The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Snow?  On a Wednesday?  Whatever next?  Whilst the good folk of Hepple, who are quite used to such weather, were clipping into their bindings to shred the backcountry and the young folk in Exeter were bathing in winter sunshine, our correspondents in SW19 were not loving being out and about in it, yearning to be inside.  As ever in London life, snowflakes only lead to disappointment since the ground was so wet there was never a chance of settling and, by 11am, no-one would believe us when we related our daring adventures over a cup of vin chaud and a crêpe.

Anyway, enough of the Blizzard of 19/11 and all that.  According to cousin Paul in Subiaco, the weather in Perth is currently in the mid-twenties, shorts are being worn and the fine weather looks set to continue.  Lovely conditions to play cricket in, we suggest, which is handy because today one of the world’s greatest sporting rivalries opened a new chapter.  Yep, the Ashes have finally started, by the time they finish it’ll be 2027, very exciting.  The First Test hasn’t been played away from the Gabba for more than 40 years, we still don’t know why they have chosen to do so this time but let’s hope it is not the only innovation in this series.  The most obvious other novelty would be England winning every match down under, shall we suggest this?  By all accounts we have the fastest bowling attack for over 50-odd years, which one of them do you think will get injured first, perhaps we should ask Glen McGrath what the odds are?

Closer to home, as we get closer to the end of November, we get closer to Thanksgiving.  Ok, so we’re definitely not American but, given the ‘piggy’ running their country perhaps it is sensible to give thanks for this.  Equally, perhaps the Americans can give thanks for not being stuck this side of the pond, where our own dear leader has hit a record low net favourability rating of -54 (YouGov), one point worse than the rating Boris J had on the day he resigned!  Still, it’s the budget next week, so we suspect his ratings might not improve in a hurry – we don’t imagine there will be much in the Reeves Red Briefcase to give thanks for.

In hospitality news this week, we read (yet again?) that research, undertaken by UKHospitality, the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and Hospitality Ulster, found that 73% of businesses have less than six months of cash reserves to fall back on whilst 29% have no cash reserves at all.  The industry is teetering on the crumbliest of cliffs but not everyone is too concerned about customer flow, it would seem. 

The Independent has been getting a bit excitable about ‘news’ that a bar in Altrincham, known locally as Alibi, refuses entry to lone drinkers after 9pm to stop them ‘mithering’ other groups of drinkers.  A number of questions spring to mind here: if we were drinking alone, at 9pm, we’re not sure a cocktail bar specialising in karaoke themed events would be our first port of call; equally, if a group of friends go into the bar and then one of the group peels off and starts talking to another group, do they then become a ‘solo’ drinker and thus a pest in need of removal?  The owner says he’s prioritising people’s welfare and safety, saying “once or twice a month, and often at midnight stumbling around looking for someone to go” which we think means that every couple of weeks someone gets drunk and tries to start a fight.  So, if, as he states, the single-drinker ban has been in place since they opened in 2022, might it be reasonable to assume that it’s not the lone drinkers starting these fights because how would they be there in the first place?  Perhaps he should change the policy wording to something closer to what he really means, like ‘No Weirdos At Any Time, Ever!’ which would probably send The Independent into meltdown….

Another weekend laden with sporting opportunity beckons and, given the temperatures, TNT and the settee seem very tempting.  As mentioned, there will be cricket on in the mornings and then, on Saturday we have Wales beating New Zealand at 3.10pm; Ireland beating South Africa at 5.40pm; France losing heavily at home to Australia or Italy losing narrowly at home to Chile, both at 8.10pm.  Sunday brings us Scotland tying with Tonga at 1.40pm and England clashing with Argentina at 4.10pm, which itself clashes with Arsenal v Tottenham at 4.30pm.  Looks like the morning just might be cricket free on Sunday to squeeze in the dog walking…

Back to now, back to Thanksgiving, back to wine.  As is our wont, we’ll be opening a couple of American wines this weekend to complement the feasting next Thursday.

Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2023 – £20.99 – based in the Livermore Valley, Califormia, Wente’s vineyards were founded in 1883 and are still owned and managed by the same family, four generations later.  They were also one of the first to plant Chardonnay and, in fact, the Wente clone is the most well-known Chardonnay clone in California because they were one of just two commercially viable Chardonnay vineyards to survive Prohibition!  Crisp with fine elegant apple notes with a supporting touch of oak and bang on with all your festive treats!

Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 – £26.99.  Located in the Paso Robles region of California, they are particularly renowned for their Cabernet Sauvignon.  This wine is mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with a smidge of Petit Verdot, and was aged for 20 months in a combination of French and American oak.  Rich, opulent and balanced, powerful aromas of dark fruits, cocoa, violet, coffee, and toasted oak dominate whilst the palate is dense, deep and full-bodied with balanced and ripe tannins.  A bit of age only adds to the pleasure!

That’s it from us for this week, last week of November incoming, Budget on Wednesday – think we might need a drink sooner than we think!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I’ve been writing this email for about an hour now and have got just this far. My ever supportive colleague observed: “Ooh, that’s going well!” – I’m fairly sure nobody around the cabinet table has uttered those words this week, whether in truth or jest.

