The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ll start the week with some birthdays. Dennis the Menace will feature on a special 50p coin issued by the Royal Mint this week, to celebrate achieving the ripe old age of 75. Weirdly, it’ll cost £15 to buy one, inflation off the charts or the oddness of coin collecting, you decide.

In Spring, National Treasure David Attenborough will be celebrating his 100^th birthday with a week of special programmes starting on the 8^th May. A new programme will show behind the scenes on ‘Life on Earth’, which was first broadcast in 1979 and has visited 40 countries.

Celebrating his 66^th birthday yesterday, the Andrew formerly known as Prince was arrested at his new home in Norfolk. Barely had his birthday crumpet popped up in the toaster than the heavy boots of Thames Valley Police were crunching up the path to his door. He has been arrested on suspicion of wrongdoing in public office, which we suspect is like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.  The King says “the law must take its course”.

We bet he’s sweating now.

Elsewhere, South Korea demonstrated that nobody is above the law by jailing their ex-president Yoon Suk-Yeol for life. He was found to have damaged their democracy by trying to impose martial law in December 2024.

In a place where an entire administration feels they are above the law, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, called for the authors of a NY Federal Reserve paper to be “disciplined”. The paper pointed out that business and consumers are bearing the higher cost of tariffs. He even went as far as calling them an “embarrassment”. One wonders about looking in the mirror. In other Fed news, central bank policymakers warned that progress towards the central bank’s inflation target “might be slower and more uneven than generally expected”. We can’t think why.

Last week’s rugby didn’t all go according to plan; I certainly didn’t recognise that Scot’s team as the same people who played the week before. Looks like Van der Merwe will be back against Wales and that England may have had a chat with themselves. Possibly the game of the weekend will be on Sunday in Paris where France host Italy.

In the other shaped ball, Arsenal seem rather too happy to squander leading positions and rescue a single point from games they really should be winning. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen on Sunday.

In booze news, Brewdog seems to be in rather a lot of bother, up for sale and in danger of wiping out all its Equity for Punk Investors. I think possibly the founders and the toxic work culture have had more to do with their demise than the Chancellor’s tax rises.

On the wine front, we’ll be opening a couple of new Portuguesers this weekend. They hail from the Tejo region of Portugal. Located between Lisbon and Alentejo, it is Portugal’s fifth largest wine region.

Monte da Serra Branco 2024 (£12.49) is a blend of Arinto, Fernão Pires and Verdelho, whilst the Monte da Serra Tinto 2024 (£12.49) is a blend of Syrah, Castelão and Aragonez. When we tasted them we found them to be fruity, but not overly so and really rather good drinkers. Come and have a taste and let us know what you think.

Finally an admin note – next Friday – Friday 27th February, we will be closing early.  It’s our annual trip up the hill to help out at the KCS quiz night, so in order to get this all set up, we will be closing at 5PM – apologies in advance.

And with that, we’re off to find out if Pizza Express Woking does deliveries by drone!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Tasks for this weekend:

• Rugby – Ireland v Italy – 2.10pm Saturday 14^th
• Rugby – Scotland v England – 4.40pm Saturday 14^th
• Rugby – Wales v France – 3.10pm Sunday 15^th
• Priority – Valentines Day – all day Saturday 14^th
• Priority – Dinner and Gifts – any time after 7pm Saturday 14^th
• FA Cup/Winter Olympics – watch highlights once other tasks completed

One would add that, if you want your priorities to be successful and well received, one should perhaps postpone the Guinness/Peroni/Tennent’s Extra/Neck Oil adventure until later in the day.

So, yes, it’s St Valentine’s Day this weekend, which is the first time it has fallen on a Saturday for 11 years, I’m told.  By all accounts, on 14^th February 2015, Australia beat England by 111 runs in the opening round of the ICC Cricket World Cup (spoiler alert: Australia won the whole competition whilst England failed to progress to the knockout stages).   Meanwhile, a fragile ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia in the Donbas War had been agreed which was then quickly broken and still they are fighting… not enough has improved over the last decade, sadly.

