Headlines § e-mail § Publisher details § rates & data Est. 1996 Issue 148 June 2009 English Wines Come Of Age Something new and exciting our way comes!     I have to say at the outset - I have sadly not previously been a great supporter of English wine. However, times change, and as the climate in Sussex and Kent has become similar to the climate of Champagne and other famous French wine producing regions in years gone by, I was very interested to receive an invitation to visit the Taylor & Shroff/Carr-Taylor Vineyard and meet owners David and Linda Carr Taylor. David grew up in India as a son of a Darjeeling tea planter. The last 38 years he has spent with his family being instrumental in pioneering the English wine industry and championing the emerging Methode Champenoise production. David met Nainaz Shroff in London, A joint understanding materialized about future of wines in India. After painstaking research, Taylor and Shroff Ltd planned to sell English wine to the Indian market to accompany spicy food. Taylor & Shroff Ltd, a UK-based company, launched its range of wines in the Indian market at the IFE India 2008. It was against this background that we travelled to Westfield in beautiful Sussex to meet Ben Furst who took me on my first tour of an English Vineyard. What an experience. Row upon row of knarled vines amidst almost chaotic early summer vegetation which is deliberately cultivated to ensure the natural, quality growth of the mainly German originating grapes. He told me all about the risks and heartaches of the early years and the belief of David & Linda Carr Taylor and their family in the future of English wine. We looked at the complete process right up to bottling and then came the moment of truth - the wines themselves. First was the award winning 11% 'Alexis' dry white which retails at a very reasonable £6.99, followed by the dangerously drinkable 10.5% Carr-Taylor medium dry '1066 Hastings' at just £5.99. The third wine was the 10.5% Carr-Taylor Rose, redolent of summer cherries and strawberries at £7.49. Carr-Taylor also offer a series of amazing sparkling wines that, not surprisingly given the climate and soil, compare very well with those of the Champagne region. The award winning Carr-Taylor Brut is a real winner at £11.95 - perfect with strawberries at Wimbledon or perhaps Henley. Further upscale is the Sparkling Rose at £17.95 with its wonderful fruit flavours - definitely one of my favourites. Top of the Tree was the multi award winning Carr-Taylor Vintage at £18.95. The standard was just as high as Ben claimed and would certainly compete favourably with any French or other overseas product at really good prices. No sooner had we given our enthusiastic blessings than Ben told us we were invited to lunch with David & Linda in their verandahed house overlooking the brooding vines. Watch the FA Cup Final or accept? It was no contest and we soon found ourselves in their glorious old, almost hunting lodge style home, with our lunch table only yards from the lovingly reared vines. This is where we were introduced to the new Taylor & Schroff fruit wines specially designed to complement hot, spicy food.     Their high 17% alcohol content and low acidity make the wines the perfect palate cleansers, to work with the spicy food rather than fighting it. Designed to be served over ice by the glass, these new wines can bring an extra dimension of enjoyment to both diner and restaurateur. The result is a glass of wine on your table that looks more like a cocktail - indeed the wines go very well with other ingredients to make up specialist cocktails. The classic White and Red were delightful and really different from conventional wines and would certainly fit in with even the spiciest dishes. The Ginger Wine I can imagine with Thai cuisine and its cornucopia of flavours whilst the Cherry seemed perfect for perhaps a Gujarati salad or an exotic dessert. Our favourite was the Apricot - beautifully balanced and seeming to almost slide over the tongue and caress the taste buds - a definite winner. Apart from the wonderful hospitality and graciousness of our hosts, the excitement of the day was in finding something new and actually belonging to these shores. The fruit wines could well add a new taste dimension and revenue path to Indian and other ethnic restaurants and even lend themselves to 'amuse-bouche' style ice creams as palate pleasers and taste changers. Taylor and Shroff aim to launch in the UK around end of July, early August, starting at Jali restaurant in Hastings on 30th July and being followed by a bigger event to be held at The Nehru Centre in London towards the middle of August and via several events throughout Sussex thereafter. In our opinion restaurateurs should listen carefully to the sales message as it satisfies the demand for authenticity, taste and value for money. top

Headlines § e-mail § Publisher details   Mood Food is published by FSR, London, England © 2009 Editor: Peter J. Grove Editorial office: PO Box 416 Surbiton, Surrey, England, KT1 9BJ Tel: 020 8399 4831 email: GroveInt@aol.com