Return of the blogger

In this update – amazing reviews, a one year birthday party, a new wine list and my latest love… Burgundy Burgundy

LONDON’S BEST WINE BAR
Regulars and enthusiasts have thought it for some time… we’re stoked someone other than my Mum put it into writing. This last week wine writer Andrew Barrow of Spittoon.biz and Guardian Word of Mouth wrote a&v up as ‘London’s Best Wine Bar’, full review here -> http://artisanandvine.com/index.php?page=Reviews#Spittoon
We were delighted to receive a flattering write up from wine blogger Robert McIntosh of Wine Conversation also. Robert concludes that passion and commitment, more than the nuances of “natural” are key in making a great wine experience -> http://artisanandvine.com/index.php?page=Reviews#Conversation

BURGUNDY BURGUNDY… CAN I LOVE THEE MORE?
Burgundy... I cannot love thee more. It’s as true as everyone says: this is the place where terroir becomes a fact. Acres upon acres of (almost) only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with nothing to distinguish what pours from a bottle except the terroir and winemaker themselves... which turn out to be everything!
As a result of the trip, I have quite a few new finds in the bar, new favourites from Domaine D’Arlot, Bret Brothers and Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon.
Photo diary of the trip is here -> http://artisanandvine.com/index.php?mact=Album,m3,default,1&m3albumid=12&m3returnid=56&page=56

OUR NEW WINE LIST – which includes exciting new finds from Chile, Austria, Burgundy & rest of France is here -> http://artisanandvine.com/uploads/pdfs/Full%20wine%20list%20090622%20bar.pdf

ARTISAN&VINE’S ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY BASH!
Somehow a year has passed and as a dedicated member of the a&v mailing list... we’d like to invite you to our 1 year birthday party on Friday, 24 July. The party will start at 6pm and go through to close at 2am. The party is for regulars and enthusiasts – to thank you for your support over the last year. Look forward to seeing you then!

STAY IN TOUCH via
· Facebook, the group “I heart artisan&vine” www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=13876584265
· Twitter, user id artisanandvine
· Web, www.artisanandvine.com
· eMailing list, email welcome@artisanandvine.com to subscribe

Thanks for a wonderful (near) year of tasting and talking!
Kathryn & the team @ artisan&vine,

Plumpton College visit and the week that was

I chose to begin December with a treat and so on Monday just gone I packed up my mini little car and drove down to Plumpton College Vineyard & Winery, near Brighton. I really underestimated just how much of a treat this would be! Matthew and Peter did a wonderful job showing me around their scenic vineyard and state of the art winery. (unfortunately I forgot my camera and Plumpton's website is tragically low on photos so the little snippet below is as best I can do for now).

The real pleasure of a College winery, I came to discover, is the opportunity for experimentation, thought and analysis. Peter Morgan, the winemaker at Plumpton, has a pedigree from France and Nyetimber (UK), and his passion for exploring elements of wine making is obvious. Plumpton has a variety of vats, temperature controlled rooms and laboratories within which students can investigate different cause and effecting wine making. If artisan&vine ever feels like giving me a full day off, I’ll be down at Plumpton signed up for study immediately!

Plumpton College runs a variety of long and short term courses – including one day classes – and is definitely worth checking out. Artisan&vine will be running a day trip down there when the sun comes out again next year.

Plumpton’s wines? If you’ve been to artisan&vine, there’s a very strong chance you’ve heard me rave about The Dean NV sparkling wines. We stock The Dean white and Blush. Fantastic complexity, good brioche flavours, always a hit with customers.

In artisan&vine recently: we usually have a number of party bookings on a Saturday night at artisan&vine. This Saturday gone we hosted Christa and Andrew’s engagement party, which we kicked off with a custom wine tasting; the guest’s loved Dominio del Bendito’s 2006 Silver, (£12.50/btl take home) I do too, it’s an extraordinarily velvety red wine, an alcoholic drinking chocolate; it needs to be tasted to be believed. We also hosted Crodelia’s birthday party. Cordelia and her friends converted the entire back of the bar to a dancefloor and before long pretty much the entire bar was back there dancing. Sometimes our 2am licence still just doesn’t seem late enough.

Press and reviews: we were stoked to learn that we had received View London’s highest rating – 5 stars – for our food, wine, ambience and service. Kelly and her editorial team really do a very thorough job in their reviews and as an occasional customer at other bars and restaurants, I was impressed to see the integrity and attention that View London invest for every review and recommendation list they put together. I’m really over the moon that we now feature on a few of their recommended lists, including best places for a first date!

Pictures: I heart Plumpton College and rue forgetting my camera!

New things and newsy things

I sometimes wonder if I spend too much of my life trying new things. I’m absolutely obsessive about it. Long ago I used to do something of a “self check” that I’d done at least one new thing a day… I reckon I’m clocking one new thing an hour these days, without even trying.
The addictive thing about trying new things is that 9 out of 10 times the result is positive. When it’s not entirely positive, it’s a learning experience.
Last week I started blogging & I tried updating the blog every day. This is a bad bad bad idea. A terrible idea. Working 16hours a day, on a quiet day, is already enough… Henceforth my blog shall be something like a weekly update during one of our quieter shifts (such as this Saturday afternoon). We’ll try this something new anyways.

