It cost me £9.99 from Virgin and is one of the better ten quid bottles from their stable.

Serve cool (not cold).  It accentuates the mint.  The perfect antidote for drab football matches, and a great partner for pizza.

In more recent years it has passed through the hands of various do-wells including rock band managers and most latterly the self-proclaimed national alarm clock for the UK – fellow Mancunian* and Radio 2 DJ, Chris Evans.

Since my mum’s grave is just down the road in trendy (well in 1460 it was trendy) Lodsworth, where she is one of the most lively residents, I like to visit the Lickfold Inn occasionally, to keep an eye on the ghosts…and the food….and the wines….and the spirits.

I last dined here in February 2010 (with some living relatives) for a Saturday evening meal.  The atmosphere is still amazing.  Exactly what you should expect from a 15th century country inn.  Elizabethan oak beams, herringbone patterned bricks, the tantalizing smell of hops and meat and countryside and floods.  The bar staff can’t make a Bloody Mary, though.  Suspect my grandfather was turning in his grave at the thought of me ordering something so poncey.  Maybe his ghost inspired the waitress to reach for the gin.

The dining room, that in the 1960s was mostly private quarters, is cosy yet spacious, comfortable and twee, aged yet with modern comforts.  It is one of those rooms where you never feel overlooked by the other diners despite tripping over them on the way in.  I did feel overlooked by my grandmother who used to serve steak and chips with a cheeseboard for 15 shillings, but only to those who had booked one of her 17 covers in advance, so she could pre-order the meat from a local butcher.  Those were the days.  She survived to the ripe old age of 100, disparagingly surveying the years of American inspired commercialisation, freezers, and customer focus groups.

The wine list is concise but varied enough with examples from different regions and grapes and all firmly in the affordable range.  The cheap Malbec was out of stock so we took the Californian Merlot.  I found this at £7.95 at Templar Wines so at £22 this implies a markup against retail of less than 200% which is not bad.  However, it was served way too warm.  Come on Chris, I thought you liked your wines.  Why not join my WART campaign?

The Blackstone was drinkable but nothing to write home about.  If I had spotted the Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Reserva 2001 at £28 I would have selected that – great quality and great value (if served at the right temperature).

The food was simple but tasty and with none of the nonsense served at some gastro pubs.  My pork chops would have fed the entire village, and the closest thing to nonsense was a pea purée that tasted suspiciously like mushy peas, and all the better for that.

At £160 for 4 people including alcohol and service, this is pretty good value.  I hope the pub can make enough money to fulfil its promise of donating half its profits to local children’s charities.

One vivid memory from the 1960s is that the pub used to flood regularly.  Whilst there have been some drain and building improvements in the last 40 years, you can see from the photo below, taken in March 2010 that the water feature is still a very present danger.

The back of the pub has also changed a bit…

I’ll leave you with a final indulgence, a sketch of the pub by my late father, Ian, and a recommendation that you visit, not just for a drink or a meal, but also for the architecture and atmosphere which are almost unbeatable, whether you believe in ghosts or not.

Lickfold Inn
Lickfold
Petworth
Surrey
GU28 9EY
T: +44 (0) 1798 861285
W:  www.evanspubs.co.uk

* I believe that Chris Evans was born in Warrington but I am sure he has the good sense to consider himself a Mancunian.

In a year that, according to most commentators was variable at best, it looked like les escargots had marked their prices down to reasonable levels.  Then a prickly heat rose through my knees, groin, heart and ended in a face flush.  The values were for half cases.  Oh well, I am priced out again, so the catalogue was filed under B, for bin.

If, like me, you are a “W” man, and you fully expect the return of the recession (as soon as interest rates start creeping up again) then you could do worse than explore some cheaper areas of the home of wine.  South West France seems particularly good value.

This Cahors red is made from the Malbec grape, but the taste reminds me more of Carmenère.  Smoky autumn bonfires, apple and pear crumble, a touch of raspberry.  Perfect for a cold night in with a steak when you need to impress (or apologise to) your loved one.

Cost me £7.25 from the Wine Society.

Thanks to Daniel, the manager, for sharing a couple of super magnums of Châteauneuf-du-Pape with us.

