Odd name, secret(ish) intentions - a new addition to the internet wine scene is about to be launched. There has been a little twitter buzz concerning the 'Haidu revolution', its launch has been announced as the 1st of August.

Rather than dismissing yet another "wine lifestyle network" - think Snooth, Adegga and another launching soon idea, DrinkPrice - lets see what they say there "absurdly ambitious project" will be offering:

"Some specifics: hundreds of winery websites worldwide, global Wine Dining Guide & Events Calendar, Magazine & Blogs, MyHaidu (a sort of a social network, though the Haidu folks don't like to define it like that) and websites of key players of the wine trade, from event organizers, through wine schools and universities, traders & merchants, wine tourism agencies - the list just doesn't end...

Haidu offers wine lovers around the world relevant, practical information to discover and plan their next wine experience, to expand their wine horizons.

Let's say you think about traveling to Mosel Valley for your vacance. You simply type Mosel Valley in Haidu.net search window (in its clean & elegant homepage) and before your eyes unveils a list of the valley's wineries, 'wine-friendly' restaurants, wine-related events, magazine articles & blog posts about Mosel. You can quickly tag the entities to your liking with vacance 2011 and they are automatically saved to a specified folder in your MyHaidu universe"

Easy to deduce then that Haidu will be offering a heck of a lot more than a wine tasting database. All the Haidu information is drawn from the "players themselves"

"The wineries manage their own websites, the event organizers publish their own events, even the restaurants create their own sites around Haidu's review of them. All this guarantees clean, reliable information, without any middleman distortion"

The social aspects haven't been ignored as you will be able to share, highlight, follow and receive updates from each section. There is of course going to be a Haidu iPhone App.

Just a few days then before we can all explore and engage further...

To conclude the Venice trip a quick over-view of the Bisol wines currently available in the UK. Head to Bibendum to purchase or look out for them in decent restaurants - the Jaio especially seems to find favour with many restaurateurs. (Bisol make a wide range of different wines, many I sampled at their Gustovino event, but these have limited distribution around the world).

Desiderio Jeio, rounded, appley, peachy, flowery-fragrant it might be but it is not actually 100% Prosecco! No, I hear you cry! Yes, says I. Along with 90% Prosecco there is 6% Pinot Bianco and 4% Verdiso. Its fresh, light and with bubbles aplenty. Lively and with a dash of sweetness to give a lovely rounded mouth feel and crowd-pleasing drinkability. Great for cocktails in addition to being a canapé accompaniment. Alcohol 11.5%. [Adegga / Snooth]

The Crede, the work-horse Prosecco, is also a blend. Here extra Pinot Bianco (10%) and 5% Verdiso lend a more stylish edge to the wine. Still with that trademark peachy-flowery nose and apply flavours coupled with the vibrant fizz. Alcohol 11.5%. This is the wine for making those quintessential peach Bellinis although its lovely straight with or without food. Alcohol 11.5%. Vintage 2009. [Adegga / Snooth]

The Cartizze hill, the highly expensive slopes of which produce the crème of the Prosecco producers range, supplies the grapes for Bisol's Cartizze botteling (unsurprisingly). This is 100% Prosecco and the sweetest of the three. (25g per litre for the technical minded compared with 9g in the Jeio and 10g in the Crede). You have to be a little judicious when pairing with food - while it has a modicum of sweetness it isn't enough to accommodate really sweet desserts - think lighter fruit-based fare or simple biscuits. The limited production from the Cartizze hill is responsible for the high bottle price but this has to be my favourite Prosecco of the three. This is the 2009 vintage. Alcohol 11.5% [Adegga / Snooth

To be honest a dish comprising goats cheese and baked apple would lead one to select a white wine - a South African Chenin Blanc, a Riesling from Alsace or, perhaps, a New Zealand Sauvingon Blanc. But a red wine? And one made from Merlot and Syrah? Probably not.

But this is exactly what Hix and Buck are recommending to accompany a dish of Baked Apple with Melted Goats Cheese, Potato Galette with Walnut Balsamic Dressing; the wine being their its Mas d'Intras Cuvée d'Alphonse 2007 Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l'Ardèche.

The dish was created by Sebastien Gagnbe Head Chef of Perfect Blend the "south London café, bar and restaurant". Hix and co had sent over a bottle so a try-out was in order.

