Wednesday 16 December 2009

The Waterside Hotel - Regional France Wine Tasting

The evening was kicked-off with a sly glass of Carr Taylor Sparkling Brut. A cheaky comparison to the wine following. On showing both the clear winner by far was the English Sparkling Wine!!

Many Happy Returns to Sarah Hesse on her 34th birthday, duely embarassed by all tastees singing (out of tune) the happy birthday anthem and being presented with a wee cake with the ubiquitous sparkler!

Cremant d’Alsace
NV/Oberlin/Alsace
A classic sparkling wine from Alsace made in the same way as Champagne is using traditional Alsacian grape varieties; Riesling, Muscat & Pinot Noir

Riesling Reserve 2007
Jean-Remy Haeffelin/Alsace
Classic Alsacian Riesling, dry with subtle apple, citrus notes with hints of petrol which is classic for this region. Lingering on the palate. Perfect with sea-food.

Chablis “le classique” 2008
Pascal Bouchard/Burgundy
100% Chardonnay, unoaked with stainless steal fermentation. Classic, crisp and mineral-laden with subtle notes of apples/citrus.

Cotes du Rhone 2007
Gabriel Meffre/Rhone
Meffre is one of the biggest and one of the most famous producers in the region. Using classing Southern Rhone varietals – Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Mourdevre creating a warming, soft, easy drinking wine.

Domaine Rive Haut
Tannat/Merlot 2008/Languedoc Roussilion
The south of France is one of the most dynamic and modern growing regions in the country. This is a blend of the easy going soft and plumy Merlot with the tough, dark colouring and tannin laden Tannat creating a rustic and warm southern blend.

Cheateau Vielle Tour La Rose 2006
Saint Emilion/Bordeaux
Merlot predominates here along with some Cabernet Sauvignon. A forward enjoyable Bordeaux that can be appreciated without too much cellaring indeed. Classic copper/earthy notes on the nose with soft tannins and notes of redcurrants on the palate.


Next wine tasting is January 27th – Regional Italy and 24th Feb – Regional Spain. (£16 per ticket/spaces available). 7pm Kick-Off

Thursday 3 December 2009

Indian Ocean's Hat-Trick with Taylor and Shroff Wines

The Indian Ocean in Manchester was our next launching venue, partnering our unique wines with this outstanding, multi-award winning restaurant was a union made by the gods. The curry gods at least!

Fayaz and Nahim Aslam have won the award for best Indian Restaurant in the NW of England via the famous UK Curry Awards for three years running. If this had been a football match they would be presented the match ball, a hat-trick of awards I believe has never been achieved before, this was something to celebrate.

The event, as organised by PR Guru Guy Parker (GAP Marketing & PR) was a combination celebration of the Indian Ocean’s unique achievement and their partnership with Taylor & Shroff. As such Guy and Fayaz pulled out all the stops, invitees came from far and wide to celebrate with us, loyal customers, Tameside Radio, Revolution Radio, Chimp Magazine and many more too-boot!

Pre-meal awards and presentations made (with additional special thanks to Enam Ali and to Peter Grove), we all tucked into the Taylor & Shroff wines, poured over ice and without food during the reception. This was indeed a true test of the wine’s credentials, yet this polished assembled group of Mancunians and alike drunk with glee!!

The sit down meal for 120 guests was a selection of 4 starters and four main courses. Served on time, hot and delicious a marvel to the fluidity and efficiency of the restaurant kitchen staff, floor staff and management. This alone was award winning in my book.

We look forward to a long and successful relationship with the Indian Ocean and Fayaz and wish to thank them and Guy for a truly wonderful event!!

Next up for Taylor & Shroff – Mother India in Glasgow on Monday 1st February 2010.

ben.furst@btinternet.com
07787448506

Thursday 26 November 2009

Taste of India in Hampshire and Taylor & Shroff

A wonderful event, celebrating 20 years of this great restaurant and Luthful’s incredible efforts in fund raising - £100,000 has been raised through events at this restaurant and we need congratulate him for such an amazing achievement indeed!!