In the 2015 Six Nations, on this date England beat Italy (47-17), Ireland beat France (18-11) whilst Scotland would lose to Wales (23-26) at Murrayfield on the Sunday.

And with that, you are all suitably equipped with a rich variety of candlelit dinner conversation starters – thank me later.

Should romance, and not rugby, be your thing, here’s some background, courtesy of www.history.co.uk/articles/the-pagan-roots-of-valentine-s-day

“many historians believe the day originated from the Roman pagan festival of fertility called Lupercalia…. a major festival on the Roman calendar commemorated every year on February 15.  It was held in honour of the gods Faunus and Lupercus, the gods of agriculture and fertility.  In a representation of fertility and because Lupercus was a god of shepherds, two male goats were sacrificed in the cave.  This was followed by the sacrifice of a dog to represent purification and because dogs often guard the flocks. Blood taken from the sacrificial knife was then smeared across the foreheads of two naked Luperci.  The knife was then wiped clean with a piece of milk-soaked wool. Historians have suggested this ritual is the reason why Valentine’s Day is associated with the colours red and white; red represents the blood from the sacrifice whilst white represents the milk on the wool that wipes the knife clean, signifying new life.”

Ok, perhaps not as romantic as one might hope, let’s read on:

“Feasting followed this ritual and after stomachs were full the Luperci cut strips from the sacrificed goats called ‘thongs’ and dipped them in the sacrificial blood.  The Luperci then ran naked through the streets of Rome and whipped any woman within striking distance. Many welcomed the lashings, often revealing bare skin for the thongs to strike. The Romans believed that the thongs would make childless women more fertile whilst blessing pregnant women with the gift of an easy birth.”

Hmmm, not sure about the naked whipping thing but I think the next bit might be closer to what we now recognise:

“Another custom during Lupercalia was the pairing of young Roman boys and girls.  At some point during the festival, the names of young girls were written on bits of paper and slipped into a jar.  Every young man would then pull out a girl’s name from the jar; the pair would then be coupled together for the duration of Lupercalia.  Many stayed together until the following year’s festival, some even fell in love and married.”

Bless.

In the real world, the mainstream media continues to publish many of the same stories as last week whilst in the wine world there is a definite news lull, perhaps they’ve all gone skiing?  One piece of news that did raise a smile was the release of the 2026 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland which gave the restaurant Opening of the Year Award to Maria Bradford’s Shwen Shwen in Sevenoaks.  Now, we know a little bit about Sevenoaks and honestly never imagined that this soulless dormitory town would become home to ‘an unforgettable dining experience that brings the rich, vibrant flavours of Sierra Leone to Sevenoaks.’  Chapeau, Maria; Chapeau, Sevenoaks – most exciting thing to happen here since the storm of 1987!

So, what are you going to drink with your fancy food on Saturday night?  If it helps, we’ll be opening the following wines this weekend: Collequieto Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2024 – £13.99 and Valenciso Rioja Reserva 2019 – £29.00.

We chose the white because it comes from Italy, the home of Lupercalia.  Hailing from Abruzzo this comes from a family vineyard, with around 35 hectares between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic coast, who we think offer excellent value.  Verdicchio is one of Italy’s noble white varieties and this has delicate hawthorn aromas as well as apple and citrus.  The palate is a little richer with a lovely freshness, some minerality and a touch of nuttiness to the finish.

The red, from Rioja, is a wine we’ve been banging on about since Alex visited them in 2007, the winery having been established in 1998 as a collaboration between ex Bodegas Palacios’ Luis Valentin and Carmen Enciso.  They are fully quality focused with the Reserva being their flagship wine – they don’t make a Crianza or a Gran Reserva.  The wine offers us savoury aromas alongside lifted, perfumed notes of violet and blackberry leading to an elegant palate – tight and concentrated with spice, fine tannins, great complexity and purity.

Delicious.

That’ll be it from us, as a quick heads up, we’ll be opening a bit later on Tuesday 17^th, another tasting in town I’m afraid, but I imagine a number of you will be tucking into a Jambon Buerre on some forsaken French hill, so you won’t even notice!

