1. The Doctors range is made by two real live doctors, John and Brigid Forrest
2. Beth is a real person, their daughter. The wine was made to celebrate her passing her Masters in Oenology
3. Nigella's chocolate brownie recipes are faultless.
Now we've got that out of the way, on to the aforementioned Bubbles for Beth.
A traditional method sparkling Syrah/Malbec blend (80/20) the grapes are vinified together, bottle fermented and then left on the lees for 30 months. The resulting wine has a taste of summer pudding* which is apparently very much an English dessert.
Fresh strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and raspberries are all bound together with hints of vanilla and spice which then follows through to a richer, chocolatey and liquorice finish. The mousse was a little aggressive on first taste but soon settled itself down to a far more pleasant mouth feel and an enjoyable glass of fizz.
I think despite tasting of summer pudding, it was far too hot yesterday for sparkling red wine so the ideal time to drink it is when the day has cooled down (or it's winter) and there is a tray of freshly baked , slightly gooey and indulgent brownies awaiting you. I find the recipe in Nigella's Feast book for snow flecked brownies will be ideal for the occasion. I never bother flecking them though, just wait until they are no longer radioactively hot and then dive in!
Nigella Lawson's Feast
The Doctors website
*summer pudding is made by soaking white bread in berry juices and using that to line a pudding dish. Fill the middle with summer berries and use some more of the bread to make a lid. Leave in the fridge and turn it out once it's all set. Should look a bit like the pictures, just click here...Summer puddings
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