So much happened this week I’m not sure where to begin!

We launched our new food menu; this is something we plan to keep fresh by evolving every couple of weeks

We also got some more positive press; this time in the online industry newsletter by Wine+. This latest article is the opposite of an anonymous review: I was asked by the good people of Wine+ to write this one myself! After hearing about some of the interesting things we were doing at artisan&vine, the Wine+ team asked me to write up our experiences. Our online scrapbook includes a snapshot (along with shots of some other nice articles about artisan&vine), click

here for the full article, including fantastic commentary from someone I have massive respect for, Peter McCombie, MW.

Our boiler broke… which is obviously very bad news… though our little fan heaters buzz away in the meantime.

In artisan&vine last night: Melanie, wine buyer for Whole Foods Market came by with a group of friends to enjoy some of our wines. Melanie has outstanding taste & has done a great job at introducing some interesting natural wines at Whole Foods, I was stoked by how much she liked our list – particularly the Grand Cru Rose Champagne (£22.40/bottle take home price) from Marguet. The flavour and complexity of this creamy biodynamic rose blows away that of mass produced commercial champagnes; trying it will change your view on champagne. Self-proclaimed devoted regular Tom, his brother Joe & their friends kept us all entertained, particularly when they inspired the entire late night bar crowd to sing happy birthday to David, another of our favourite regulars. Happy 30th David!

Popular buys last night: the 2005 Peyrouzelles (£10.40/bottle take home price) from Domaine Causse Marines in Gaillac, South-west France, is ever popular and last night was no different. In addition to familiar Syrah, is an interesting blend of indigenous grape varieties - Duras, Braucol and Prunelard. Peyrouzelles displays lovely red berries aromas with peppery & spice character. Beautiful fruit flavours are able to shine without being overpowered by tannins.

Picture: our Wine+ On-Trade Insider article, issued 21 Nov 2008

An Australian girl in Paris & sulphites in wine

Artisan&vine has a 2am licence on Friday and Saturday nights, so after a huge Saturday, I crawled into bed at 3:30am. Two hours later I was up and on the way for our Eurostar journey to Paris. Months ago Omar and I had booked our getaway. It was the first time I would be away from artisan&vine since it opened; I would miss my 'baby' but I was excited for a holiday! We would be back in London less than 48hours later and we planned on savouring every moment we had!

Omar’s main interest in Paris was sightseeing. Born and raised in the USA, this would be his first trip to France. My main excitement was about visiting some of Paris’ pre-eminent natural wine bars!
It’s almost heartbreaking, how much more abundantly available natural wines are in Paris than London. All three of the bars we visited had over 100 wines with zero added sulphites and maintained very diverse wine lists even with a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. I considered trying to do this back when I was first planning artisan&vine but I just couldn’t find enough variation in the ‘extreme natural wine’ category to rule out anything with any dose of sulphite in it.
Sulphites occur naturally in all living things and are present in small quantities even in unsulphured wines. Many of the natural winemakers we represent at artisan&vine add small doses of sulphites to stabilise a wine at the end of the wine making process. These small doses do little or no damage to the flavour of the wine and can help to protect it from being mishandled. The important principles of creating a wine that is a genuine reflection of the grape variety and terroir from which it comes are maintained. The abundance of natural wines available in Paris - with or without that dose of sulphite - was impressive and mouth watering. It was great to be able to taste some amazing wines that currently aren't available here; I look forward to their hopefully iminent arrival!

In artisan&vine last night: Alex, Marinna and Richard kept things ticking over beautifully!

Popular buys last night: our rotating Happy Hour list came to the fore. On Sunday and Monday the beautiful 2004 Cotes du Rhone “Cuvee des Galets” from Domaine Les Aphillanthes featured. During Happy Hour (5pm-7pm every day) you can buy selected wines to enjoy in the bar at our shop prices. That means customers were enjoying the meaty, gamey flavours of this classic Cotes du Rhone for only £16.50/bottle.

Picture: a holiday was nice but I loved pulling up to that familiar sign again

We're engaged!

No, not me... but a lot of other people that come to artisan&vine. It’s certainly our most popular group reservation – almost every Saturday night through to January is booked out with engagement parties. This Saturday gone was the engagement party for Laura and David. Laura and David went all out with their decorations and I loved joining in preparations with them. We had photos of the couple decorate the entire back section of the bar – including photos of Laura and David over the traditional “ladies” and “mens” sign for the bathrooms. I still wish we had a photo of that...

In artisan&vine Saturday night: in addition to the hundred or so people at Laura & David’s party, my lawyer Simon came for dinner and drinks with his brother and father. They loved the Cuvee 41 from Le Clos Perdus that I recommended – it has an outstanding complexity while still being very drinkable; wonderful cured meat flavours with a balanced freshness; it’s one of my favourite wines at the moment (£13.50/bottle to take home). Zoe from Visit London also came by with a friend; I only met Zoe after we were included in their Top 10 wine bars list and I’m stoked she still enjoys coming here.