A Prime Minister, with a working majority of 169, this week found their advisors briefing the press about a non-existent coup for leadership of the Labour Party. It would be really rather funny if it wasn’t for the fact that these people are supposed to be running the country. We really do need a grown up to come along and sit them all down to explain that ‘Traitors’ is just a television show for entertainment, even if it is on the BBC. On the plus side, the PM is going to get to the bottom of it and sack whoever did the briefing. On the downside, Downing Street staff has said nobody did it – A real dog ate my homework moment.

In the US, the drip drip drip of the Epstein files continues. I would have thought that the release of over twenty thousand emails would be the perfect place to get an AI application involved. Bizarrely, there seems little appetite for even a qualified speed reader!

Elsewhere, COP30 has been happening in Brazil, a place where acres of the Amazon get burnt every day, to the tune of 2.7 million acres this year alone.

We’ve covered events at some of the COP meetings in the past but it seems to us that they don’t work. We are now up to number 30 but the rhetoric has barely changed over the last 10 of them. People fly in from all over the world and talk for weeks about the heating of the planet yet here we are, still on target for a catastrophic 2.6˚C rise. That said, it did amuse me that the Californian delegation referred to Trump as an invasive species.

As an interesting counterbalance, I read that Pakistan is paying Qatar to not deliver Liquid National Gas because, even with the penalty, their solar and battery spending is much better value and saving them a fortune.

In other news, John Elkan, president of Ferrari has been rather blunt stating that his F1 drivers “should focus on driving and talk less.” It is that kind of no nonsense commentary that we think should be advising government ministers! Admittedly, the team has not had its best season but has our government?

In Olympic news, it has been announced that the Women’s 100m final will be on Day 1 of the games in Los Angeles 2028. That’s going to be hard work on the runners, three rounds all on the same day, but definitely a way to start the games with a bang!

On the Rugby front, England host the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday at the weird old time of 15.10. Even more surprising is that it looks like Marcus Smith is on the bench and they’ve drafted in Emma Raducanu! There is a wide selection of Internationals on Saturday, all at slightly odd times. If you plan your day well it could be back to back rugby from 12.40 till almost midnight if you watch one of the 8.10 pm clashes on catch up!

Which brings me to wine…

Parading themselves in front of you this weekend will be Theopetra Estate Terre Grec Assyrtiko 2024 (£15.99). This is a new one that hails from mainland Greece, just south of Mount Olympus. We found it to be a crisp and dry white with a touch of tropical to the finish.

On the red front we’ll zip over to Sicily and pour a glass of Giato Centopassi 2024 (£18.99). This is a winning blend of Nero d’Avola and Perricone with a medium to full body, black fruit character, a touch of clove spice and a decent finish.  As an aside, Centopassi is the winemaking entity of Libera Terra cooperatives that cultivate land confiscated from the mafia in Sicily.

And that, as they say, is that – have a bon weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We did warn you November was coming and, now it’s here with horrific single figure temperatures and icy gales, you mustn’t complain.  Alright, we may be exaggerating a tad, since the daytime temperature this week has rarely gone below 15 degrees – just in time for COP30 next week where the great and the good will gather to discuss the ‘state’ of the climate.  Coincidentally, when I say the great and the good, this will not include the current POTUS since he has gone on very public record stating that climate change is a ‘con job’.  Do I suggest that the POTUS isn’t great or good?  Of course not, how could I…

Speaking of the great and the good, let’s talk David Lammy, who’s not been having a good week.  Leaky Wandsworth prison released two prisoners by accident, which is not a good look for the Justice Secretary whilst a French court found a taxi driver, accused of stealing money and luggage from Mr Lammy, not guilty.  Ignoring the fact that we were most likely picking up the tab for his 600km taxi journey to Flaine, for his ski holiday, what is more significant is that the taxi driver, since May, has been placed under judicial supervision with a driving ban and a 2,000 euro (£1,690) bail, which effectively took away his livelihood… given the not guilty verdict, who now picks up the tab for his loss of earnings and defamation?  Sadly, I think we might be able to guess the answer to that and his name’s not Dave.

Now we’ve opened the Great & Good Pandoras Box, the G&Gs come flooding out.  Next up, Rachel R. who is considering charging EV drivers a ‘per mile’ tax.  All the encouragement and incentive to adopt electric vehicles naturally leading to an opportunity to profit from people’s environmental choices was always going to be too hard to resist.  Having said that, rumours are circulating that the 5p Fuel Duty Freeze could be coming to an end; apparently, some retailers aren’t passing the savings onto their customers, who’d have thunk it!  This move alone would add a few billion to the treasury coffers each year, which might be helpful…

Other G&Gs worth mentioning in passing: Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the DWP and Joey Barton spring to mind but I’m sure you can add more.

Moving on, it’s another rugby weekend this weekend – Twickenham tickets in L4 are still available on Saturday for England v Fiji if you’ve got about £130; equivalent tickets, in the same block, for the New Zealand game next week are north of £500, which will you choose?  Meanwhile, in cricket, the Indian Women romped to World Cup victory on Sunday, whilst the Australian Ashes selectors have already started playing mind games by choosing a Masters squad for the First Test in Perth.

Back here, we’re keenly selling wine and trying not to upset anyone.  Definitely succeeding with the first, desperately hoping the second is as successful.  Hopefully, if we open some wine this weekend, that might keep us in your good books?

