Hotel du Vin Tunbridge Wells

Hotel Du Vin in Tunbridge Wells is a perfect destination for wine lovers; Victor Amaro has a fantastic wine list including some of the best Concha y Toro wines.

Originally from Portugal, Victor Amaro is an advocate of South American wines; especially Almaviva.

After having some tastings together we came up with the idea of organising a dinner presentation with his top Hotel Du Vin guests.

We had the following dishes and wines:

                                                                                        

Aperitif : Riesling ‘Maiden Flight , Bio Bio Valley 2012

                                                                                        

Starter :  Cured Mackerel with Chili, ginger and almond

                                                                                         

(Gewurstraminer ‘Los Gansos’, Central Valley 2012) 

  

Middle Course:  Glazed pigs trotters with apple and smoke pomme mousseline

( Chardonnay ‘Quebrada Seca’, Maycas del Limari 2009).

Main Course:  Roasted beef fillet and braised beef rib with artichoke puree and glazed carrots

( Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Don Melchor’ 2008).

                                                                                       

Cheese: Selection of Artisan Cheeses

(Almaviva 2007 from a 6LT Bottle).

Coffee and Petit Fours – Sauvignon ‘Late Harvest’ 2010

Before the dinner, we all had some time to introduce ourselves and also to give a introduction about Chile and its perfect winemaking conditions! Throughout the evening, we had wines made with diferent grapes varieties, from different valleys and regions which made for a very special and enjoyable evening, with the key understanding that Chile is all about Quality and Regionality.

Everyone enjoyed the different dishes with these exciting wines.  We all thought the Gewürztraminer ‘Los Gansos’ went really well with the Cured Mackerel, the smokiness from the dish really worked with the aromatic Gewürztraminer giving a very refreshing finish.

Chardonnay ‘Quebrada Seca’ from Maycas del Limari had lots of flavours with a touch of saltiness on the finish- this is very typical from Limari Valley; a valley with high level of Calcium carbonate.

The Maycas del Limari was an excellent choice to have with Glazed pigs trotters, as the wine really lifted the flavours of the dish. 

Almaviva 2007 was decanted into 5 diferent decanters 2 hours before dinner, It was a great moment to see Victor doing it!

With the Roasted beef fillet and braised beef rib we had Don Melchor 2008; a classic wine from Puente Alto made with 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc. The wine is rich with lots of intensity- very elegant for a Chilean red. Puente Alto has a fantastic terroir and Cabernet Sauvignon grows really well there. Concha y Toro luckily has a healthy number of Hectares in Puente Alto:  when the Rothschild family visited Puente Alto they found the incredible quality of this soils and asked Concha y Toro to join Almaviva. 

The Don Melchor worked fantastically well with the Roasted beef fillet and braised beef rib because its intensity, really elegant wine with a leathery finish.

After 3 hours of Decanting the 6LT Bottle of Almaviva , we could see how well the wine opened up; it was truly delicious with the selection of cheeses. Almaviva as a wine was the hightlight of the night.

To finish we had a selection of petit foirs with coffee and to compliment, I showed the group the Sauvignon Blanc ‘Late Harvest’, D.O Maule Valley 2010 from Concha y Toro. This wine is made in Maule valley and has 40% bortrytis and a touch of riesling and gewurztraminer. 

The night at Hotel du Vin Tunbridge Wells was very educational as everybody learned about the diversity of Chilean wines.  Not everyone was aware that Riesling and Gewurztraminer are so popular in Chile and the style of the wines goes very well as an aperitif or to complement smoky dishes.

Thanks Victor for this fantastic opportunity to show Concha y Toro wines.