The France Show - Earls Court, London

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Another French Weekend

Think mini-France, think superb food and fine wines, think regional recipes, great flavours, tasting and shopping! We had a French fun-filled weekend to look forward to at Earls Court London, and it indeed was great.

The highlights of the France Show

The highlights of the France Show that bemused the Retox clan included the Armagnac Louis Marcellin stand; the informal wine tasting with 3D Wines; the rehearsed Rigas Enterprises presentation on the garlic grater, the mysterious sausage man who didn’t speak a word of English nor could remember his website (he is not listed in The France Show Guide either!); a couple of wine racks and Juliet, the apple!

Although we expected the event to be a bigger and engaging more exhibitors, it was fun and informative nonetheless. Live music, cooking shows, superb food from France, including a vast array of honey varieties, olives, cheeses and meats; great advice – The Overseas Guides Company comes to mind at first instance; wine and champagne tasting and more. A great opportunity to stock up on French goodies and a great day out if you like all things French!

Apple is a sinful fruit!

Le Crunch French apple company exhibiting at The France Show allowed us to sample different varieties of their apples. Many of the apples usually sold at our local mini-supermarkets lack in flavour and scent. Basically, depending on the postcode, quality apples can be farfetched.

Juliet was my favourite. Once Juliet comes close to your lips, your body and mind skips seasons - Juliet tastes and smells like spring! Juliet is also organic.

Ariane is a sour one but by far not as sour as Granny Smith! Granny Smith can be good for cooking – turn Granny Smith into a sauce! Ah, now we’re talking.

It was great fun to surf through a variety of French apples and learn that they all taste and smell so different from each other but yet so good. However, Juliet was special. I shall now forever be in love with Juliet, the apple!

Multiple dimensions to wine

So 3D Wines do this funky thing where you can rent a row of vines for 99 quid a year, giving you an opportunity to become a partner in a vineyard, minus the hard work.

Each row of vines eventually gives the option to buy four cases of top-quality Appellation Contrôlée wine at their special Partners’ price, as well as numerous wine tasting opportunities. In fact, we caught Andrew Bennett from 3D Wines presenting an informal wine tasting at The France Show 2011, and so we shot an informal little video report. Andrew pulled out a nice list of reds, which he then discussed and compared. Well worth tuning into the video report and Andrew’s presentation is fab!

PS: Pardon the camera operator who was very keen on tasting wine too – a perk you get when you work for RetoxMagazine.com!

Get a wine rack and fill it up!

Of course, if you collect wine, you must have a place to keep it - possibly a wine rack of some sort! So here is this fabulous and most expressive character that caught the Retox lens at The France Show. Presenting unique handcrafted wine racks, crafted out of a century-old olive and oak trees, as well as chopping boards – 5 being vintage, while vigorously entertaining the passers-by, this guy was fun enough to make it to Retox! Check out the two wine racks in the photo! – Only two of those stunning racks were for sale at The France Show.

Savouring Armagnac – The perfect balance of 1979

Firstly we were presented with the 1979 Armagnac Louis Marcellin. The Louis Marcellin comes from the Tenareze region – a sub region in Armagnac and it comes with precise instructions of how to savour it: Sniff; Take a small sip (only a drop); roll it in your mouth; sniff again, take a second sip; roll it in your mouth; swallow well; wait for a second; open your mouth; exhale and wait for return. – Not bad, huh?

Armagnac Lois Marcellin, on Condom-Agen road (- no joke, it’s a real name!), in Gazaupouy, boasts an interesting stock of wickedly vintage Armagnac, bottled in these dark green bottles and year noted on a stick-on label in pen.

This is the perfect family set up. A very small production where every time an order is received, a trip to the cask is made and the bottle is filled! :p

The 1979 - a perfect balance between wood and alcohol, was available at The France Show selling at a very special price of £64 for a 700ml bottle. The oldest Louis Marcellin Armagnac available at the show was dating back to 1967 and all vintages were at around 52% alcohol by volume.

Retox Magazine rediscovers The Garlic Grater!

We’ve spotted these mysterious looking little plates from Rigas Enterprises that have tiny little spikes at the centre of it and come in various colours and designs. It turns out these are handmade little graters that will grate, grind, zest and puree various kitchen ingredients, a great alternative for the new couch-ridden generation that use the garlic press, a.k.a. the garlic crusher. It seems that the garlic grater produces a finer juicier pure and it is said that food tastes better when more love, passion, time and care is put into preparing it. Grate your damn garlic, kids!

And Finally…

Bastardised Wine - terrible things can be done to wine

Vino Cacao - the name pretty much speaks for itself. This is basically a chocolate flavoured wine that tastes rough, bitter and sweet and just off-key. Apparently it is good in coffee or on ice cream... Well, perhaps they should have made us sample Vino Cacao with coffee or ice cream. On its own it was very much of an acquired taste and I found it too exhausting on my imagination trying to work out the best way to have it.

See more photos from The France Show in London.