San Valentino with Emily O'Hare

During a recent visit to Emilia-Romagna with the lovely Emily O'Hare, sommelier at Michelin-starred Italian restaurant The River Café in Hammersmith, we got Ben Smith of Enotria to film this video where we try two wines from biodynamic estate San Valentino in Rimini, beginning with Due 2011, a Chardonnay/Riesling blend, and ending with the punchy, 100% Sangiovese, Terra di Covignano 2011. Salute!

Top 10 wine and spirits tattoos

Last week I wrote a feature on the top ten wine and spirits tattoos on thedrinksbusiness.com that captured the imagination of our readers, receiving over 17,000 hits in 24 hours. Click on this link for a round up of some of the most impressive wine and spirits-inspired body art, from the Bacardi bat and The Kraken squid to the Ravenswood emblem via a dodgy tribute to the German village of Assmannshausen... I ink therefore I am.

Johann Henschke

During the Australia First Families of Wine dinner at Skylon last week, I caught up with the rather dashing Johann Henschke, a sixth-generation member of iconic estate Henschke in the Barossa Valley, to talk about the bumper 2012 vintage, cork vs screwcap, Australian wine in China, and whether he plans to take over the running of the estate.

Novikov

I’m standing in a snaking queue populated by gazelle-like glamazons in six-inch Louboutins and slinky Issa dresses. Peering behind me, I spot former England football coach Sven-Göran Eriksson in a charcoal grey suit. He notices that I’ve clocked who he is and seems pleased at the recognition, beaming back at me with a toothy grin. We are in the coat queue at Novikov, the newly opened pan-Asian/Italian restaurant of friend of Putin, Arkady Novikov – Russia’s answer to Sir Terence Conran. Opening his first venture in Moscow in 1992, Novikov has steadily built up his restaurant empire, and now has over 50 sites in the city – including the GQ Bar and Vogue Café – under his diamond encrusted belt. Branching out of Moscow, the mogul has chosen to open his first outpost outside Russia in Mayfair.

Audaciously placed opposite paparazzi favourite Nobu on Berkeley Street, the 400-seater is the size of a small country. Manned by a burly black-clad bouncer, the revolving doors reveal a dimly lit bar prettified by the aforementioned glamazons. For Novikov is where the beautiful come to feed. All are tall, tanned, buffed and botoxed. Everyone looks vaguely famous. They probably are. Split into two restaurants, skip the more vanilla Italian and head East to the pan-Asian side, filled with more wood than a lumberjack’s holiday home. Everything that doesn’t move is wooden, from the ceiling and the floor to the tables and chairs, even the vases, home to snowstorms of white orchids, are wooden. I fear if I stay still for too long, I too will be turned to wood. A honeycomb pattern carved into the black wall panel reminds me of Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth, affectionately known as “Doris’s crack” – the lightning bolt-like fissure that once spanned the length of the Tate Modern’s Turbine hall.

The glass-fronted kitchen is filled with nimble-fingered chefs frantically fulfilling orders. Giant king crab legs poke provocatively out of ice, as if engaged in a synchronised swimming routine. Despite its sprawling size, tables in the Asian side are so tightly packed, I’m privy to my neighbours’ Russian ramblings. From the open kitchen to the trendy lounge music, Novikov has cleverly been carved from the same mould as London’s chicest pan-Asian offerings: Hakkasan, Nobu, Zuma and Roka, like the stepbrother they never wanted. I’d turned up expecting Novikov to be a lesson in style over substance, but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Split into snacks & soups, dim sum, salads, sushi, charcoal grilled, wok dishes and rice & noodles, having perused the menu online, on asking for our order, I unscroll a sheet of paper besmirched with pink highlighter and proceed to reel off the dishes I desire, waiting for the waitress to flinch. To her credit, even after dish twelve, she kept her cool, diligently scribbling as I rattled them off quick as gunfire.

Round one consisted of an army of colourful California rolls wearing what looked like clown wigs of burnt orange flying fish caviar. Filled with fresh crab meat and just sliced avocado, we were off to a flying start. To follow came an artfully presented plate of new style salmon sashimi in a yuzu soy dressing. Cut into triangles, the translucent slithers of silky salmon were crack to the tastebuds, achingly fresh and lifted by the lemon tang of the yuzu. One of many culinary highlights was the crispy duck salad in an umami-rich Peking dressing. Flecked with jewel-like pomegranate seeds, the still warm duck was perfectly pink and pleasingly crisp, tamed by the yuzu-drizzled leaves into a refreshing, juicy, deliriously good dish worth returning for alone.