Joining us last night for this auspicious event was Peter and Colleen Grove of Mood Food & Menu Magazine and authors of “Curry Culture”, TV Chef and International Best Selling Author – Mridula Baljekar as well as David and Linda Carr Taylor of Carr Taylor Vineyards and Taylor & Shroff Wines UK Ltd.

As usual all five wines from Taylor & Shroff were open for sampling with the great food from Taste of India on offer. In fact Luthful had included a free glass of wine along with the meal in the price, a really good offer indeed. Luthful set off sampling everyone who even came in for a take away – Mr Keith Sherry was one, collecting an order for himself and his good lady on the occasion of her birthday. So impressed with the wine that he bagged a bottle to take home with his meal. Thanks Keith!!

Peter Grove and Mridula Baljekar both spoke eloquently indeed and both have been instrumental in all the progress and exposure that Taylor & Shroff have received to date, so many many thanks to both of them as well.

The next venture and launch event for Taylor & Shroff is to the multi-award winning Indian Ocean Restaurant in Manchester. Launching to around 100 guests and promises to be another fantastic evening indeed. 2nd December.

Ben Furst – 07787448506 (Taylor & Shroff, Made For Curry!!)

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Mother India in Glasgow and Taylor & Shroff Wines

Meeting with Monir Mohammed was a rare treat indeed! Operating arguably the most famous of all the Indian Restaurant Groups in Scotland you may have thought that he would have been on the edge, hard wired and Sir Alan Sugar “like”? Well quite the opposite, a more laid back guy I have yet to meet. Monir met me at his (Imli-esq) tapas curry house – Mother India Café, opposite the magnificent Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Similar to Imli’s in Soho (Rajesh Suri), Monir has created a relaxed, fun environment that brings in the whole family to share dishes and that is not too taxing even on the lighter wallets.

We sampled Taylor & Shroff that evening, Monday in a cold and very wet Glasgow, full!! Not a table empty, couples and families alike waiting for up to 15 minutes for tables. The wines were extremely well received, in some cases there were discussions as to which wines each preferred and indeed some of the ladies requested second helpings of their freebie samplings – well I never!! Indeed a couple of ladies were so enamoured that they simply had to buy some bottles there and then!! Many thanks to all the team at Mother India Café in Glasgow for their superb effort and assistance on the night!

Mother India have also recently expanded into Deli/Diners and once their alcohol licenses are in place, they will be able to sell the wines by the bottle for that Mother India take-home and dine-in experience. However, we are delighted to announce that Monir has agreed to list and launch the wines at his Glasgow restaurants from the end of Jan 2010 with a small, quality and bijou launch to take place at his new “Dining In” Deli/Diner on Argyle Street in the West End of Glasgow. Following on from this we are also hopeful to be launching with him in Edinburgh too!

Mother India Glasgow – 0141 334 3815, a must eat experience!!
Imli Soho/London – 0208 287 42 43, a must eat experience!!
Taylor & Shroff – 07787448506, a must drink with my curry experience!!

Thursday 19 November 2009

The Waterside Hotel - Eastbourne Wine Tasting

The Waterside Series
“The New World”
18th November 2009

Finca La Chamiza Sparkling Brut
Argentina – Mendoza
Chardonnay & Chenin Blanc
Soft and creamy mousse with apple and pear drop nose. Fairly light on the palate but smooth and very easy quaffing. Not too sure why they used Chenin though as not enough acidity bite I felt!

De Bortoli Sauvignon Blanc VAT 2 – 2008
Australia – SE Australia
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Light and floral with notes of citrus and apples. An easy going wine that whilst didn’t jump up and announce itself was pleasant none the less.

Old Coach Road Sauvignon Blanc 2008
New Zealand – Nelson
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Classic NZ SB, aromatic nose of cut grass, asparagus, nettles etc etc. Clean with crisp acidity. A nice wine indeed.

Mountain Range Carmenere 2006
Chile – Maipo Valley
100% Carmenere
An interesting fellow. Soft grippy tannins with decent black and red berry fruits. I liked this as it was more European in style. Rustic, pleasant and quaffable.

