Sommelier: Time to break out the summertime tipples

May 13 2008 by Mathew Sloane, Liverpool Daily Post

THE sun has been shining, our bars and cafes have been breaking out the nasty silver chairs, it's time to pretend we're European for a bit and break out the summer plonk.

I'm off to France to meet some winemakers and hopefully bring a few cases of smart gear back that I may or may not let you purchase. I've been enlisted by a few wine merchants to nip over and have a look at some well-priced fizzy stuff to spread a little joy and frivolity around our little city.

As much as I love the old Champers, you'll find some cracking deals on its Spanish and Italian equivalents at the minute, Vinea are banging out a marvellous Prosecco for under a tenner and the crazy kids at Oddbins are flogging some very nice Cavas for the same price as a pair of city centre pints.

A couple of little tips for storing and serving your bubbles – don't keep it in the fridge for weeks, bang it on ice about an hour and a half before you'd like to drink it. Also, hanging a spoon in it to keep it fizzy is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. If you have them, always use Champagne flutes, your bub- bles will last longer – those little flat glas- ses that Bob and Bing break out in the middle of any number of "Road To . . ." movies may look fancy, but are useless for keeping the magic in the tipple.

If it isn't fizzy, for most of you it's going to be rosé. It is becoming increasingly popular, but the majority of the widely available, ridiculously cheap stuff is rather sweet, ridiculously alcoholic, headache-inducing bellywash. I'd no sooner wash my car with a 65 Lafite than pour myself a glass of that liquid bubblegum that sells itself as wine.

That said, there are some drier, more elegant styles that are fantastic with a spot of summer lunch, or a barbecue. Ask your wine merchant for something different, they'll be chuffed to sell you something that isn't going to rot your teeth before you've swallowed your first glass.

I read a nasty review recently where a national newspaper viciously and irresponsibly tore apart one of our newest restaurants and our dining scene as a whole. I'm quite proud to state I've eaten food in Liverpool which has blown away some of the plates I've been served in some famous London dining rooms – 60 Hope Street and The London Carriageworks continue to offer excellent menus, stupendous wine and highly professional service. I recently paid around £300 for dinner at a Michelin starred venue in the capital and left unimpressed, unfulfilled and unlikely to ever return.

On the other hand, I was invited to a winemakers’ dinner at the Carriageworks recently and enjoyed an evening of some truly stunning food, accompanied by gorgeous wines from the boys at Vina Pedrosa.

Chef Paul Askew devised a menu to sit alongside these wines that had us all utterly entranced – monkfish with puy lentils and meat jus, a trio of lamb that was so good it wanted taking on a dirty weekend, and a duck egg custard tart for which I would happily have jumped into a souped-up, time-travelling DeLorean and left my future wife. I'm an avid watcher of The Great British Menu, and the winner will have done well to rival the six courses served by Paul and his crew that evening.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to get out there and support our growing restaurant scene. Hang up the Marigolds, throw out your microwaves and call a cab. I admit we could do with a few more top gaffs, and if we get out there with our wallets, we're sure to see them arrive. If we spend it, they will come.