The dish (recipe below) was fine, despite my disaster with getting the 'petals' of the galette to stick together (how do you do that??), resulted in a tasty, if light dinner. (More suited to a starter or lunch dish perhaps). But paired with the wine? And the wine itself, basking in Southern French rusticity was firm, strong and flavoursome in a red fruits and spice manner. But really, matching with sweetened apples and a salad? Not for me I'm afraid. My thoughts move to wild boar sausages or barbequed lamb burgers.

Hix & Buck is an importer of wine. Its aim is to bring good quality wines to the UK from undiscovered vineyards in Europe. In the spirit of discovery, the company's ambition is to surprise and delight the wine lover with unknown wines whilst offering them great value.

The wines are brought to the UK exclusively by Hix & Buck. The founders, Chix Chandaria and Dan Roebuck, are passionate about finding small producers, often with a family history of viniculture going back centuries, and bringing that wine, with its authentic qualities and characteristics, over here.

SPECIAL READER OFFER: All readers of Spittoon are offered 15% off their first 6 bottle case purchase at Hix and Buck an offer not restricted to the Alphonse detailed above. The promotion includes free delivery. Use the voucher code 'undiscovered'.

A Press Release highlighting a new wine book: The Wine Opus. A mighty selecion of wine writers have contributed to the book including Sarah Ahmed on the Loire Valley, Tyler Colman on Beaujolais and the Loire Valley, Wink Lorch with the Jura and Savoie, Sarah Jane Evans MW who wrote the bits on Spain and David Furer with Benelux, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, and Georgia. There is also Alder Yarrow who covered Sonoma and Marin, oh and a little bit by me.

"The Wine Opus (published by DK, October 2010) harnesses the talent and opinions of a new generation of young wine writers to help you choose the best wines. Over 30 specialists have selected the 4,000 best wineries in the world and their trophy wines. Read their recommendations, from the Rhône to Rioja, from Napa to New Zealand, and from the Mosel to Mendoza in Argentina, and you will never buy bad wine again.

The Wine Opus is the most ambitious illustrated wine reference to be written in the last 20 years. It is contemporary, covering the emerging wine regions and rising star wineries as well as well-established wine countries and their producers. It is comprehensive, giving insightful overviews of every significant wine region in the world. It is accessible, with its 100-word profiles of the 4,000 recommended wineries and their wine styles. And it is elegant, with its contemporary page design, 45 colourful maps of wine regions to tour, and stunning photography of winery landscapes.

Many of the writers featured in The Wine Opus are young, with a taste for adventure that drives them to discover new wine-makers - and reject those whose standards have slipped. They are wine bloggers, book authors, newspaper and magazine journalists; others are television broadcasters, Masters of Wine, and a few are winemakers themselves. Each writer has an intimate knowledge on his or her region and has recently tasted all the wines they recommend.

Their criteria for including a winery in the book were:

Top Winery
• Makes wine of very high or outstanding quality
• Has a long track record for quality relative to its region
• Makes well-known collectible or special occasion wines
• Is a leader in its region in grape-growing and/or winemaking techniques
• Performs particularly well in a special wine category

Rising Star Winery
• Makes wine of very high or outstanding quality
• Shows potential to be tomorrow's classic winery
• Has been innovative in choice of variety, grape-growing and/or winemaking techniques
• May have a great price/quality ratio

If you enjoy drinking good wine, The Wine Opus gives you the names you need to know and introduces you to the new world of wine."

The Wine Opus is published by DK on 1st October 2010 price: £50 although Amazon are currently listing the The Wine Opus at a pre-order price of £37.50.

Get yourself out on the restaurant terrace at Danieli's for an early evening bellini. It WILL be expensive; hey someone has to pay for the upkeep on all that 18th century dandy-camp decor downstairs. It's famously decadent. You could eat at Danieli's too; but jeez just look at those prices! This being Venice the view is spell-bindingly magical of course. At night it looks like this...

And, before I upset anyone even more, the bellini is made from Bisol Prosecco and fresh peaches...

The lagoon surrounded city offers a host of eateries - more informal restaurants than Danieli's many offering damn decent Cichetti, the Italian equivalent of Spanish Tapas.

You could join the tourist throngs with their picture menus if you like, but that's not for me. I'd prefer a little local action even if this means an embarrassing struggle with the lingo, pointing and manic 'tourist abroad' smiling at the unusual shell-encased dishes behind the counter-glass or eccentric wine bottles on the shelves behind.

