A place on the river - The Depot Riverside Bar & Restaurant

Wednesday 15th May - the tiniest streams of sunlight penetrate the squeaky clean windows of The Depot in Barnes, which is where I was providing a training session for the staff there.  The premise of this session was to talk through and of course taste through several new wines that have been added to their list as we really set into the warmer (he says with hesitance) season. 
I live 15 minutes walk down the towpath so this place quite literally is my 'local' place to come for a plate and a glass.  I have spent a couple of excellent afternoons here soaking up the atmosphere watching The Boatrace in years gone by and the place was packed and brimming with euphoric and highly contagious excitement.  It is no wonder you need to book a river view table here a years in advance of each race.  Can you imagine having a nice long lunch withy friends and family followed by the global spectacle that is The Boatrace?
So as you read on, hopefully even if you get a snippet of how this place evokes these kinds of memories and images, you can see how eating and drinking here will be more experiential than a lot of other restaurants.

So as you read on, hopefully even if you get a snippet of how this place evokes these kinds of memories and images, you can see how eating and drinking here will be more experiential than a lot of other restaurants.

Around 12 staff primed and ready for a couple of hours worth of ‘engagement’ sit down at the table in one of their lovely open rooms where you can still see the river...

The new wines that have been selected and what we tasted were an eclectic mix of styles each with a story attached to them, or a point of interest more than just things like how long it has spent in oak barrels and whether its screw-cap or not.  These wines have their own unique points; if these wines were walking down the catwalk, you would be scribbling away in your notebook and taking photos, put it that way!

So, the wines we tasted were -

ERA Falanghina from Italy
Tulbagh Chenin Blanc from South Africa
Las Boleras Pinot Gris from Argentina
Quinta de Gomariz Loureiro (Vinho Verde) from Portugal
Chablis 'Vacoupin' Domaine Gautheron from France
Le Poussin Rose from France
La Playa Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile
Salice Salentino from Italy
Crozes Hermitage from France
Chateau Sauman from Bordeaux, France

Old, new, fruity, savoury, oaked and un-oaked, altitude, latitude, foody wines, glugging wines - I could go on and use lots of superlatives!  Each of the wines above are real 'Depot' wines in that people come in looking to spend some quality time with whomever they are with, with some great food, and a great glass to go with it, all whilst being right on the river and being very well looked after - oh and if the sun should make the odd appearance it would be most welcome. 

What made this session what it was, was the fact that it quickly transformed from formal into informal which is where Ellis come from and so made for a much more informative session when the hair is let done, the pre-conceptions (if any) are left at the door and the lid is off.  The guys and gals at The Depot made this a real pleasure to come and talk to them for a while and I do hope in time we can work more with them to ensure the best possible wines get the best possible treatment and in turn give the customer an even better experience.

 

Till the next post...better get cracking eh!!

The Depot Riverside Bar & Restaurant

 

Neil Young would like it here...down by the river at The Wharf

It's a real stinker of an afternoon, the heavens as open as the French Tennis.....Open and the sky as dull as caviar! But, nobody need worry for the energetic folk at The Wharf on Teddington Lock are primed and ready to go for an Ellis of Richmond training session. Organised through a few meetings with myself, the chef proprietor Ray Neve and F&B Director Gregg Brown, since they have such a marvellous wine list sourced primarily through us, we thought it wise to hold 4 annual training sessions for all of the staff within the operation. Not just the bar staff, not on your nelly! This was for all those that needed a touch of 'grape gratification' and those that simply wanted to come along and learn about this wonderful bottled stuff we call wine.
What I love most about training and more importantly engaging with our customers is that everyone is different and everyone has their own take on wine, whether they understand it or not, it makes no odds because this all about having a bit of fun with wine all the while remaining focused on what we want to achieve, a concept that The Wharf have a firm grasp on...like a wife does to her husband! Sorry, had to get that in...I am married so that's ok for me to get away with that right? Digress.com - and so here we all were, upstairs in the lovely private dining area of the top floor overlooking the Thames. My first observation was how the room was setup, which was one of the best I have seen yet...

