DO I LOVE ENGLISH WINE? HAPPY DIETS & IS AEGEAN FOOD ON TREND?

I haven’t truly been in love with English wines, but Lympstone Manor has changed my mind

As I confessed last week, I really am an all-singing Ediaf Piaf to Francoise Hardy loving Francophile and adore drinking Champagne and good French wines, so I have remained sceptical about the English wine scene.  Sure, there are some gems with a decent long finish. These are the ones that consistently impress me: Louis Pommery Brut the first English fizz to be made by a Champagne house, from chalky south-facing slopes in Hampshire: the cuvée has impressive zesty, freshness finesse; Gusbourne has been made in Kent and West Sussex for 20 years now and I like its floral notes with a hint of honey on the nose, good acidity and toasty flavours on the palate, with a hint of white pepper.  

Next week is English Wine Week and I am intrigued by Wiston Estate too in the heart of the South Downs that promises plenty of orchard fruit, and hedgerow aromas with a little toastiness too plus Chalk Restaurant with a chef Tom Kemble who impressed me when he cooked at Bonham’s short lived restaurant and now has an estate full of veg.

The biggest revelation was a recent visit to Lympstone Manor, chef-proprietor Michael Caines’ ravishing hotel in East Devon by the Exe Estuary with its extraordinary microclimate. In just 6 determined years they have a prize-winning vineyard with wines that would stand fair comparison with fine burgundy. It is the only Michelin starred hotel-restaurant with its own vineyard in the UK. Each Wednesday over the summer, there’s a vineyard tour and lunch with Vineyard Manager Steven Edwards.  https://lympstonemanor.co.uk/events-offers/vineyard-tour-and-lunch-2/

This year, for the first time in any UK hotel, they are offering a tasting menu with all the wine pairings all from Lympstone Manor Estate’s own single 11 acre vineyard portfolio made in conjunction with Lyme Bay Winery.  They grow the classical grape varieties of Champagne: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay for their Classic Cuvee and have so far produced one vintage each of their barrel aged Chardonnay and 2020 Triassic Pinot Noir (which they will only produce in exceptional years) plus a rosé shamelessly modeled on the profile of Whispering Angel. Michael clearly loves good French wine as much as I do.  

(I can’t resist including a picture of the exquisite wallpaper at Lympstone Manor inspired by its wonderful bird life. Each gorgeous bedroom is named after a bird)

I was fortunate enough to enjoy a superb and mightily impressive preview including the Cuvée, beautifully crisp, gently pétillante, with hints of green apple and brioche; the Chardonnay, a dead ringer for a Burgundy Premier Cru (apparently a French wine producer mistook it for one too!) with braised Cornish turbot, white asparagus, peas, morels, chives and truffle butter sauce, and the elegant structure of 2020 Triassic Pinot Noir with local Powderham lamb from across the estuary, braised little gems, potato boulangère and pea purée.

Though Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir Aux Quats Saisons where Michael trained remains a huge inspiration, Michael confides

‘I never felt the need to grow acres and acres of vegetables because I thought planting a vineyard was more unique and had never been done, and also, that’s the future.’ 

https://lympstonemanor.co.uk/events-offers/lympstone-manor-estate-wine-dinner/

I know I am not alone in being very affected by the untimely and very sad death of Dr Michael Mosley who did so much to introduce many of us to intermittent fastings and the 5:2 diet.  I am sure he would have loved Giulia Crouch’s first book ‘The Happiest Diet in the World’ which explores and celebrates how uncomplicated, instinctive home-cooked food, like that of her Sardinian grandparents living in one of the world’s 5 ‘blue zones’ live healthy, happy lives for way longer than the average.

It has lots of delicious and wise yet simple ideas to encourage us to eat as the healthiest people on earth do, not least to encourage us to eat more beans, lentils and nuts.  There’s ricotta and broad beans on toast; chickpeas with clams, garlic and parsley; tinned sardines with tomatoes, capers and lemon (a great Sunday evening stand-by dish); radicchio (which I substituted with red chicory, easier to find and more affordable), orange and feta salad with toasted walnuts (I used pecans as in my larder); and strawberries with honeyed nuts, thyme and lemon. All, almost , transport me to the kind of blue sky day that has been in such short supply this month.   Published by New River £16.99

Food from the Aegean is very much flavour of the moment and Crete is another of the ‘blue zones’.  There’s the bestselling Greekish book by Georgina Hayden who grew up above her grandparents Greek Cypriot Taverna in North London, and worked in Jamie Oliver’s team for 12 years. Her whole grilled halloumi with apricots exemplifies her sunshine on a plate, conversational approach and recipes that are simple to make yet visually stunning.  Published by Bloomsbury (£20.17 on Amazon currently)

There’s a plethora of new restaurants including Uma in Borough Market which has been swooned over by countless critics and the lobster bisque börek surely merits sampling.  Counter in Soho which doesn’t deserve to be written off just because David Ellis of Standard gave it a scathing review.  In fact, he admits he was perhaps a bit too harsh.  Certainly I loved the cucumber and pickle tzatziki on a recent visit as well as the saganaki, actually a cheese new to me Mastelo from Chios with a distinctive chewy texture and a mild salty flavour which becomes utterly moreish when grilled.  At Counter it is unusually and vividly partnered with chopped mango and pistachio, quite the revelation. I was also very taken by the salty tahini soft serve ice-cream.  I’d  have liked a more generous and less fatty portion of overnight slow cooked lamb with isot (better known as urfa biber pepper) and pomegranate molasses.

https://www.thecounterlondon.com