If you’re set to impress this New Year’s Eve, here are some extraordinary champagnes that deserve your attention. Written for Luxurious Magazine by Helena.
Wine & gifts for Christmas on a yacht
Are you lucky enough to be spending Christmas on a yacht? Here’s a little piece I wrote for Princess Yachts about what to drink and space-saving gifts for wine lovers.
By Helena Nicklin
The 12 days of Giftmas - Huge giveway!
To celebrate the launch of Part Two of The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky, we’re giving away 12 drinky prizes to 12 winners, picked each day from 1st December. To enter and for all T&Cs, head over to our competition page here!
The Prizes
1st December: Uncle Nearest Bourbon Pair
Two very special Bourbon whiskies from exciting brand Uncle Nearest. The whiskey honours a former slave called Nathan ‘Nearest’ Green who was the first premium distiller in Tennessee and even taught a certain Mr Jack Daniels. These whiskies by Nearest Green Distillery honour ‘‘the best whiskey maker the world never knew... until now’. The 1856 RRP £55 & the 1884 small batch whiskey is RRP £45 but not yet available in the UK. Find out more here.
2nd December Old Bakery Gin & Rum
We’re loving this brand new, yet super old, small batch distillery gin that has made a big splash on the likes of Dragon’s Den. When owner Ian Puddick bought an old bakery in London’s Palmers Green, he discovered a centuries old illicit distillery on the premises and set about sourcing original recipes. They now have three gins and a rum, which has just been released. Yum! Gin RRP £38 Rum. RRP £43. Find out more here.
3rd December Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia 2015 MAGNUM
Our friends at Armit Wines have offered a magnum of red wine from one of Italy’s most famous Tuscan wine estates: Ornellaia. Le Serre Nuove is an elegant, silky blend of Bordeaux varietals. Drinking now but will keep! See more here.
4th December: Coravin Model One Black
The original Coravin gadget that allows you to have a glass of wine without pulling the cork! It works by sending a needle through the cork and replacing the wine with inert argon gas. Genius! RRP £199 See more here.
5th December Giant Glencairn Glass
Remember the oversized glass from our Loch Ness episode? Well, award-winning family business Glencairn Crystal - creators of the whisky industry’s favourite glass - is offering you the opportunity to win a limited-edition giant Glencairn Glass. The oversized version is 12 inches tall and can hold just over three bottles, or nearly 100 drams! Collectable, with only a small number made each year. This glass is worth is worth over £150. See more here.
6th December: 30 year old ‘Blue Flower’ Baijiu
Photo credit: Cheng International Co. Limited
Baijiu is the world’s most popular spirit but have you heard of it? This stunning, grain spirit from China has many guises, but we love this elegant, 30 year old ‘blue flower’ Baijiu from Fenjiu. It’s pretty rare and has an RRP of £150. See more @fenjiu_london
7th December: Ice Cool Luxury Wine Cooler
These compact Ice Cool Wine Coolers are beautiful and practical. They maintain the temperature of a wide range of bottles yet take up less space than an ice bucket and don’t get the label wet! Available in a variety of finishes and with a personal engraving. See more here.
8th December: Master of Malt 6 Month Whisky Dram Club Subscription
Our friends at Master of Malt are offering six months worth of their Dram Club subscription to one lucky winner! You’ll receive five carefully selected whiskies worth up to £100 a bottle, right to your door. Read more about them here.
9th December: Eto wine decanter
The decanter reinvented, Eto is a work of art that works as a decanter and a wine preserver at the same time. It works by displacing air thus not allowing wine to spoil for up to 2 weeks. Perfect for that one (!) glass in the evening and keeping the rest. RRP £125-145. See more here.