I was certainly impressed with how it all looked and credit to the team there for doing this - game on!
This was taken a short while before the staff wandered up and started to realise that it was 2.30pm after a busy lunchtime shift and they were about to taste some delicious wine.  Here's what we tasted:

Whites - Muscadet Sur Lie Domaine des Herbauges (Loire, France), Backsberg Chenin Blanc (South Africa), Domaine Gautheron Petit Chablis, Gavi di Gavi Ca da Bosio (Italy)
Rose - Le Poussin Rose (Languedoc)
Reds - Chateau Gachon (St Emillion, Bordeaux), Cantine Crociani Rosso di Montepulciano (Tuscany), Familia Schroeder Alpataco Malbec (Argentina)
Pudding - Rietvallei Red Muscadel (South Africa)

A nice diverse and eclectic mix of wines from The Wharf wine list to give the guys and gals a 'flavour' of the quality an interesting selection of wines to then wax lyrical about.  Now a wine training session would simply not be a training session without a wee quiz at the end; nothing too elaborate or difficult...

...and I don't think I have the presence and demeanour that John Humphreys.  So, it was short multiple choice quiz based on the session we had just completed...of which there were 2 winners!  So naturally a tie-breaker scenario culminated in a chap called Will won, who has been with The Wharf since 1999 and quite fitting if I am honest - I salute you!
All in all, this was a great training session and I am only too pleased that we have another 3 in the calendar year to look forward to.  Summer session up next which can mean only one thing...ROSE!!!  I look forward to the next one guys and gals, in the meantime remember those 4 'esses'!  Chin Chin :)

 

I'm on a course please leave a message after the tone!

It's an age old excuse isn't it that still actually works and I have heard and witnessed it first hand. This time however I was actually on a golf course not a 'Learn how to conquer the world and do what Steve Jobs did' kind of course at top end business college on Victoria Street, London! I was with the very lovely folk at Dale Hill Golf Club (part of the Leaderboard selection of golf clubs). My auntie had the pleasure of getting married here back in June of 2011 and so I had been there before and seen what a grand job they do - their food was terrific, and dare I say it, their wine list was pretty damn exciting too!
This part of Kent is one of my favourites spots in the South East; the ungilating roads that meander through villages unknown to most of us, the quaint little pubs along the way, the small cottages advertising boxes of fresh eggs, honey and jams. All leading to the driveway which always catches me out to the golf club. If a had a rally car it would be the perfect place to perfect a Scandanavian flick!
This time round my class was 7 people that represented Dale Hill plus another couple of their clubs within the group. They travelled from afar to be here...so I simply had to deliver the goods or else I may have found a 9 iron where I would not want it to be! A large room with perfect natural daylight overlooking the 7th whole was where I was situated, so what did I do? I drew the curtains and dimmed the lights for I needed to unleash my mini projector (warning, this is not a euphamism).
Kit setup, glasses cleaned and attendees primed for a couple of hours of Ellis of Richmond style ENGAGEMENT - no such thing as EDUCATION when we speak about wine! Lift off! Where did wine come from? - covered...How is it basically made? - covered... who drinks the stuff?...covered and all from the perpetually engaging (there's that word again!) piece of ingenuity that is the iPad, what actually did we have before iPads....I struggle to remember! I digress though, a few light hearted videos helps to soften even the notion that a wine training session may be a bit boring and that they did. I find showing different types of media helps people to understand certain things a bit better and from past experiences of sitting in the most laborious of training sessions, I will happily vouch for this. So we then went onto the part where we put our senses to the test - the tasting! A small but importantly diverse selection from their wine list which included the marvelous Condes de Albarei Albarino, an unwooded Chardonnay from South Africa (but one that had some 'lees' ageing which the guys and gals now understand what this process is and so can apply their thoughts when tasting) and some other delights. Needless to say, the tasting part of a session is where your instincts should be trusted and your mind open - and I cannot fault any of the staff here for that because they did just that and so made for all the more an ENGAGING session altogether. My thanks to James McTrusty for the organisation part at their end and of course to the rest of the people that travelled from other clubs within the group. I certainly enjoyed it; sharing my passion and enthusiasm for the humble grape and mixing with some lovely people. I will leave you with the wonderful 7th hole at Dale Hill Golf Club, I am not a massive golf fan, but I think I could spend some time here and swing a few bats!

East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton - Buckets, spades and Chardonnays

The day was Monday 4^th March.  The place was East Beach Cafe and the weather was just a little bit good...