For the white, we thought a brief trip to Spain with the Valenciso Rioja 2023 – £25.99. This is a blend of 70% Viura and 30% Garnacha Blanca, sourced from 80 year old vines and then fermented with wild yeasts before lazing around for 9 months in Caucasian oak barrels.  Complex aromas combining pretty, floral characters with preserved lemon, truffle and smoky notes.  The palate is broad and well integrated with nuts and stone fruit characters.  Fresh candied peel, minerality and crisp citrus acidity on the finish.

For red, the Right Bank grabs our attention with Château Lucas 2016 – £24.99.  Hailing from lovely Lussac Saint-Émilion, our first taste was during a summer heatwave (not this year!) and, even then, its class stood out.  50% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it has raspberry and black cherry fruits, a nice silky texture whilst still having a bit of oomph about it.

That’s it from us for this week – bonfire night tomorrow in Wimbledon Park, so traffic will be bananas from about 5pm, fyi.  Apparently, Edenbridge are burning Keir Starmer this year (Starmer The Farmer Harmer) whilst Lewes already lit him up on Wednesday.

What a strange world we do live in!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We thought we’d talk about Sir David Attenborough and his involvement in what Knight Frank described as “the largest block of land to come on the market in England in the last 30 years”. The Rothbury Estate, owned by the Percy family for the best part of 700 years, includes 1800 acres of woodland, a pub, red squirrels, a caravan site, 12 farms, skylarks, 23 residential properties and some fine fishing and shooting opportunities. The entire estate is 3,800 hectares, which we understand is about the size of modern Athens, and was put up for sale for £35 million. Our first thought was “Wow that’s cheap, only about half a flat overlooking Hyde Park”.

Anyway, what has this to do with Sir David Attenborough? Well, Sir David made an appeal on behalf of Northumberland Wildlife Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, who have a year to raise £30 million to buy the land with the aim of boosting wildlife and nature friendly farming. In essence, they’ll create a 40-mile (64km) “wild” corridor, from the coast to Kielder and the Scottish border. Sir David’s call to action caused 8,624 donations in the following 24 hours.

Rothbury Estate is the next door neighbour to our chums at Hepple Gin who, since 2020, started on a radical new direction with a plan called ‘managed wilding’. This looks at building the base of the food-chain, from water, soil carbon and fungal mycorrhiza to diverse vegetation and the insect population. Currently, the estate is host to some wonderful charismatic species: curlew, red grouse and lapwing rub shoulders with pedigree Longhorns, Exmoor Ponies and Highland cattle!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so chapeau to Walter, Lucy and the Hepple Wilders! Chapeau also to Sir David Attenborough, a centurion who has just found a new role as an influencer, so cool for school!

Staying with property chat, we find we have another week and another housing crisis. This time it’s Rachel Reeves who may or may not have been naughty, poorly advised or the victim of a rubbish lettings agent. It seems she didn’t have a licence to let her family home out to rent; in truth, neither of us knew that you needed a licence, that you don’t need a licence with every local authority and why would the lettings agent not mention it when you offer them the property?

In politics, the Dutch have moved to the centre from the right, Trumpolina has been in Asia doing the YMCA dance, holding hands with the new Japanese PM, allowing the Koreans a nuclear sub and swapping soybeans/rare earth minerals with Xi Jinping.

In the Isle of Wight, a spider thought to be lost for 40 years has been found again. The white knuckled wolf spider was found at a remote nature reserve only accessible by boat in an area grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep. The sheep are helping police with their enquiries over a few other disappearances but are so far tight lipped on both dodos and Glenn Miller.

Tasting This Weekend

Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier 2024 – £12.49.  This Languedoc estate, belonging to the Fayet family, is based in the village of Moussan, close to Narbonne. The property has a small brook running around the outskirts which provides natural irrigation to give much needed water. This gives the wines their freshness and appeal, keeping the vines cool in a very hot climate. A flirty Viognier: shimmering hay and peaches with a lush viscous texture give way to a sensual palate of roses, pineapples and mangoes. We think it will be awesome with that pumpkin soup followed by pumpkin risotto that we’ll all have going on after all that carving!

The red is a bit of an old favourite and very much of the season – Le Seigneur du Raveil Vacqueyras 2021/22 – £22.99.  Originally formed by 7 passionate winegrowers in 1956, today the Cave de Gigondas has increased to 78 members across 128 hectares in Gigondas whilst also taking in vineyards in Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise to bring the total to 260 hectares.  We loved this wine from the first mouthful – blackcurrant, black cherry, blackberry all make an appearance leading to some plum character on the finish with a dollop of spice to tidy it up.  Classic Rhône quality and poise.

That’s it for us, November tomorrow, winter draws on…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Right, I think Wednesday night was probably the confirmation we all needed that summer is definitely over even if the sun is doing its best today.  We’ve had some wobbles over the last few weeks and shorts have been seen on Arthur Road as recently as last Friday but now it’s time to put some trousers and socks on because it’s definitely chilly.  And the change in the weather is perhaps timely, given that the farmers also agree with us and are putting the clocks back this Sunday morning.  2am becomes 1am, we get an ‘extra’ hour in bed, it’ll be dark by 4.30pm and instead of lighting the barbecue, we’ll be setting a fire, whilst drawing the curtains. 