Ferngrove Shiraz 2004/5
Australia – Western Australia
100% Shiraz
Difficult to say if I enjoyed this as I really am not a fan of Ozzy reds per-say. However it was enjoyed by most present at the tasting so who am I to disagree!?

Trivento Malbec The Professional 2007
Argentina – Mendoza
100% Malbec
Ahh, now we are talking. I could rabbit on and on as to the merits of Argentinean Malbec. The new Cabernet Sauvignon for sure, positioning Argentina is a strong place to become the premium producer of New World world-class red wines!

Next Event…December 16th, A Taste of France.
The Waterside Hotel, Eastbourne.
£16 per ticket

The Waterside Hotel, 11-12 Royal Parade, Eastbourne. Tel – 01323 646 566, Mark Coleman.

Or

Ben Furst, Tel – 01323 732 001 or 07787448506

Sunday 15 November 2009

MayaSurbiton

Another year and another UK Curry Awards ceremony which seems to grow each year. The 2009 event, as organised by the highly influential Enam Ali MBE was hosted and presented by Sir Trevor McDonald and David Cameron.

Amongst the winners was Indian Ocean in Manchester (3rd year running!!) and Maya Surbiton. MayaSurbiton were finalists in the New Comer category, having only opened in March this year (2009) this is no mean feat but a tremendous accolade indeed.

Meeting with the dynamic Shamim Malek for the first time I was struck by his ease and comfort in his surroundings. Confident with his very slick and modern take on the cuisine, decor and whole feel of his restaurant.

Having discussed the Taylor & Shroff wine concept with Shamin Hoque of Curries Online (the UK's premier portal for on-line curry ordering) a meeting was set. Taylor & Shroff are delighted to announce, from this recent meeting, that MayaSurbiton are now serving Taylor & Shroff Wines by the glass. A possible small launch event will be discussed for the early part of 2010 also.

To visit MayaSurbiton - 31-33 Brighton Road, Surbiton - 0208 399 4434.
To Stock Taylor & Shroff - 01424 752501/07787448506
To Be Listed With Curries On-Line - 0845 051 4252/0797697 1549

Monday 12 October 2009

London Launch with Rajesh Suri and Imli. Taylor & Shroff come to town!

Thursday 8th October 2009, a date to remember. The date that Taylor and Shroff, British Wines for a British Dish, was launched with tremendous success with the famous Rajesh Suri at his Imli Restaurant in Soho/London.

The guest list included a range of Curry-istas and Asian "AllStars" as Imli's was the hottest ticket in town that night with late requests of attendance having to be turned down! Guests such as Rajesh Suri (of-course), Mridula Baljekar, Manju Malhi, Tiny Deol, Monisha Bharadwaj, Paul Sagoo (Asian Runway), Emma Harvey (The Big Curry, Tesh Parmer (Indian Ocean), Arfan Razak (The Curry Lounge), Shamin Hoque (curries Onine) etc etc...

Having been launched successfully now in India, the production of Taylor & Shroff (made at Carr Taylor in East Sussex by the award winning Alex Carr Taylor), was brought forward early due to the successes of launches and listings with The Curry Lounge in Nottingham, Jali in Hastings and interest gathering from other cities throughout the UK.

Rajesh had created 5 unique canapes, made exclusively to match the 5 flavours of Taylor and Shroff. White, Red, Apricot, Cherry and Ginger were all poured, either with the canapes, with the main buffet or with the Gulab Jamin ice cream dessert. What a feast and what a great night indeed. With guests arriving promptly for 6pm and staying through until 10ish. As we left Imli was still heaving, filling us with tremendous confidence that Taylor and Shroff will be poured like the Niagra Flows at Imli!

Further launches to be held with Assam in Glasgow, Indian Ocean in Manchester and Birmingham as well as in Jersey where a distribution deal has been agreed with Michael McCabe.

For further details about these unique wines, orders, samples or general queries please call or e-mail Ben Furst - 07787448506/01424 752501 (ben.furst@btinternet.com or sales@taylor&shroff.com