An Italian Evening

A real treat yesterday, for Christmas our children gave us an Italian wine and food tasting session in Leeds. To ensure that there was not a designated driver they added a night in a hotel, so the complete menu for a great evening. The wine tasting was organised by the Yorkshire Wine School, an organisation that we have used before and which provides consistently informative and enjoyable sessions.

Last night was to be no exception. Nine of us gathered at Livin Italy restaurant on Granary Wharf in Leeds. The restaurant was humming and incidentally the food that was being served looked great. The format is that the host, Laura – no not that Laura, pours six wines and then takes the group through each one. So you find out a little about the region where they come from, the grapes, and even a little about the producer. The value is that you learn things that make your next purchase more informed. I for one know little of Italian wines beyond the usual Chianti with a pizza. So I learnt that a Barbarossa is really the same as a Barolo, but comes from across the valley and is equally as good.

The restaurant served food to accompany the wine, and it was here that interesting tastes were discovered. So we had anchovies, which went brilliantly with a heavy tannic red wine. The salty taste of the anchovies was really accentuated by the red. I loved all of the reds; the two whites were in my opinion more mediocre. Marion loved the whites, so it just goes to show that taste is a very personal thing.

It was interesting hearing other people’s views, which of course became more and more interesting as the evening progressed. The great thing was that we then only had a few hundred yards to walk to our hotel. We stayed at 42 The Calls that is a converted warehouse by the canal. The room was lovely, we slept like logs (I deny that this was anything to do with the wine), and above all the shower was fantastic.

So a great Christmas present that gave us a really good interesting day out. Looking forward to the Battle of the Beers with Thomas at the end of the month.