New Arrivals!

After all the team tastings we have been having recently we are now starting to receive (in stock) a large number of new wines to our portfolio and these are also being added to the website for you to purchase online. There are some really cracking wines and we are really proud of them. The focus has been on buying wines that are exceptional value for money and as well as super quality. The team have really been enjoying helping to choose the wines we sell and it is certainly very pleasing to see the enthusiasm conveyed in the shop. Well done to the team and we hope you take the opportunity to try out some of the new wines.

Jane

Apologies....we went offline for about 45 minutes today

If anyone who reads this and tried to access our site earlier today, I would like to apologise as our site went offline for approximately 45 minutes. Unfortunately, our hosts, Webreality experienced a major server problem which casued the problem. Thankfully, they got things up and running very quickly again and everything is running smoothly again. I hope it didn't cause you too much inconvenience.

Jane

New vehicle and window vinyls and some changes in the shop!

Hello again. We have finally updated our roadside shop vinyls today (the old ones were really old and out of date) and they're now much more in keeping with how we are as a company now. The central areas will then be used for display and further promotional vinyls. Let us know what you think. Also, some of our company vehicles have or will be having new vinyls applied. We have come to realise over the past couple of years how important vehicle advertising is and how it has helped our company to develop and grow. We have now taken the vinyl designs much further and have chosen a bold new look with the help of our fantastic designer, Mark. Jane's car has just been done and Signtech have done an amazing job (huge thanks to their team). The design is (hopefully, you will agree) very eye-catching! Judging by the looks the car got on the school run today, we hope that they will be worth it!

We have also been making some changes in the shop in the way that our cases of wine are displayed and stored. Neil's brother and niece, Ian and Leanne Pinel have worked their magic again over the past week and created some excellent shelving units down each aisle which will certainly help our staff but will also allow the customer to easily find and pick up a case of their favourite wine without the worry of cases/stacks falling. We hope you like the changes!

Here we go again!

Tonight Jane and I have the awful task of food & wine matching again. Liz and I popped to Feast at lunchtime to try the sea-bass dish that we are having on Thursday night at their 'Fresh Fish' food & wine dinner. We took several possible white wine matches and found a great one, but just as we thought we had cracked it I threw a spanner in the works by saying that I thought we needed a red aswell. So tonight its sea bass again with a couple of cracking Pinots.........I think i'm going to explode.
Neil

What a job!

We have been working really hard in the background to integrate the website with our Epos systems at Dunell's so that the stock level and the prices online are matched daily with those in-store. This has been a huge undertaking for the team at Webreality, the team from Minipos and for myself (with some help from Alick) but we have finally done it and it will make a huge difference to everyone involved including our customers. Huge thanks to Webreality and Minipos!

Jane

A quick bite to eat at Danny's, St. Aubins

Bruce Kendrick from Liberty Wines UK travelled to Jersey again yesterday for another team tasting. For a £60 round trip flight he did rather well after taking off from Manchester at 7.30am only to end up circling around Jersey for over an hour and ending up back in Gatwick to refuel. He finally arrived in Jersey in time for lunch. Not bad for £60! He deserved a glass of wine and some good food for that so we headed to Danny's in St. Aubin. For those who don't know, this restaurant is located at Harbour View (next door to The Salty Dog) and opened for business on 1st March 2009. Please click here to view Danny's Blog.

Having chosen Dunell's to supply his wines (which we are delighted about), we have been working hard to create a list that matches well with his expressive food creations. This has involved a number of taste tests and a few outings for lunch and dinner (shame....I hear you cry!) but we are now really happy with the list and we highly recommend that you get yourself down there and try it out.

Lunch today was lovely and teamed up superbly with the Mount Difficulty 'Roaring Meg' Pinot Gris which we have recently added to our portfolio. This wine is outstanding and worked perfectly with the Tempura Veg Stack 'Fire & Ice' with amazing Chilli and Minty Cooler which we all adored. This just has to be one of the best vegetarian dishes in Jersey. You have to try it; superbly presented and gorgeous flavours. Next three of us had Danny's Duck with roasted chorizo and I opted for the Chicken with Pancetta and Mash. All excellent. We were all full by now but Danny tempted us with dessert and having been recommended Danny's special Date and Espesso Sticky Toffee Pudding by Liz who had had it before, Neil and I shared one. It was amazing and it was quickly gobbled up.

Feeling really full now, it was time to leave to try out the 12 wines Bruce had organised for the team tasting...... Click here to see our tasting notes.

Thanks to Danny and David Haynes, the Head Chef, for a great meal - we'll be back very soon!

Unfortunately, Bruce never made it home that night due to the fog but did get to stay at the lovely Somerville Hotel for the night!

An incredible Italian Food and Wine Dinner at The Salty Dog

Italian Food and Wine Dinner 5th March 2009

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Natalie, Damon, Rachel, Mark and all the team at The Salty Dog Bar and Bistro for what is undoubtedly one of our most incredible food and wine dinners EVER! Having previously matched the wine and food at a pre tasting dinner at Natalie and Damon's house, we knew we were in for a great night but the night exceeded even those expectations. The Salty Dog service was impeccable, perfectly timed and the food and wine outstanding. Everyone was extremely complimentary. We could not have wished for more and can not wait to do another.

Unfortunately not many of my photos were good enought to insert here but I have included pictures of two of the dishes.

Involtini Stuffed with Wild Mushrooms and Baby Spinach with Sweet Potato Gnocchi & Parmesan was served with the Antinori Cabernet/Merlot 'Il Bruciato' Guado al Tasso 2005

Limoncello Panacotta served Maculan Moscato Dindarello 2007

The most amazing food and wine match was this panacotta with the Dinderello. I want the recipe!!!!.........pretty please???

THANK YOU!

Click here to go to The Salty Dog Website

A very successful South African Food and Wine Dinner at Feast, Gorey 26th February 2009

We would like to take this opportunity to say huge thanks to Annie and the team at Feast, Gorey, for a stunning South African food and wine dinner on 26th February.

The food and service were perfect and it was lovely to have such a great atmosphere (the SA flag decorations really added that special touch!!). The wines went down really well and it was great to get everyone's opinions. The Wild Rush Red, one of our biggest selling wines drank superbly, as did the The Good Hope Winery's Chenin Blanc and the dessert wine from Paul Cluver. A great success!!

We are very much looking forward to hosting the dinner there on 19th March where we team up with Neil's Auntie and Uncle from The Fresh Fish Company to showcase some fantastic wines with fish.

Thank you! Click here to go to Feast's Website

Snow Covered Massaya Vineyards

Received this lovely picture from Sami Ghosn of Tanail Winery (Massaya wines), Lebanon, showing snow on their vines on 3rd March 2009. Gorgeous isn't it?

Jane