian article on recession-itis), and while we're saving a small fortune by staying in and drinking (expect a slew of Sunday paper articles about how to give the perfect dinner party!) or by cutting down on the booze, spare a thought for the cost of our miserliness as pub after pub closes, changing our villages, towns and cities forever.

So, I'm off to do my bit for the credit crunch by booking a table at our local pub. Fantastic food and great service - and good value for money. And then I'm going to aid the local economy further by buying some great local beer (Best Mates and West Berks) to drink at home.

A pretty lazy Sunday - well, lazy in that I wasn't rushing around out and about. Teenagers were both at work (Ha, now that has to be funny in itself!) and wife was snoozing in front of the TV having just presented the breaky programme for the radio station where she works.

Anyway, I was pretty active in terms of an afternoon spent catching up with stuff online, including all those interesting things Google Reader picked up for me during last few days that I haven't had a chance to read until now. If you don't already follow them, two (other!) wine blogs worth reading and book-marking are Ryan and Gabriela Opaz's Catavino and Joe Robert's 1winedude - but there are heaps of great wine blogs being written by passionate people - why not have a look next time you have a few minutes online? There is a good list of great wine blogs here: 100 Top Wine Blogs. Aim for 2009 - to get S4W's blog into that list!

A house to myself; and no need to feel guilty about work as it's Sunday. Spent some fun time catching up with people I follow on Twitter - follow me there if you like http://twitter.com/AndrewChapman. In fact, Twitter has been getting some great press of late. Robert McIntosh over at The Wine Conversation, another very good and highly recommended wine blogger, was featured on the BBC's Working Lunch (@declancurry and @workinglunch in Twitter-speak), and Jonathan Ross, a new Twitter convert (@wossy) interviewed Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) about his Twittering's on his first show back after his ban. Plus a piece in The Guardian recently.

... and before I knew it it was time to put the roast chicken in and get a move on with supper. Which gave me time to try a couple of Sherry's while messing about in the kitchen

First up, a chilled Fino... Fino Marismeno from Bodegas Sanchez Romate. Chilled Fino is sooo under-rated. This one is zingy, dry, salty, tangy - such good value for quality compared to wine. Its dryness and almondy, citrus-like/salty edge make it a great aperitif. Fino needs to be drunk fresh, and preferably, if you have enough people in the house to consume it, in one go - just like you would a table wine

Next up was Oloroso del Puerto from Gutierrez Colosia. I've been a big fan of this producer since visiting them afew years back. The Bodega is on the banks of Guadalete rive, next to the Atlantic - I'm sure you can detect a distinct salty tang on in all their Sherry's, even the Oloroso and Amontillado. War, rich, nutty but with a good zip of acidity/saltyness this works as an aperitif, but also is quite foodie too - a really versatile wine. Dry, but with a wonderful lingering after-taste.

A splash went into toe Chicken roasting pan to deglaze it and we had THE best chicken gravy in ages - as voted by teen2, the gravy and roast potato connoisseur of our house!

 Too bad tomorrow is Monday....

.... Don't worry, I'm not about to bore you all with my New Year predictions / list of resolutions (but I do promise to be more punctual and better organised in 2009). However, looking at some of my favourite wine blogs over the last couple of days i did find a link on Jamie Goode's blog to the very witty and worth reading 2009 wine-world predictions of Doug Wregg over at Caves de Pyrenes. (See Jamie's 2009 predictions). Both are definitely worth a look.

Actually, one of my aims in 2009 is to take more photographs, and get round to publishing those i take. Hopefully this Blog will benefit, and they will be  be a Surf4Wine Flickr page soon. You can also check out my Facebook page for pics. Anyway, watch this space... 

More a photo post than a blog post to be honest! Golden sunset reflected in golden Cape Muscat (Rhona Muscadel 2003 from Graham Beck for those interested)

After three days of Christmas indulgence and excess Mrs C and I decided to get some sea air, so toddled off to the South Coast for the afternoon.

You'd never know this was taken on Bournemouth sea front - it looks more like sunset on the Med. Well, it doesn't look like Bournemouth anyway.