Local is good. More so when you realise that most of the other patrons are locals too.

I hear more than one visitor has suffered extreme disorientation trying to locate some of these little gems (or was it just the hotel, Douglas? excellent write-up though). A decent map or a guide might be useful - those Iphone-possessors should utilise a superb little English language app that I played with while in Venice (TapVenice).

From the S. Lucia railway station and Scalzi Church cross over the Grand Canal via the Scalzi Bridge, wander down to the left passing the church of S. Simeon Piccoto, turn left at the little bridge and walk down to Fondamenta Minotto and you are there! Yeh, you need a map! Ristorante Ribot (Santa Croce 158, Fondamenta Minotto, Rio del Gaffaro, 30124 Venice) has an attractive wine shop attached, a magnet in itself, but the relaxing, covered rose garden at the back is well worth trying to get a table in. If you know the right nod and can wink meaningfully you might be lucky in being given access to a 'secret wine list' - this includes a whole raft of older vintages of Sassicia for example and other very limited gems.

No producers obviously - the wines were picked from a chalked list on the side wall - but a nicely perfumed Gewurztraminer and a glass of Tocai Friulano were procured at Bacaro da Fiore. The latter wine all fruity-minerality and the better match to the freshest plate of prawns I've enjoyed since Madrid and to a fine plate of fried courgette flowers. At a corner table a huge bowl of tiny welk-like shellfish was devoured by two youngsters; they do a lot of odd shellfish do the Venetians apparently.

Bacaro de Fiore - described as a half-taven, half-bar - specialises in just the wines of the Triveneto (that's the land immediately behind Venice covering the Alto-Adige, Trentino, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and the Veneto itself). It's a tiny place down the narrow Calle de Le Botteghe, right opposite our hotel the Locanda Art Deco (and I do loves me a bit of Art Deco! and with rooms like these would you want to stay anywhere else?). I would have been happy to stay at Fiore all evening, sampling the rest of the wine list and those tempting cichetti... but no, onward...

More local, city-rustic character can be found in Trattoria Ca'D'Oro "Alla Vedova" (Cannaregi 3912). A few steps from the water taxi stop of Ca D'Doro. A great atmosphere, lovely, value-packed cicheto, a little warren of rooms packed full of food and wine related artefacts hanging from the ceiling and covering the shelves. The food and wine are the stars here the place being famous for their polpetti (meatballs). Perhaps here would be a good place to spend the evening...

I'm not really that acquainted with the wine shelves of Morrison's; even less with the Sun newspaper. But each day this week the Sun is giving away £5 Morrison vouchers to its readers (valid with a spend over £40) with a total of £30 in savings spread over the summer.

A little challenge was set for me - given £30 of vouchers which Morrison wines would I buy?

It being summer and all the choice would be light, refreshing, easy drinking reds, decent crisp whites and obviously a rosé or two. This selection is of untried wines; I've no idea if they are good value for money, good drinking or otherwise.

Having had problems in trying to access the wine list on the Morrison's website ("Sorry the page you have requested does not seem to be available" - on ALL the wines pages??) I'm selecting these off a word document so pricing is a touch vague... but one soldiers on in the face of such adversity...

Firstly a red, something light that could be chilled? Possibly, with the Orsola Valpolicella (£3.98), but I'd rather sample a New Zealand Pinot Noir - so how about the Ara Pathway Pinot Noir? It comes in under a tenner...

No problems over here of being seen drinking a rosé. Slightly particular in which mind; it has to be dry for a start and while I'm not so fussy on where it comes from I been discovering some fine examples from Spain of late. So how about the Los Vividores Rosé with its "Vibrant colour, lots of lively aromas of tomato and asparagus" or the Penrosa Rosé from Castilla Leon "Strawberry pink wine with an aroma of ripe, soft, red & black fruit. Soft & full in the mouth". Perhaps the £30 budget limit could accommodate both?

And a white... a Sauvignon Blanc beckons and while the both the Seifried (£8.99) and the Sacred Hill (£6.98) Sauvingons are mightily attractive and having already picked a wine from New Zealand it could mean the Spier Sauvignon from South Africa would be plonked into the virtual basket.