Don’t ignore the task list at the top – if it helps, we have lots of cold Champagne!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So we have all survived another splendid week with no news and nothing much to talk about. As we mosey on out of dry January it seems we’re having a rather wet February with four days out of five involving the wet weather gear, today still to be decided!

So it turns out that Peter Mandelson is a bit of a wrong ‘un then. Who could have known? There were no clues from his 1998 resignation for dodgy house funding, or from his 2001 resignation for talking to the Home Office about a British Passport for an Indian billionaire. Let alone champagne fuelled trips from Davos to Russian Ice Hockey games with aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska. If any of these previous indiscretions had been public knowledge we might have had to question the judgement of the Prime Minister and the governments vetting process. Could Mandelson be off to FIFA next?

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as “New START” and signed in 2010, expired at midnight on Wednesday. It was the last nuclear weapons control treaty between the US and Russia, but luckily both countries are led by very level headed gentleman so we’re absolutely sure there is nothing to worry about. Pope Leo sounded a little more nervous saying the situation “calls for doing everything possible to avert a new arms race”. Good point well-made perhaps.

On a more cheerful note we had the Grammy’s this week. As usual there was much discussion of the hits, or otherwise, as to the sartorial choices of those on the red carpet. What caught my eye though was the Lifetime Achievement Award, given posthumously to Fela Kuti almost 30 years after his death. He becomes the first African to win the award. Congratulations also to The Cure who won Best Alternative Music Album for “Songs Of A Lost World” and Best Alternative Performance for “Alone” their single from the album. Finally, kudos to the Dalai Lama who won with his audiobook: “Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. Beijing was unimpressed, describing the award as “anti-China political manipulation”.

The Winter Olympics have started; time to reacquaint yourselves with curling, skeleton and speed skating. Also, it’ll be worth having a look out for ski mountaineering appearing for the first time. No I don’t know either, but will look out for it later in the month. Apparently its SkiMo to the cool kids and will be happening on the Stelvio! Elsewhere,  most of the chatter in ski jumping is about ‘enhancements’ that may or maybe not being used to increase the size of their suits.

The Six Nations started last night – which is unusual for a Thursday (apologies to Tommy Cooper fans). France certainly showed how much work Ireland has left to do with Les Bleus cruising to a convincing win in Paris.

On Saturday, a much more sensible day, Italy host Scotland for the early game at a weird 14.10, and England will host Wales at the funny old time of 16.40.

Cheese and Wine Tasting 12 February 7.30pm – £30 Just a couple of places left, you already know what’s in the work diary so what are you waiting for?

Cheese and Wine are known to be life enhancing….

Tasting this Weekend

We’ll give Martin and Anna Arndorfer’s Handcrafted Grüner Veltliner 2024 (£19.99) a spin around in the glass, it’s gently spiced pear and apple fruit character deserves a share. Made unfiltered and unsulphured from grapes that are farmed organically, this is a cracker.

A farm run by the same family since 1870 gives us our red: Alceñ0 Sierra de Enmedio Monastrell (£11.99) hailing from old vines frown in Jumilla Spain this is a medium bodied red, soft and elegant and just the ticket with those sausages you picked up at the farmers market!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Whoop, whoop-di-whoop, it’s the 30^th January!  The first and worst month is drawing to a close and February is ready to go… however, before we get carried away, some important admin:

• As a reminder, tomorrow, Saturday 31^st January, we will be closing promptly at 6pm as we need to be elsewhere in a hurry!
• Tuesday 3^rd February we will be opening a bit later, as we need to attend a supplier tasting in the City but we should be back by 3pm.
• The famous January sale, 6 for 5 etc etc etc will finish on Saturday 31^st January, at close of play.
• We still have a number of spaces available on our Wine & Cheese Tasting on Thursday 12^th February – starts at 7.30pm – £30 per person (tickets need to be purchased in advance) – don’t miss out!

Right, enough of that, more of this.  I won’t be telling you anything you don’t know but frankly, it’s been another week worth forgetting.  Hosepipe bans have finally been lifted all over the country and our Exeter correspondent tells us that since they have already had 222% of their expected January rainfall, the local Wetherspoons has also experienced a 222% increase in takings.  Spooners – keeping the southwest saturated.

