We have a selection of ‘standard’ Auberge Chocolate bars, this is a Fair-trade range and we currently offer the Milk, White, 70% Cocoa Dark, Milk Orange, Dark Mint and Dark Salty. All the bars are made with Fair-trade couverture resulting in the finest of chocolate and some very happy farmers too.

The Milk chocolate bar is paired with Chilean and French Merlot’s and also a French Pinot Noir.

The White Chocolate matches beautifully to our Kung Fu Girl Riesling – this is a very popular American Riesling. We also found that enjoying this with a sparkler is a must (especially with the ladies) we have matched it to a Moscato Asti and Lanson Ivory Champagne which is semi-sweet.

Our 70% goes with the lighter wines such as a Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay – easy eating and drinking – we’re not complaining.

Enjoy the Dark, Salty bar (this is 70% cocoa chocolate bar with sea salt flakes – it’s amazing) with a good Malbec – our Montes Malbec is a great pairing to this particular chocolate.

We found that the Milk Chocolate Orange bar paired really well with a number of wines, the fruit tasted in the chocolate matched a lot of the fruity flavours one can feel in the mouth of the wine, our favourites were a Chilean Merlot and Malbec but this list is by no means exhaustive.

We also have taken stock of 3 ‘Fine Chocolate Bars’ which we have naturally tried to match with the finer range of wines in our portfolio (although we never stock anything that is not of excellent quality).

The North American Cranberry and Peppercorn bar is delicious with Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon and Fleurie Les Garans (Louis Latour) both outstanding wines from Chile and France.

Our Cappuccino bar goes very well with the Italian wines (as one may have expected) Barolo and Chianti are firm favourites.

The Great Taste gold winner 2010 was awarded to the special edition Venezulan and San Dominique 72% cocoa bar, this delicious chocolate combines fruity Venesuelan flavours with the strong cocoa taste of San Domineque. We think it goes really well with our Yarden Mount Hermon Red Wine from Israel, made from a blend of the 5 Bordeaux grapes – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot – this fruity, well-balanced wine is complimented by the richness of the chocolate.

Last but not least and for all the Champagne lovers we have the Champagne truffle box of chocolates that really should be enjoyed with your favourite bottle of bubbly!

There are a number of key difference between these two sparkling wines, the first being the grape and country.

Prosecco is the name of the grape and the wine, grown in the Veneto region of North East Italy.  Champagne on the other hand is the name of the region and the wine, only sparkling wine that is produced in the Champagne region can be called Champagne.  The main grapes used to produce Champagne are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The other key difference is the method in which they are produced. All sparkling wine goes through 2 fermentations, one to turn the grape juice to still (base) wine and the second to turn the base wine to sparkling.  Prosecco is given the second fermentation in large stainless steel tanks which produce a fresher sparkler that should be drunk young, this method is called the Charmat (or Italian) method.

Champagne is produced using the traditional Champenoise method where the second   fermentation is done in the bottle resulting in a sparkling wine that on average needs to age for around a year, some vintages can take up to 3 years to produce a good sparkler.

Champagne is traditionally drunk as the celebration drink on special occasions and sometimes only Champagne will do but Prosecco is a great, cheaper alternative and to the untrained person a sparkling wine is just that.

Fine Wine Sellers has recently taken stock of a brand new Prosecco; Di Maria - Pale light yellow colour, with fine perlage, delicately fruity with a slightly aromatic bouquet. Well balanced and light bodied, harmonic taste. At just £10.99 per bottle it is outstanding value, a firm favourite at the BBC Good Food Show, Olympia at the end of 2011.

Some considered the screw cap a seal for only inferior or cheap bottles of wine, but today it is a method employed by many of the world’s top vineyards and even some Champagne producers, and has proved itself to be a successful technique for ageing wines.

The reason for this huge shift in manufacturing? Far more disappointing than losing a ‘pop’ to a simple ‘twist’ is the deflation – not to mention waste of money – felt when you open a bottle of carefully selected wine to serve to your dinner guests only to be hit with a nasty dose of taint or 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). In other words, your wine tastes ‘corked’, smells foul and is, quite frankly, undrinkable.

As the demand for cork has outstripped the supply – which comes from 6-9- year-old Cork Oak trees – an increasing amount of pesticides and wood preservatives were being used to prematurely age the trees. These TCA chemicals are sometimes still present in the cork and it is their reaction with the wine that is thought to cause the taint.