10th December: Frapin 1270 Cognac and Cocktail Kit
Frapin 1270 is a versatile cognac which can be enjoyed neat or mixed, thanks to its great aromatic richness. Win a full size 70cl bottle, two cocktail glasses and a cocktail mixing kit with all the essentials you need to start mixing like a pro and impress your friends with classic Cognac cocktails such as Mint Julep, Side Car and Old Fashioned. Prize worth over £100. See more at @cognacfrapinofficial
11th December: Armand de Brignac Brut Gold Champagne
Gold Brut is the most iconic cuvée in the Champagne Armand de Brignac range and is created using the old world traditions of champagne blending. This prestige cuvée is a trio of vintages from some of the most highly-praised terroirs in the region and expresses vibrant fresh fruit character, and layers of complexity. RRP £300. See more here.
12th December: Personalised bottle of 18 year old Highland Park
A rich and fruity 18 year old Highland single malt bottled in 2019, this whisky from The Whisky Exchange is limited edition (only 276 bottles) and will arrive personalised with a message of your choice. Prize worth £99.95. See more at @whiskyexchange
Savour your wine moments for longer: A look at the Coravin Moments APP
In every bottle of wine there is a story. Sometimes it reads like a comic book and other times like War and Peace, yet there is a time and place for every single glass. Wouldn’t it be lovely to capture these moments forever?
Despite our increasingly hectic world we are thankfully, albeit slowly, coming back to the notion of experiences over ownership of ‘things’ when it comes to downtime or even gifting. Moments matter more than material goods. Anyone who loves wine will be familiar with its powers to bring people together; to bond, to celebrate successes and to commiserate lost challenges, but there’s another reason many of us love the world of wine that may not be immediately obvious.
Wine engages the senses like nothing else. The pop of the cork (or the crack of the screw cap), the glug glug into the glass, the swirl, the sniff, the taste… Those of us who taste wine for a living look forward to the sea of wines at a press tasting where we can do nothing else but engage our senses for a couple of hours. We emerge refreshed from a truly meditative experience, alive with all the new stories we’ve experienced. It can be the same with a single bottle; a unique moment shared that you’ll want to find a way to remember forever. How do we do that?
Making Meaningful Memories
Studies have proved that our sensory human brains remember images, sounds and smells much more easily than dry facts and figures. How often has an aroma taken you straight back to a time and place, for example? Or a music track evoked the memory of a loved one? Art, music, perfume, film, literature all punctuate our lives on the most basic, beautiful human levels. Doesn’t it make so much sense then, to use the arts to capture the moments created with a glass of wine, not just to remember them better, but to enhance the whole experience? Perhaps a meditative Mozart aria made you stop and savour your quietly complex Burgundian Pinot Noir a little more? Or that earthy, Southern Italian red brought an extra dimension to the last few chapters of your book by Elena Ferrante? Wine can enhance a precious human moment, as can a piece of music a film or a book. Put all these things together and the result is far greater than the sum of its parts. We know a place where you can keep these moments together and so much more besides.
Capture your own wine moments
At the forefront of wine technology, the people at Coravin, the ultimate gadget for wine appreciation, have always understood the power of wine to create unique moments and the links between wine and the Arts. (Want an overview of Coravin? Read our article here). It was with this in mind that they created the Coravin Moments App; a one stop shop for wine lovers looking to capture and visualise their own wine moments as well as their own collections. You can create your own ‘moments’ or see those that others have made and edit them to make them your own. These moments inspire unique wine pairings for any occasion. Burt Bacharach, bolognese and Bordeaux, anyone? Surely the ultimate Friday night in! There is more you can do with the App too.
More than a Moment…
With the App, you can log your own wine collection as well as those you have tasted and have them presented visually by flavour profile. You’ll also never again forget a great bottle with the App’s ability to take a photo of a wine label, the wizardry to read it and even give you more information about the wine itself. Those lucky enough to own the epic Coravin Model Eleven (a fully automated version of the Coravin, which allows a glass of wine to be poured without having to pull the cork, read more here), can do more with the Moments app. It can be connected wirelessly via bluetooth to monitor levels in the argon gas canisters, battery levels and receive reminders for when to clean it. You can even shop for Coravin products through the App too.
Have you tried the app yet? Let us know your favourite wine pairing moments via social media (handles below)! If not, you can download the App from the Apple Store or directly from the Coravin website here. Currently only available for iPhone. Android, watch this space...