Speaking of pubs, this week’s government U-turn announcement was that pubs and music venues would receive a rates relief package giving a 15% discount and then a two-year freeze in real terms, followed by a change in revaluation methods before 2029.  Hooray, I hear you say and you’d be right, they’ve saved the pub!  However, what about wine bars and restaurants, why haven’t they been afforded the same treatment?  Shouldn’t pubs and bars and restaurants all be under the same umbrella, don’t they offer similar services?  How can the government be so inept and unable to see the whole picture – oh, wait a minute… During Covid, one of the rumoured reasons for why we were allowed to stay open as ‘essential’ was based on the idea that since the supermarkets were allowed to sell alcohol, we should also be allowed to, in order to prevent them having an advantage/a monopoly/taking away our business.  I know it’s different now to 2020 but surely the cafés, restaurants and wine bars are being disadvantaged for no good reason.

We expect an imminent U-turn addendum.

In other news, the Australian Open tennis continues in sweltering heat and we’ve got a Brit in the Men’s Doubles final.  Another Brit, Emma Raducanu (2021 US Open Winner) has parted ways with her 9^th coach since that slam win, a man whose CV includes being a coach to Rafa Nadal for 17 years, during which time he won 22 Grand Slams.  It’s not me, it’s you…

Speaking of faded sporting glory, Tottenham Hotspur FC (First Division Winners 1950–51 & 1960–61) who can just about score a goal a game in the Premiership and have only won 7 games thus far, somehow managed to finish 4^th in the Champions League first round.  They won 5 of their 8 matches, scored 17 goals and have a coach who looks baffled by the whole thing – perhaps Francisco Roig might be able to help.

As we’re February bound, we are also Six Nations bound.  In a first, France will be playing Ireland on Thursday night (5^th February) which is clearly a fixture scheduled with travelling fans in mind rather than big money TV deals.  They claim that they don’t want to clash with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that takes place on Friday but I’m honestly not sure how much audience crossover there would be!

Back here in SW19 we’ve decided that the wines on tasting this weekend will be French.  With the risk of a 222% tariff being put on their wines exported to the USA, we thought they could do with some help.

The white, with a nod to their President, will be Genetie Mâc(r)on Charnay ‘Les Piliers’ 2023 – £17.49.  Charnay is one of the smallest of the Mâcon Villages, also renowned as one of the best.  The name Genetie is from an engraving on a protected pillar at the estate.  The wine is excellent, crisp and mineral with spring floral notes and stone fruit character and a full citrusy palate with a lingering finish.

The red, with a nod to the weather, is a classic claret.  Château Curton La Perrière 2020 – £18.29 was a new one to us late last year.  It is 100% Merlot from 30-year-old vines grown on clay and limestone just 15km south of St Émilion.  Blah, blah, soil types grapes… I know.  To put it another way perhaps we could say… “this is like a Pomerol for less than £20.  Form an orderly queue!”

That must be it from us, and it needs to be, as my hands have gone numb from the cold.  Any of you Dry-Janners, well done, welcome back, now don’t do it again!

Santé!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Things that one might say if they were under-researched or perhaps deliberately wanted to mislead people to fit an agenda:

I haven’t been able to find any Big Macs in McDonald’s – surely the only place to buy them?

I haven’t been able to find any Catholics in Vatican City – surely a 100% catholic population?

“I haven’t been able to find any windfarms in China” – surely the world’s biggest producer of wind energy (with USA in second place)

“Stupid people buy windfarms” – to confirm, the USA has 75,000 of these windmills, Sancho.

I must apologise, I spent Wednesday afternoon doing paperwork and listening to Davos discourse whilst wondering why I subject myself to such unedifying tasks.  Sadly, because the weather was so dreary, I wasn’t overwhelmed by customers and, consequently, was able to spreadsheet uninterrupted and listen to the entirety of the 70-minute POTUS speech, which is an hour I will never get back.  In truth, he didn’t cover any new ground, occasionally reinventing the laws of maths (percentages again) and promising that the attraction of Greenland had nothing to do with rare earth mineral deposits as it’s just a “very expensive, very big piece of ice.”

Pants on fire.