Out of the frying pan came golden brown nuggets of rock shrimp with chilli lemon mayo, neatly packed into a china bowl like deep fried popcorn, their light and crispy batter enhanced by a satisfying kick of heat from the dip. One of the only duff notes of the entire meal was the tuna tartare. Molded into a candyfloss pink mound, in a hat tip to Russia, the crest was decorated with a spoonful of Royal Beluski caviar fashioned into a blackberry. The dish had a disconcertingly smooth texture more akin to wallpaper paste than the shard-like fragments you expect from a good tartare. Amplifying the horror was an entire absence of flavour. Equally bewildered, my dining companion stopped shuddering when served a trio of pork su mai dim sum finished with tiny pocket squares of black truffle. Appearing like cupcakes in pleated cases, the meaty morsels packed a serious flavour punch, the juicy interiors complemented by the earthy truffle.

In terms of liquid pleasure, the wine list has a heavy Italian bent, with many bottles borrowed from the sister restaurant’s stock. Happily, our ebullient sommelier went off piste, offering us a bottle of Domaine Schlumberger Les Prices Abbés Riesling 2007 from Alsace, its mouthwatering, off-dry, lemon sherbet and sour apple character refreshed by searing acidity, which, in turn, assuaged the spice in the food. Lingering over the wine, we moved to the main event – the litmus test of any pan-Asian restaurant: black cod. Novikov’s arrived enshrouded in a crisp brown leaf that had to be theatrically unwrapped, revealing an enticing slice of fish gleaming with glaze. Falling off the fork, the ice white slithers were enchantingly sweet. You can’t cut corners with black cod – it needs to lounge in a miso marinade for 24 hours before being cooked, further proof of the substance behind Novikov’s style.

Desserts are an event – I opted for the chocolate orange praline, recalling the interior of a Jaffa Cake, served with a tennis ball-sized scoop of palate cleansing blood orange sorbet. With courses hovering around the £17 mark, reaching a peak at £55 for the 150g seared wagyu sirloin, feasting like an oligarch at Novikov doesn’t come cheap, but the rewards are plentiful. The food is well considered, artfully presented and nearly always expertly executed. Nobu should be worried – the (sushi) knives are out.

Novikov, 50 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8HA; +44 (0)20 7399 4330

Argentina needs to “focus on whites”

Argentina needs to start focusing more on its white wines, according to one of the country’s top producers. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Alberto Arizu of Bodega Luigi Bosca believes there is a real opportunity for high-end white blends in Argentina, and Chardonnay from the Uco Valley.

Speaking at a lunch hosted by Bancroft Wines at Gaucho in Piccadilly, Arizu (above) said: “We’ve shown the world that Argentina can do reds, now it’s time to prove our worth with our whites. Chardonnay is the second most important white grape in Argentina and we’re discovering new areas to plant it, like Lujan de Cuyo. Argentinian Chardonnay has a unique character to Chile and other New World examples."

Arizu cited the bodega’s Gala 3, a premium blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Riesling, as an example of what Argentina can do outside Torrontés. “We’re one of the few bodegas to be working on premium white blends, and are reducing the amount of time our Chardonnays stay in oak.” He pinpointed Chardonnay from the Uco Valley as having improved “tremendously” in the past few years, producing some of the best examples of the grape. “The quality has gone through the roof. You get more freshness at the higher altitude,” he said.

Though he also sees a chance for Torrontés to quench a global thirst for freshness. “We need to ride the wave of the global demand for fresh, aromatic, dry whites – Torrontés is ideally placed to satisfy this thirst,” he said. Arizu also spoke of the importance of seeking out and shouting about Argentina’s best micro regions for Malbec. “Malbec differs greatly depending on where it’s planted. Those from the Uco Valley are floral and fresh, the Vistalba and Lujan de Cuyo examples are red fruited, while Malbecs from Las Compuertas are full bodied, spicy and complex.

“We need to communicate these terroir differences to consumers so they understand the diversity of styles of Malbec. We’re not shouting about it enough,” he asserted. Malbec aside, Arizu is keen to focus on Pinot Noir and Syrah in Argentina, both of which have huge potential but remain largely undiscovered. “Our challenge will be to develop these grapes in the most suitable terroirs, like Maipú and San Juan for Pinot,” he said.

Arizu described the Asian market as “where Brazil was 20 years ago,” but spoke of the “great potential” Argentinian wine has in China with the new generation. “They are better educated about wine and more open-minded to trying new things. The best way to promote our wines will be with the quality/price message,” he said. “A Wines of Argentina office opened in Beijing last year, which will be hugely important in spreading the word about our wines in Asia. More wine brands need to have a presence in China in order to open the category up,” he admitted.

