James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

A BBC news article tells the story of the decline in French wine drinking habits. Lots of worrying observations for all wine lovers but perhaps of most concern is this comment by RVF editor, Denis Saverot: "In the 1960s, we were drinking 160 litres each a year and weren't taking any pills. Today we consume 80 million packets of anti-depressants, and wine sales are collapsing. Wine is the subtlest, most civilised, most noble of anti-depressants. But look at our villages. The village bar has gone, replaced by a pharmacy." See here for the full article.

Lunch today at La Trompette in Chiswick is always going to be excellent but when the owner decides to join the party, you can be sure it's going to be rather special. Giovanni Manzone 's daughter Mirella was coming to town so it seemed a good opportunity to get a few people together and taste through eight wines with a superbly selected menu. An opportunity to see just how good the wines really are and one passed with distinction. Before we sat down, sommelier Matthieu Longuere suggested a glass of something that came from the region but not one of the Manzone wines. Fabrizio Battaglino's Roero Arneis is an excellent aperitif  wine - also good for fish/seafood, chicken etc. After waiting for stragglers, we eventually sat down well after 1 o'clock to the first starter, a risotto of squid ink with confit cod, mylor prawns, Tuscan oil and lemon, served with Manzone's Langhe Bianco "Rosserto" 2010. The richness of the wine went magnificently with the exqui...