We had a grand wine tasting Thursday past, it was sort of last minute so there were just a few of us there which actually worked for me as I hadn't given one for a while; a little less pressure and easier to adapt to the audience.

We ran through the house wines after a little lesson on how to taste ie. colour, nose, palate.  I was impressed how quickly every one picked it up.  A lot is about confidence; folk think wine is hard but it's like most things in life, once you have a basic understanding of the principles it all becomes so much easier.  I was a little disrupted because I had Martin and Gay Irons of Martins Restaurant fame in Ducks.  It was Martin's father's 90 birthday, a real treat to have them.

I was very pleased how well all the wines showed.  It's something we should maybe do a little more often.  Of the whites the South African Chenin Blanc, Cannon from the Vondeling Vineyards showed best; clean, crisp and very refreshing with great mouth feel.  The Sauvignon Blanc came last, funny because it is probably the most popular one we do by the glass.  No one knew the grape types before tasting which does allow for much more objective decision making.  Of the reds the Rioja and the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon did well but again the Cannon Merlot from Vondeling took top place.  The Inkspot Pinotage from Cloof, South Africa, again our best seller over the bar, came last; good wine but big alcohol in comparison to the others.  Very interesting.  We also tasted three Spanish low alcohol (11%) wines from Plot Twenty Two.  The white and rose were fine but the red as you might expect lacked a little bite.  Good for drivers on a summer's day though.  We also tasted a bottle of 88 Marques De Murrietta.  Every one thought it was off when they saw it, very golden or brown golden.  It was just magnificent!!! Rich, honeyed, long on the palate; an absolute joy.  Only two bottles left!

We will be doing another tasting at the end of the month probably Thursday the 24th and a food and wine matching dinner as well probably on Friday the 25th.  If you want to come drop me an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Details will be posted on the web site.

Saturday saw a round on Gullane Two as part of Colin Sinclair's annual "The Gathering" which raised £1000 pounds for "Funding Neuro" http://www.justgiving.com/biggavs50th in aid of Parkinsons.  Well done Colin and Gavin who has just been up Kilimanjaro for the charity.  I then was very bad and scived off for the early part of the evening, well till 00.30, and attended the British Rugby Club of Paris (Scottish Section) Dinner as a guest of John Frame.  An excellent evening.  Thank you John.  I should have gone to bed when I got back but it was the Aberlady Golf Club's Burns Night so I ended up in bed a little late/ early; missed the tennis the next day!  Heyho!  Sunday was a little slow.

Back to the office this morning and greeted with a call from the Scotland on Sunday picture desk.  Mr Bath seems to have managed to sneak in with out me seeing him and reviewed Ducks. It is supposed to be in SOS on Sunday, hope he liked it.

Watch out for our Valentines deals which will be posted in the next couple of days.