Posted by Alison Chapman on May 25th 2008 11:05am. Leave a comment
Who was it who said there's no rest for the wicked?! Andrew didn't get a bank holiday lie-in today - he was up getting ready for an appearance on Louisa Hannan's Sunday radio show on BBC Radio Oxford.
Lou invited a local chef Graham Ameson of Hackett's in Witney to come up with a summer dish. (Although in typical bank holiday fashion, summer had gone for a lie-down and thunder storms were the order of the day.) Which meant Andrew spent some time wracking his brains trying to figure out which wine to match with "sweet pea risotto". Is that a risotto made with sweet peas? Or a sweetened risotto with peas?? Whatever the answer, the dish called for something subtle. (Don't know why they asked Andrew then - hah.) Andrew finally plumped for Paul Cluver Sauvignon Blanc - a vibrant white wine that should enhance the taste of a creamy risotto. He also took in Berton Estate Reserve Botrytis Semillon.
Posted by Alison Chapman on May 22nd 2008 1:20pm. Leave a comment
Andrew's back hotfoot from the London International Wine Fair with more interviews from some of the world's finest winemakers. He caught up with Matt Thomson, an incredible man who not only manages to produce some just stunning wines for Delta Vineyards, St Clair, Alpha Zeta and Ca del Matt - as well as being involved witb the increasingly pipular Tinpot Hut wines, among others, but is also a keen kayaker, (ironic for a flying winemaker!), and was New Zealand's K2 marathon kayaking champion. Phew!
Andrew managed to get him to stand still for just a couple of minutes! Click below to hear their chat.
Posted by Alison Chapman on May 21st 2008 9:09am. Leave a comment
It's a busy couple of days for Mr Chapman (and I don't just mean the list of jobs I have waiting for him at home) as he's at the London International Wine Trade Fair.
1200 exhibitors, 180,000 bottles from every wine-producing corner of the globe, 14,000 visitors - and one man wandering around with a microphone. Andrew's doing interviews with as many winemakers as possible to bring you a flavour of the wine trade's biggest show in the UK. Watch this space for more interviews, but for now sit back and enjoy his chat with the legendary Charles Melton.
Posted by Alison Chapman on April 26th 2008 9:32pm. Leave a comment
When your husband offers you lunch on a Saturday, many women would raise an eyebrow. When he confesses he wants to take you to a brewery in Henley-on-Thames, then the penny starts to drop. But to be fair, Andrew then told me that as well as wonderful Lovibonds beer there's also a lot of chocolate on offer.....well what woman is going to say no?!
I wasn't disappointed. I sampled the Lovibonds Gold (wonderful and smooth with caramel and honey overtones) and the Lovibonds Special which is simply stunning. I can't wait until we can share it with you via Surf4wine. And the chocolate? Well Jeff Rosenmeier was playing host to Petra Barran of chocstar. She's taking chocolate products to people around the country to fit in with her love of a nomadic lifestyle. And there's nothing this woman can't do with chocolate! From ice creams to muffins and tips for Mexican food. Check out her website at www.chocstar.co.uk for more. And the best bit is - she can come to you! Click on the link below to hear my interview with her. Enjoy!
Posted by Andrew Chapman on April 21st 2008 8:50pm. 1 comment
Saturday was a busy one for me. Not only because there's the usual family stuff to do (well, I say family - more being a children's taxi service, really!), but because I had a trip out to Henley-on-Thames. It's now the home of a very interesting young micro-brewery called Lovibonds. Here at Surf4Wine we stocked their beers as soon as we tasted them! On Saturday I was the guest of the head brewer and founder of Lovibonds, Jeff Rosenmeier. His enthusiasm and hard graft has seen brewing and a very old name reborn in Henley. Here's the first part of my interview with him, where we chatted about where the name Lovibonds came from. Click on the play button below to listen.
Lovibonds part 1
And with local Michelin-starred restaurants and award-winning pubs catching on to what we knew years ago, it can't be long before the fame of this wonderful stuff spreads far and wide. It's all the more amazing when you think that Jeff doesn't come from Henley - heck, he's not even from the UK! Click on the play button below to listen to what brought him thousand of miles to rural Oxfordshire to make English beers with a European twist:
Lovibonds part 2
We fell in love with Lovibonds from the first sip, and now stock as much of the stuff as we can get our hands on. There are more details at www.lovibonds.com . The best way to find out why we're raving about this micro-brewery is to taste some. Click on the play button below to hear Jeff talk Surf4Wine through the range of beer he makes, and what they taste like.
Lovibonds part 3
On the dresser in my kitchen is a keg of beer. It's not a Watney's Party 7 (although many a student party in the 70s was oiled by that particular stuff, let's face it) but Lovibonds Henley Dark. It's a wonderful, traditional-tasting porter-style beer. But never mind the past - what about the future? Click on the play button below to listen to Andrew and Jeff talking about the problems with real ale, beards and sandals, and keg beers:
Posted by Andrew Chapman on March 27th 2008 7:38am. Leave a comment
Feeling horrible today with a particularly nasty cold. But I'm told they are famous germs from one of Alison's radio friends, so that has got to make it OK then, right?!
Talking of radio, cold or not, I'm getting all excited as I'm back on Louisa Hannan's Sunday morning show on BBC Radio Oxford this week (30.03.08). We did a great show back in February (hoping to get a recording of that to go onto Surf4Wine when I go in on Sunday), so I've been itching to go back (it's usually bi-monthly)
Louisa used to work with Alison when Alison was a producer and presenter at BBC Oxford, so I know her and it's not too daunting, in fact it is pretty relaxed and we have a lot of fun. Oli Richings, from local country house hotel Fallowfields is joining us this week, so it will be very much wine AND food.
So, if you are near a radio on Sunday (it's on 95.2FM), or can get BBC Radio Oxford via the internet (it goes out live online, see link to BBC iPlayer on this this page), then tune in and give us a listen.
Now, thinking cap on Andrew... wines to go with Duck egg omelet (eggs, oh great, nice clash there. Red wine hates eggs usually. Anyone got any good ideas?)
Posted by Andrew Barrow on June 15th 2007 5:03am. Leave a comment Andrew on BBC Radio Oxford 08/06/2007
It's cocktail hour as Andrew Chapman appears on Radio Oxford.
Andrew dropped by at BBC Radio Oxford on the 8th to talk with Louisa Hannan about the perfect cocktail, shaking up a mean Margarita on air! Click on the video above to watch, or subscribe to the Surf4Wine channel on YouTube.
Red Earth Multimedia Ltd - Registered office: 264 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DY Registered in England. Company no. 6650902.You must be aged 18 or over to order.