Sake and cheese masterclass at the London Wine Fair

Masterclass on pairing of cheese and sake by Natsuki Kikuy, a well-known senior sake researcher with WSET credentials.

Sake is, of course, the national drink in Japan, we all know that. What many, surprisingly, still don't know is that is is a fermented drink, and not a distilled one. 

Four basic elements go into sake: rice, water, koji and yeast.

 There are about 100 types of sake rice in Japan and several are grown specifically with sake brewing in mind. Water in Japan is also special, it has the least minerals of most other waters in the world. Koji is a mould, also used as condiment with miso etc Finally,  koji yeast is used to break up starch into sugar.

As for sake categories, to put it in simple terms, the popular Junmai means the sake has 50+%plus polish, ie more than half of the rice grain is polished away to leave only the inner core for sake.

For honjozo they add alcohol and achieve a staggering 70% polish rate.

Cheese and sake go well together because they share : fermentation, umami notes and, for both, aging matters.

Following are my tasting notes.

Kisaki sprasu pink sake

Junmai daiginjio 

Sparkling sake, champagne method 

50%pol ratio 

11%abv

Score 89

La tur cheese from Piedmont 

Soft blend cow sheep goat 

Koi Junmai Daiginjio 

17%abv 

Score 92

Secret polishing ratio 

Very smooth long 

Brilliant savarin creamy cheese from burgundy 

Perfect pair by concordance 

Tatsuriki Sakura 

Junmai 65% polish ratio 

15%abv 

Used cherry blossom flower that contains yeast 

Score 89

Dorstone goat cheese from England 

Light fluffy texture 

Niida Shinzenshu 

Kimoto Junmai Genshu

From fukushima 

Polish ratio 80% 16%abv

fruity 

Score 90

Cheese Salers from Auvergne 

Un pasteurized cow milk 

Chunky cheese concordance with thick sake 

Asahizakura ginjio koshu (aged) 1996

Exception as it needs aging while usually sake should not 

Polish ratio 60%

Abv 17%

Color by maillard reaction like for onions,slight toasted bitter nites

Score 88

4yo gouda cheese from Netherlands 

Smooth paste and sake by concordance 

Ebisu Fuku Ume 

Not technically sake 

Made with apricots 

Abv 12%

Aged in brandy casks for 20 years 

Paired by concordance with 

Blue cheese goat gorgonzola from Italy 

Hidden gems of Iberia

 

Eclectic masterclass at the London Wine Fair 2025 focussed on Iberian wines and led by Mercedes Carbajo of Majuelos Iberia.

Below are my tasting notes.

Rias Baixas

Alvinte As Laxas

Crisp, zesty, green apple,

Score 86

Cariñena

Garnacha 

Vaquerizas, tierra de Cubas

Score 85

Catalayud 

las Martas San Gregorio 

Garnacha 

Smooth elegant long 

Score 92

Ribera del Jucar Ramblilla 2022 

bobal grape 

Vega Maragona 

40yo vines 

Structure length 

Needs a few years in bottle

Score 88

Txakoli Zudugarai rosé

Hondarrabi 60% beltza and 40% zuri 

From Basque country, 

Slight effervescent natural 

Score 85

Rioja selection, Jesus Madrazo 2018

Graciano 28% 2% Maturana 70% tempranillo 

Intense aroma, Elegant, structure still rough, needs time 

Score 86

Ribera del Duero - AØ (zero) Ferratus 2020 

Tempranillo 

12 months French oak 

Perfect balance, long ready 

Score 91

Jumilla 2021 

Alceño 12

From area considered kingdom of monastrell (mourvedre), only grape that grows well in the region 

Pre phylloxera vines, climate too tough even for pests!12 months in French and American oak 

Perfect balance, long, ready 

Score 92

Klein Constantia, South Africa

Clara Schnitzler export manager

Small but interesting tasting at the LWF 2025 of a niche South African wine.

Klein Constantia is a  340-year-old winemaker, one of the oldest in South Africa, planted its first vines in 1685 close to ocean. In part for this reason, Muscat first worked well.

In the old days it was a favorite of royals in Europe as well as by the rich in the USA, though it later became more affordable and widespread and thus available to a wider clientele. Jane Austen said it helped heal broken hearts!

Only 11 producers in Constantia valley, smallest region in South Africa.  

