2012 Wine List....new wines No.1

Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2010

Winemaking is the new rock and roll. Or in Charles Smith’s case it is the new Danish Thrash Metal. Charles spent a decade in Europe managing various bands you’ll never have heard of (unless you misspent your youth in disused warehouses near the Copenhagen ring road) before seeing the light and heading to Washington State to plant vines.

Fast-forward a dozen vintages or so and Charles still has the hair, the t-shirts and the attitude of his music days but has replaced the guitar pick for a corkscrew and the Jack Daniels for some supremely elegant Riesling.

This wine is from the Columbia Valley region of Washington state, two states up from California on the west coast of the USA. The grapes come from a cool site producing fruit with sublime minerality.

The wine is smooth and aromatic with apricot, key lime and nectarine flavours, bursting with delicious stone fruits and citrus notes, with a subtle minerality on the palate

The grapes were picked in Mid-October after a season of long, steady, slow ripening. A very long, cold fermentation. Both fermentation and aging occurred in 100% stainless steel.

£33 (supplied by Bibendum)
The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

AA Breakfast Award - it's a Cracker!

Following our recent AA inspection we're delighted to announce that we have won a Breakfast Award - the eggcup symbol indicates a very special breakfast with an emphasis on freshly prepared local ingredients.

We source our ingredients from the farm shop at Rothiemurchus, our butcher in Aberfoyle, soft fruits from Alvie Estate, organic muesli, spelt and porridge oats from Highland Wholefoods, and puddings from Speyside Specialities.

We squeeze our own orange juice - three oranges to each glass - we make our own yoghurt, fruit compotes, breads for toast, tattie scones, oat bannocks and banana loaf.

"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an egg-and-bacon breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

Gerard Basset at The Cross

March 2012

We were privileged to present to our customers a rare and unique opportunity…an audience with Gerard Basset OBE. Gerard is without doubt the greatest wine professional of a generation. He was born and raised in France and after having qualified as both a chef and sommelier he moved to England in the 80s.  He embarked on a very successful career as a sommelier. Among his many achievements he has been crowned Best Sommelier in the UK and Best Sommelier of Europe. He finished three times as runner-up in the Best Sommelier of the World competition but in 2010 he achieved his long held dream of winning the title.

From this success a string of plaudits followed. A coveted hotel industry “Catey” Special Award in July 2010,  International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year,  Harpers Wine and Spirits Magazine Personality of the Year and he was also awarded ‘Industry Legend 2011’ by Imbibe Magazine. He is currently the only person in the world to be simultaneously a Master Sommelier, Master of Wine and Wine MBA.

Aside from his feats as a sommelier, Gerard has also demonstrated a genuine flair for business.  In 1994 he co-founded the Hotel du Vin brand which was sold in 2004 after having successfully opened six hotels to much acclaim.  And in 2007, with his wife Nina, Gerard opened the award winning Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest.

In June 2011, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, Gerard received an OBE which was presented by The Princess Royal Princess Anne - a very proud moment for him and his family.

The evening was well attended by hospitality and wine industry professionals as well as enthusiastic amateurs. We served a seasonal supper featuring smoked eel from the Summer Isles, pork from Tomintoul, ox cheeks from Renfrewshire, and one of Becca's creations...an iced parfait based upon the recipe for ecclefechan tart. These dishes were accompanied by a tasting, tutored by Gerard of course, of matching natural, organic & bio-dynamic wines supplied by the excellent Fife wine merchants L'Art du Vin. Gerard then gave a thoroughly entertaining presentation on his route to success as a sommelier and hotelier and his passion for wine.

The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

Blog of the Year 2011

No, that doesn't mean that we've won an award for our blog, in fact quite the opposite. We've been so poor at posting blog entries that almost an entire year has passed since the last one! Shame on us!

So, to make amends, this post is a round up of a few of the highlights of 2011, in no particular order!

November...

A tasting of Catalan wines

We were delighted to welcome the charming Christine Campadieu of Collioure winery Domaine Le Tour Vieille and the dashing Tom Ashworth of top wine merchant Yapp Brothers of Mere in Wiltshire...