It’s not all bad news though: roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, stuffing, gravy and fine roast meats now return to the throng; the slow cooker will dust itself down and turn grisly/gristly hunks of unloved cuts into succulent, melt in the mouth, show-stopping stews and whisky is considered medicinal once again, to be administered as and when required.

However, before we do all this, how about a glass of Champagne?  We just been reminded that, since 2009, the fourth Friday in October has been declared ‘Champagne Day’ and, whilst I realise a lot of you make every Friday a fizz Friday, this week it definitely needs to be the proper stuff!  Who reminded us you may ask?  We currently stock Champagnes from 8 different suppliers, so you could be forgiven for expecting it to be one of these Champagne houses that gave us the tip off.  However, you’d be wrong.  Not a single one of them has mentioned it to us, so we can only assume sales are so robust they feel no need of further promotion; in fact, a customer read about it in City AM on Tuesday and gave us the steer – we are eternally grateful for his attention to detail, the customer is always right!

If you need help choosing tonight’s tipple, here’s what we have in stock right now:

Bollinger La Grande Année 2014 – £135

Bollinger RD 2007 – £200

Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut NV – £60

Charles Heidsieck Brut Millésime 2012 – £115

Collet 1er Cru Brut Vintage 2016 – £58

De Saint Gall Orpale Blanc de Blancs 2008 – £125

Delavenne Père et Fils Grand Cru Brut Rose NV – £45

Jean Gimonnet ‘La Guette’ 2008 – £58

Lété-Vautrain 204 Brut NV MAGNUM – £66

Lété-Vautrain Echo Blanc de Noirs 2019 – £41

Lété-Vautrain Grand Millésime 2016 – £38

Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 NV – £33

Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 NV HALF – £18

Louis Roederer Cristal 2013 – £290

Louis Roederer Brut Vintage 2016 – £90

Louis Roederer Collection 245 Brut NV – £54

Pierre Moncuit Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Millésime 2012 – £70

Tarlant Brut Nature NV MAGNUM – £120

Tarlant Brut Nature NV – £60

Something for everyone there, we think!

Talking of fancy drinks, it was wonderful to read yesterday that our local heroes, Thames Water, have been awarded a single star by the Environment Agency, chapeau!  One star means the company is poor performing and the scoring is based on, amongst other things, pollution incidents, compliance with permits and self-reporting.  Apparently, we’ll be getting £75 million back from them, taken off our bills, which we’ll promptly return to them to pay for the necessary system upgrades, so that’s alright then, they should be able to balance their books.

We should all raise a fancy drink to the England Women to mark their qualification for the Cricket World Cup semis – a masterclass in beating India on Sunday was followed by a brutal wake-up call against Australia on Wednesday which could prove to be timely as both these teams are also into the final stages.  European football was back on and in the Champions League this week all the English teams got results, none of them lost in fact.  4-0, 3-0, 0-2, 1-5, 0-0, 5-1 – anyone care to guess which of these swashbuckling results belongs to Spurs?!

And now to this weekend’s fancy drinks.  We have a new iteration of one of our ‘old’ whites and a brand new red – I know, we’ve gone bananas…

We’ve been selling wines from Cape Mentelle for a few years now, having been fans of the Western Australia winery for even longer.  We used to sell their Margaret River Chardonnay but they stopped making that and replaced it with Cape Mentelle Sixteen Hectares Chardonnay 2023 – £26.99.  A subtle name change, which was explained to us thus: Sixteen Hectares wines do have some oak maturation, with vineyard selection being key – for example, blending Chardonnay from Chapman Brook Vineyard for its white peach character with fruit from Crossroads Vineyard which has citrus notes that can fill out the mid-palate.  Ok, noted.  When we tasted it, it was a bit like greeting an old friend that you haven’t seen for a while and desperately hoping that you still get on – suffice to say the relationship just grew stronger.  Peach, melon, mandarin and honeysuckle on the nose with richer fruit on the palate, a hint of savoury nuttiness and zesty, crisp acidity – welcome back, old chum!

The red is a Pinot Nero from Venezia.  It’s been many moons since we had an Italian Pinot so this is a welcome new arrival.  La Cantina Pizzolato Pinot Nero 2024 – £14.99 – Settimo Pizzolato is the 5^th generation of his family to run this winery and over the last 20 years he has focused on sustainability and organic production.  This Pinot Nero has a nice open cherry nose whilst the palate has a slight spritz of freshness on the front, followed by juicy fruit that is a touch richer leading to a decently persistent finish.

That’s all from us, time for a glass of Moncuit Millésime 2012 I reckon…bottoms up!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

First up, Happy Birthday to Wyclef Jean, Anil Kumble and Eminem – three unlikely musketeers – joined by actors Mathhew Macfadyen and Felicity Jones around a cake holding 257 candles, deep breathes everybody, make a wish…

However, before we get too carried away with celebrating the birthdays of complete strangers let’s first tune up our tiny violins for the Fine Wine Market, specifically the En Primeur aspect of it.  We’ve been hearing the rumours for a while now but this was confirmed when we heard some of the findings of the inaugural 67 Pall Mall London Fine Wine Trends Report.  Trade rag, Drinks Retailing, reports that the “members were particularly disillusioned with the rising price of En Primeur wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy.  Members noted that they felt prices had been inflated to ‘the point where it no longer makes sense to buy wines on release,’ instead opting to purchase on the secondary market.”