So, that’s the last of my New Year Resolutions up in flames.  The Dry January thing was never going to have any traction and, whilst the gym membership is being paid for, the treadmills haven’t been under too much threat from these feet.  Now, I’ve only gone and given Trump some airtime which is something I’ve been trying to avoid and, frankly, I’m both angry and disappointed with myself but at least I’ve avoided talking about the Beckham’s!

In positive news, we tasted 152 wines on Tuesday, which is more taxing on the palate and a lot less fun that it sounds.  Just about half the wines tasted were En Primeur 2024 Burgundies which can make life even harder as you basically taste 36 Chardonnay of similar quality followed by an equivalent number of Pinot Noir.  I know, tune up the tiny violins but not every wine is a superstar and, as Adam Bruntlett from BBR surmised, “A challenging vintage, but it was possible to make good and very good wines for short- and medium-term drinking”.  For us, the whites were showing better than the reds but then, that’s often our position with Burgundy.

But it’s not just us that can do wine tasting, you can too.  We still have spaces on our first Wine & Cheese tastings of 2026:

Thursday 12^th February – 7.30pm

Thursday 12^th March – 7.30pm

The cost is £30 per person and as ever, first come – first served, we have more spaces available in February than in March, just so you know!

‘Go bring to me a pint o wine, And fill it in a silver tassie;’

Neither of us are at all Scottish but we do like a bit of Burns Night.  Robert, as seen above, and whilst famously a lover of whisky, clearly also had time in his calendar for a hearty draught of wine, which we admire.  For those unversed in such things, this Sunday, 25^th January, would be Mr Burns’ 267^th birthday and will be celebrated worldwide with haggis, neeps, tatties and over exuberant cod-Scottish accents addressing the ‘Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race’!  Oblivious as to whether or not you will be indulging on Sunday, we will be tasting wines this weekend that would match the aforementioned dinner.

The white is a wine we have sold ever since we opened but rarely gets put out on tasting (no idea why not!) since Percheron Chenin Blanc-Viognier 2024 – £10.49 always hits the spot!  A deliciously rich blend of 80% Chenin Blanc (where some of the vines are over 40 years old) and 20% Viognier, it is vibrant and aromatic with delicious generous fresh apricot, nectarine and hints of passion fruit on the nose and a creamy palate with real fresh fruit flavours, fleshy, just-picked apricots and hints of guava.

We would always prefer a red with our Scottish dinner and the Rhône makes for happy hunting ground.  This week’s choice is ‘La Côte Sauvage’ Cairanne 2022 – £21.99.  Fully ripe Grenache and Syrah grapes are hand-picked from old bush vines within Cairanne, giving us a rich and intense wine drenched in dark red fruits.  Morello cherry and a touch of sweet spice on the nose, ripe berry, liquorice, chocolate, summer pudding and a hint of cinnamon spice on the palate, this wine is full flavoured and smooth with supple tannins.  Built for Haggis….

That’s pretty much it from us for this week – don’t forget we are still in January Sale mode for another week so, if you fancy a six box of your favourites, now is the time!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We seem to be here already, Friday popping up on the calendar as we’ve barely wished the last one adieu! We’ve spent the week chasing up paper work from December, waving at customers as they pass by and trying to stay warm. Even the VAT return has been completed so I think we’re now ready to move gently into tasting season.

First up this week, our thoughts are with the poorly astronauts who had to cut short their stargazing. All those months of training down the Swanee. Being ill on the space station can’t be fun though and an 11 hour flight to splash down in the ocean is a smidge different to us popping to see the folks next door for a pack of paracetamol.

Elsewhere in the world, the news is fairly grim. We wonder if perhaps Donald might like to look up Napoleon to investigate the possible consequences of war on too many fronts, particularly Russia…

He wants Greenland to be part of the USA, apparently being an ally is insufficient. Fairwayland, Bunkerland and Teeland are all speaking to their lawyers, whilst Iceland has offered him a discount of 10% if he shops on Tuesdays. It made me wonder if we could interest him in Canvey Island, there’s a golf course, the remains of an oil refinery and a 17^th century Dutch cottage!