The food at Le Bouchon was excellent and good value – much better than the “upmarket Café Rouge” it is accused of being, although the wine list seemed expensive (with due exception to the CdP!).

It is really zingy with balance provided by honeyed apples and pears.  If you like your Sauvignon Blancs tartier than Bet Lynch, you will love this.

Mind you, at 14.0% ABV, think of it less as a summer aperitif and more like rocket fuel to get a barbecue going.  The atmosphere, not the fire.

I matched it very successfully to a ham, mustard and rocket sandwich and it was even pretty good with a morsel of Brie.

I know some people are getting tired of Kiwi Sauvignon, but oversupply on the back of Cloudy Bay’s success is finally nailing the market.  There are several available at prices that even a Mancunian bar waitress can afford.

I paid £8.95 at the Wine Society for Momo 2009 because…I’m worth it.

My enormous technical team is working on it.  Thank you for you patience.

I was fortunate enough to try the 2004 Reserva before release on a visit to the winery in 2008.  Combined with the weight of expectation of this vintage (do brilliant Riojas always come from years ending in the number 4?) and a tasting atmosphere warmer than nestling amongst Joan’s perfect bosom, I did find it a little tannic.

I have managed to resist sampling the released wine until now, whereupon I was not surprised to find it still a little teabag like.

If you like your Riojas gentle, smooth and vanilla-ridden you should keep this in the cellar for another 10 years.  However, if you don’t mind a bit of mouth-puckering tannic acidity combined with rich luscious flavours of leather, spice, cigars and fruit then drink now.  It is like imbibing a gentleman’s club in a glass – pure unadulterated masculine luxury.

After all, if her wines are a personification of her true self, then surely she must be gorgeous, tasty, exciting, full-bodied and just a little tarty (in a nice discreet way)?

But, probably, I would not ask her to hurry the wines to my cellar because, having tried her Sauvignon Blanc for the last few vintages, I think it tastes much better after a year or more of ageing.  I know this flouts convention, that NZ Sauvignon Blancs should be drunk within a year.

There is much competition amongst Kiwi winemakers these days.  Since the success of Cloudy Bay, ten thousand maniac (give or take a few thousand) imitators have gradually eroded the price of Marlborough gooseberry cat-pissers.  I got my 2009 Hunter’s from the Wine Society (£10.50) at barely a gnat’s fart more than the price of the 2006 (£9.95).

The 2009 is a bit two dimensional.  Gooseberry and sugar.  It is zingy but bland, if that is not too much of an oenological oxymoron.

Nonetheless, from previous experience, I suggest you buy a few bottles and lay them down for, oh I don’t know, twelve to twenty four months and I am sure you will see massive improvement.

I haven’t done extensive research but bog standard Moet is £23.99 which is about the same price as Tesco and if you subscribe to the Virgin Wine Bank* there is an effective 25% discount on that.  Other champagnes look similarly discounted.

www.virginwines.com

*Wine Bank asks you to make a regular monthly contribution (I pay £20 for example) and every quarter a monthly subscription gets added.  So I have just spent 6 months of contributions (£120) on £160 worth of bubbly.  Luvvly jubbly!

No, I didn’t go for the Moet, I did include some Perrier Jouet and Mumm in the mix though.

He suggested that I see through the marketing gimmicks of Cycles Gladiator and try the Cabernet Sauvignon at about 11 bucks.  I’ve not tasted it yet.

At a California Wines event in London last month, I stumbled across the same brand.  A number of thoughts raged.  It’s available in the UK!  And they do a Pinot Noir!  And it’s the same cheesy label!  And it tastes annoyingly good…

In fact the cheesy label is considered so naughty by the State of Alabama that it is banned from sale in this jurisdiction that, whilst not completely dry, is hardly going to be competing for the wine industry award for most bottles sold per capita.

This has lead many conspiracy theorists to conclude that the label is a Hahn Estates publicity stunt.  The cost of half a case of lost sales per week in Alabama is outweighed by the worldwide pent up demand

I agree with the shop guy in NYC, though.  See through the packaging and sample the wine.  It is apparently available at £6.99 in the UK (possibly at Waitrose or Co-op, although I couldn’t find info online) which is stonking value for a half decent Pinot Noir.  The flavours are soft strawberry, tart raspberry and yummy spice.  I recommend drinking it fairly well chilled.