Popular buys on Saturday night: the 2007 Coteaux Du Languedoc from Mas Nicot found a big following last night and deservedly so. This is a fantastic white wine – beautiful fresh lime flavours ride the wave of creaminess leant by it’s 45% Marsanne composition. Revellers bought several bottles to take home, a steal at only £10.20/bottle.

Picture: I think our fairy lights are partly responsible for our popularity as a romantic destination?

Make mine a triple vodka with cranberry, in a pint glass thanks Sheila

Will there come a week when no one orders the unexpected? Last night we had a fun loving group of young lads who were drinking shots of vodka, mixed with various juices, from pint glasses. This was an unanticipated use of my newly acquired pint glasses. Undoubtedly, it is a much more efficient means of drinking your vodka cranberry than going back and forth to the bar all night. After getting to know the boys, I learnt that they were Australians running a construction business. Of course they were, what other pedigree could generate such pragmatism?

In artisan&vine last night: Matt and Jenna had a farewell party before heading back to sunnier shores of Sydney and Caroline had a group of friends join her for drinks before months of travel (sorry guys, we’re not planning on stocking Lambrusco anytime soon J ). My friends Lionel and Mickael brought some more of their French friends along to celebrate Lionel recently being awarded a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Scholarship – congrats!!

Popular buys last night: other than the triple-shot-pint (shall I add it to the menu?) the 2006 Ortega from Biddenden in Kent had a good run last night. Matt and Jenna’s friends decided they should all sample some English wines while they still had the chance. They were delighted with the result. It’s completely understandable: this Ortega has all of the fruit and flavour that Aussies hope for in our wines, despite it’s cool climate region of growth. An elderflower nose with creamy undertones, we sell this wine for a take home price of £8.60/bottle.

Picture: I thought we had most types of drinks covered... here a lager, prosecco and liqueur

Live jazz, tense anticipation

At 6:45pm last night we had a buzzy bar but my heart was in my throat and all I heard was silence. I was waiting for the new sax man. Where was he? He was meant to start playing live at 7pm! I had updated my little A-Board outside and sent out my facebook invite and website calendar update & he wasn't there!

Every Thursday night at artisan&vine we feature live local jazz acts; entry is free. I have a few performers I've really come to like and we use them over & again. I still always want to keep things fresh though so last night I wanted to try a new solo saxaphone player. We've had some 'special' experiences with musicians over the last months and every minute that ticked towards 7pm without a musician made me more & more nervous. You'd think I would have become immune by now but I haven't. I always think: even if this was my 116th night in artisan&vine, I knew from looking around that for a lot of customers in the bar that night, this would be their first experience of the bar... I wanted to make sure it was great.

I ran through the scenarios: 1. he doesn't show at all; 2. he shows and plays awful; 3. he shows and does something inappropriate; 4. anything else? Please don't be able to think of anything worse. (A too easily distracted crevice of my brain remarked the speed with which the human mind can formulate a series of potential tragedies). Why do I try new music? Why do I try? Of course I'd seen his MySpace site but what could I tell from that?!

We sell two more bottles of THAT South African Sauvignon Blanc (yes, it is delicious and unusually tropical for a Sauv Blanc, I love it too!) and a couple of pints of draught beer, hurrah, the new draught beer installation is working!

6:51pm

6:52pm

6:53pm

In walks sax man! Like a mother that finally finds her runaway toddler in a busy supermarket, I'm too happy to see him to be mad he wasn't already there!

What were my worries? Graeme Airth, our new resident sax player, was fantastic! We had rave reviews from everyone there. A great balance of smooth sound with good tempo. Later I discovered that Graeme used to play with "Curiosity Killed the Cat", which Paula was impressed by... sorry... my lack of living in the UK in the 80's has that one a little lost on me... so it appears we had some celebrity in the bar too!

I thought Graeme was wonderful and have booked him again for a fortnight's time. So, if you'd like to enjoy some sure fire excellent live saxaphone at artisan&vine, stop by on Thursday, 27 November. If you want to check out his MySpace site in the meantime, it's: http://www.myspace.com/gripperg

Next Thursday, 20 November, we feature another of my favourite acts at artisan&vine, "Night & Day Jazz", with Amanda doing smooth vocals and Jonathan on keyboard.

In artisan&vine last night: in addition to Graeme and his entourage, an ex-colleague of mine, Rehana, came by with a group of friends. How surreal it was to actually be in the bar we'd been fantasising about just a year ago in the BP staff cafeteria!

Popular buys last night: 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Reyneke Vineyard, Stellenbosch. Wonderful tropical notes with a crisp, fresh palate. Everything you'd hope from a Sauvignon Blanc and then some. We sell for £12.20/bottle to take home.

Picture: there are few things in life better than sitting on our cozy sofas, drinking sensational wine listening to great live jazz.