Sports Calendar

24- 1 June, English Wine Week www.englishwineweek.com
From Cornwall to Kent, scores of English wine producers offer tastings, food matching and vineyard visits.

29 May - 1 June, Taste of Edinburgh Taste the best that Edinburgh's restaurants have to offer, plus gourmet shopping in the first of this year's taste festivals.

31 May - 1 June Loch Lomond Food & Drink Festival www.lochlomondfoodanddrinkfestival.com; www.eatscotland.com Billed as a celebration of great Scottish cooking and produce, the festival is in a stunning location at Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond. There will be cookery demonstrations from some of the area's best chefs and cookery workshops for kids as well as a real ale and whisky tent.

JUNE

5-8, Taste of Leeds, Taste the best that Leeds' restaurants have to offer, plus gourmet shopping.

11-15 BBC Good Food Summer Show www.bbcgoodfoodshow.com Birmingham NEC, A fun-filled foodie extravaganza featuring the best in food and drink, and entertainment from top chefs including Gordon Ramsay.

12-15, Taste of Dublin, Taste the best that Dublin's restaurants have to offer, plus gourmet shopping.

15-16, The NW Fine Food Lovers Festival at Westmorland county showground, Cumbria. The biggest food festival in the north west with more than 100 hundred producers of fine food exhibiting the likes of Cheshire Cheese, Christmas puddings, exotic mushrooms, Eccles cakes, sausages and even a Sarsaparilla bar to tempt you. 10am -5pm; admission £5.50. More information www.nwfinefood.co.uk

19-22, Taste of London, Regent's Park www.tasteoflondon.co.uk Taste the best that London's restaurants have to offer, plus gourmet shopping. With more than 150 new restaurants opening each year in London and around 1,500 places to eat out it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by choice in the capital.

The Taste festival brings together 42 leading restaurants each offering a three-course taster menu. Among all the Michelin-starred chefs, Arthur Potts-Dawson, owner of Acorn restaurant, near King’s Cross, will be cooking up artichoke and parsley risotto and smoked eel, samphire and horseradish salad.

In the Bertinet Kitchen Chris Horridge, head chef at the Bath Priory, will be making one to try at home: summer berry soup with birch sap wine and vanilla straws.

Charles Mitchell Wines (0161 775 1626; www.cmwines.com) will be unveiling its newest wine, Sobresaliente (£14.99), a medium-dry white wine from northern Spain. It’s best served icy cold, has fruity citrus notes, 9 per cent alcohol content and only 50 calories a glass, compared to the usual 125 calories.

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