Extract from Yapp Brothers blog "David and Katie Young’s welcoming ‘restaurant with rooms’ is a must for any greedy wine lover who fancies a break in some wonderful countryside. A great deal of love and attention has gone into putting together a terrific wine list, which has been regularly commended, most recently Imbibe’s Small Restaurant Wine List of the Year 2011. In fact, the Youngs’ visit to Domaine Le Tour Vieille last year was the catalyst for this event. To kick off the evening, Christine provided guests with an entertaining introduction to the wines of Roussillon and conducted an hour long tutored tasting covering eight wines from the estate. We then enjoyed white Collioure with an inspired Catalan dish of salt & pepper squid with anchovy aioli, before washing down Rothiemurchus Estate roe deer with red Collioure Pinède 2008. The local Blarliath cheese course accompanied red Puig Oriole 2008 before the finale of a wonderful chocolate brownie with heavenly Banyuls Réserva."

Winemaker Christine Campadieu outside The Cross

September...

AA Awards

The annual round of hospitality awards takes place in late summer. In 2011 the AA event took place at the London Hilton on Park Lane, a glitzy affair hosted by newsreader Sophie Raworth.

We were delighted that The Cross was once again awarded with three rosettes for culinary excellence 

"Outstanding restaurants that achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area. The cooking is underpinned by the selection and sympathetic treatment of the highest quality ingredients. Timing, seasoning and the judgment of flavour combinations will consistently be excellent. These virtues tend to be supported by other elements, such as intuitive service and a well-chosen wine list. Around 10% of the restaurants/hotels within the AA Restaurant Guide have Three Rosettes and above"

And for the overall quality of The Cross we were awarded Highly Commended

"AA inspectors determine a quality score as a percentage to cover all aspects of a guest accommodation, including service. The score is then represented as a one- to five-Star rating. Yellow Stars indicate that an establishment is acknowledged by the AA for providing Highly Commended accommodation"

 And that to add to our VisitScotland accolade of four Gold stars

"The Gold award recognises serviced accommodation businesses which consistently achieve the highest levels of excellence within their VisitScotland star grading. Businesses achieving the award will excel in the areas of customer care and hospitality and show evidence of a real commitment to staff development and training"

May...

Featured in the Scottish Field

"On a sunny spring day, there can be few more heavenly places to
while away an hour or two than on the terrace at The Cross. Overlooking
the river Gynack as it burbles alongside this former tweed
mill in the shadows of the Cairngorm mountains, it’s hard to believe that
you are in the middle of Kingussie and just a mile or so from the A9.
Outside, the trees form a canopy which lets dappled light stream
through; inside the wooden-beamed 20-cover restaurant, the AA’s former
chief hotel inspector and chef-patron David Young operates with the sort
of blithe assurance you’d expect from a veteran chef with 35 years under
his belt, not to mention a whole draw of awards for his three-rosette
family-run restaurant with rooms.
Many of those awards have come for the quality of their renowned
wine list, but yet more have come for their food, which Young describes
as ‘classic French-inspired cuisine centred around the use of the best and
freshest ingredients I can find. The use of that finest Scottish produce,

whose provenance is painstakingly chronicled for diners, is at the heart of

everything that Young does. This is immediately apparent from a menu which reads

as follows: an appetiser of local line-caught mackerel with rhubarb salsa; followed
by pressed organic Highland chicken and young grouse terrine with
fig chutney; a main course of baked fillet of wild Scrabster brill with
Glenfeshie chanterelle veloute, samphire, and Yukon gold potato puree;
and finishing off with hot chocolate fondant and chilli ice cream.
It is the sort of classy Auld Alliance cuisine which has made this little
Kingussie restaurant such a hit for so many years"

P.S. Richard Bath, the editor of Scottish Field, also reviewed The Cross anonymously for Scotland on Sunday The Cross is a hidden gem

September...

Imbibe Louis Roederer UK Small Restaurant Wine List of the Year 2011!!

Quite a mouthful...but after being shortlisted the year before we were extremely pleased to have won the award at the second time of trying. This is what they said.

"A fair few of the wine lists sent in for the Wine List of the Year competition are real labours of love – but it’s hard to think of any that have combined imagination, quirkiness, information and sheer joie de vivre in such large quantities as David Young’s list from The Cross at Kingussie in Inverness. Shortlisted last year, it went one better this year, with our judges chuckling happily at what they found. There are very few wines here above £50 (‘we’re clear about what our customers are prepared to spend,’ says Young) but this list has scoured the world in search of value and interest at the more affordable end of the wine list. And, let’s face it, wherever you are, this is where the vast majority of customers do their choosing!

‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm here, somebody has obviously put a lot of love into it’ Peter McCombie MW (on The Cross at Kingussie)

Using a laudable 14 suppliers, the large selection of 190 wines, plus 35 halves, 40+ dessert wines and a majestic selection of whisky would be impressive at a 100-cover white tablecloth eatery. It’s all the more remarkable at a place that seats only 24 people.
Yet it was more than the sheer choice of wines on offer that saw The Cross take an award this year. It was the attempts to engage with the customer: exuberant tasting notes, boxed-out musings on organic versus biodynamic, the witty use of symbols (an ambulance for wines with high alcohol, bagpipes for wines with a ‘Scottish connection’) that won over the judges. ‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm here,’ said McCombie. ‘Somebody has obviously put a lot of love into it.’
Certainly, if more wine lists showed this much enthusiasm, wit and energy, the on-trade would be a better place.
‘There’s a lot of wine here for an eight-bedroomed restaurant that seats 24 people,’ said Anderson. ‘And I loved the bagpipes!’"

November...

Champagne, Champagne, Champagne

"I've tried, but it's always in vain,

Not to drink so much champagne

But when I'm in trouble

I do need that bubble

- and it happens again and again..."

from "Lickerish Limericks" by Cyril Ray

Late Autumn saw us take a short trip to Champagne - an opportunity to find out more about the area, to taste and to develop new relationships that we might take forward to the 2012 wine list. With us were our daughter Mairianne and our great friend Helen, neither of whom are scared of a Bouzy evening!

But not before we whizzed past our old stomping ground in Hampshire to spend an evening with Gerard and Nina Basset at Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest. Gerard was co-founder of the Hotel du Vin group, is now (officially) the world's greatest sommelier, and has been awarded an OBE. Nina worked with me (David) at the AA for a number of years where she was an outstanding hotel and restaurant inspector. It was great to see them and a real treat to enjoy their very comfortable and chic hotel, fine hospitality, classy food and - of course -  fantastic wine. If you go, as you must, don't leave without a tour of Gerard's cellar! Catch up with what's going on at TerraVina by reading Nina's Blog.

Then on to Champagne where, courtesy of Enotria Wine, we enjoyed an excellent and extremely informative tasting at Champagne Henriot (thank you to Beatrice Brossier).

Some photos:

 

Places to eat:

Brasserie du Boulingrin Reims

Restaurant La Vigneraie Reims

And to stay and eat (simple country inn):

La Touraine Champenoise Tour sur Marne

Best meal of the week, though, was when we stopped in Folkestone once through the tunnel...Mark Sargeant's excellent fish restaurant Rocksalt...worth a short detour (also has a handful of bedrooms).

The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

Q. Any port in a storm? A. Yes, by the glass or bottle!

We've just stumbled across this wee snippet from the Telegraph...here's a precis. It's not always that cold, by the way!

From November, the Cairngorms National Park becomes a winter wonderland, with snow regularly dusting its pine forests and capping its mountains. Britain's strongest gust of wind (194mph) was recorded here on December 19 2008. The park also has the coldest town in the United Kingdom (the thermometer fell to -17F at Braemar on January 10 1982), and last winter it had snow drifts 16ft deep...try the Cross at Kingussie, a restaurant with rooms set in four acres of Cairngorms woodland. A converted 18th-century tweed mill with eight bedrooms, it serves up hearty Scottish cooking by an open fire and there are books and board games in the comfortable lounge. Outside you can spot snow buntings and Cairngorm sparrows when walking in the beautiful Rothiemurchus estate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/8087577/UK-where-to-go-storm-watching-in-Britain.html

The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

The Flying Pickets

Last week, amidst a fresh fall of snow and for the second time in recent years, a runaway truck careered across Ardbroilach Road, through our picket fence and down the bank before its journey to the river was fortuitously thwarted by a sturdy tree!

After checking that no-one was hurt, our concern turned to some amusement when we discovered that the truck that had demolished our fence was, er, a fencing contractor's truck!

 The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

Gold Stars for The Cross

The Cross has struck gold in the VisitScotland quality stakes. In recognition of "its exceptional hospitality and service" it has been awarded four Gold Stars by VisitScotland and is the most recent establishment in the Highlands to have been awarded 'Gold Star' status through the national tourism organisation's Quality Assurance Scheme.

The Gold Star award was introduced by VisitScotland in 2009 to highlight establishments within its Quality Assurance Scheme that strive to exceed customer expectations and which take an innovative and proactive approach to customer care. Gold Stars are accessible to properties of any star grade and the awards recognise those establishments that show commitment to quality and service across the board, from the warmth of welcome to the final farewell.
The Cross is amongst only 74 accommodation providers in Scotland, and only 21 in the Highlands, to have been awarded the coveted Gold Stars.
The Cross at Kingussie Restaurant with Rooms www.thecross.co.uk

THE CROSS AT KINGUSSIE RECEIVES THE AA WINE AWARD FOR SCOTLAND

Photo caption (l - r): Natasha Kaplinsky, host of the AA Hospitality Awards; David Young, owner; Trevor Hughes, sponsor; Katie Young, owner.

