Fotos: lookin' back@2014 (pt2)

2014 – good year for flowers  

 

Late April/early May: the 2014 Decanter World Wine Awards@new venue

Tobacco Dock

(above and below)

Mid May: Circle of Wine Writers AGM

Proud to have been appointed chair of CWW

with Stuart Walton (outgoing chair) and Steven Spurrier (president) 

 Mid-May annual Jet-Set visit – 2014 it was Torquay

 

Dinner@The Elephant, Torquay

 2014 Vitiloire, Tours

Jean-Max Manceau (Chinon) with Serge Babary, 

the new maire of Tours,

who defeated Jean Germain

Touraine Chenonceaux stand@Vitiloire

Fotos lookin' back@2014 (part 1)

#DWWA 2014 – over for another year with 4 Loire regional trophies!

 Entrance to Tobacco Dock

The regional tasting are over for another year. This time the Loire panel threw caution to the chill May winds and awarded seven (7) golds – leading to four regional trophies! (more to follow).

Tony Aspler: Canada's Finest hard@work

 Henry's Bar: the gathering place 

MWs@breakfast Philip Tuck and Pedro Ballesteros Torres, Spain's only MW

It's not very warm in the tasting room – 

perhaps I should have worn some long-johns today!

 I've got mine on!

Richard – the excellent and very attentive red shirt 

who looked after the Loire panel brilliantly this week 

and who has just started working for Laithwaites 

Decanter World Wine Awards: Day One for Loire

Chris Kissack

The Loire panel had a good day yesterday@the Decanter World Wine Awards 2014 starting with some sparkling wines, then onto Muscadet before progressing to a range of Sauvignon Blancs. The Sauvignons ranging from IGPs through Touraine to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. We ended with a short flight of various reds mainly Pinot Noir based. Although we didn't award any golds, we found a number of silver, bronze and commended wines. We quickly got to grips with our iPads with only the occasional technical fault holding us up.

Unfortunately Nigel Wilkinson is ill, so his place on the panel was taken by Stephen Skelton MW.  Chris Kissack and Stephen Skelton MW will be on today's panel along with Chris Hardy from Majestic.   

  

Rebecca Palmer 

Stephen Skelton MW

Chris Hardy

Decanter World Wine Awards: 2014 – first day of judging

Tobacco Dock

Decanter World Wine Awards: Loire judging starts today

Off to Tobacco Dock, the new home for the Decanter World Wine Awards, this morning for the first day of judging this year's Loire entries. Overall more than 15,000 wines have been entered for 2014 DWWA. Fortunately the journey from Forest Hill to Wapping is on the Overground, which is not affected by the Tube strike.

As well as the change of venue another big innovation this year is that all the scores and tasting notes will be entered by judges using iPads.

On my distingished panel today are:

 Chris Kissack: The Wine Doctor 

  Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ Restaurant, Waterloo, London)

and Rebecca Palmer of Corney & Barrow

Tobacco Dock – seeing increased use

Boats in front of Tobacco Dock

Tobacco Dock on Wapping Lane/Porters Walk looks to be becoming a more popular venue for large tastings. I first went there last March for the Real Wine Fair. Yesterday I was back again for the French Wine Discoveries event – some photos and comments from the tasting will be posted separately. The Real Wine Fair will be back in April – 13th and 14th before it hosts the Decanter World Wine Awards judging week as the DWWA has now grown too big for the Worx at Parsons Green, which was the competition's home for its first ten years. 

Tobacco Dock is just over 10 minutes walk from the wonderful Lahore Kebab House  – great fresh food and BYO with no corkage, so should become a popular venue for DWWA judges to eat after a long day's tasting.

 The Ornamental Canal that runs past Tobacco Dock 

eastwards into Shadwell Basin

The Ornamental Canal with a view of 

the Shard in the background

(above and below)

The Lahore Kebab House a short walk from Tobacco Dock