Moreish Pickles

ESTATE BOTTLED Essex Wine will confer few exotic connotations to English readers; however to those uncorking a bottle in some far off clime, it might well spark excitement...

At 194 acres of seamlessly sewn German and French vines, New Hall is one of England's largest vineyards, and with prices beginning at just £4.90 per bottle, also one of the most keenly priced.

Their '05 Late Harvest Bacchus evokes ice defined countryside morning with gently sun struck hawthorn, small, moreish pickles and half sweet whitecurrants on the palate, with a light, thistley acidity on the palate and white stilton. Friendly, subtle, successful, and carefully (lovingly/lullingly) well made.

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A summer-free vintage, '07 will probably be best scrubbed from the annals of English wine.

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I found myself within Peter de Wit's Café, Greenwich, a cosy, pleasantly packaged den off the busy High Street. There are problems with the brevity of evening menu and wine list, but I am loathe to bring them up in detail for fear of upsetting the eponymous owner and resident Sax. player [SEE the London Review of Breakfasts HERE]. Needless to say, the atmosphere, including live jazz by the latter, was really good.