And to cap it all, the pic was taken with an iPhone. Not bad when you consider what a terrible camera it is supposed to be, and how it gets rubbished for its photo quality in reviews!

If you are ever in Bournemouth make sure you check out WestBeach - a really good seafood restaurant where we ate the poshest Fish Finger sarnies while watching the sun go down.

WestBeach was voted South East Seafood restaurant of the year 2008, I think, and runner up for Best South East restaurant too. But don't just take my word for it A. A. Gill was smitten too!

Can't wait to go back when it's warmer....

PS: For more Pics from WestBeach check out my Facebook profile

Daily Telegraph wine writer Jonathan Ray has picked his Top Ten supermarket wines, which makes interesting reading. I'm not familiar with all the wines, but will be giving a few a try and reporting back here.

I've been doing a bit of supermarket wine shopping myself of late, and have to say that after years of not buying regularly via High Street wine outlets, there have been some crackers to discover. Supermarkets have clearly done a lot to change the way we buy wine, and massive amounts to help increase its popularity. But I have also been shocked by some of the things I've found... in Sainsbury's you can now buy red and white already poured out into glasses and sealed with shrink wrap. Is this to encourage sipping a glass at the checkout or as you pack your shopping into the car?? Clearly a world gone mad when there is a market for convenience shopping at this level! Or perhaps I'm just getting older/more cynical than I thought?!

Well, they say a week is a long time in politics... and couple of months is a very long time to be away from your blog!

But that's a story for another day/blog post....

I'm back now and have lots of news and views to share, and some cracking deals to tell you about from online retailers and out there in the High Street. So, if you want the latest wine news, to hear the inside scoop on what's going o in the wine trade, and most importantly of all, find out where the best deals are to be had, this is the place to be.

Follow my Twitter posts at www.twitter.com/wineguru), and read my and other general thoughts and musings from the non-wine world here too.

Catch you later...

Part two of the BBC Oxford wine tasting challenge. Andrew is aiming to teach BBC Oxford mid-morning presenters Danny Cox and Louisa Hannan everything about wine in just three days - a lost cause some would say, especially as, until now, Danny doesn't drink!

The general idea, aprt form to have a bit of fun, is to see if some rapid fire wine tasting can teach Danny Lou the basics of wine, and then test which has become the better wine taster.

Today is red wines, and like yesterday, it is set-up in two parts.

BBC Oxford wine challenge, red wines. Part 1

We have out up a list of the red wines tasted today if you would like more information.

BBC Oxford wine challenge, red wines, part 2

This is the first part of our wine tasting challenge for BBC Oxford mid-morning presenters Danny Cox and Louisa Hannan. Today we are focusing on how to taste wine , and putting that into practice with white wines.

BBC Oxford wine challenge, white wines. Part 1

Each of segments is split into two pieces of audio (yes, Andrew just can't stop talking about wine!) The audio here went live straight after broadcast - thanks Danny for a very easy way to grab the audio. It then got uploaded straight away to our new podcast system here on surf4wine, where it will have a permanent home!

BBC Oxford wine challenge, white wines. Part 2

If you would like to see a list of the wines tasted in today's session, please go here.

We will blog/podacst each of the three days wine tasting training here, and then the taste off on Friday 30th May to see who is the best wine taster - good luck Danny and Lou!

It's a Bank Holiday in the UK, so having a slightly leisurely morning; although thinking I ought to be up and out as I've some errands to run, and even an emergency delivery to make. It's an awful day weather-wise, so not much chance on geting the Bar-B later out either.

Alison is doing a shift at JackFM, so just me and the kids until she gets home - maybe it's the perfect weather for a trip to the cinema? Or just some films on the TV...