Turn your wine gadget game up to eleven! Introducing Coravin Model Eleven
If you’re a wine lover, chances are you’ll know about Coravin: the ultimate wine gadget. You may have even read about what it is and how it works on our magazine here. Did you know about the super duper, newest Model Eleven, however? Here’s the skinny on one wine gadget you won’t want to do without this winter.
Coravin, turned up to Eleven
If you’re thinking Spinal Tap rather than why model numbers three to ten don’t exist, then you’re on the right track. Coravin Model Eleven was so-named because on the scale of one to ten, team Coravin reckoned it went up to eleven. Always at the forefront of wine technology, this model does everything the previous models can do and more, plus it’s fully automated.
So, how does it work?
Charge up your Eleven with its USB charger, slot it over the top of the bottle (remember to check that it’s a real cork!) and a green light will confirm that you’re ready to go. Simply push down and tip. A small needle will puncture the cork and push inert Argon gas in, forcing wine out. Pour until you decide to stop; it works out the exact amount of gas you need. The cork will reseal itself almost immediately, thus preventing oxygen from getting in and spoiling the wine. Et voila! Your Coravin will then sleep up until you next pick it up again.
As well as the automation, Coravin Model Eleven does some other natty things. Using bluetooth technology, you can sync it up to the Coravin Moments App: an app designed to match wines to moments, be they food, music, films, books and more (read more here). It helps you keep tabs on battery life, on how much gas remains in your canister and sends reminders for when to service and clean your Coravin.
When would you use it?
Oh Coravin, how do we use thee? Let us count the ways! When we spoke to the founder, Greg Lambrecht, he told us the Coravin came into being because he wanted to be able to enjoy a single glass of decent wine without worrying that the rest of the bottle would be wasted if it wasn’t all tasted that night. Great for one glass but also great if you want to try several glasses of different wines without opening them all up. Perhaps you’re serving a dinner with several courses and want to build your own tasting menu? Maybe you want to see if that wine in the cellar is ready to drink without pulling the cork? If your favourite wine bar has one too, you’ll know that you can afford that one small glass of something rather special without having to purchase a whole bottle. Quite simply, it’s genius.
What does Coravin Model Eleven come with?
If you like your gadgets, you’ll love unboxing the Eleven. As well as its soft, stylish carry case and sturdy display base, you’ll get a pack of six gas canisters; enough for around ninety glasses. There’s also a dedicated aerator, which attaches to the Coravin spout to air the wine as it pours, giving even smoother results (they say it’s the equivalent of over an hour’s worth of decanting). As a brilliant extra, the pack also includes six Coravin screw caps, which will allow you to use your swanky new toy on screw capped wine! Each one is made with silicon which can be used up to one hundred times.
We’re addicted to ours and we’d love to know what you think! If you have one, send us a message. You can find out more about Coravin on their website.
Beyond the Super Tuscans: A fresh look at Armit Wines
The Three Drinkers headed to the first portfolio tasting in years of wine merchant Armit, famed for its stunning Italian wine agencies like Sassicaia and Ornellaia. Expecting the Italians, they found a lot more on offer, some of it equally spectacular. Colin Hampden-White tells all...
Armit Wines has now been supplying wine to the trade and private clients for over thirty years. Founded in 1988 by John Armit, the company started to forge relationships with producers so they could buy direct. Some of the strongest relationships were with Italian wine producers including the greats like Sassicaia and Ornellaia and it was with these relationships and wines that Armit became well known. Italian wine isn’t the only wine Armit specialises in, however. Far from being a one trick pony, Armit has wines from all over the world, and these wines are just as impressive as the Super Tuscan wines they still supply.
There was something different about the Armit tasting this year in comparison to some they’ve had in the past. There wasn’t an Italian wine to be seen. Armit wanted to show off more wines in their stable and shine a light on some other great regions.