Another choice of white could be the slightly odd-ball Repertoire White "The Gros Manseng grape gives tangy, apricot & peach flavours with a gloriously refreshing citrussy finish" or the Rully Blanc "Gorgeous pineapple & tropical fruit aromas lead in to opulent buttery flavours with a lemony finish". No producer mentioned though.

But after mulling and playing with the calculator the £30 is spent on the following:

• Ara Padthway Pinot Noir,New Zealand £9.99


• Los Vidores Rosé, Spain £5


• Seifried Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand £6.98


• Rully Blanc, France £8.99

Which comes in at a smidge over £30 but as Morrison's also run an offer in which, when you buy four bottles you will get 10% off, the final bill comes in at £27.87.

Has it really been four years since that exceptional helicopter ride over the Italian Prosecco vineyards and Bisol's winery? A return visit, via the islands of Venice, Mazzorbo and Burano was more than welcome.

Each year the Bisol clan treats the locals to a little food and wine fair - Gustovino. A seemingly never ending pour from the full Bisol wine range (several not available in the UK) available to enjoy between the vineyards and an opportunity for me to, yet again, clamper ungracefully onto a horse.

Actually getting on was easier, the widespread titters and my flushed face emphasising the undignified disembarkation. Bloody gravity. Bloody stirrups. One numb bum and a hot trot through the vines gives one a thirst that only Prosecco can quench.

The last visit included a stay in the Bisol guest house. Reading back the posts from those early blogging days are rather embarrassing in the way they are incredibly brief and not really enthusing or explaining (or offering enough photographs) on how relaxing the guest house (Relais Duca di Dolle) is, how easily reachable from Venice, and how the region offers a host of excellent eateries - Gigettos for example or in Rolle, a pleasant winding walk from the guest house, is Andretta with its wonderful open terrace with views down the valley and Il Monestero, a more rustic experience with a chef who makes up a menu each day depending on his whim and the seasonal availability of produce.

Like connect 4 on steroids - the view you are presented with on the FindWine website is a grid of coloured circles that bouncing and swivelling into play as the page loads. Roll the mouse over and they twirl in an attractive way to reveal a little bottle. This is where you consume the FindWine product list. Colourful, interactive, and intuitive. Certainly fun and innovative. Beats the dull old side bar country list of most retailers any day!

This wine grid is split horizontally by price brand and vertically by colour and style. A £9-£12 sophisticated red? That'll be the Dominio Kasierpe Flor de Lasierpe Reserva 2000 from Navarra in Spain (£9.99). A £7-£9 filthy rich white? For you sir, that'll be the Last Stand Unoaked Chardonnay, 2008, from South Australia at £5.99. Click the small circle and up pops a larger display with wine details and price. Small tabs also link to 'customer reviews' and offer details. Runs beautifully smoothly on my Windows 7 system; but how would those on older machines with lesser graphic cards or those without flash fare I wonder?

The six price bands and eight style categories does limit the company to selling just 48 wines at a time. Since my first look however a new column has been added - 'Phenomenal Favourites' boosting the range to 54. This column add-on ruins the effect somewhat though in that you don't know if they are red/white/rosé or fizz. Limiting the range offered does allow a constantly changing range, small parcels and so on.

Despite the limitations I love the ease and graphical-ness of this page. This innovative approach doesn't extend to the fine wine section or the special offers page though - back to a 'traditional' list and drop down menu selections sadly. The fine wine section currently offers a good selection of Australian reds in the £30+ range (including a spread of older vintages of the D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz) and various clarets from the 1980's.

"Everybody should enjoy drinking wine. Instead of worrying about countries or grapes you just have to choose which style of wine you want to drink and how much you want to spend. Then trust us to provide brilliant, delicious and interesting wines you may never have considered before."

There is a blog attached to the site - but MH you need an RSS feed my friend! Interestingly the latest post pays homage to the other innovative online wine merchant Naked Wines.

"A lot of people ask me where the idea for Find Wine came from. The answer, rather boringly, is that I don't really know. It came out a lot of conversation between me, John and plenty of other people, the most influential of which was Mike Awin from ABS Wine Agencies, who has always been a great believer in what we are trying to do with Find Wine.

However throughout all of our planning there was one case study that we kept coming back to as the best online wine merchant and that was Naked Wines....

Naked are most certainly doing a fantastic job of shaking up the wine trade and I will certainly be keeping an eye their success as it grows and grows. And trying to work out how I can even begin to compete!"