With some extra time to hand I've been catching up on some of my favourite wine blogs. In fact, I just saw the Vouvray Sec 1995, Gaston Huet that we have on our list mentioned by Jamie Goode over at The Wine Anorak. Vouvray, made from that chameleon grape variety Chenin Blanc, is a lovely wine - produced, as Jamie points out in his blog post, in a variety of styles from bone-dry to lusciously sweet and everything in between. Vouvray can be, perhaps, a bit tricky for the novice wine drinker. Vouvray can be fiercely acidic in it's youth, and the sweeter styles often have their higher sugar content masked by their acidity or alcohol/ripeness, so can be difficult to asses when young. Vouvray's, both dry and swet styles, can age brilliantly with this natural acidity helping to keep hem fresh and lively - for decades in the right year. I have been lucky enough to try some pretty old vintages in a former life while Butler at The Queen's College in Oxford (now that was a job I enjoyed - almost as much as being a wine merchant!), and I have always been a bit of a Vouvray fan ever since (check out Surf4Wine's current Vouvray selection) - so it was nice to see them mentioned on Jamie's Blog.

Actually, having a bit of extra time to take look and delve deeper and think about wine blogging (normally it is a quick zoom through headlines/latest posts while having my first cup of coffee!), it struck me how lucky we are in the UK with the variety of wine blogs we have, blogging on everything from Best Buys to latest tasting notes and news. In fact, it's set me to thinking about an idea mentioned to me recently by Spanish wine blogger Ryan Opaz over at Catavino; a feature on the Best of British Wine Blogs. I think that could be an interesting idea to explore further on our blog here in coming weeks ... so, do you have any favourite UK wine blogs?

Every Friday at about 5.30am the alarm goes off and Andrew crawls out of bed - all in the name of business. And a good breakfast, because he's off to Oxygen Business Forum . It's a collective of like-minded business owners who were so fed up of the formulaic business clubs with their emphasis on how much business you could get from everyone who came, that they decided to form their own club. Aleady the members have run a mini-marathon to raise funds for Helen and Douglas House, a local children's hospice and have just adopted a school with the aim of giving something back to the community.

One of the members there is Hilary Farmer who practices Human Givens Therapy and teaches dyslexic students. She's got a master’s degree in education and firmly believes that we're all born needing essential things like love, security, fun and friendship. It's when those needs aren't met that things go awry. Hilary uses storytelling to gently get to the heart of a problem, and to help her client explore it.

Every week she comes up with a new story for the members of Oxygen. We thought you might like to listen in. We're hoping to bring you one of these a week. But for now, as the news of human tragedies in Burma and China comes in, and we worry about the credit crunch at home, please enjoy Hilary's take on the tale of the widow's mite - with a modern twist.

'Story of the Week' 12.05.08, by Hilary Farmer

I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to open up the conversation on Surf4Wine...

Meaning what I hear you ask?

Well, getting more of you involved. Making it easier for visitors and customers to talk to us - and each other. To give their comments and ask questions. Even to start their own conversations… power to the people!

To make talking about, thinking about and drinking wine easier and more fun.

We can even roll this idea out to wine buying too. You can get involved, if you want, in helping to chose wines we stock by voting on favourite grape varieties, countries and regions. Even producers.

You can help us tailor offers and promotions to what YOU want, not what we think you want.

Sure, we have our opinions, and we like to think we are experts. But we are always happy to learn ... and find out what our visitors and customers want

So, I've made a new page on Surf4Wine that hopes to start the conversation... funnily enough (ha ha) it's called 'Andrew's page..'

What do you think?

A long, good Friday... It started with breakfast in Oxford at 7am, paper-work and customer stuff at warehouse in middle, called in to see friends Shelley and Richard at The Radnor Arms in Coleshill late afternoon (we are possibly organising a wine supper there with Saint Clair estate coming to visit later this month - watch this space for more info), and was rounded off by a lovely supper at the Eyston Arms in nearby East Hendred.

Eyston Arms's is one of Alison and my favourite places to eat locally. The food is modern, using good ingredients well prepared, with just the right dash of imagination to help things along the way. Unstuffy, friendly service by an all female team that combines cheerfulness and professionalism. Relaxing end to a long day. Didn't drink much, just a glass of the house Languedoc Rosé that was nice and refreshing. We weren't in a wine mood as we had to do Friday night taxi ferrying of teenagers... except that when we got back the one that was going out later had, by then, decided not to, and the one that was out already decided to walk back with friends. Oh well, such is life with kids!