Screw caps have been found to have virtually no negative effects, keeping wine fresher and crisper for longer, whereas corks could affect up to 15 in every 100 bottles of wine sold. Plastic ‘corks’ were also introduced, however, have not caught on in the same way as screw caps due to the fact that they do not make a perfect seal and are a less eco-friendly alternative.

Although there are some concerns about the use of screw caps for the long-term ageing of wine, the method is generally gaining increasing support.

Old world wines are those produced in Europe’s classic winemaking regions of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria. New world wines hail from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Latin America and America.

Put simply, old world winemakers – often members of a long line of wine-producing families – possess a 2000-year history and the almost innate knowledge of which grapes perform best, the attributes of different soil types and the most prolific growing areas. Whereas new world vintners – who have been growing wine for local consumption for several centuries but only importing it since the late 19^th century – must introduce modern ways and means of ensuring that they obtain the best possible performance from their grapes. These include employing more sophisticated irrigation techniques or adding natural composites to the wine in order to achieve the desired result.

The new and old world locations and processes have their own advantages and disadvantages, both to the winemakers and the consumers: new world vineyards enjoy a more constant climate, and are able to produce a better value product, though some would say that as a result it is a less interesting product. Many old world vintners, however, appear somewhat guilty of having rested on their laurels and so are beginning to take their cue from the competition by employing more modern techniques to create more appealing products to those simply searching for a good value bottle of plonk.

The great polemic continues…

The grapes are picked either by hand or mechanically and are then prepared for fermentation in the winery. Fermenting the juice extracted from either red or white crushed grapes with the skins removed produces white wine. Red wine is produced from red or black grapes fermented with the skins, as it is the tannin or pigment in the skins that colours the wine. If a rosé wine is being produced, the fruit is crushed and the dark skins left in contact with the juice long enough to extract just the right colour desired by the winemaker. The most common variety of grape used in winemaking is the Vitis Vinifera, although some choose to use an alternative to grapes, such as plums or pineapples; flowers including elderflowers or rosehips, or even rice.

During the primary fermentation stage, yeast is added to convert the fruit’s naturally occurring sugars into ethanol (alcohol). This is followed by a secondary (bacterial) fermentation in which the acid content is decreased to encourage a softer taste. Sparkling wines undergo an additional fermentation stage, during which carbon dioxide is trapped within the bottle to produce the bubbles.

During the next stage – cold stabilisation, the temperature of the wine is lowered to freezing point in order for the ‘wine crystals’ (formed when potassium and tartaric acid mix) to separate from the wine. Unwanted proteins are then removed through the process of heat stabilisation.

Next, any remaining yeast is removed through filtration, and then the wine is placed in barrels or containers and stored for varying lengths of time. Wine will only be bottled once it has aged to the winemaker’s satisfaction, and commonly, different grape varieties and batches are mixed to achieve the right quality and taste.

Finally, log onto www.finewinesellers.co.uk,  fill up your glass and say ‘Cheers’!

Our Dom Perignon is now on special offer at an incredible price of just £125.  We have yet to find this cheaper anywhere on the internet.  If you do we would love to know.

Order today to avoid disappointment – While stocks last!

Buy online here – Dom Perignon Vintage 1998 Champagne

It has been produced in the Czech Republic since the 1920′s and is a firm favorite there and appears to becoming rather popular with our customers too.

It is a bohemian spirit distilled with wormwood and other aromatic herbs and despite first impressions it is a very pleasant drink.  Due to the popularity we have seen for this product we are now selling it at a promotion price of £30.59 (reduced from £35.99). We recommend serving it with 2-3 parts iced water and sugar to make the most of its distinct taste.

It is clearly a tipple to enjoy on occasions and minimum measurement but it is a drink that is worth trying!  It is certainly a talking point whether at a party or a dinner with friends.

Buy online here – Bohemian La Fee Absinth

Buy online here – Baron D’Arignac wines

I find this is a great accompaniment to seafood and light fish dishes, or served with breakfast!! I often buy presents of Champagne and wine for friends who have everything so I was pleased to find this website – a great selection available, with fantastic speed and service. Highly recommended!
SW (Canterbury)