Couldn’t agree more, ordinary punters have been being priced out of the market over the last few years and, as Adam Garforth MW pointed out: “Bordeaux only started being really successful after the 1982 vintage – and that’s only 40 years ago. Before that, they were working like dogs. But since then, they’ve become a bit lazy.”  A selling policy that relies on customers FOMO must have a limited shelf life – we ourselves have seen this with one of our suppliers that we buy top end Italian, Spanish and American kit from.  We have bought a number of wines from these characters ‘En Primeur’, with allocation restrictions, stipulations and complicated terms whilst also paying for these wines anywhere up to 24 months before we see them.  Imagine our delight when some of their wines turned up on the Christmas Offers list last week, for less than we paid for them 2 years ago!

Anyway, we’re not bitter and we move on.  We’ve all heard about people ‘diagnosing’ bone spurs to avoid going to war but it would seem they’re not the first to use a ‘note’ to their advantage.  Our very own former PM, Sir Winston, received a note from Otto C. Pickhardt, M.D. on January 26, 1932, to circumvent Prohibition rules:

This is to certify that the post-accident convalescence of the Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times. The quantity is naturally indefinite but the minimum requirements would be 250 cubic centimetres.

With power comes great irresponsibility, still.

Anyway, back to wine.  We suggested a few new listings last week and now I can let you know about a few more:

First up, a low-alcohol Riesling.  We’ve found the No & Lo sector a bit difficult to navigate and have tasted more than we’d have liked to try and find something that feels like it could almost be wine.  We’ve got a couple in stock already but two weeks ago we tasted Walt LØ Riesling 0.5% – £11.49 which was a bit of a revelation.  Riesling is a natural fit for a low alcohol wine, given they are often made at 8.5%, their fruit and acidity being constantly appealing.  Often however, they can be too, too sweet, which is why this one was a revelation – fresh, crisp, light and fruity but with some crisp apple character and a hint of peach in the background, not at all bad.

Next up, a new beer.  Herzoglich Bayerisches Brauhaus Tegernsee Tegernseer Hell – £3.60 is definitely easier to drink than it is to say!  A few customers suggested we try this and so we did – for me it falls somewhere between Augustiner and Paulaner in style and is certainly refreshing!

Klippenkop Pinotage 2023 – £15.49 comes from Robertson Valley where the grapes are sourced from 22 different families.  Ripe strawberry and juicy plum fruit character make it an easy-going style with plenty of appeal and a slightly richer finish – benchmark!

Two wines from Bordeaux next, one new and one a returner: Château Curton La Perriere 2020 – £18.29 which is 100% Merlot from 30 year old vines located about 15 kilometres from Saint-Émilion which gives us a wine with dark plum fruit with a touch of spice and nice silky tannins – perfect with a roast!  Château La Fleur de Bouard 2014 – £44.00 is the returning hero.  Owned by the same family as Chateau Angelus, this wine is always great value.  A blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon it is very much the modern style of claret, really voluptuous on the medium to full bodied palate with black cherry and berry fruits, toasted spice, mocha and a hint of graphite. The tannins are oh so silky and it has an impressive velvety finish.

Finally, something that has been on the shelf for a while but I don’t think we have mentioned – Marqués de Murrieta Reserva 2016 – £44.00 this comes from the southernmost part of Rioja Alta from a great vintage.  Dark cherry fruit character, some cedar notes and a touch of smoke.  Full bodied and complex on the palate with spice and dark fruits once more finishing with enough tannin to keep it tidy – all a bit of a treat in a glass!

We won’t be tasting any of these this weekend because we will be exploring the great value that can be found in South Africa, away from Burgundy and Bordeaux.

De Wetshof Estate ‘Lesca’ Chardonnay 2023, Robertson, South Africa – £20.99 the name De Wetshof has been synonymous with the production of fine wines in South Africa since the 1970’s. Named after Danie de Wet’s wife, this is a lightly wooded Chardonnay, exuding lively aromas of citrus, green apple and butterscotch on the nose.  With the elegance and intensity of great white Burgundy it has a complex, racy palate of lemon, peach and ripe apple flavours with nutty and mineral notes.  Pork stuffed with prunes was the winery recommendation and we won’t argue with that.

Meerlust Red 2021 – £20.99 is a classic Bordeaux style blend of 32% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot.  First released in 1985, which marked the first declassification of the Rubicon wine because the harvest quality that year did not meet the exacting quality standards for the flagship, nowadays the Red is in regular production and the quality remains tip-top.  Aromas of cassis and plums drag you into an immediately appealing, medium-bodied red with crushed black fruit, a touch of vanilla spice and soft silky tannins.  A great partner to a rack of lamb or other chunks of meat, of course…

And now we finish with one more birthday, which was actually yesterday, 16^th October.  Oscar Wilde would have been 171 years old and the British Library celebrated this by re-issuing his Readers Card which was revoked in June 1895 due to him having a criminal record – not before time, considering he died in November 1900!

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken – solid Wilde Wisdom!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How did we get to Friday already?

