How nice it was to receive a usable freebie and a very direct form of marketing. Clearly it worked as it has left me an impression some 50 years on. I often wonder why it ever stopped.

One of my great irritations in life before I actually became a wine wholesaler was the difficulty I had getting to sample wines that I was potentially going to serve to my customers.

Some merchants would actually charge me for samples, while others would pitch up on a Monday morning and give me a taster before disappearing with any opened bottles.

These guys always had the logoed corkscrews, branded aprons and ice buckets for their own use but never passed them on to the end user which was their intended destination.

Now that I have crossed the bridge from an ‘on trade’ wine seller to the wholesale side, I am embarrassingly over run with samples, bags, buckets and all things wine and I only have to ask if I need or want more.

In a practical way, how useful it is to be able to share a sample bottle with a dozen or so people (customers!) and to get an informed opinion on its merits.

With this concept in mind, we are about to launch a marketing campaign in our neighbourhood entitled ’on your doorstep’.

We will be out delivering – with the milkman – a free sample bottle of wine right to people’s doorsteps to let them know that we are in their immediate neighbourhood.

We are all very excited about this ‘retro’ marketing exercise and I will give you feedback on its success.

While we’re on the subject on old favourites, I am a great fan of Gerwurztraminer which reaches its finest expression in the Alsace region of France. It’s one of those love it or hate it wines made from a very aromatic white grape which produces a lot of natural sugars and is well suited to making dessert wines.

The name literally means ‘spiced traminer’ or ‘perfumed traminer’ and is a perfect marriage with Asian cuisine. Its versatility would make it my desert island wine.

Try Cave de Turkheim Gerwurztraminer from Alsace Haut-Rhin which has all the spice and perfume without being sweet (£9 www.cave-turkheim.com). New Zealand is a successful growing area for this grape too.

A fabulous sweet version is Greywacke’s late harvest Gerwurztraminer from Marlborough South Island (£18.50). It is described by winemaker Kevin Judd, who by the way is an Englishman, as an exotically scented voluptuous sweet wine with a lingering finish www.greywacke.com

David Moore has been a restaurateur for 30 years and is owner of abarbistro in Old Portsmouth www.abarbistro.co.uk and Camber Wines www.camberwines.co.uk

Article published in the March 2012 edition of etc magazine.

Both bottles lived up to our expectations and I am sure there will be many more vintage indulgences in the future because Chateau d’yquem has always been there and always will be. You may recall a bottle of the 1811 vintage sold for £75,000 last year, its bicentenary, and I would fully expect there to be a 2011 vintage being consumed in 2211. Not many wines have this staying power, and neither do they want to have in the 21st century commercial environment.

I recently discovered some fledgling winemakers in Australia who are a brilliant example of the 21st century approach to wine making calling themselves ‘Some Young Punks’. Three individuals,

Jen Gardiner, Colin McBride and Nick Bourke have created an eye catching range that cannot fail to capture your interest, if only for the evocative labelling. It consists of ‘Passion Has Red Lips’, ‘Quickie’ and ‘Naked on roller Skates’ from the original pulp fiction novels. ‘The Squids Fist’, ’Monster Attack’ and ’Double Love Trouble’ make up another trilogy in their portfolio. I give them full marks for originality and instant appeal and the wines inside the jazzy bottles are extremely well made blends. What a refreshing approach from New World wine makers who are constantly battling for market share with varietal wines that are made by, well, just about everybody. These guys are going to have to keep themselves busy reinventing gimmicks, because gimmicks are here today, gone tomorrow.

One of the joys of my job is the constant drip feed of new wines coming to our shores and I’m looking forward to sampling examples from Hungary, Russia and China in the near future.

I have also chosen the pistes of Switzerland to play on this month and very much look forward to indulging in some fine native Pinot Noirs (après ski) that never reach our shores. In fact 98 per cent of Swiss wine production is consumed domestically so it is very rarely seen on British soil. It will be a much needed refresher for my palate which has been locked for far too long into an amazing Gigondas Domaine la Haute Marone 2009(£13) from the Southern Rhone .This is Grenache Noir at its very best!

Pink wine has to feature in February and if you want to be drinking the best on the day for lovers, go no further than Cotes de Provence. Rimauresq cru classe 2010 (£10).This is a Mediterranean scented rose with a beautiful pink complexion. It’s clean, fresh and fine yet flavoursome.

If you are looking to share a bottle of white then try Valencay Sebastien Vaillant 2010 (£8.50) from the western Loire Valley. A crisp steely Sauvignon Blanc with 20 per cent Chardonnay makes this a well rounded wine of great appeal.

David Moore has been a restaurateur for 30 years and is owner of abarbistro, Old Portsmouth. Visit www.abarbistro.co.uk or Camber Wines at www.camberwines.co.uk

Article published in the February 2012 edition of etc magazine.

From the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, Picpoul de Pinet is a great alternative to Muscadet… think fresh and crisp – just perfect with shellfish!

Our own L’Ormaine Duc de Morney, Coteaux du Languedoc – Picpoul de Pinet 2010 was awarded a regional trophy in Decanter’s World Wine Awards published at the end of last year.

Decanter have stated that if this wine ”is beginning to achieve international recognition, much of this must be due to the generally high standards achieved by L’Ormaine cooperative.”