Kicking off the tasting were a couple of wines from New Zealand. A fresh and fruity Riesling from Borthwick vineyards and some rich and refined Pinot Noir from Bell Hill, showing how well New Zealand competes with the likes of Burgundy for Pinot Noir. Staying in the southern Hemisphere, there were wines from South Africa, with a Grenache from Momento and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Delaire Graff standing out. From Napa there were stonking wines from Diamond Creek and away from the usual Californian regions, there were wines from Santa Maria Valley by Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills showing very well.
Baptiste & Julie Guinaudeau from Lafleur in Bordeaux
The new world wines didn’t have it all their own way though. Armit also have some great relationships in Spain and France, with two prominent producers being Domaine Leflaive and Lafleur in Burgundy and Bordeaux and in Rioja, Rioja Alta. These are some of the best estates in the world and to find them in one room is testament to the selection Armit have harvested over the years.
Alongside these grand names in wine, there are lesser known, but just as exciting, wines from Torre de Oña, also in Rioja, Dowie Doole in Australia, Domaine Huet in the Loire and closer to home, Digby sparkling English wine. And just to top things off, Chateau Dereszla in Hungary had some very refined Tokaji, both dry and sticky in style.
The quality of wines on show was over all very high and the message from Armit was loud and clear: They are not only an Italian wine merchant. Sure, you can still buy your favourite Italian wines from them, but try reaching further afield when you visit their website, or call for advice, and you will be well rewarded for it.
See more are armitwines.co.uk
By Colin Hampden-White
A new, ultra rare Champagne icon: Armand de Brignac, Blanc de Noirs Assemblage Three
If you don’t know Armand de Brignac champagne by name, you will certainly know it by sight. With five cuvées (styles) in the range, you’ll spot them a mile off in their iconic, metallic gold, silver, pink, purple and platinum-coloured bottles. Yes, it’s the brand owned by rapper Shawn ‘JAY-Z’ Carter, but it’s worth noting that these ‘ultra-prestige’ champagnes have been crafted by the Cattier family, who have been making wine in and around the Montagne-de-Reims for thirteen generations, so they know a thing or two.
These champagnes command the highest prices as they are made in tiny quantities, using extremely selective methods and meticulous attention to detail. Without the pressures of creating huge volumes, they say they are free to craft the most ‘perfect’ wines possible. Armand de Brignac only use the first half of the first press of grapes for their cuvées (the best bit). In the case of the Blanc de Noirs however, they use only the first third of the first press, meaning it takes even more grapes to craft a single bottle.
Armand de Brignac, Blanc de Noirs ‘A3’
The Blanc de Noirs ‘Assemblage 3’ (A3) is only the third Blanc de Noirs Armand de Brignac have ever produced, the first being released in 2015. Only 3535 bottles of this release were created and each is inscribed with its own number. Like the other four cuvées in the range, A3 is a blend of three vintages: 2009, 2010 and 2012 and as the name ‘Blanc de Noirs’ suggests, is made with only red grapes: 100% Pinot Noir in this case - no Pinot Meunier, the other red grape that would have been permitted. Winemaker Jean-Jaques Cattier says the following of this wine:
“Because of the power that comes from using 100% red fruit, it can be a challenge to achieve a balanced Blanc de Noirs… Using only parcels of only the very best Pinot Noir, we’re able to meticulously balance the acidity and sugar, achieving a Blanc de Noirs style with integrity to the powerful style, but with balance and texture.”
Winemaker Jean-Jacques Cattier with Armand de Brignac CEO Sebastien Besson
What does Armand de Brignac Blanc de Noirs A3 taste like?
With an attractive, copper- gold hue, this is a champagne that is understated when first poured, but opens up quickly and changes with every sip, each time offering a new note you hadn’t spotted before. Exceptionally complex, it gives rich brioche notes with crisp, red apple skin and blackcurrant leaf flavours. There’s a subtle vanilla pastry creaminess and a light citrus finish that really lifts the wine and balances the richness and power. A gastronomic wine at its finest and the ‘yin’ to Armand de Brignac’s Blanc de Blanc ‘yang’.