We’ve had the Conservative Party Conference, it seemed very sparsely attended, and I even saw photos of an empty hotel bar on a Saturday night! Kemi made a surprisingly traditional party leaders speech and will be chuffed because it went well on social media. That said, there was little in the way of new ideas in it except, perhaps, the promise to abolish stamp duty on your main residence. Unfunded tax cuts seem to be recurring theme that is not being learned from. Other than that, everything is spiffing and she should keep her job until at least the May local elections. Michael Heseltine was on Newsnight the other night, he didn’t swerve the questions, answering succinctly and briefly, almost felt like he was reminding us what we’ve lost!

Over in France they are enjoying the revolving door for Prime Ministers that we had for a while in Downing Street. If anybody has a spare couple of days in the next week or two, just drop Macron a line, I gather the lunch is rather good!

Over in the US, there is little sign of improvement. The Tango Tariffmeister is still sending unwanted troops to cities whose citizens chose to democratically elect people with the wrong colour rosette. The latest story is that the National Guard is there to protect ICE. If ICE didn’t feel the need to keep zip tying children in the middle of the night, perhaps they wouldn’t need protection. As usual, the official communications have less truth than is told at an MP’s expense audit. A sad old state of affairs causing havoc and chaos everywhere you look.

I’m sure you’ve heard that “Every day is a School Day”. I had an absolute wowser of one this week. I learnt how they track the migration pattern of the Monarch butterfly! It seems you catch one in a net, pop it in a fridge for a few minutes, which works like an anaesthetic then they pop it in an envelope and weigh it (1.75g), then brush a few scales off its back and apply a tiny tracker with non-toxic glue. Then, with the tracker attached, the butterfly is released. The one I read about did a couple of circles then flew off and was tracked from Southern Ontario to Oklahoma!

Finally, thoughts turn to wine and not before time! This week we’ve started to see the arrival of some of the fruits of our tasting sessions:

Cap Classique Jacques Bruére Blanc de Blancs 2013 (£20.99) – we’ve been looking for a Cap Classique on and off for ages but hadn’t quite found what we were looking for. Now we have. This is crisp, dry and elegant with a decent amount of complexity as well as being different enough to our other non-champagne sparklers.

Gilles Remoriquet Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2023 (£23.99) – this is selected from a number of plots across Nuits Saint Georges and the Cote de Beaune. A wine with lovely pure cherry fruit, a touch of spice, and elegant and supple structure. Deliciously charming in the glass. We’ve also got some of his Nuits Saint Georges 2023 (£45).

Chateau Grandis 2015 (£22.99) some of you may recall drinking plenty of the 2010 of this wine, we sold cases and cases of it and then didn’t like the next vintage. Well, we’re definitely back on board now, this is absolutely on point. It’s a small estate with all the farming done organically and by hand. The blend is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. My notes say “absolutely top value claret just like 2010 was” and gave it the double tick.

Christian Bellang Cuvée des Gouttes 2023 (£22.49) this isa cracking Chardonnay from one of our favourite Meursault producers for the price of a wine from the Mâconnais.

Highgate Chardonnay 2023 (£14.99) my tasting note says “nothing wrong with that at all, great value!” make of that what you will but I think I liked it.

Fernando de Castilla Yema 2024 (£21.50) made from 100% Palomino grown in a vineyard just south east of Jerez. This is a vino de pasto the name given to the unfortified still wines of this area. Cool fermented and aged on its lees for six months, this has apple and stone fruit character, some leesy complexity and a lovely minerality too. Fish pie anyone?

Which bring me nicely onto what we’ll taste this weekend…

We shall start off in the white shirt with the new Christian Bellang Cuvée des Gouttes 2023 (£22.49) mentioned above.

Making the red mark on that white shirt will be Croix de Marsan Bordeaux 2020 (£17.49) from the Entre Deux Mers region of Bordeaux, this is a Merlot dominant blend aged in barriques for six months.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ll start by raising our hats to the Rugby World Champions, England’s Red Roses. They really took the game to Canada who appeared, on this occasion, to have little answer. In the interests of balance, congratulations to Magdeleine Vallieres who became Canada’s first women’s World Road Race Champion, just before the rugby final started. A bonus for this viewer was that the timing was perfect for changing channels – chapeau!

On the Ryder Cup front, the Europeans successfully defended their position, despite the best efforts of a rather raucous crowd that seems to get worse every visit. I guess if that bad behaviour starts at the top, then it’s difficult to get anybody to behave. Clearly, the perfect place to host next year’s FIFA World Cup… perhaps we should send some Millwall fans over?

Talking of the World Cup, the ticket prices fell into our lap this week. The Mexico opener is $370 a seat at the cheapest level, the Canadian opener is $355 and the US opener $560. To us it looks like the Canadian one is the value but let’s not forget the US price includes bed and breakfast at an ICE facility and possibly a flight to South America.

The US government is shut down, with neither side seeming to want to negotiate for the moment. That’ll leave nearly a million government employers locked out of work and going unpaid. It’s amazing that a mechanism designed to protect the taxpayer from the excesses of government has become so debased.

Here, the government has been shut because it’s conference season. The Lib Dems were swanning around in Bournemouth, with Ed Davey joining a marching band to kick it off. The Labour Party was living it up in Liverpool, mostly talking about Nigel Farage, whilst we look forward to The Conservative Party coming at you from Manchester next week. Rumours they have booked the room upstairs at the Circus Tavern are wide of the mark. Kemi Badenoch’s statement that Robert Kenrick’s ideas are just “my thoughts repackaged” sets it all up nicely. The Greens start theirs today in Bournemouth, luckily the disruptions in the train service to Bournemouth have been rescheduled.

