Wine, food and good life

Helsinki is currently hosting Wine, food and good life- fair. In case you're in town without anything else to do, you could do a lot worse.

At 10 am the only socially acceptable drink is Champagne, right? We kicked the day off with Mumm's Cordon Rouge and moved through Dom Perignon to Gratiot Pillière. But you know what? Carelia has totally ruined me. Big time. No other fizz gives me that buzz anymore. Lord (and my liver) knows I tried, but as I had to admit at Carelia's section, they just lacked that unicorniness. My profoundly professional analysis was greeted with an understanding nod: "unfortunately we only have Vilmart in the cellar right now".

And here we go... again.

Now that's a Christmas tree I'd highly approve!

We learnt a lot though. And launched a new word into our daily vocabulary: sabrage. Which, should you have a spare one just lying around, is performed with the back of the instrument. We got to witness Masutoaitemu- blog's delightful Riitta's performance. And coolly and ever so eloquently she executed it at her first ever try. Do pay attention how a blogger doesn't waste a single drop of this noble nectar!

After Champagnes we moved on to German whites and then on to the reds. One of the biggest surprises was this King we discovered at Californian wines. The wine delivers like the man in the white jumpsuit in his heyday - this wonderfully balanced Cabernet Sauvignon is well-rounded and full-bodied and would work with just about any food you can think of!

As the name of the fair would suggest, there was food too. Which is a core ingredient of that good life.

This sausage lover was in heaven.

Among the goodies I lugged back home were several treats from Tanninen. They didn't have the chilli- infused strawberry jam I've heard so many great things about, but smoked garlic jelly and sea buckthorn dressing gave me plenty of other things to focus on. 

Sweet tooth got taken care of as well. These orange- flavoured almond biscuits from Italy took my breath (and dreams of ever having a six-pack!) away.

Along with other gastronomical giants English delicacies were on display too - among other things in the form of these gorgeous jellies and marmalades  Pear and ginger chutney works like magic with the cheddar that the vendors advertised as "the best in the world".

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?