"Sud de France" now in London

Nothing to do with climate change, but a couple of "South of France" wine & food events coming up this weekend. First, there's a Sud de France market this Friday 17th September in Cavendish Square (London W1) in front of the Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon, where you can taste a nice variety of wines from the region and sample olive oils, savoury snacks and biscuits. Wines worth checking out include sparkling Limoux from Sieur d'Arques in the seafood bar, Gérard Bertrand, Skalli, Sainte Cécile du Parc, Mont Tauch (all Languedoc), Domaine du Traginer, Château de Péna and La Coume du Roy (Roussillon - profiles on my other blog). If you miss that, there's another market on Saturday 18th in Duke of York Square, Chelsea. Both part of the "SdF" festival running until 30th September around London: more info @ festival-suddefrance.com. Photo from traginer.fr: profile on JF Deu (bottom right on his mobile!) on FMW, and why not taste his wines at the festival...

Fizz of the moment: Royal Seyssel Brut

Obscure fizz of the moment perhaps: I had to do a google search to get the low-down on this bottle, lonely and neglected as it was on my local supermarket's dusty bottom shelf. Made by Varichon & Clerc from the Altesse variety in the not very well-known (!) Seyssel wine appellation nestling on the Rhone on the way up to the Alps in the Savoy region, this 2004 vintage has 12% alc. and was about €7.50 (latest vintages are dearer). What a find: vintage Champers, eat your heart out. This stuff was tasty and complex with lovely balance of toasty oat-cakey richness, maturing oily texture and refreshingly clean lively and elegant finish. Another quick search on the net also revealed plenty of stockists in the UK and US. Some useful info on this fizz brand can be found on Wink Lorch's blog here, a semi-resident Savoy wine (and Jura actually) knowledgeable person, and @ lambert-de-seyssel.com (the brand owner) where I pinched the picture from.

Pink of the moment: M&S Cape rosé

2009 Cape rosé from Breedekloof region, South Africa, made by Nicolaas Rust (14%) - quite full-on style with rounded oily mouth-feel and underlying "sweet" red berry and cherry fruit; smooth and fairly easy (with food anyway, a bit punchy on its own perhaps) with attractive and off-dry finish. £4.29 Marks & Spencer.

Beer of the moment: Fischer, France

Summer weather usually dictates less red and more white and rosé hues, around Mediterranean parts anyway, and occasionally a smidgeon of refreshingly chilled beer. Many of my favourite French beers come from the Alsace region - and I don't mean that well-known monster brand I won't bother naming - and one in particular, Fischer, always hits the spot. Even if it's now owned and brewed by Heineken, it's much better than most Brit-type lager or US-style 'lite' stuff, although isn't perhaps as characterful as certain Belgian beers or quite as incisively Pilsner-like in that German or Czech way. But their classic Blonde Tradition is consistently tasty and palate-cleansing while being fairly full-bodied too (6% alcohol by volume); and there's a good Ambré beer as well (darker). It also comes in one of those cute bottles with a stopper on a wire type closure.

Costs about €1.75 for a big (two-thirds of a litre) bottle in most French supermarkets (such as Carrefour -- the image was taken from their site), and is widely exported too.