Below my tasting notes:

2023 estate 

100% sauvignon blanc 

Fresh salinity, crisp finish yet balanced, mod complex 

Score 88

2019 Clara sauvignon blanc 

After c Eliza hussey, American steel heiress who helped develop KC in 1920s

More floral, more texture, earthy notes 

Score 86

Estate red 2020 

58%cab sauv 

Blend p verdot, malbec, syrah 

Smooth, elegant Perfect balance, mod long, ready

Score 90

2020 Anwilka 

In Stellenbosch 

60% cab sauvignon 

40% syrah 

A bit rough attack, intense red fruits and notes of leather 

Wait 5 years 

Score 88

Vin de Constance 2021 

100% muscat de Frontignan 

Late harvest, pick highly concentrated grapes, no botrytis 

Aged 18 months in mixed old and new French oak 

Marmalade and lichee, moderately long. 

Score 89

Discovering China’s Coastal Terroir in Penglai

Masterclass at the 2025 London Wine Fair with Michael Palin, expert of Italian wine actually who recently discovered Chinese wines, and Sonya Song, founder of Longting, China's leading boutique vineyard by the sea.

We learned how China now boasts 100k hectares of vineyards, roughly the same surface area as in Germany. The huge country can use a huge range of soils, altitude, rainfall, latitude.

Since 2010 push to try different grapes, Marselan and Petit Manseng works well in Shandong in addition to classic Chard and Cabernet Franc 

These are my tasting notes.

Petit Manseng 2022

3 months of oak 

Balance sapidity and smooth ,long

Score 90

Rrp 500 rmb in China 

"Sea breeze" 2020 

Chardonnay 

3 months in New French oak 

Intense aromas Zest almonds 

Score 88

Rrp 600rmb

"Lan" Marselan 2021

Ripe fruit, plum, black cherry, cassis, still rough edges needs time 2 years perhaps

500 rmb

Score 89

Dragon label 2019

Cabernet franc

30 days on skin, plenty of tannins 

Alcohol feel (14.5%)

Needs time

Rrp 2000 rmb almost sold out 8k bottles 

"jade" late harvest petit Manseng 2021

Acidity and smooth ending 

Score 86

Rrp 287 rmb, 7 is her lucky number 

Txakolina wines by Bodegas Virgen de Lorea, Basque country, Spain

Unusual opportunity to taste some wines from a grape variety, and a wine region, that were not known to Roving Somm until now.  In this post I am going to review some wines from the Bodegas Virgen de Lorea, in the Spanish Basque Country. An estate that goes back at least 300 years but that has recently modernized and updated its production, including to organic certification. Twenty-two hectares surrounding the winery produce wines that belong to the Denominacion de origen Bizkaiko (Biscay).

In the video below I had the privilege of interviewing Gorka Zabalbeitia, wine maker of Bodega Virgen de Lorca. Below follow my tasting notes of three txakolina wines that they provided to me for review.

         

Loreako ama (limited edition) 2024

Hondarrabi Zuri grapes

Artistic bottle representing various scenes from the region of production.

single vineyard, 35+ yo vines

Intense aromas of flowers, fresh attack, slightly tingling on the mouth and a moderately long finish

I paired it by contrast with fatty raw salmon and also with mackerel and crab-filled ravioli

Score 91

Aretxaga 2024
Hondarribi Zerratia grapes

A fresh and lightly sparkling wine, citrusy start evolved into herbaceous notes and ends in rounder banana tones. Moderately long finish.

Score 89

I paired Señorio de Otxaran 2023 and Aretxaga 2024 with a Chinese dish of pork belly ad mushrooms to contrast the wines’ freshness with the food's fat and it worked out very well. A touch of truffle oil from organic producer Biosasun completed the successful experiment of the evening.

Señorio de Otxaran 2023

Hondarribi Zerratia grapes

single vineyard, 35+ yo vines

A more complex and round wine than the predecessors, a more structured body that will probably age well for a couple more years in the bottle although all these wines are meant to be drunk fresh out of production.

Score 92

Pork belly rice and black mushrooms Chinese style

Meet the producer: Baglio Diar, Sicily, Italy

Diar's vineyard makes a strong overall impression because they make organic wines which are remarkably stable and balanced. 

It is well known how difficult it is to produce high quality stable and balanced organic wines, and while the Sicilian climate helps only few manage to achieve Diar's qualitative results.

Each Diar bottle recalls Sicilian culture, an emotional connection between the land and some of the people who made Sicily the trailblazer of Italian culture in recent decades.

