Wine writer HELEN SAVAGE has the details on the forthcoming Northumbria Food and Wine Festival - an exciting new annual event that promises a heady mix for gastronomes
THE North East is an exciting place for wine lovers. We have a clutch of first-rate independent merchants and importers; imaginative chefs who really care about matching fine food and wine and an increasing number of opportunities to taste wine and learn more about it.
Elements of all these combine in a fortnight’s time at the Northumbria Food and Wine Festival: a three-day event that promises something really special for gastronomes.
The Northumbria Food and Wine Festival builds on the considerable success of a wine fair held at Tynedale Rugby Club in Corbridge 15 months ago. Around 1,000 people turned out to enjoy a heady mix of great wine, tasty local food and jazz. Among those who’d taken part were husband and wife team Rhian Cradock and Helen Greer of The Feathers Inn at Hedley-on-the Hill, near Stocksfield, which has just waved the flag for North East food by beating off incredibly stiff competition to be chosen as Great British Pub of the Year 2011 – and best Gastro Pub – a superb achievement.
Rhian and Helen, together with local wine importer Stuart Colmer, were disappointed that the organisers of the previous event weren’t able to repeat the show and decided to take up the baton themselves.
They approached Tynedale Rugby Club, who have come on board as keen partners in the event, which will be held at their Tynedale Park, Corbridge, ground on October 7 to 9. It will all be under cover, but if the sun shines, there’ll be space to sit outside too and relax over a drink.
Food and wine are more or less equal partners in the event. There’ll be ‘pop-up kitchens’ serving a wide range of delicious treats.
Rhian will be cooking what he describes as “tapas-style portions, but in our case, featuring what we do best, traditional British cuisine. There’ll be game, local fish, shellfish (including oysters) and so on.”
The two other restaurants will offer a more exotic alternative, but using many local ingredients. Barn Asia, from Waterloo Square in Newcastle’s Grainger Town will offer Vietnamese-style goodies and Sachins, from Forth Banks in Newcastle, will bring a taste of Punjabi street food. “We know their food is fantastic,” says Helen. “We really get on with them and have enjoyed working alongside them on other occasions.”
To give added spice, there’ll be recommendations of wines to try with each of the dishes on offer. Rhian, for example, is hoping people will discover just how well local oysters are complemented by champagne chosen by Lovely Bubbly and he’s keen for people to try the magic combination of his home-made black pudding with Cien-y-Pico, La Doble Pasta, a deeply fruity red from Mancheuela, Don Quixote country in Central Spain, supplied by Carruthers & Kent. And then a monumental tannic red Raboso, imported by Stuart from North East Italy will be, Rhian assured me, “a great match for something rich and hefty”.
The line-up of wine merchants and importers is growing almost by the day.
The organisers only got the green light to go ahead with the festival in late August and since then have had to contact exhibitors, design a website and deal with all the practicalities of hiring marquees and making sure that health and safety issues have been properly addressed.
Simply publicising the event has been a challenge.
“I’ve been delivering leaflets around all the delis in Newcastle,” says Stuart. “Last year, the biggest problem was that nine out of 10 folk locally didn’t know the wine fair was happening and the biggest complaint we received was that no-one told us about it. We don’t want that to happen again.”
At least nine merchants and importers will be showing their wares. More will almost certainly have signed up by the time you read this.
A full list of participants, what’s on and when, is available on the festival’s impressive website: www. northumbriafoodandwinefestival. co.uk The list so far includes Dennhofer Wines, Tyne Wines, The Hop, The Vine, Proteas Wines, Lovely Bubbly, Bin 21 and Pippa Sedgewick Wines. There will be something from most major wine producing countries of the world.
The stand I will probably head to first will be that of Carruthers & Kent. They have a shop in Gosforth and always choose their wines with imagination and care.
I asked co-owner Claire Carruthers what she was hoping for from the festival. “I’d like to get our name in front of people who don’t yet know us,” she admits.
“I also hope that we’ll be able to show a range of wines that people will love and find interesting. But we’re just delighted to be part of it all - it’s a great showcase for the North East.”
She hasn’t decided on the full range of wines for the festival yet, but it will include such rare delights as a sparkling ice wine from Canada, a fragrant dry white Albariño from Uruguay and a superb white port imported by Marta Mateus, whose business Marta Vine is based at Heddon on the Wall.
Marta is also one of a number of experts who’ll be giving talks and tastings at the festival. “It’s very special to have an opportunity to speak about Portuguese wine and share my love of my country,” she tells me, “but I’m also hoping to learn a lot too - with wines from so many different countries on show. It’s great to discover what’s available where we live.”
Other speakers include Massimo de Nardo who’s coming specially from Italy. He’s Stuart’s business partner at Fasol Menin and one of the leading producers of Prosecco. Local wine enthusiast and blogger Karl Laczko will be exploring some of the world’s lesser-known grapes and I’ll be strutting my stuff too. Come and meet me on Friday evening or on Saturday.
The Newcastle Wine School will have a big presence at the festival and will be offering tasting workshops with Laura Kent: an introduction to wine tasting and a champagne master class.
There will be music - especially as the evenings draw on, competitions and demonstrations. The website tells all. The burden of organisation has been shared between Stuart, Helen and Rhian with Rhian’s dad, Richard, lending a hand with site logistics. Rhian is taking care of the kitchens; Helen is concentrating on social media, especially Twitter and Facebook; Stuart is dealing with the wine exhibitors and speakers and got the website up and running at breakneck speed.
One of the great things about the festival is that you can buy your ticket online and print off your ticket, complete with bar code. “It’s just like a boarding pass,” Helen enthuses.
All this has come just as Helen and Rhian are trying to take in the news of their triumph at the Great British Pub Awards. “It’s been a bit crazy,” she admits. “I’m still in shock and can’t get over it.” But their award has not stopped them from wanting to do even better in the future and the Northumbria Food and Wine Festival will certainly play a big part in their plans.
“We’ve created a structure to enable us to put on future events more easily,” Stuart says. “We now know that people in the region have a special appetite for food and wine events.
“The feedback from the previous fair was terrific. We’ll survey the guests and see if they’d like a second event in June as well.”
Up to 2,000 food and wine lovers are expected, and the main aim is to have fun, with something for everyone from wine novice to the most experienced of tasters; and there’ll be soft drinks available too.
The organisers hope that whole families will come and enjoy the show on Saturday and Sunday. Stuart who’s pushed his wares at big London shows is looking forward to it all hugely, despite the workload. “I had so much better a time at Corbridge last year and I’m sure it’ll be even better this time.”
The Northumbria Food and Wine Festival takes place at Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge, with easy transport from Newcastle, Hexham and Carlisle by train. Friday October 7 from 7pm (adults only); Saturday October 8 and Sunday October 9, open to all the family from 12pm. Tickets, available from the website, cost £20, or £25 on the door. www.northumbriafoodandwinefestival.co.uk
