Andy and I took advantage of Hotel du Vin’s credit crunch ‘stay for a tenner’ special last night at their property in Cheltenham on the edge of the Cotswolds. You spend 75 pounds in the bistro and get the room (on Sunday nights only) for ten pounds. Not too shabby.
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I first stayed in a Hotel du Vin with Susan and was excited to show Andy that his fellow countrymen could open a hotel that didn’t have floral wallpaper and duvet sets. The folks at Hotel du Vin have purchased up some lovely Grade I listed buildings, like the old Sugar Mill in Bristol, and created a chic wine themed hotel and French bistro. You wander the corridors looking at the room names “Vergelegen”, “Coldstream Hills”, “Marques Caceras” and tick off which you’ve tried and what remains.
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When we got to our room on Sunday night, the Villa Maria, we were across from Willi Opitz, and my Austrian wine loving partner actually asked if we could change rooms so saddened was he not to be able to stay there. He was relieved when at dinner he found a “Pinot Cuvee” by the winemaker on the reasonable end of the great wine list (from 10 to 650 pounds a bottle).
When we got to our room on Sunday night, the Villa Maria, we were across from Willi Opitz, and my Austrian wine loving partner actually asked if we could change rooms so saddened was he not to be able to stay there. He was relieved when at dinner he found a “Pinot Cuvee” by the winemaker on the reasonable end of the great wine list (from 10 to 650 pounds a bottle).
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But what makes Willi eclectic is that this wine we drank was a special limited edition honoring the Mercedes McLaren team, called Silver Lake. Reading up on Willi I found he also named a range ‘Mr President’ in honour of Bill Clinton.
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The pinot cuvee was good, but there it sat in the ‘white’ section of the menu with no mention of sweetness. It should have been in the dessert wine (pudding wine as they say here) section, and better still the 12 year old sommelier should have given us a little warning before we ordered. But we took it home and it was fine with tonight’s spicy salmon.
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So there on the plate tonight we have salmon, prepped with sesame oil, fresh crushed ginger, honey and some hot sauce pan seared rare along with French beans and almond accents (last bag!). Accompanying that is a heap of salad – Waitrose’s new ‘strong’ Mustard Mix which I didn’t find very strong – in fact it seems like a pretty mild mix of spinach, red leaf, and mustard greens -- smothered in my usual walnut oil Dijon and garlic dressing with a bit of goat cheese, a few croutons and more almond accents.
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So there on the plate tonight we have salmon, prepped with sesame oil, fresh crushed ginger, honey and some hot sauce pan seared rare along with French beans and almond accents (last bag!). Accompanying that is a heap of salad – Waitrose’s new ‘strong’ Mustard Mix which I didn’t find very strong – in fact it seems like a pretty mild mix of spinach, red leaf, and mustard greens -- smothered in my usual walnut oil Dijon and garlic dressing with a bit of goat cheese, a few croutons and more almond accents.
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WeightWatchers points: about 15 – 9 for the salmon, 3 for the salad, 1 for the beans, 2 for the wine.
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