2011 Good Food Guide
The Queensberry Hotel and Olive Tree Restaurant has been awarded Wine List of the Year in the 2011 Good Food Guide.
"The wine list is an object lesson in its unstinting commitment to quality,combined witha genuine attempt to be inclusive. Nearly three dozen wines by the glass lead you into a list that is tructured imaginatively by wine style ('Nutty Whites' to 'Sweet-and-Sour Reds') and is teeming with pedigree producers."
Business as usual
It’s almost 27 years to the day that our little company began in a barn in the Wiltshire countryside. 27 years in which we have built a fabulous team of individuals who love what they do, and are absolutely passionate about wine. We have also established some fantastic friendships with some of the world’s very best wine producers, whose wines now fill our shelves.
On 16th August we did however agree a deal which will secure the long-term future of our top producers, our fabulous Bath shop, our own very wonderful website and all the business we do with our friends in many restaurants around the country, when Great Western Wine became part of a wine company called Enotria.
Enotria have an equally impressive portfolio of boutique estates, and for you, our customers, this means even more great wines which will sit alongside old favourites and give you pleasure for many years to come.
The Great Western Wine name will stay over the door of our shop and website, and the same people will look forward to recommending the new wines to you in the months and years to come, so it’s very much business as usual !
Read the full press release here.
Tasting details here.
“It’s forever about finding wines that may not necessarily have the brand or awareness… but are good quality. You discover that with your wine suppliers. We use Enotria for all the restaurants.” Marco Pierre White Harpers 13th August 2010
EU says no to organic wine
The European Union has rejected a proposal to create an organic wine category, despite regulation being 'urgently needed'.
'Organic' wine producers in Europe can only state their wine is made from organically-grown grapes and politicians have been debating the introduction of an organic wine category.
Copa-Cogeca, which represents 11 million European farmers and 40,000 cooperatives, has criticised the EU for the proposal's collapse. Its secretary-general Pekka Pesonen, said: '" am really disappointed by the move."
"EU legislation on organic wine is urgently needed in order to harmonise rules on organic wine at EU level and to develop the market for this product, especially since there is increasing demand for it," he added.
The proposal looked for a lower limit on sulphites, fewer permitted additives, and banning five winemaking techniques such as the spinning cone, which removes alcohol from wine.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development Dacian Ciolos withdrew the draft proposal but added: "Our hope would be that...the Commission can come back to these proposals in future."
decanter.com June 2010
French Wine Classification
Over this coming year, you will begin to notice some changes in labelling of French wines.
With effect from the 2009 vintage, everything previously classified as AOC or Appéllation Origine Controllée will be relabelled AOP or Appéllation Origine Protégée (Protected Designation of Origin), and those wines classified as Vin de Pays or VdP will be re-labelled IGP or Indication Géographique Protégée (Protected Geographical Indication).