Wine on tap thriving in US

A growing number of US restaurants are starting to serve wine on tap from kegs. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, daring venues in San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas, Atlanta, New York and Detroit are all in on the act. The reusable, five-gallon kegs, holding the equivalent of 25 bottles of wine, store the product for more than five months, keeping by-the-glass wines fresher for longer. Pumped out from the keg, the wine is never exposed to oxygen, making the last glass as fresh as the first, thus creating zero waste.

Leading the wine by the keg charge in New York are Charles Bieler (pictured) and Bruce Schneider, founders of The Gotham Project, which makes a Riesling in keg from the east side of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. Supplying to the Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City’s Grand Central Station, the Red Rooster in Harlam and Terroir Tribeca in Manhattan, the dynamic duo are dedicated to changing the way Americans drink wine.

“We’re not just selling a concept, we’re selling a better glass of wine,” Bieler tells me. I wanted to do something locally. I was always amazed by the trend of eating local, but when it came to drinking local, people sort of ignored it.” Now 25 New York restaurants carry Gotham Project Riesling and an equal number outside the state have taken it on.

“We chose Riesling because I love it, but more importantly because it’s the wine New York State does best,” admits Bieler, who is working on putting a sparkling wine in keg. We want to offer wines that can compete with the best in the world at their price point.”

The flamboyant winemaker, who once traversed the US in a pink Cadillac wearing a pink tuxedo to promote his father’s Provence rosé, thinks Stateside wineries and retailers will jump on the keg bandwagon once they see it working in the on-trade. Bieler is toying with the idea of bringing the wine in keg concept to London. I could see wine on tap working in laid back wine-focused venues with extensive by-the-glass offerings, like Brawn, Terroirs, Vinoteca, Artisan & Vine and 28-50. Perhaps we’ll be drinking English sparkling on tap by the end of 2012?

Charles Bieler photo (c) James Estrin – The New York Times/Redux

Sumosan restaurant review

Nobu and Zuma dominate London's modern Japanese dining scene, gaining column inches as much for their celebrity clientele as for their food. Sumosan is something of a modest younger sister flying slightly under the radar.

Tucked away on a quiet side street off Green Park next to a Vietnamese art gallery, Sumosan's light, airy space is decked out in tasteful beige and lilac. The pared down interiors are very zen-like and calming.

I visited on a Wednesday lunchtime and the place was reassuringly buzzing with a mixture of wealthy Russian expats (the restaurant is Russian owned), office workers and ladies who lunch. Bypassing the á la carte menu offering the likes of seasonal Toro stuffed with foie gras, and sea urchin risotto, I opt for the reasonably priced five course lunch menu for £22.50, with a side of rock shrimp tempura.

Lunch begins with a refreshing cup of miso soup with tiny shiitake mushrooms, that serves as the perfect palate cleanser. Next up is a delicious, umami-rich Kaiso salad crammed with sesame seeds and peanut butter, which I enjoy with a glass of Domaine de Joy Ugni Blanc from Gascony. The rock shrimp tempura doesn't disappoint - made up of heavenly chunks of fried shrimp, lifted by the citrus Yuzu dressing.

A sashimi selection follows, featuring the usual suspects: salmon, tuna (which is air-shipped from the US at -80 degrees), prawn, and richly flavoured white bait, all of which match incredibly well with my crisp, lime-fueled 2008 Hunter's Riesling from Marlborough, New Zealand.

For the main event, I go for the Black Cod with Miso, keen to see how it fares against the Nobu version. I was slightly disappointed by its diminutive size - call it the Kylie Minogue of the fish world, but what it lacked in size it made up for in flavour. Sweet and rich with a melt-in-the-mouth texture, there are few flavour experiences that top that of well cooked Black Cod. It's all consuming, transcendental even, and I feel almost beatific reverence for the fish and the pleasure it produced. A tricky one to match with wine, my 2008 Tasmanian Pinot Noir from Devil's Corner, whilst not harmonizing completely, far from jarred.

Pudding is a decadent affair. I choose Sumosan's signature dish - a white chocolate fondant, which arrives in an exquisitely crafted golden cage made of latticed sugar. Gooey and toothy tinglingly sweet, it tastes like liquid Milky Way and matches surprisingly well with my Thienot 2002 Champagne, for which Sumosan are the sole suppliers.

Although I chose to drink wine, there's an extensive saké list to experiment with. Head Sommelier Jean-Louis Naveilhan offers eight different sakés by the glass, and saké flights – three sakés by the glass for £10.50. Naveilhan is adamant that the rice wine, which should always be served chilled, can be enjoyed throughout the meal, from apéritif to pudding.