A perfect day really for pretending to dig up some sand and produce some ropey looking sand castles, but then I quickly realise that we are in Littlehampton and the beach is that of the stoney kind; one that does not permit such dreamy activity.  That said, the childlike elements I found myself leaning towards quickly became more ‘food led’.  After meeting the lovely Siobhan and her staff at the restaurant, we were sent to our table and handed menus – and there it was, laden with invisible words saying ‘eat me’ and ‘scoff me, I am delicious’.  It was Grilled Dover Sole, caper & shrimp butter and sautéed kale.  Nothing has been easier for me than to order this immediately and if not sooner – so I did.

After a very good feed washed down with water (yes that’s water...I was training in a couple of hours and I needed to focus entirely!) I stepped outside to take some photos because this place truly is in a wonderful location right on the sea front and then I wandered back in to setup for what I was drafted in to do, which was to give the staff a bit of Ellis of Richmond treatment – wine training!

It was very relaxed there anyway which is always great because wine tasting and menu matching needs to right environment and so when the Siabhon and her team of 3 other ladies meandered through the tables to sit down in front of me, I already knew what I was in for...or so I thought.  The ladies here are a real punchy, enthusiastic bunch with a passion for what they do.  They know their menus well and really, all they needed was a steer in the right direction in terms of using their knowledge of their food menu and then linking that up with the key wines on their list.  That’s exactly what we did.  The wines we tasted through were as follows and in this order:

Prosecco Borgo del Col Alto

Tulbagh Chenin Blanc 2012

Pinot Grigio Ca Luca 2011

Azabache Blanco Rioja 2009

Whitehaven dry Riesling 2010
Il Paradosso Nero d’Avola Rosato 2011
Negroamaro Allegri 2011
Azabache Tempranillo

Geoff Merrill Pimpala Road Shiraz 2010

This was the main bulk of their fairly short, but concise and diverse list that encompassed a real ‘mixture’ of wines to tantalise the taste-buds and get those menu matching juices flowing!  We were using the leftover aromas from the kitchen as a way of ‘wishing’ we had turned this into a fully fledged food and wine session, however the chef had gone home for the day  and so the fragrant wafts of delicate freshly caught fish and fennel amongst plenty of other enticing smells, did assist us in working out whether or not the Whitehaven Dry Riesling would pair well with the roast pollock fillet, Jerusalem artichoke, roast beetroot and parsley oil – ooh I think that may work that one...and they concurred.
After 2 hours the end was nigh and the sun began to set over East Beach Cafe but one thing was signed, sealed and delivered:

Great people with some decent know how = happy customers!

East Beach Cafe - for proper fun in the sun!

We're almost there!

We here at Ellis of Richmond all share a few passions; wine of course being the obvious one and not just in the drinking of it either - and let's all be honest, the drinking part is the best part.  But (ooh yes, there is always a but) we are also pretty darn pasionate about sharing our knowledge of wine and all that surrounds it too; food, culture, travel...all these things have a link with wine because wine is not just a drop of wet stuff in a glass ready to be swished and swirled round a mouth, oh no!  When we think of  light, elegent Provence rose, memories or pictures of beautiful scenery with ungilating hills, sounds of nature and al fresco dining all spring to mind.  When we think of deep and rich Shiraz, we'll tend to think of the hot and sunny climes of The Hunter Valley or Barossa Valley in Australia - it is an evocative thing is wine.  That is why in order to bring this to life and to engage with our customers on a personal level, we have decided to have a dedicated Training Manager aboard the good ship Ellis...introducing....me!

I am Scott Malyon and I have been working for EoR for a little over 2 years now.  EoR really is steeped in history and heritage having been around since way back in 1822!  Family run even still today and with a truly second to none portfolio of wines including many long standing 'partners' from around the globe I have been priveleged enough to have been able to learn lots in this space of time.  And so now, the countdown is on!  Let out into the open armed with an iPad, a projector and an armoury of  wineified 'intelligence' - direct from the Ellis of Richmond laboratory!  

This blog intends to advise, engage and let you all know what I am up to and to show the side of Ellis that we plan to build.  Keep 'em peeled folks for more.

Ellis of Richmond - Contemporary Wines Traditional Values