What to eat with A3?
The complexity and power of this extraordinary champagne means it will suit many fine dining dishes, both sweet and savoury. The house suggests foie gras, lamb tagine with apricots, spiced rack of lamb and Clafoutis with fresh, dark fruits. Now we’re hungry!
A3 Fact & Figures
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Villages grapes sourced from: Bouzy, Verzenay, Chigny-les-Roses,Ludes & Rilly-la-Montage.
Multi Vintage: Base of 2012 with 2010 and 2009
Number of bottles produced: Only 3535
Disgorgement date: April 9th, 2019
Dosage: 8g/l
ABV: 12.5%
Sizes available: 750ml only
Drinking window: Drinking now but can be kept until 2030 in the right conditions.
RRP: £1,095 per bottle.
Stockist: Available exclusively from Harrods from Sept 19th until November 16th
By Helena Nicklin
Spotlight on: Greyfriars Vineyard, Surrey Hills, England
All eyes are on English wine at the moment. Let’s face it; there’s not much else to be proud of about our country right now, so the fact that English wines are soaring in terms of quality and innovation is just what we need.
A welcome break from the madness of London, we three took a trip down to Greyfriars Vineyard in the sunny, Surrey Hills. You may have whizzed past them on the Hog’s Back at Puttenham on the way out West but we very much suggest you stop in next time. Alternatively, you can jump on a train from Waterloo to Guildford and be there in less than 40 minutes.
Greyfriars has been part of the English wine scene since 2010 when owners Mike and Hilary Wagstaff took over, having decided to make the move to winemaking from engineering and law respectively. Their aim was to expand the vineyards already there and to grow them from hobby scale to boutique commercial scale. When they took over the vines from the previous owners, they were planted mostly to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which was quite unusual at the time, but rather fortuitous given how well those varieties are now performing. “Most people were growing horrible German hybrids,” says Mike. Luckily for them, the chalky hills had already proved their worth for the vines. All that was left was to smarten up the winemaking and do some planting. “We’ve now gone from 1.5 acres to 40 acres, so 16 hectares,” says Mike. “Big enough to be serious but we’re not a huge conglomerate.”
The Wines
In the nine years under the Wagstaffs, Greyfriars have made a splash with their distinctive, authentic wines and eye-catching branding. They now boast and impressive range of thirteen wines, each with a signature style, reflecting the unique local soils and climate.
The Non Vintage Sparkling Range
Three crisp, refreshing sparklers await you at a seriously impressive price for what they are. The non vintage sparkling cuvée (£18.50) is an elegant blend of the three ‘champagne’ grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and touch of Pinot Meunier. The non vintage rosé (£18.50), made from 100% Pinot Noir is pale and pretty with a red apple skin tang. The unique non vintage sparkling fumé (£18.50) however is certainly one to try. 100% bubbly Sauvignon Blanc, it’s zippy, herbaceous and citrussy. A true point of difference. All three are excellent for the price and happily, relatively low in alcohol at 11.5%!
The top-end non vintage wine however is the blancs de noirs (made entirely with black grapes). It’s 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and has a moreish, fleshy texture with beautiful red fruit aromatics. £30 and worth every penny.
The Vintage Sparkling Range
Seriously special, these vintage wines feel like a big step up. The 2014 Classic Cuvée is fleshy and rich (£23). The limited edition Cuvée Royale 2015 is extraordinary. A blend of 50:50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is has an unctuous mouthfeel with brioche notes and poise from the red fruit. And finally, there’s the 2014 Oaked Blanc de Blancs: a wine made from 100% Chardonnay with a tropical note and vanilla finish. Delicious!
The Still Wines
Greyfriars make a range of still wines too, usually single varietal and grapes you don’t usually associate with England: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and also, a strawberry- scented still rosé. All priced at £13.50, you could try a mixed case and taste them all!
See more about Greyfriars Vineyard on the website here.
Buy the wines here.
Address: Greyfriars Vineyard, The Hogs Back, Puttenham, Surrey, GU31AG, England, UK