While the wine should be centre stage for any retailer it is often the little touches that attract to a website, nudge the bunches of grapes in the logo for example and refreshing to see Fine Wine acknowledging the competition via a blog, Innovation hasn't yet reached a conclusion - video clips are promised. There is room for more than one Naked Wines, Find Wine is off to a great beginning.

I'm not a sportsman but even I heard that South Africa were kicked out of the World Cup (they were, right? and the less said about England...) but that really shouldn't be a bar to celebrating all things SA, even if you are not really into football!

A sample of this new South African brandy came my way last week accompanied by a little cocktail recipe. Not expecting much I gave the cocktail a try out - wow! Combined with the glorious summer we are experiencing in the UK this can only be described as a thirst-quenching wonder. Some may say this is even more drinkable than the ubiquitous summer Pimms!

African Mishale is from the KWV operation in the Western Cape. Would your life be improved if you were enlightened that it is blended from double distilled pot still and column still brandies? Probably not. More interesting is the specific that the cocktail recipe, African Spice, was created by London Barman Gerry Calabrese of the Hoxton Pony, EC2.

Its highly drinkable, as the now empty bottle of Mishale indicates, and we did have to substitute the suggested Vanilla Sugar/Vanilla Syrup with plain old sugar syrup but this worked a treat.

African Mishale Brandy is available from the re-emerged Wine Racks 17-store chain. Normally retailing for £13.49 it is currently on offer until the 18th July 2010 at £9.49.

"Named after the word 'spear' in Swahili, Mishale is pronounced mi-sha-lay. Bright and golden it's a proud blend of brave African spirit and the fine tradition of brandy distilling."

African Spice Cocktail

• 50ml African Mishale Brandy


• 10ml fresh lime juice


• 2 spoons of Vanilla Sugar or 10ml Vanilla Syrup


• 80ml Fresh Apple Juice


• (Dash of Ginger Beer)


• (ice)

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled highball glass. Top up with a dash of Ginger Beer. Delicious.

I've just been sent a vastly improved photo of the Bisol Dorona vineyard I was lucky to visit a couple of weeks back (click for a full sized view). The Venissa hotel is the cream coloured buildings at the bottom - recently restored old buildings, well worth an overnight stay, the building immediately behind is the Venissa restaurant. (You hop off the ferry at the front of the hotel).

The dorona vineyard is spread out from the restaurant to just beyond the abandoned chapel with tower. The strip of land running from the central pond to the lefter-most corner of Mazzorbo island, with the bridge to Burano, are now bursting with vegetables used by the islanders and of course the restaurant. Towards the jetty on he left are fruit trees used for the same purpose.

A gentle stroll from the hotel, through the vineyard, over the connecting bridge takes you to the island of Burano. Here the tight streets buzz during the day with tourists, but is so attractive and colourful (photos on Spittoon Extra) that it is well worth a wander.

As I write there is exactly 45 minutes before this live internet video thang kicks off.

On a hot summer's day there's nothing better than a refreshing beer to cool us down. But do you often find a trip down the pub with your friends leaves you sticking to the same tipple, purely because you have no idea what the difference is between an ale and a larger and don't want to risk a bad pint? Or maybe you dismiss it based on the myths around it being bad for your health? When in fact, when drunk in moderation there are several health benefits.

If so you might be one of the millions of Brits missing out on the truly phenomenal range of beers now on the market. So how do you open your mind and palate to what else is on offer?

Just like wine varieties, there's a staggering array of beer to match anyone's taste. And what about finding the perfect beer to match the perfect meal?

Well, if you want some help in your quest to find the perfect summer ale then log onto our live WebTV Show where beer expert Kamini Dickie and Dr George Philliskirk from the Beer Academy will let you into the secrets of the perfect pint with a live beer tasting class.

Kamini Dickie and Dr George Philliskirk are live online at http://studiotalk.tv/show/beer_appreciation_masterclass on Monday 21st June at 3pm to give you their top tips for finding the perfect beer.

I was under appreciative apparently. The PR girls smiling veneer crackled when I failed to burst into extremes of excitement over the wine being poured to my left. But hey, I'm English for gawds sake, the scent of anticipation did make me sit upright and even - wait for it - lean forward, which is about as close to a gratuitous display of emotion as I can get when relaxing on a Venetian island. I might even have smiled.

