Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 19066
Choice words
Caterer contributor Susy Atkins is co-editor of the newly released Which? Wine Guide 1998. It calls the trend toward mail-order wine buying "the new alternative to supermarket and high-street wine shopping", and gives its approval to some of the key mail-order players: The Wine Society, Direct Wines, Adnams, Berry Bros & Rudd, and Lay & Wheeler.
The guide also endorses plastic corks, though Atkins points out that no one knows for sure whether they will impede the ageing process.
In the guide's new crop of awards, Oddbins takes the title of Best High Street Chain, again, plus New World Specialist. Raeburn Fine Wines was named Best Independent Merchant.
House whine
Some London restaurateurs will be wincing at the comments in London listings magazine Time Out's house wine tasting in its 1998 Eating & Drinking Guide, which has just hit the shelves. Here are a few tasters: "commercial crowd-pleasers selected for their high profit margins"; "unimaginative and dull"; "pissy, sickly and unbalanced".
This was out of sync with Caterer's own findings in a recent house wine tasting (Caterer, 31 July, page 46) when the most serious crime was to offer clean, easy, but neutral wines, with the top scorers displaying marked characters.
Among those pilloried by Time Out were Chutney Mary for a red which it called "an extremely grim experience" and, rather surprisingly, Corney & Barrow's white - "flat and nasty". High points (if you can call 14/20 for the best red a high point) included Chez Gérard's Vins de Pays des Côtes du Tarn 1996 from Jacques Veritier.
Calling all sommeliers
It's Ruinart Sommelier of the Year time again, and a reminder to get your entry in the post before the 30 October closing date. Champagne Ruinart, in collaboration with the Academy of Food & Wine Service, has spiced things up a little this year by introducing "skill build" seminars, which include product education as well as practical tasks, in the hope that this will encourage entrants.
And this year all semi-finalists will attend a two-day masterclass at Champagne Ruinart in France.
First round is the written questionnaire, testing entrants' knowledge of all alcoholic drinks, and service questions. Those with the highest marks go through to the regional finals on 2 March, with the semi-finals and finals held in London on 6 May.
As before, first prize is a VIP Champagne trip and, of course, the coveted plaque. Application forms are available from HLM. Contact 0181-977 4419.
