For the love of wine

So, that glorious time of year that is Valentines day is coming and although by now everyone should have booked their tables and planned their surprise gifts the chances are that nothing has been done yet.

Thankfully there are still options besides making your own 'thoughtful' present or 'planning' an indoor picnic. You can always come and join us at Vinea where we have the wonderful Dave Robertson in to get everyone into that loved up mood and set you up for the evening.

Were serving strawberries with our Champagne for a romantic twist and we've created his/hers bespoke gift sets for the partners who already have everything.

The whole Docks has gone a little love crazy with light up hearts on the boats and a world of people dressed up as dead lovers (...?) it will be a great day and will definitely impress.

With promises of the new Liverpool big wheel to appear on the docks by the weekend and a lovers gate set up it really is going to be the perfect spot to smooch with your loved one.

If however you are single and slightly depressed by the whole thing, we're doing wine from around a fiver and I'll be here to make you feel a little bit less alone on the single most dreadful day of the year.

All the gossip from the Bibendum Times Annual Tasting

Hello all,

I just thought I'd give my report on our trip to the Saatchi Gallery, London for the Bibendum Times annual tasting.

The day was great fun and a complete success so lots of credit must go to guys at Bibendum Wines. 1000s of wines were promised and 1000s of wines there were from all over the world and many of our favourite producers were there to serve up their wares.

We started as planned in the Champagne room at 12pm (our plan to get there at the beginning was scuppered by a slow and sleepy start). Many grande marque producers such as Krug, Veuve Clicquot and Bollinger (sweetie) were dishing out their best wines but for me the best was from producer Albert Beerens tucked away in the corner. This tiny, family-run house were serving a wonderful brut heavy on the Pinot Meurnier, a style too rarely seen this side of the Channel. Lady of the House, Anne-Laure Beerens was happy to chat with me about their wines and even invited me to have a look round next time I'm down that way.

After a good hour of Champagne we decided it was time for lunch so we headed upstairs to enjoy a complimentary Bento box and much needed water supplied by Hildon. Over lunch we planned where to head next and as Harriet was very keen to explore some uncharted territory, we made for the wines of India. The wines were individual and truly excellent. I opted for the Sauvignon Blanc and experience a smokey character I had never seen in the grape before.

Room after room followed and we tasted some incredible wines including some from our own list we had not had the chance to try before. Another stand out producer was Agricola Nicolis and his Amarone della Valpolicella was a hit with Kelly (every 5 mins she came back with a fresh glass).

We also tried some good spirits and beers and I even entered a competition involving some free pouring and blind tasting (I did not win).
All too quickly to announcement came that it was time to go so we set down our Riedel glasses and headed out into London for a few more drinks at the fabulous bar at Duke's Hotel, Mayfair.

I can speak for us all that we thouroughly enjoyed the trip down and our thanks go to Bibendum for putting on a splendid day and of course to the owner of Vinea, James for letting us go.

Thanks for reading,

Dan

So it begins.....

The wonderful, young staff at Vinea are beginning a blog. Vinea is a wine bar located on Liverpool's Albert Dock so we will mostly be talking about the wonderful world of wine. We don't claim to know everything but between us were having a good go at working our way through a great mixture of different styles and grapes.

We're all still learning so we might not always be right but we definitely love wine and we're happy to have fights over our opinions.

Tomorrow we're off to the Bibendum tasting at the Saatchi gallery don Londontown. As the three of us (Kelly, Dan and Harriet) would like to make it to the end we've all come up with ways of not getting too bladdered.

I will learn how to spit like a lady thus not actually consuming 1000's of wine but still appreciating them. Daniel will be sticking to Champagne in an attempt to keep his list on the shorter side and look sophisticated throughout the day. Kelly (the boss) will only be drinking the wines she genuinely want's to stock and will be setting an example for us minions.

My prediction is utter failure. I only hope they have moved the art.