The Cross at Kingussie received nationwide recognition recently when it received the Wine Award for Scotland at the AA Hospitality Awards 2009 - 2010. The AA, celebrating the best in hospitality for over 100 years, held the glamorous black-tie ceremony, hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky, at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

David Young, owner of The Cross at Kingussie, received the award in front of a high profile audience of 800 members of the hospitality industry, including world-renowned ‘celebrity’ chefs, prominent hoteliers, hospitality gurus and key industry media. David said: “Most restaurants, especially hotel restaurants, offer wine lists that are a poor second to the food and we’re delighted that The Cross has been recognised as somewhere where the quality of the cooking can be matched with a great bottle of wine at a reasonable price”.

He added, “We work hard at putting together a unique wine list every year. The selections reflect our own tastes and many appear on our list only after we have visited the vineyard ourselves. We hope that the list offers diners the opportunity of trying something new and interesting. Our wines by the glass change regularly, we have, I think, one of the best lists of half bottles and of pudding wines in the UK, and we don’t overlook whisky drinkers either with a range of over 40 premium malts”.

“Of course, none of this would be possible without first class growers, wineries and suppliers who understand and support what we seek to achieve at The Cross and they, too, must take credit for the part they have played in our success”.

The Cross, a converted tweed mill with 8 en-suite bedrooms, is located in the lovely Highland village of Kingussie within the stunning Cairngorm National Park, surrounded by mountains, rivers and lochs. Situated in four acres of riverside grounds - with an abundance of native trees, flowers and wildlife – The Cross combines quality with simplicity and good food with a warm welcome.

AA Hotel Services Group Area Manager Giovanna Grossi said of the award “We selected The Cross at Kingussie for the Wine Award for Scotland because David and Katie’s passion for wines is clearly reflected in the carefully selected value for money list that can be justifiably enthused about and is regularly updated to feature new vintages and interesting additions.”

The Cross has also been awarded three AA Rosettes for the quality of the cooking and is now one of only twenty five restaurants in Scotland to achieve this standard. According to the 2010 edition of the AA’s Restaurant Guide “the food is both fabulous and unfussy in keeping with its surroundings”.

The AA Hospitality Awards recognise and reward the excellent services provided by the UK’s very best establishments and launches the 2010 AA guides to UK hotels and restaurants.

This year, guests at the awards ceremony were treated to a sensational three course gourmet meal prepared by three of the industry’s most highly esteemed chefs - Eric Chavot, Chris Galvin and Gary Rhodes - in conjunction with the Hilton Park Lane kitchen team. The guests also enjoyed a special performance by Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity.

The Cross was named Scottish Restaurant with Rooms of the Year 2009 in February and is once again featured as one of Scotland’s top thirty restaurants in the 2010 edition of the Good Food Guide.

Autumn and Winter Offers at The Cross:

Three-night dinner inclusive midweek breaks from £255 per person
Two-night dinner inclusive romantic breaks from £195 per person (including a bottle of champagne)
Three-night inclusive highland hogmanay package from £490 per person

For more information about the AA Awards go to http://www.aahospitalityawards.com/
For more information about The Cross at Kingussie go to http://www.thecross.co.uk/.

The Cross at Kingussie Awarded "Restaurant with Rooms of the Year 2009"

The Cross at Kingussie Awarded "Restaurant with Rooms of the Year 2009"

The Cross at Kingussie was handed the title at last weekend's Scottish Hotel Awards, in a glitzy ceremony held at Glasgow's Crowne Plaza Hotel. The award was presented to owners David and Katie Young and chef Becca Henderson by celebrity chef and fellow hotelier Baroness Claire Macdonald and Alex Fergusson the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. It follows a comprehensive inspection and judging process carried out by the organisers, The Scottish Hotel Awards & Review Guides. "We're thrilled to have been honoured with such a prestigous accolade" said Katie, "it's a reward for all of our team who work so hard to maintain and improve the standards that make The Cross such a special place".