There’s been a bit of a furore this week about the AI actor Tilly Norwood. Many pages have been written, powerful unions have made comment and many actors have suggested that agencies don’t add Tilly to their books. Perhaps we can just point out that Tilly is not actually an actor but just a computer program similar to the special effects in The Matrix or Lord of the Rings, there might be a little calm – it’s Hal 9000 you need to worry about!

To make difficult choices easier, we will visit USA and Georgia this week to open the following…

Vina Robles Viognier 2021 – £23.49 – this hails from Paso Robles in California, where the Pacific coastline unfolds into rugged ranch-lands and cowboy ambience (and who doesn’t love a story with cowboy ambience?).  This Viognier is planted in the highest part of the Huerhuero Vineyard, benefitting from the cooling afternoon pacific breeze.  Crisp and medium-bodied with peach and mandarin fruit with a long lively finish – really rather fabulous.

Bedoba Saperavi 2022 – £20.99 – Made from the indigenous grape variety, Saperavi, and partially vinified in traditional qvevri vessels, Bedoba means `Day of Luck’.  A small fraction of the fruit is fermented in whole bunches whilst a selection of the grapes are left to dry naturally on the vines until November, ensuring a fine balance between the savoury and spicy elements of the grape. 

Lastly, in a break from recent protocol, we will be here all day on Tuesday, as we should be!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It must be getting cooler – the eternal optimist and serial short wearer has been wearing full grown man trousers all week and has even brought an emergency sweater with him, just in case.  Yesterday he was heard grumbling to himself ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Sifnos anymore’, whilst shutting windows and putting another log on the fire.

Whilst on the subject of motivational speaking, Wayne’s favourite President (not Sarkozy), took time to give the UN a bit of a pep talk whilst also critiquing their housekeeping.  Thankfully, he is not a petty man: ‘All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle.  If the First Lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen.  But she’s in great shape.  We’re both in good shape, we both stood.’  Did they really just stand there, flummoxed?  I fear they did.  Meanwhile the teleprompter, the fabric of the UN building and the world in general got a bit of a pasting – a sort of mid-term report, like having a visit from the grumpy area manager.  The one thing that always astounds us is that he seems often to wilfully forgot who was President between January 2017 – January 2021; ‘in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars.  They said they were unendable.  You’re never going to get them solved.  Some were going for 31 years, two of them, 31, you think of it, 31 years. One was 36 years, one was 28 years. I ended seven wars.’  If it was that easy, why didn’t you sort them out in your first term rather than letting them drag on for another 5 years?  Not terribly humanitarian or worthy of a Nobel prize, or are you fibbing to us?

Meanwhile, outside the walls if UN HQ, planes are landing at LaGuardia.  These are crammed full of Europeans planning to pitch their undocumented tents outside 99 Quaker Meeting House Road with the single intention of disrupting a long-planned party.  Yep, the Ryder Cup is in town bringing with it just a jot of jingoism.  225,000 people are predicted to pass through the gates which, in Trump maths, equates to about 25 million, so it should be quite an atmosphere and I’m certain the President will be there giving advice on how to easily find your ball in the rough.

The USA is the strongest on paper – 7 of their players are in the ranked in the Top Ten (the other 3 being from Europe) whilst their lowest ranked, Sam Burns comes in at 23.  Europe have 5 players ranked lower than that so, as I say, strongest on paper.  In 2021, 8 of the US players were in the world Top 10 and in 2023 they had 6 and we had 4… not sure what that tells us apart from, perhaps, that rankings don’t matter at the Ryder and it’s more about the team – Europe are almost unchanged from Rome so plenty of experience.  To enhance your dinner party chit-chat, it’s worth knowing that the course record holder is Brooks Koepka who is currently ranked 235 in the world and definitely didn’t make the captains pick.

The other big sport this weekend is the Women’s RWC Final at Twickenham.  England v Canada, home favourites v the crowdfunded giant killers – if the Canada team from last Friday turn up like they did last week they could well break a few hearts whilst England have the form and the ranking.  Again, will it be form and ranking or team spirit that triumphs?

The Ashes Squad was also announced this week, no real surprises in there really except perhaps the inclusion of Jacob Bethell fulfilling the 2006 Theo Walcott role.

As mentioned previously, we were out and about on Tuesday, tasting wines in three different venues and doing an awful lot of spitting.  We’ve found a few wines we think we’ll list before Christmas but not before we go to what I think is our last event in this tranche, next Tuesday 30^th September.  Again, it’s in town, Draper’s Hall no less and we’ll be sure not to get distracted by all that livery and will be back here by 4pm.

More immediately, we’ll be opening a couple of wines this weekend for your delectation, the white being a rather fun drop from Mosel in Germany. 

Max Ferd. Richter ‘Zeppelin’ Riesling 2023 – £19.49 – Kingsley Amis once said ‘life is too short to learn about German wine labels’.  We agree to some degree but do not dismiss this wine.  Crisp, zesty apple and peach flavour with finely focused slate characteristics, typical for the vineyard.  In fact, wines from this vineyard were served in the luxurious restaurant of the Zeppelin airships in the 1920’s and 1930’s and have even been served at state functions at Buckingham Palace.  A great wine that frankly needs no food accompaniment!