Sicilian literature figures prominently on all the labels, and as advertised on their website, for the name of our wines they took inspiration from five female characters who appear in the work of Verga and Pirandello, two giants of the island's literature: Fantasia, Nedda, Selene, Velata and  Dida.

One more original and unique way to underline the fact that wine is part of our culture.

Below are my tasting notes for the samples that were kindly provided to Roving Somm.

They also make extra virgin organic olive oil.

Grillo 2023

Grillo is the archetypal grape from the Marsala region, and it is used for the famous fortified wine. It is born from a cross of Inzolia and Catarratto. This bottle is generous with aromas, fresh and well balanced. A stronger character than your typical Grillo, amplified by a good length.

Score 90

Catarratto 2023

Another signature grape from western Sicily. A gentle mix of floral aromas gives way to a well structured palate with good acidity and balance.

Score 90

Zibibbo 2023

Moscato d'Alessandria from Sicily is known around the world for sweet or almost sweet wines, but not only. Diar has produced a dry but smooth wine with a remarkable structural character that does not prevent the emergence of fruit and floral notes. Excellent balance, a constant of Diar, and good length.

Score 91

Syrah 2023

This bottle is not from an indigenous grape variety but it is well known that Syrah (or Shiraz as it is called in some parts of the world) has established its own tradition in Sicily for some time. I paired this smooth and complex wine with saffron rice.

Score 89

Perricone 2023

Intriguing violet color in the glass for this most Sicilian perricone which exudes delicate red fruit aromas and a gentle acidity that makes for a wine ready to drink now. I would recommend cooling this bottle slightly in order to contain its alcoholic exuberance.

Score 91

Inzolia

A lot of character for this inzolia. Nutty notes do not overpower its lively citrusy overtone that confers a pleasant freshness to the palate. An excellent, versatile wine for Summer dishes in the warm Sicilian climate.

Score 90

Rosé

To complete the range here is a bottle of rosé made with nero d'Avola grapes. This is an easy wine, dry but with a touch of candy flavors that linger in the palate. I can see this for a Summer garden party, served well chilled as aperitif.

Score 80

Meet the producer: Zonin, Veneto and Tuscany

London offers a boundless range of opportunities for the wine trade and we wine writers are lucky to have access to superb opportunities to develop our palates and our skills. It is impossible to attend even a small fraction of all the available events, so I have decided to prioritize those that offer masterclasses. This is always a more structured and educational opportunity to learn than the free pours where even the most meticulous taster can easily become overwhelmed.

The UK Sommelier Association, expertly led by Andrea Rinaldi with a passionate deputy and indefatigable event organizer in Federica Zanghirella is a leader is organizing highly instructive master classes.

Here below my notes about two such pearls that revolved around the production of the Zonin house, originally from Venetia, where they still make the bulk of their wines, but now well established in Tuscany as well.

 

Thanks to Andrea Rinaldi always my mentor at AIS in the UK.

Masterclass 1: Ca' Bolani whites: Opimio Pinot Bianco and Aquilis Sauvignon.

Christopher Burr, Federica Zanghirella presenting with Roberto Marcolini, winemaker of Ca' Bolani

Zonin is based in Venetia, in the heart of the Aquileia DOC region. Here people have made wine for over 3000 years, started well before Romans who however developed viticulture in a systematic way.

There are now 570 hectares of vines, mostly 5,000 vines per hectare.

The area is protected between sea and mountain, and the trademark bora wind regularly dries the air, which is of course good for viticulture. Significant day night temperature variations create good condition for ripening. Very diverse soils over estate.

Flight 1: Optimio, 100% pinot bianco

The names comes from a Roman consul who was well known for the good wines produced under his rule. In Venetia, as in most of Italy and indeed Europe, the Romans were pioneers of viticulture, expanding and developing what they learned from the Greeks and the Phoenicians.

We tasted three vintages of this underrated grape, which I love because it is a versatile wine, unpretentious but always surprisingly well versed to match medium structured food. Besides the obvious fish and white meat dishes you can have these with medium aged cheese and some Indian masala recipes or southern Chinese sweet and sour dishes. I'd like to try it with dim sum from Guangzhou or Honk Kong. 

2020

Pinot bianco, smooth with lingering freshness, moderately long

Ready now might benefit from a couple of further years of evolution in the bottle 

Score 88

2018 

Smoother than 2020 still good freshness. Drink now

Score 89

2016

Unsurprisingly the most evolved, smoothest and most complex and long of the trio.

