Asda's wines

I've never been into an Asda, far less considered it for wine.

However encouraged by the list in this month's Decanter magazine of the medal winning wines from the recent Decanter World Wine Awards I ventured to my nearest Asda, five minutes walk from my office in Canary Wharf in London.

What a disappointment.

The shelves were not only less than half full but I saw French, South African and Californian wines all mixed up on the shelves together. I felt sorry for the member of staff who was on his knees opening boxes and stacking shelves. It was his first day on the job and I had to point out the difference between reds and whites.................... What a contrast with the nearest Waitrose where all the staff have some kind of WSET qualification.

And not a medal winner in sight.

It will be a while before I'm encouraged to visit Asda again.

Wine related photography

I'm a sucker for good wine related photos.

Receiving the invite for the Navarra tasting next month reminded me there are quite a few inspirational sources of photos be they of modern wineries, vineyards during the seasons or simply of the settings of vines and vineyards in the surrounding countryside (think of the rolling hills of Chianti for example.)

The tasting I went to the other day perfectly illustrates the beauty of vineyards in a natural setting when you see the wonderful pictures on their web site.

I've always been a keen photographer since my teenage days and my collection of digital photos numbers well over 10,000. Seeing the pictures has prompted me to do something about my own collection of wine photos. At the moment there is a very loose, disorganised and incomplete collection on Flickr.

One of these days I'll get organised and if I had to swap jobs with anyone else right now it would be with the author of Wine across America. Now researching and preparing a book like that would be my ideal job. Think of the fun you could have with all the tasting along the way also!

Man O'War vineyards

I attended the UK launch of New Zealand wine producer Man O'War Vineyards in the lovely setting of Smiths of Smithfield. It was hosted by Stokes Fine Wines who have started importing the wines. Man O'War are based on Waiheke Island off the coast of the north island.

The winemaker Duncan McTavish took us through the 6 of their wines that Stokes are selling. The highlight for me was the 2008 Ironclad a blend composing 52% merlot, 27% cabernet franc, 10.5% malbec, 9.1% petit verdot and 1.4% cabernet sauvignon. It was a lovely perfumed wine with black fruit and some herb on the nose. On the palate there was almost a hint of sweetness and a great balance between the acidity and tannins. A rich, rounded and long wine. It will retail for £24.

We tasted 3 of their "white" label wines all clear expressions of the varietal - pinot gris, merlot/cabernet franc and a syrah. The "black" label wines are made to show more complexity and were the Ironclad, a chardonnay and a syrah.

This is an impressive operation where I get the feeling money is almost no object. Imagine growing your pinot gris on another island which you can only get to by boat. The production costs alone for this wine must be quite high. The web site is worth checking out. Given the beauty of the vineyard locations it must really inspire everyone to do their best to produce wine worthy of the location.

Stokes are starting small with the number of cases they are importing and the wine will be found in places such as harvey Nicks. The wines are cheap but the whole operation feels like a quality business.

All in all an interesting morning.

Pass with merit

After around 800 to 900 hours of study and who knows how many hundreds of wines tasted, I finally got my final Diploma grade - pass with merit.

I'm delighted needless to say.

I think I'll celebrate with a glass of wine..........................