Tonight’s wine...
Anyway, by then we thought we deserved a glass of something, so I opened a bottle of Bonarda, Colonia las Liebres 2006 from Argentina that I'd brought home from warehouse with me. To be honest, I hadn't tasted/drunk this wine in quite a while, so was interested how it was doing. I know I thought it was excellent value when we started listing it again last Summer.

Nice punchy, damsony red fruit flavours. Good acidity/tannin grip (Bonarda can be, I sometimes think, a bit too acidic if not fully ripe. Which is why I like mine from South America, where there's a bit more sunshine, and not its native home of northern Italy) . As is typical for the grape, this red and was happily full-bodied (Alison is not a fan of light wines, and she had done the driving earlier, I figured we'd best stay in safe territory!).

On the back-label it proudly boasts unfiltered and unoaked. I'm delighted about the latter in particular as too many commercial wines use oak to add 'interest' and 'flavour', when all this actually does is mask the fruit flavour of the wine and add too much artificial tasting vanilla and other unattractive aromas and flavours. Happily more and more pubs and restaurants are starting to think more about their wines and put more thought into their lists, especially their house wines. Over-oaked reds are not food food-friendly people!

The lack of oak in this wine really lets the plummy, ripe fruit scream out. Nice weight, good grip. Well put together, interesting wine. Would work well with Pasta and rich sauces as the acidity would balance things and there's masses of good fruit. And, I think, still good value at £6.99.

Incidentally, the Bonarda Colonia las Liebres is made by Altos los Hormigas, and I have brought their Malbec home this week-end to try too. Look out for a note here... It's May Bank Holiday week-end in UK, so, HOPEFULLY, sun will shine and we'll get to drink some nice wines too. Have my sister Debbie and her family coming for Supper, so off shopping now... Wells Stores first stop.

Tonight's The Apprentice episode...

Oh my god!

Being firm Apprentice fans in this house it made us all roll around on floor laughing...

But seriously Sir Alan, would you want any of this lot working for you??

Is this really the cream of young business talent in the UK? I hope other countries aren't watching otherwise we will be even more of a laughing stock than we already are (we have the only PM in the world, as far as I'm aware, who admits to being part of one of his own 'on the job' training courses. Not that I'm batting for any political team here I hasten to add... they all remind me too much of tonight's Apprentice candidates in the closing sequence...)

For a really insightful, not to mention highly hilarous, view of what is going on in The Apprentice see Anna Pickard's Blog in The Guardian. Wonderful stuff!

Would be fantastic fun if Alan Sugar had some sort of hidden web cam in the candidates house that recorded all the petty, jealous, spiteful and insanely childish in-fighting and showed it back to them at beginning of next weeks challenge. And then said 'after this lot I don't want any of you, you're ALL fired!'. But that wouldn't make great television, would it?

Just a quick Blog post as I'm feeling immensely proud...

Kelvin, our in-house resident web-guru and all-round web/IT genius has just put the finishing touches to our new podcast system. Thanks Kelv!

Not only have we developed a first class and very cool podcasting system for SurfWine, but my interview with Jeff Rosenmeier from Lovibonds neatly demonstrates the flexibility of this new system too. We really are very lucky to have someone has talented as Kelvin on our team here... and we have more great stuff to come in weeks/months ahead.

But the main thing is not to pat ourselves on the back, or to let technology take over, but to make sure you have a great time whenever you visit surf4wine. Hope you like...

PS
Look out for our next podcast... we have the beer-bug at the minute and this next post will be a great follow-on to my interview with Jeff...

Started my training for the Asics British 10K London run last night. Oh my aching body today! Last year a group of local business people, Oxygen Business Forum, got together to run/walk this event to raise money for local children's Hospice Helen and Douglas House.

So, I thought I was being very clever yesterday by trotting off to local Gym with son Douglas and while he and his mate lifted weights and worked out (they both play national league Basketball and are of an age where they can eat what they like and still not put on the pounds - unlike us 40+ wine merchants!). I ran 2K moderately easily, stopped for some much needed water and ran another 1K. Felt great, had a Sauna. Fantastic!

