Mark's Blog

18 August 2006

Yesterday saw me take part in my monthly slot on the Annie Othen show on BBC CWR as their local “wine expert”.  I’m not sure if that many people ever listen to the show, but it’s good fun to do and the people at the radio station are very nice.  I mention this because I have been doing this for the last 12 months or so and I have found the last couple of occasions rather amusing.  Yesterday’s topic was on wines for picnics; there was myself, Annie, the manager of Aubrey Allen in Leamington and a lady from the Caravan club or something like that.  Anyway the whole interview was meant to take place inside a caravan outside the studio.  The thought of me having to do a wine tasting inside a caravan was met with great mirth by Matt.  Fortunately, they couldn’t fit the caravan inside the square outside.  It was then decided to do this segment of the show from the balcony; the balcony in question overlooks the recently developed part of Coventry which is fairly nice except for the constant noise of buses passing by.  This is where I found myself sat around a picnic table talking about the joys of caravanning, whilst eating Aubrey Allen’s finest Warwickshire Wizzer sausages and extolling the virtues of el fresco wine drinking.

The wines that we tasted by the way were… Raats original unoaked Chenin Blanc from South Africa priced at £7.19.  This is about as good a picnic wine as you will ever find. The next was Sequiot Tempranillo from the Valencia region of Spain priced at £5.15.  This was very well received and went well with the Wizzers.  Finally, we had a Moscato d’Asti from Italy which went wonderfully with the British strawberries and clotted cream.

The previous show was on a French theme as the BBC were doing an ‘excuse my French’ series.  This time, I again found myself doing a broadcast not in the studio, but in the reception area, with members of the public. As soon as the bottles of wine came out the interest level rose and I was soon surrounded by a host of thirsty pensioners.  Annie was on holiday so Malcolm Boyden was hosting the show.  Some of the assembled visitors were corralled in to wine tasting which they got stuck in to with great gusto, but I’m not quite sure they understood the concept of tasting as the wine barely touched the sides. When the show had finished I was approached by a dear old lady who went on at some length about how her dog, whom she had in tow, was a big fan of Bob Brolly and wouldn’t listen to anyone else.

An enjoyable afternoon was spent last Friday in the company of Ian Murray of First Drinks and Simon Malin, the proprietor of Malbec restaurant.  In October, Malbec will be hosting a gourmet evening of fine food and whisky.  Glenfiddich and Balvenie, two of Scotland’s finest distilleries will be pairing their whiskies with Simon’s fantastic food.  So, on Friday afternoon we spent a pleasant hour or two sampling malts to give Simon some idea what foods to match with the whiskies.  Glenfiddich 18 year old and venison sounds fantastic.  This should be a great event.

Being in retail is fairly tough at most times, but with soaring interest rates and sky high energy bills, it is getting even tougher to get the public to part with their hard earned money.  This was illustrated in a very funny fashion when I spotted that even the Subway sandwich shop across the road was having a sale - ‘30% off steak and cheese’.  Not  quite sure how the offer works though, do you get 9 inches for the price of 6?

Due to inclement weather, the busking scene has been very quiet.  However, our Polish friend seems to be made of sterner stuff than his British compatriots and has braved wind and rain to serenade us with his mix of eastern European folk and rock.  Cheers!