A new home and a taste of the good life

It's been a busy few months. We've bitten the bullet and in early August moved further out of town from Tufnell Park to High (AKA Chipping) Barnet on the outskirts of London. The lure of a bigger garden and spacious green surroundings proved too much, yet we're just as close to the tube and a busy high street.

Almost as soon as we arrived some friendly neighbours from across the road came to introduce themselves bearing produce from their allotment. The first meal I cooked in our new home featured locally grown courgettes. After a three week holiday in France (more of which to come) we returned to our own fruitful harvest – blackberries, followed by apples and more recently grapes. What's more, our next-door neighbours have hens, so we've had eggs in exchange for home-made marmalade. Result!

So, I've had a busy few weeks preserving, juicing and freezing – my Bramley lemon curd is a particular hit and the bramble jelly as good as ever. So far so Good Life...

(Not a common sight in Tufnell Park!)

Pizza East Kentish Town

It's all happening round here. Restaurants, bars and shops are opening, pubs being done up and there's a big new French lycée (I hear as much French as English spoken at times, especially at my daughter's ballet school in Dartmouth Park). We have the dynamic Kentishtowner website keeping us updated on all things local. Tufnell Park is a Transition Town and has a weekly market and there's also a comprehensive farmers' market in Parliament Hill. However, something that's whipped people up into a frenzy is the arrival of the Soho House Group at Highgate Studios in NW5 with Pizza East, Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger.

Wary of the hype, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when a friend and I strolled over there a couple of Wednesdays ago. I guessed it would be busy and it was. Heaving, in fact. Both Pizza East and Chicken Shop (in the basement) were rammed, so we left a mobile number with each and went across the road to The Vine (recently revamped) and sipped a zesty Spanish white. After about 20 minutes, Pizza East was the first to call with a table, so we downed our drinks and legged it back across the road. It was interesting to sit down and take a good look at this Lower Manhattan-like airy industrial space and feast our eyes on all the suspended hams and jars of goodies lining the shelves. The space also boasts a large wood-fired oven and a long bar that winds around the room where it would be great to perch for a quick bite. I was tempted by the speck, mozzarella and taleggio pizza – deliciously oozy with a light puffy base – and my friend went for lasagne which she was very happy with. We also ordered a rocket, parmesan and pine nut salad which was surprisingly tasty and we loved the crunchy texture. The only negative point was that our 500ml carafe of gluggable house Sangiovese came with some silly tumblers, rather than stemmed glasses. Call me traditional, but I'd be reluctant to trade up to a smarter wine if these are the only glasses available.

Our charming, helpful (and, I must say, rather good looking) server then offered us the dessert menu and we were tempted into sharing the salted chocolate tart and figs with mascarpone and honeycomb. The tart was good, although it seemed as though the salt had just been sprinkled over the top, whereas the figs were fabulous. I recreated it at home a few days later as it was so gorgeous (although I used a roughly chopped Crunchy Bar instead of home-made honeycomb). Including the wine, our bill came to about £50. Great stuff (despite the annoying glasses).

Theatre of Wine opens in Tufnell Park

As a long-time wine professional and complete wine nut, I am delighted that a notable independent wine merchant has opened a short stroll from my home. Not only has a decent new shop opened in our neck of the woods, but it sells wine!

This rather glamorous, thoughtfully run shop sells a broad range of interesting wines, spirits and beers, often too off-beat to be found on supermarket shelves. What's more, they showcase their range with regular evening wine tastings. As the name suggests, it is run with theatrical flair and exuberance.

Owner, Daniel Illsley used to be an actor but became disenchanted and in the late 1990s gravitated to Oddbins (where I started my wine career a few years earlier). Soon he was managing the Greenwich branch before launching Theatre of Wine nearby in 2001. A decade on, he decided to expand north of the river and, last December, opened a branch in Junction Road, having realised that Tufnell Park, Archway and Dartmouth Park form somewhat of a black hole as far as decent drinks shops are concerned.

The eclectic range offers a good potted selection of European classics and a discerning en primeur offering, but Theatre of Wine comes into its own with lesser-known, quirky wines. As I write this I am sipping a glass of Casa Lapostolle Semillon 2007 from Rapel Valley in Chile, from low-yielding old vines – rich and concentrated, with an almost waxy texture, stony and sweetly spicy. It's a big, satisfying mouthful of wine and, at £9, a distinctive bottle to serve at or take along to a dinner party. I'm looking forward to tasting some of their wines from Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, let alone an apparently Chablis-like Georgian wine (Tbilvino Tsinandali £10.90). Often overlooked wines from provincial France also appear to be well represented.

If your new year's resolution has been to reduce your alcohol consumption, decent local independent merchants like Theatre of Wine give you the chance to trade up a bit and focus more on quality, rather than quantity. Your palate and your liver will thank you.

124 Junction Road
London
N19 5LB
Tel 020 3490 2147
www.theatreofwine.com

Urban Wine: no urban myth

I just love this. This is a project that you simply could not make up. For people living in the London area with grape vines growing in their gardens or allotments, a growers' collective now exists that produces an 'Urban Wine' from these grapes.

What’s more, the wine is surprisingly palatable. I have now tasted this delicately hued rosé twice and, admittedly, first time around the acidity was a bit too harsh and green (malic) and I was tempted to transform it into kir with a splash of cassis at the earliest opportunity. A couple of months later, I tried it again and it tasted so much more balanced and enjoyable. I even served it on a warm spring evening as a refreshing and pretty apéritif to friends who had come round for a barbeque. And what a great talking point! We polished off the bottle in no time. It’s fascinating seeing how quickly a young wine can settle down and harmonise as this wine came from the recent 2009 vintage.

The Urban Wine Company was founded in the summer of 2007 by Tooting-based Richard Sharp who was wondering what to do with the glut of grapes growing in his and neighbouring gardens. That year saw the first vintage of Château Tooting made from an assortment of garden grapes. By 2009 almost 100 members contributed to the harvest of 1.5 tonnes, producing about 1000 bottles. Membership continues to grow; some 60 new vines (Solaris and Rondo varieties) were planted this spring and Sharp is hoping for 2.5 tonnes in 2010. The wine is professionally made from this eclectic blend of varieties at Bookers Vineyard in Sussex.

Producer Members pay £85 a year to bring grapes to harvest and receive a share of the wine (currently six bespoke-labelled bottles), with additional bottles available at £7.99. Non-members pay £9.99. The minimum contribution of grapes is 3kg (about a bucket full). There is also the chance of joining as a Developer Member (£65) and receiving a vine to plant in your garden to contribute grapes to the scheme in two to three years’ time, once the vine is sufficiently established. The Urban Wine Company organises a number of events for members and could end up being quite a fun community.

Who knows, in a few years’ time I might be sipping some Tufnell Park Premier Crew (sorry!) while waiting for the coals on the barbie to heat up…

(Image courtesy of Urban Wine Company)

http://www.urbanwineco.com