Woke up this morning, fully intending to hit the road and carry on the good work by doing some running. Ouch my poor knee! I think it is trying to tell me that a life of eating and drinking is taking it's toll and not to be so stupid. But I managed .5K uphill, and then a bit of a walk to try and at least maintain momentum.

Something tells me this is going to be a long-haul to the start line in London on 6th July!

Anyway, being a glutton for punishment, and as if my poor aching knee wasn't warning enough, to get me in the mood for 10K on 6th July I'm also planning on running in the first ever Oxford Run for Moore. This in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund, which raises money for research into bowel cancer. The event is on Sunday 8th June, and as soon as I have registered I will post information for anyone that feels like sponsoring me.

Given Alison's illness with breast cancer I badly wanted to run for that charity, but the Race for Life is women only event. This years Oxford Race for Life is being held in University Park on Saturday 7th June, the day before the Run for Moore.

So, having overdone it and started like a Greyhound out of the Blocks, I think it's time to pace myself... a night off training tonight I think, and rest the knee. Which really only leaves the question of what to drink...?

She honestly had no idea how champagne is made. After a lot of teasing, she eventually confessed that she'd assumed that the wine was made bubbly by some kind of industrial Sodastream.

The French are notoriously protective of the name "champagne" - even forcing a famous perfume maker to stop marketing a fragrance bearing the name. It's a name protected by EU law, so they're not going to be happy when I tell you that champagne was invented by (whisper it) an Englishman in the 17th century.

It was the scientist and physician Christopher Merret who first wrote down the Méthode Champenoise - the idea of making the wine ferment a second time in the bottle by adding sugar. Legend says the venerable Dom Pérignon invented sparkling wine, but Christopher Merret got there a good thirty years before him.

So, next time you see a Frenchman looking smug and extolling the virtues of Champagne and how they created the world's best sparkling wine (most probably true, although they are getting a run for their money from some New World areas - and who knows what effect enlarging the demarcated Champagne region will have on quality), don't forget to tell them it was an Englishman that invented it first!

In times of credit crunches and soaring prices, Surf4Wine's very own house champagne Gremillet Brut Sélection offers excellent value @ £19.99. It recently beat all of the top houses and famous names of Champagne to win the International Wine & Spirit Competition Trophy for best NV Brut Champagne. If you feel like pushing the boat out with something a little richer and more intense then why not try 'D de Devaux' from Champagne Devaux @ £29.99. Utterly gorgeous, utterly irresistible - perfect with strawberries this Summer.

** This is an excerpt from a piece we recently wrote for a local magazine. And yes, we are most definitely available for writing articles and any kind of copy for wine related publications, be they web sites, magazines, newspapers or anything else. Mrs C. (Alison) is a trained journalist and Mr. C. (Andrew) knows his wine! We also have access to an incredible video production team as well as still photographers

Our techy team, AKA Kelvin our in-house resident web genius, has been busily putting the finishing touches to our new podcasting system over the last couple of weeks.

I'm pleased to say that this has now gone live - please do take a look - we think it's pretty neat!

It is place where we can take you to let you see and listen to all our audio and video, whether they are me on the radio or interviews with winemakers, or virtual wine tastings by video.

You can play them right there, or down load them in whatever is your preferred format - even into iTunes and onto your favourite mobile device or iPod.

Look out for more videos and audio to come very soon...

Have you caught the 'Thunder' yet? In case you haven't, check it out: Wine Library TV.

The web phenomenon that is Gary Vaynerchuck is sweeping all before it (use of 'phenomenon' is deliberate - Gary V is all over the web at the moment, from new media and technology conferences to his own web site, not forgetting Twitter posts every few minutes. Does he ever sleep??). Great article on Gary here: Wine, Video and the Cult of Gary

Definitely worth telling more people about Gary and his Thunder shows, and happy to try to do that on our little 'ole blog :)

Gary also posts on his personal web site, with some great insights about getting the passion out there. With honesty! And yes, I'm aware most wine bloggers will already know about Gary - I'm hoping we can let a few non-blogging wine drinkers know about him too. Although I'd say they could probably hear him 'Thundering' in America all the way over here in not so sunny UK - even without the internet! Yup, that Gary sure is loud - but hey, he loves his wine and wants you all to know. And that's all good in my book.