The red comes from a little further afield, Margaret River in Western Australia in fact:

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 – £23.99 – A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Merlot.  “A glass of this and all’s well. Fragrant with mulberries, cassis, nori and baking spices, the medium-bodied palate is superfine and long with textural tannins adding to the pleasure.”                                              95 Points, Jane Faulkner, James Halliday Wine Companion

And that’s a wrap.  Have a lovely weekend, October next week, you have been warned!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, that’s week 38 nearly done, how did it treat you, ready for a drink?  September is certainly gathering pace as this week seems to have cantered by and we can see October just around the corner.  Today is a bit of an anomaly weather-wise because up to now the temperature seems to have taken a tumble, it’s definitely dark when we leave the shop and talk is now turning to roast dinners and stews rather than barbecues with green salad.

Talking of food, fine dining and exquisite good taste, the American Ego that is POTUS landed in the UK this week, for a tongue-twisting second, unprecedented, presidential state visit.  Unprecedented President reads like it could be oxymoronic and, whilst I appreciate it far from fulfils the correct definition of an oxymoron, I’m just taking great delight in using the word moron three times in a sentence that also include the word President.  I know, small pleasures…

And then, for my sins, I got totally sidetracked by ITV News at Ten on Wednesday, whilst waiting for Jack Reacher to fill the screen, and could not quite believe how thickly the red carpet was being rolled out for the American mischief maker – clearly a royal charm offensive is seen as the new way of negotiating tariff reductions.  And boy, didn’t they show Donald a great time.  What could be better than a ride in a horsedrawn carriage with footmen in fancy frocks, sat beside the King of England, on the way to a Real Bigly Castle, down avenues flanked with Guard of Honour to massage one’s fragile ego.  But it didn’t stop there, the banquet dinner was as follows:

• Panna Cotta de Cresson et Oeufs de Caille sur Sable de Parmesan
• Ballotine de Poulet Fermier en Robe de Courgettes
• Bombe Glacée Cardinal

And the drinks list included:

• Wiston Estate Cuvée 2016
• Domaine Bonneau de Martray, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2018
• Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello 2000
• Pol Roger, Extra Cuvee de Reserve 1998
• Warre’s 1945
• Hennessy 1912 Cognac Grande Champagne
• Bowmore Queen’s Cask 1980

Having consulted Larousse Gastronomique, I can confirm that the menu roughly translates as:

• two Filet-o-fish
• two Big Macs
• well-done steak with ketchup
• meatloaf
• no vegetables
• cherry-vanilla ice cream

Whilst the drinks list includes:

• Chocolate milkshake
• Diet Coke

Delicious, I wonder what Keir cooked at Chequers yesterday – Royale with cheese, I imagine?

We weren’t invited to dinner in Windsor this week but we did go to a rather good tasting up in Camden on Tuesday.  We sipped and swirled a variety of wines from around the world and hopefully will be getting a few of them on the shelves in the months to come.  With this in mind, we would like to remind you all that next Tuesday, 23^rd September, the shop will be closed ALL DAY.  Somehow, we need to be in EC4, SE1 and later on W1 to taste more wines from 3 of our best suppliers; thus, we need to stay closed as we could be some time…

We watched with glee as the England Women progressed to the semi-final of the RWC; we were disappointed not to watch the final stage of La Vuelta A España as the stage was cancelled and no winner declared; we watched the start of the Champions League football season, once we found out where it was being shown (Prime, fyi); we watched the golf at Wentworth and started to get more excited about the Ryder Cup; and we’re watching the cricket season drawing towards a close, next stop the start of The Ashes on 21^st November (alright, I know there are T20’s and ODI’s in the meantime but, you know, they’re just not red ball!)

And now to where we started – week 38 nearly done, ready for a drink?  Having chatted earlier about Sunday Roasts and wrapping up warm, I now discover that the seaweed beside my door is parched bone dry and, as a consequence, I boldly predict a sunny weekend ahead but equally, as they famously said, I’m never gonna stop the rain by complaining, because I’m free, nothing’s worrying me…

With this in mind it feels appropriate to open Cramele Recas Solara Orange Wine – £14.99, you know, the one with label where an orange is pretending to be the sun, ring any bells?  If not, here’s the lowdown: it’s from Romania and is owned by Englishman Philip Cox and his wife Elvira.  A blend of 69% Riesling, 22% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% of other varietals, this is a natural, minimal intervention wine made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice which then ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or any other additions, creating a deep orange-hued finish.  The nose exhibits quince, Poire William and a hint of vanilla, leading to a complex and structured palate with elegant and discreet stone fruit flavours, backed up with a complexity and long, balanced finish and a delightfully fresh finish.

As a foil, the red will be a youthful Rioja – Palacio del Camino Real Crianza – £12.99 – which is a classic blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano aged for 12-14 months in a mixture of French and American oak.  It has a real understated elegance, with gently spiced red fruits, a touch of leather and a polished soft finish giving it great all-rounder potential – you can drink it just as easily inside by the fire as outside in the sundance!

So that’s it from us, one last pearl of wisdom for you before we go:

“People don’t remember who the critics were”  Robert Redford – 1936 to 2025