Odd shaped 50cl bottles held what was described as Bisol's first grape squeeze from its resurrected Dorona vineyards, it turned out not to be so. I lent back into a more comfortable posture.

The wine was made from the vanishing Dorona variety but not by Bisol and not from the vineyard spread out in before us. And there was me thinking those few rows of vines were the last remaining plantings of this variety in the world. Bisol initiated the project in 2002 finally replanting the estate with this 15th century variety. (The best over-view image I could find online is this one, tiny but you can just make out the hotel/restaurant complex bottom right, the vineyard with chapel tower bottom centre and the island of Burano behind.)

High walls surround the Scarpa Volo vineyard, an attempt to keep the surrounding lagoon at bay, with Bisol giving over half the land to soft fruit trees, vegetable plots and seating areas. It dominates one end of the island of Mazzorbo. Escape the tourist throngs on Burano with a short walk over the bridge to the vineyard and settle yourself into the restaurant for a long lazy lunch. Ristorante Venissa, is run by famed Italian chef Paola Budel. (Not being up on famed Italian chefs Paola was trained by Michel Roux amongst others).

Did my Englishness display result in such a miniscule sample being dropped into my glass and a subsequent mess of our table not having the correct number of glasses? Pettiness is not a trait I like to honour but still it got a bit annoying...

The meal - pictures of which I'll post over on SpittoonExtra - was very fine, with the dessert 'Crostatina con crema Chantilly e ciliegine' perhaps my favourite dish despite being served with a "strawberry skid-mark" and being a touch too sweet to match with the superb Bisol Cartizze Prosecco.

But the La Dorona was what the fuss was all about; frankly it was a little disappointing. Remember though that this is not from Bisol or the Scarpa Volo vineyard so it will be interesting to see how skilfully they can extract something of interest from their young vines next year.

This sample came in at just 11% alcohol, slightly lacking in acidity but with a decent minerality and weight. Enjoyable, indeed I even leant forward in anticipation (especially under the smiling glare of the PR woman) for my initial sniff and sip. As the forthcoming releases of Bisol's Doroma are unlikely to be cheap and offered by allocation only that might have been my first and last taste of Doroma.

This match really didn't work and I'm not too sure why. Pairing this Georgian white with a Mediterranean Haloumi Salad - onions, tomato, olives, grilled red peppers, basil and fried haloumi cheese - you would have thought would have partnered well with a crisp, dry white. But no.

Perhaps the saltiness of the cheese was the main culprit or the raw red onion clashed with the slight tart finish to the wine. Or more likely I just wasn't paying attention; the summer sun and those sultry days of a few weeks back (remember them?) can do that.

Now Rkatsiteli as a grape I am familiar with (much planted in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and of course the Ukraine) but Mtsvane? According to the Georgian Wine Society, who supplied this wine, Mtsvane means "new, young, green" (referring to the unusual colour of the fruit when ripe), is often blended with Rkatsiteli adding a fruity, aromatic balance. Here the Mtsvane dominates, comprising 85% of the blend. (Either way its another addition to the Wine Century Club list of tasted varieties)

From sushi to spring rolls, Thai curry to tandoori, Masala to special fried rice, Asian cuisine has fully established itself as a favourite in the UK. But while the chefs are carefully blending spices to create unique mouthwatering dishes, rarely do we pay them the compliment of choosing a wine that best matches our favourite flavours.

The wines of Alsace are a particular speciality of mine, they are oft mentioned as the perfect accompniment to the mix of spicy, salty, sweet and sour flavours found in Asian dishes. Beer is the first on the list of drinks people reach for - especially those Friday night curry nights with the lads. If people do think of buying a wine to drink with it, the idea that a wine can compliment a spice seems rather odd, but far from it. In fact the right grape variety can add to a home delivered (or home cooked!) Asian meal.

TV chef Ching He Huang and leading wine journalist and food and wine matching expert Joanna Simon are linking up for a live webchat, where they'll be offering guidance on which wines bring out the best in each Asian dish; from the fruity, floral tastes of the more elegant Alsace wines such as Riesling through to luscious or spicy whites like Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer.

Ching He Huang and Joanna Simon will be on StudioTalk on Friday 18th June at 13.00 to demonstrate how Alsace wines can compliment Asian food. You can post a question in advance via the same link.