Vinopolis - A wine tasting evening review

So last Thursday was my old bosses leaving do, and to (urm...) commemorate the occasion, he opted for a wine tasting tour at Vinopolis (which is situated in the now extremely famous Borough Market near the banks of the Thames at London Bridge)...We started the evening with a few drinks at the Old Kings Head just opposite the market entrance -

-nearly getting into a fight with three drunk scaffolders when they overheard us ordering beers on the company tab, apparently our paper's coverage of Millwall fans behaviour hasn't been the most sympathetic over the years, and frankly they did absolutely nothing to redeem themselves (I think only my extreme height prevented things from turning ugly when one of them stood up to push his point home - gazing up at me, saying he didn't care how tall I was and then promptly excusing himself to the toilet)...

When the appointed hour arrived we all grabbed our coats and trickled across the road (taking a slightly longer route than needs be) to the venue -

- leaving us standing around in the entrance for a while as they found someone to look after us...Apparently (Flyingpops has been here before on a similar event) normally, you pay your money, drop off your coat/bag in the cloakroom and then are left completely to your own devices, wandering the themed halls -





- completely at will, stopping at the occasional stall to be poured a centimeter or so of a selected wine (don't expect to come away swaying or singing) and reading the signs or watching instructional video footage -

- however, either enough money had been paid, or we looked rowdy enough to merit a proper somelier, who led us to a secluded location and proceeded to talk us through each wine, gently encouraging us to look for the flavours and aromas present in each grape variety -

- we were taken through six bottles in all (shared between our group of about fifteen people), so (as I already mentioned) not a *huge* amount to actually drink on offer, but the atmosphere was thoroughly intellectual and highly entertaining...when we had tasted everything and compared notes we were dropped off in the "Gin Bar" for a free cocktail - the one I had completely changed my opinion about Gin - frankly loathing the stuff beforehand this was actually quite good (lots of citrus), but I'm still not going to call myself a fan...

I think there is something to be said for both ways of enjoying the place, when our tour finished everyone just decided to go back to the pub (there was still money behind the bar apparently), but had I just come to Vinopolis (with no peers to worry about) I am almost certain I would have been lured into the room one further on from the Gin Bar...a large restaurant...I can certainly imagine a leasurely stroll through the arches tasting and sampling aromas and then settling down for a hearty meal with a bottle of something that took my fancy matched to the food...as it was by the time I had run around with the camera (and found the "gentlemans salon") everyone else had already vanished off to continue their evening, so I took this opportunity to bow out (living miles outside of London), grabbed a BK Angus Burger with cheese at London Bridge and headed home to bed...yes, I'm that classy... ;)

Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue Recipe

(Scroll down if you are here for the recipe alone ;)

So, perhaps foolishly, we went to finish off the last few bits of Christmas food/drink shopping (£183!!!!!!!), okay, mostly drink, and lots of cheese...got a big bacon joint to cook up too...conditions in Tesco can only be described as "absolute bedlam", a totally chaotic nightmare, I estimate one aisle in three had at least one abandoned trolley clogging it up, tempers were fraying...amazingly though, the shelves were stocked almost as normal, the only thing we couldn't get from our list was a bottle of Malibu (I'll live)...

Went from there into Redhill (still loaded down with the shopping), spotted this (which I hope isn't a portent for tomorrow) in the market-

- then home to cook dinner, decided to have my annual naughty Christmas Swiss Cheese Fondue (all to myself as Flyingpops doesn't like it...what a terrible shame... ;)

Anyway, if you want to enjoy this awesome and very naughty treat (I *do* only have it once a year) you will need the following -

• A clove of garlic (chopped in half down the middle)
• Half a pint from a nice bottle of white wine (fruity Hardy's Chardonnay works a treat)
• A teaspoon of the juice of a lemon
• A tablespoon of Kirsh (Willisauer is ideal, but any clear cherry liqueur will do)
• A teaspoon of cornflour
• 110g/4oz emmental cheese grated (per person)
  
• 110g/4oz gruyère cheese grated (per person)
  
• Half a French stick (per person)

Procedure -

1. Get a non-stick saucepan (or if you have a cast iron fondue bowl, put that on the hob) and rub the garlic half all over the inside, push hard, get plenty of flavour all over the cooking surface
2. Put the cornflour into a glass and pour in the Kirsh, mix well, if it doesn't look like you will be able to easily pour it out then add a splash of tap water, mix again and stand next to the hob
   
3. Pour the half a pint of wine into the saucepan and add the lemon juice then bring quickly to the boil
4. Turn down the heat (a little) and *slowly* add the cheese, stirring *constantly* with a wooden spoon, waiting until each batch is melted before adding more
5. Pour in the Kirsh mixture and stir well (this is when it all comes together!)
6. Pour the whole lot into your Fondue bowl, light it up and sit (on the floor) dipping tiny cubes of French stick into the glorious sweet sticky yum sauce, curling up the trails of cheese so as not to make too much of a mess before popping into your mouth, washing it down with much, much more of the wonderful wine...
7. Fall asleep in front of a Christmas film