We are currently out of stock of Cloudy Bay wines. We are working at getting more in very soon - hopefully in time for Christmas.

Of all the Cloudy Bay wines the Sauvignon Blanc is the most sought after - at least if our sales and enquiries are anything to go by. So, while we are waiting on the arrival of more Cloudy Bay we can recommend some excellent, award-winning New Zealand Sauvignon's from our list, all of which make great alternatives to Cloudy Bay.

To make things more fun, take a look at the video below of me tasting some of them. Find a full list of our suggested Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc alternatives here, including a mixed taster case to try.

I signed up for Twitter today, so I can Twitter about wine, life and the Universe (i.e. Blog) when not in office, or in front of my laptop. (This style of updates has been described as "micro-blogging").

S4WBlog will be carrying an RSS feed of my Twitter posts so you can go there to read what I've been Twittering about, or you can add the RSS feed to your own preferred RSS Viewer/Reader (What is an RSS viewer/reader?).

Anyway, this idea gets its first proper outing Monday 8th October when I'm off to the Wines of South Africa Mega-tasting in London. Monday and Tuesday are for the Trade, (i.e. us!), then the general public next two days.

But as most of you who know me will testify, I never stop Twittering about wine, one way of another, so you're sure to get lots of WineTwitters here!

"Having practised as a solicitor for 12 years, I started off my wine career with multi-award winning wine merchants Oddbins in 2000. I’ve since literally steeped myself in wine knowledge and struck out on my own in 2005 as The Wine Detective to present tastings and write about wine. I regularly write for specialist wine magazines including The World of Fine Wine, Harpers (the Wine and Spirit Weekly) and Wine & Spirit and have contributed to the wine publications The World Atlas of Wine, Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book and Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book.

Hands on experience includes working at wineries in Spain (Bodegas Torres), South Africa (Boekenhoutskloof) and Australia (Cullen) [which explains part of the order!] and an introduction to winemaking course at Plumpton College, Sussex. "

This Zinfandel slips down a treat. Remember Jammie Dodger biscuits? There's something of them in here, along with spicy bramble helly flavours, earthy herb flavours and a punchy finish. Truly a smokin' wine.

They say behind every successful man is an exhausted woman, and in Mr Chapman's case, it's very true. Not because he mistreats Ali, the lovely Mrs Chapman, you understand; but because she's been working hard on a BBC Radio 2 documentary.

It's called "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel" and retells the story of the Rolling Stones' least favourite summer - 1967.

Keith Richards' country home, Redlands, had been raided by the Drug Squad, following a tip off from the News of the World, and Keith and Mick Jagger were later sentenced to jail. William Rees-Mogg was the editor of the Times in 1967, and wrote his most famous leading article likening Mick to a butterfly on a wheel.

Ali's done many of the interviews for the programme, and has written the script. It's voiced by "Whispering" Bob Harris. To persuade you to listen (BBC Radio 2, Tuesday 3 July from 10.30 - 11.30PM) Ali's willing to give S4W an exclusive hint about what might be in the programme. As well as new interviews with the Stones' manager at the time (Andrew Loog Oldham) and the Executive Editor of the News of the World (Robert Warren), the programme's unearthed a wonderful story from William Rees-Mogg.

He's told Ali that he once went to lunch with a Home Secretary, during the course of which they decided that in order to understand more about drugs, they really ought to take some. This Home Secretary asked his staff, who said 'fine, but you do realise they're illegal and we'd have to arrest both of you?'

*Stop press* The Radio Times at www.radiotimes.com has just posted this review of the programme: "an enthralling retelling of one of rock's most famous tales and a decent slice of social history" (Jane Anderson)

That's "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel" on BBC Radio 2. 10.30 - 11.30pm on Tuesday 3 July.