Food & Drink

Saturday 30 April Tavistock Street Food Festival

Shelve the diet for another time and join us for a temptingly, tasty time in Tavistock. We’re bringing a host of street foods and drinks, many from local producers, for a delectable evening of food, drink and music in Tavistock’s historic and very beautiful Bedford Square. An array of mouthwatering street food will be on offer, including seafood, vegan, posh hotdogs, Mediterranean, Jamaican, and lots, lots more. Meet friends and family for a scrummy Saturday evening, grab some food, find a sunny spot, laugh, dance, hug (safely), and have some fun. Try new foods and chill whilst listening to live music – drink in hand, naturally! From 5pm in Bedford Square, Tavistock; entry is free and there’s loads of free parking nearby and plenty of space for social distancing too.

Friday 27 to Sunday 29 May Plymouth Flavour Fest

Foodie fans are in for a real treat this year - Flavour Fest is the South West’s largest free food and drink festival, and brings hundreds of local producers together, offering an extensive range of produce for sale, as well as a wide variety of delicious street food. In addition, regional cookery stars will be demonstrating their skills as they cook up some tasty treats on the chef stage. Showcasing local cookery talent as well as some of the region’s best food producers this ever-growing food festival in Plymouth’s city centre piazza is a great day out. For more details, please go to visitplymouth.co.uk

History Tour Tuesday 12th April Take a step back into the Jacobean and Victorian era and explore the fascinating history of the Manor with proprietor Sue Murray. 10.30am: Arrival, 1pm: 2 Course Lunch £35.00 per person

How to pair your wine and chocolate this Easter

This year I’m looking at what we eat most at Easter. It’s not roast lamb. Nope, not hot cross buns - chocolate! It’s shocking how easy it is to take two such delicious things and end up going ‘yuck!’ - so here’s a guide to which wines to enjoy with your chocolate, be it pudding, brownie or Easter egg! Texture is important. Most chocolate is silky smooth, so soft, velvety wines are your friends! Also, there’s a ‘rule’ that wines should be sweeter than desserts, and so it is with chocolate - mostly! Ripe, full and fruity wine often gets described as sweet even when it’s not - we just perceive it that way. Real or perceived, sweetness offsets natural bitterness in chocolate. Chocolate and wine need to be equal in terms of intensity. If you were doing a tasting with just chocolates and wines, you would start with light (white) chocolate, then milk chocolate and finally dark, bitter, high-cocoacontent stuff. White chocolate is usually not ‘real’ chocolate as it doesn’t normally contain cocoa. Matches here are wines that are light in body and sweet - sweet Riesling for example. Slightly sweet Rosé d’Anjou will work, as would White Zinfandel (it’s pink!) and notably sweeter. Fizz lovers will enjoy sparkling Moscato d’Asti. These work because sweet wines are balanced with acidity, which keeps your mouth fresh, cleaning away the sticky chocolate (as do bubbles). Milk chocolate is creamier, with more mellow flavours. Proportionately, chocolate and cream are roughly 50/50, so a medium bodied wine with some ripe fruit character will balance this out. Ruby port is a favourite, but some Pinot Noir and lighter Merlot can be great. The adventurous amongst you might try a Gewurztraminer from Alsace or Chile!

Dark chocolate merits flavoursome, fullbodied wine - big Zinfandels (Primitivo in Italian), fruity Cabernet Sauvignon and the weightier Merlots. Choose wines with plenty of fruit though - very tannic wine will emphasise the bitterness in the cocoa and feel ‘hard’ in the mouth. Intensely sweet ‘PX’ (Pedro Ximinez), and Rutherglen Muscat - from Spain and Australia respectively - are some of the sweetest wines in the world, and bring nuttiness, rich fruit, caramel and coffee notes that complement the chocolate’s dark notes and offset the bitterness beautifully. These are wines for sipping!

Two last thoughts. If you’re a real fan of white chocolate, try it with a good Pinot Noir. It’s such an unexpected match it’ll make you look confused for a moment - but it’s worth it! The fat in the ‘chocolate’ does what the fat in rich meats does, releasing the wine’s intense fruitiness. Finally, no I can’t really help you with After Eights - you’re on your own there! Happy Easter from all of us at SW Bottleshop!

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