Owners David and Katie Young are delighted that The Cross has been recognised by a Scottish guide in this way. "Michelin, The Good Hotel Guide, and the AA, amongst others, have been very enthusiastic about what we have done here at The Cross in the past seven years", says David, "but it's something special when the praise comes from closer to home!"Previously winners in 2004, it's the second time that The Cross has been voted "Scottish Restaurant with Rooms of the Year" The Cross is situated in it's own idyllic four acres of riverside grounds - with an abundance of native trees, flowers and wildlife - and combines quality with simplicity and good food with a warm welcome. Built as a water powered tweed mill in the late 1800's at a time when the village of Kingussie was being developed by the local laird, The Cross maintains the character and some of the original features of the mill. Champagne is served on the terrace in the summer - and drams in one of the cosy lounges in winter. AA three-rosette award winning dinners are served by the flicker of an open fire in the stone walled and wood beamed restaurant. Menus feature carefully prepared fresh and seasonal Scottish produce and the wine list too, has been voted Scotland's best. There are eight comfortable bedrooms, all with king, queen or twin beds and spacious en-suite bathrooms including some with separate showers. Each room has TV, CD radio cube, hospitality tray, fully controllable heating, glenlivet water & arran aromatics toiletries - and in half you can nod off to the sound of the bubbling river below. Breakfasts include fresh squeezed juice, fruits & compotes, baked croissants and a daily-changing hot dish featuring produce from local farms and estates and delicacies like freshly picked chanterelles. There's a wealth of things to do in the area. Walking, climbing, mountain biking, ski-ing, boarding, off-roading, sailing, canoeing, horse-riding, sight-seeing, shopping, gliding, whisky tasting, golfing, fishing, shooting.............or just relaxing. The Cross offers special breaks in the Spring and Autumn, great Winter weekend rates, a popular three-night Hogmanay package, and promotional prices all year round.

The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

Truffle Hunting

1. Tobi sniffs out the truffles...invaluable! Fantastic video clip of a working dog in Montaione, Tuscany...what a hound!



2. Truffle sniffs out the sheep...! We named him Truffle in the hope that he might be trained to find the hidden funghi, but as you can see below, he has other things on his mind!
















The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

Winter has arrived...but all roads still lead to The Cross!

The early November snows, followed by by some teeth-chatteringly low temperatures during the past few weeks, have finally developed into a full-blown Highland winter wonder-land. Our access roads are almost always clear and we work hard at keeping our own drive-way passable. And of course for the faint hearted (or for those who want to sit back and admire the scenery in comfort) regular trains stop at Kingussie on their way from Inverness or from London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. So there's never an excuse to stay at home. And here are some images above to whet your appetite for a winter break!

The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

Tuscany Report 2008

Earlier this month we travelled to Tuscany to visit our wine supplier Villa Pillo at Gambassi Terme (http://www.villapillo.com/) to check out the recent vintage and taste some new wines. It looks like 2008 will turn out to be another good year with a healthy balance of quantity and quality. Estate Manager Pamela Trassinelli told us that they had enjoyed exceptional heat throughout the summer and virtually all their grapes were picked before the September rains arrived. We tasted (the last bottle of) an experimental Sauvignon Blanc 2007 which was very gentle and understated and we shall look forward to adding the '08 version to our list next year. We also enjoyed seeing the grapes drying as part of the process of producing Vin Santo. We also visited Badia a Coltibuono (http://www.coltibuono.com/) and Volpaia (http://www.volpaia.it/), currently estates with representation on our list, and we're speaking with Rampa di Fugnano about the possibility of importing some of their wines too. So, all in all, a successful and interesting visit.

The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

First glimpse of a pine marten at The Cross

Wednesday 9 October 7.45am

Red squirrels, blue tits, and finches scatter in all directions as a pine marten drops in to help him or herself to the birdnuts on offer!

This is the first time in almost six years that we (and our guests in Room Eight) have had the pleasure...but with a few strategically placed dollops of peanut butter and a few jam sandwiches we eagerly await a return visit.

Apologies for the fuzziness of the photographic evidence!

The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk

TripAdvisor. Here to stay or flash in the pan?

We've seen some growth in the use of websites such as TripAdvisor and an increasing number of our guests say that they found us thro' TripAdvisor...but we have great concerns about its integrity and the accuracy of its ranking systems. We've discovered instances of hoteliers writing their own reviews, dissing competitors, or campaigning for their guests to write favourably. We've been at the receiving end of glowing reviews but also some very hurtful and unfair reviews. Is this right? Should it happen? On the other hand we do find the site useful when researching our own trips. Let us know what you think. Should we ignore all reviews, respond to all reviews, or only reply to certain types of posting?

We've added a page to our website...http://www.thecross.co.uk/TripAdvisor.htm


The Cross at Kingussie
Restaurant with Rooms
www.thecross.co.uk