Loire Valley Wines – Bloggers Wine Dinner at Portland Restaurant
Until I went along to this event I’d always associated Wine Dinners with expensive wines, but it turned out that this doesn’t have to be the case. Of course I would steer clear of the really really cheap stuff, but you could easily do your own wine tasting at home for a fairly reasonable price, especially if you are having a dinner party and Loire Valley Wines might be a good place to satrt.
The Portland restaurant is nice but unassuming place, if it wasn’t for google maps I may have walked right passed it. I was greeted by a smiling waiter who pleasingly informed me they hadn’t started without me. I’d been invited along to a Square Meal Bloggers dinner in the Portland’s private dinning room, which one of my friends told me that “it means I’d made it”. Though I’m not sure that is actually true, I was surrounded by some very good company from the world of food bloggers.
The focus of the evening was of course centered around Loire Valley Wines and thanks to Wine expert Ruth from ‘good legs, long length‘ we were told the history behind Loire Valley, which is considered to be the heart of France. As a result I expected these wines to be pretty good and thankfully they were. The best thing about these wines has to be the price, all of which were affordable and very quaffable. Strangely enough my favourite wines on the night were all Rosé, I say strangely because I’m normally a red drinker and I’ve never been a big fan of Rosé. The list of all the wines and where to get them from are below, needless to say my head didn’t thank me the next morning!
1. Domaine Bellevue Sauvignon Blanc Touraine (2014), Laithwaites, £10.99
2. Domaine de l’Aumonier, Touraine Sauvignon (2014), Stone, Vine and Sun, £9.95
3. Rosé d’Anjou Domaine des Essarts (2014), Christopher Piper Wines, £8.50
4. Rosé d’Anjou (2014), Marks and Spencer, £8.00
5. Red Touraine Les Marcottes Domaine de Pierre (2012), Lea & Sandeman, £9.95
6. Rosé d’Anjou, La Jaglerie (2014), The Oxford Company, £7.99
Let’s not forget the food, as The Portland put of a feast for us and they were well thought out dishes and they went very well with the wines.
The mains also included: Roast Cornish monkfish with cider sauce, Old spot pig belly along with the Potato millefeuille and fine beans with yellow courgettes which was by far my favourite part of the meal. The only let down for me was the asparagus which I prefer to be crunchy but I can see myself eating at the Portland again in the future.
As for my fellow bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting on the I would recommend checking them out, they were a great bunch and I’ve spent so time reading their blogs since. You can also read their opinions on The Portland and Loire Valley Wines if you want a 2nd of 12th opinion. Or you can checkout the social wall below if you’d rather just glance through.
1) Popups and Pucci 2) Eat Cook Explore 3) Goan to London 4) Jess on Thames 5) The Wine Sleuth 6) Vi-Vian 7) Andreas Passions 8) Secret London 9) Foodaholic 10) Got to be Gourmet 11) Angloyankophile
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