Score 90

Flight 2. Aquilis sauvignon blanc Friuli Doc 

2018

A surprising sauvignon with nutty and vanilla notes that make it a unique interpretation of this classic grape. Complex and long. 

Score 92

2016 

A more evolved bottle, smoothness is raised to higher levels to the point of making an elegant wine with a mouthful of complex sensations. 

Score 93

2014 

Mature long complex 

Score 94

Thanks to my teacher Federica Zanghirella for introducing the day's food and wine pairing combination and the eccentric exhibition by Christopher Burr 

Masterclass 2: A culinary trip in Tuscany with the most iconic wines of Castello di Albola paired with traditional Tuscan dishes by Executive Chef Giovanni Zagni.

Castello di Albola is owned by the Zonin house since 1979. It now has a substantial 900 hectares of farms, but only 110 of these are vineyards. Mostly work on single vineyard wines. They started organic conversion in 2016, and it is now completed. They claim to fame as pioneers in respecting environmental, social (employment condition) as well as economic sustainability. 

Poggio alle Fate 2022 

Chardonnay 

Strong acidity attack but evolves in the mouth to a perfectly balanced and long wine. 

Paired with pappa al pomodoro. 

Paired by concordance of medium structure and contrast of acidity with sweet tendency of the tomato. 

Score 91

Chianti classico 2023 

sangiovese

Again with pappa al pomodoro 

Still young, tannins need a bit of time in the bottle.

Tannins contrast well with tomatoes but slightly overwhelm their sweet tendency.

Score 88

Chianti classico riserva 2021

sangiovese

A majestic Chianti, ready but with a few years of evolution potential. 

Matched with vegetarian ribollita, good concordance pairing between moderate tannins and moderately structured food with delicate sweet tendency. 

Score 92

Il Solatìo 2019 gran selezione

sangiovese 

Powerful elegant chianti, absolutely ready now with balance and good length. 

Paired with pici alla buttera (homemade pasta with ragoût and black olives) 

Score 91

Acciaiolo 2016

cabernet sauvignon 80% sangiovese 20%

First harvest 1988, one of the original "Super Tuscans"

Ready masterpiece, perfect balance and length 

Paired with pappardelle al cinghiale, concordance of strong structures and contrast of tannins with fatty sauce. A harmonious wine.

Score 95

Vin santo 2010 

Trebbiano and malvasia

Harvested late, in October.

Dried on racks, pressed in December, obviously very little yield. 

Almonds orange peel notes. Sink cantucci biscuits, or similar dry biscuits with nuts, in this wine. 

Score 93

Meet the producer: Clos Mont Blanc, Catalunya, Spain

This post is the result of a meeting with Clos Montblanc of Catalunya at the online fair organized by Onvinum in February 2024 and I am grateful to the producer for the samples received which I tested and paired as noted below.

Unic 2022

Chardonnay 100%
A mellow chardonnay, round and balanced. I paired it with tomato sauce pasta with Spanish tuna and the moderate structure of both food and wine went well even though I would have liked a bit more acidity.
Score 83

Xipella 2023

An eclectic blend, Xipella makes for an honest straightforward wine that will go down well with a wide range of food pairings and consumers. This wine is balanced, moderately long and ticks all the boxes for a pleasant drink that is perfect now with the coming of Spring. It does not strike me for its freshness or for its complexity and this is why the first work that came to mind was straightforward. I paired it with spaghetti and mussels and it was a successful marriage in that both wine and food proposed medium structure and the moderate acidity did not overwhelm the sapid flavor of the seafood.  Enjoy it without thinking too much about it! Score 87

Xipella 2019

Carinena, cab sauvignon and syrah for this well balanced wine with a nore of ripe red fruits, and a palate with notes of chocolate. Well rounded tannins, long finish. I paired with Chinese oily tofu and it worked well, both dishes offering moderate structure and the gentle tannins contrasted amicably with the oiliness of the tofu. Score 90.

Chinese oily tofu with spring onions and asparagus

Inici 2018
garnacha negra 79%, cab sauvignon 21% in organic production

An elegant wine, perfectly balanced, complex and long. A rare gem with less than 3000 bottles produced.

Score 92

G de Gourmand 2021

A fruity and fresh wine despite the old vines (30+ years), almost delicate. I paired it with pizza.

Score 86