The wine itself is described as:

“apple fruit with a hint of peachiness and a touch of piquant spice. Fresh pears on the palate with attractively crisp acidity leading into the just dry finish. Breathtaking”

… but we already knew that!

This wine really is a must try. Available now from Camber Wines for £7.

full review from Decanter here

link to L’Ormaine’s website (English version)

This is considered a perfectly normal everyday dilemma in our lives and perhaps explains why we British consume an average of 29 litres of wine per head per annum. Contrast this with say, India where the average consumption per head of capita is just 11 millilitres of wine, albeit there are 1.1 billion of them!

I have never understood why anyone drinks wine with Indian food as all of its powerful flavours completely kill off even the biggest, chunkiest of red wines. It’s beer for me every time with a curry.

We have a similar situation with other Asian food, but I have the perfect solution here. Gerwurztraminer, which translates literally as ‘spicy traminer’. These wines are generally ‘off dry’ with a flamboyant bouquet of lychees and aromatic flavours that lend themselves to Asian cuisine and I implore you to try the Alsace versions of this grape variety.

Sadly, too few Asian restaurateurs recognise this perfect marriage for their food and consequently it is a rare find on their wine lists.

Other classic food and wine pairings are lamb dishes with reds from Bordeaux, Rioja or even Ribera del Duero and Italian pasta dishes with say Pinot Grigio. Master sommelier Evan Goldstein noted ‘food and wine pairing is like two people having a conversation. One must listen whilst the other speaks or the result is a muddle’. That is to say either the food or the wine is dominant whilst the other serves to compliment it.

Food and wine matching in a restaurant situation becomes even more difficult where individuals are choosing different dishes from a menu, thus creating an exercise in compromise from the wine list to accommodate many diverse flavours. I always win out here as the wine choosing is conveniently delegated to me.

Looking ahead at this time last year, I recommended South Africa for both quality and price. I have come to the same conclusion this year as much on a currency issue as a quality factor.

The Australian dollar is so strong, the Italians, including Sicily are hiking their prices, Chile has rebuilding costs from their earthquake to recover and New Zealand wines are the most expensive in the world. So South Africa it is, with an ever growing representation of grape varietals from Merlots and Cabernets to Sauvignons and Viogniers.

So try Franshhoek Cellar ‘Our town Hall’ Chardonnay (£6.50) – This gracious unwooded style expresses tropical fruit and citrus blossom for effortless drinking.

From the Capes west coast Spice Route Viognier (£8.75) – Gently oaked with a richness and complexity this wine punches well above its weight in its price bracket.

Circle of Life Waterkloof Estate (£15.00) – Both Red and White a blend of grapes that reflects the best of the harvest. Happy imbibing in 2012!

David Moore has been a restaurateur for 30 years and is owner of abarbistro, Old Portsmouth www.abarbistro.co.uk and Camber Wines www.camberwines.co.uk

Article published in the January 2012 edition of etc magazine.

But hearty doesn’t necessarily have to mean heavy. How about a comforting combination of slow cooked red cabbage with smoked, spicy and garlic sausages with a glass of Cru Beaujolais or a new world Pinot Noir? Or a Lancashire hotpot and a glass of

Minervois or perhaps Montepulciano d’Abruzzo? I’m not a great fan of being told what wine goes with certain foods and prefer to make my own judgment on this, but some combinations just go hand in glove for a perfect marriage.

In fact, some marriages are made in heaven, like a seafood platter and Muscadet sur Lie; goat’s cheese and Sancerre; Roquefort with Sauternes and Stilton with vintage Port. Why would anyone want to cause a rift in these happy couples?

So, without telling you exactly what to drink with your turkey this year, may I suggest a possible romantic link with a voluptuous Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz, a Pinot Noir from Oregon or, if a plump goose takes your fancy, a Châteauneufdu-Pape.

If your preference is for white wines with the holiday bird, and why not, then white Burgundy, Sauvignon Blanc or even a light but spicy Gerwürztraminer could fit the bill.

For all sorts of reasons, not least taxes, wine prices appear to be on a continuous upward spiral, so my tip for 2012 is to focus on South Africa for both quality and value, with Swartland (an area about 30 miles north of Cape Town) in particular offering up some gems.

Try Percheron Old Vine Cinsault from Western Cape (£5.25). It’s classically restrained with a soft savoury fruit and a veil of exotic spice… pure elegance. The name Percheron is taken from the now rare breed of draught horses that once helped to farm the vines. A suitable white partner for this would be Franschhoek Cellar “Our Town Hall” unwooded Chardonnay (£6.50), expressing soft tropical fruit and citrus blossom in an unoaked style designed for effortless drinking.

An important part of Australian wine heritage is its fortified wine, and Yalumba Antique Fortified Museum Reserve liqueur wine (£11.75 for 375ml bottle), which is reminiscent of Spanish PX, has flavours I can only describe as liquid Christmas Pudding. Incredible value and a dead cert for my festive table!

David Moore has been a restaurateur for 30 years and is owner of abarbistro, Old Portsmouth www.abarbistro.co.uk and Camber Wines www.camberwines.co.uk

Article published in the December 2011 edition of etc magazine.