Closer to home, Kemi Badenoch has fired Robert Jenrick from the shadow cabinet, removed the whip and suspended his party membership for being about to defect to Reform. It seems the small bump in the polls might have been enough to push him over the top. No chance to succeed Kemi, with an improving Tory Party polling, naturally makes you think Farage I guess. Seems the genius left his resignation letter in the printer tray! Now he’s lost the ministerial car it is the duty of all of us to make sure he pays his rail fares.

Looks like he’s met Big Nige for that pint, as he’s already had his ‘welcome home’ press conference – I laughed out loud at “put aside personal ambition” and then the rather predictable lines were about a broken Britain. Given who formed the government of the last dozen or more years, you might wonder why Reform keeping hiring those who broke it!

Whilst we’re on the subject of Reform, they just announced their leader in Scotland as Lord Offord. Now, call me old fashioned but I struggle to understand why anybody in Scotland, or Wales for that matter, would vote for an English Nationalist Party.  

Points of Order/Diary Notes

It’s that time of year again when a plethora of tastings spread across our calendar. With that in mind, we will be closed for the entire day on Tuesday 20^th January as two of our bigger suppliers have, like last year, both chosen the same date.

Not tasting related but unavoidably we will also close early at 6.30pm on Saturday 31^st January.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

So whilst we’re on the subject of tasting, what are we having on the table this weekend?

White wise we’ll weigh in with Reserve de Gassac 2024 (£14.99) – A wonderful blend of Viognier and Marsanne from the Languedoc.  Fresh and floral with stone fruit and hints of herbs, it has an elegance to it too. The vines are planted in small plots or clearings surrounded by forest and garrigue. The wines consequently soak up the fragrances of the surrounding plant life. Wonderful attention to detail for a wine at this price.

On the red front, we’re going with Palacio Del Camino Real Reserva 2019 (£15.99) – A traditional style of Rioja that is anything but ordinary.Expressive from the first sniff: ripe, with succulent cherry, plum and strawberry fruit notes, complexity from oak spice and a balsamic lift. On the palate it’s beautifully balanced, with silky, well-integrated tannins framing the fruit perfectly. Swish with abandon, it’s a real second glasser!

Two final notes – our January Sale continues with the magnificent 6 for 5 offer on much of the wine on the shelves; also, we still have spaces on our Wine & Cheese tastings on Thursday 12^th February and Thursday 12^th March both starting at 7.30pm, £30 per person, should you care to join us!

That’s it from us, let’s all try and be nice to each other, it might rub off!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Right, it’s day 9, time to get this party started.  It’s the second Friday of the year, the second weekend coming up and January is cantering away, thank goodness.  For those of you who are about to fall off the wagon this weekend, we salute your endeavours and admire your persistence thus far but, let’s face it, it’s cold outside, it’s grey and the world needs to be made to look a little rosier right now (although perhaps not with Rosé, as stocks are quite low!).

Our year started with an avalanche of new pricelists blocking our doorway as we tried to access the shop on Monday morning.  Thanks to the Chancellors benevolence, all alcoholic drinks will go up by 3.66% on February 1^st and, given that duty rates are calculated in 0.5% ABV increments, this means that an 11.5% Vinho Verde will now cost us 10 pence more to buy whilst a 14.5% Aussie Shiraz is 12 pence more.  Sure, we’re talking pennies but this is before VAT has been added, so 10p becomes 12p and 12p becomes 15p and then, at some point the retailer needs to put a bit of margin on too, so yes, prices will creep up, again.  Shall we get this party started whilst we can still afford to?

But it’s not all gloom and doom because, as hinted last week, the Park Vintners January Sale is now in full flight.  We’re offering the same discount that we have done for the last 14 years – buy 6 bottles, pay for 5.  This is restricted to beer, wine and Champagne (with a few top shelf exceptions) and is fully mixable – you can buy 5 beers and a bottle of Bollinger and you’ll get the full 16.666666% off your purchase.  See, we can get the party started, at least for now.  This offer will cease at 5pm on the 31^st, so you’ve got a couple of weeks and, let’s face it, even if you are doing Dry January, wouldn’t it be nicer to buy wine that is 16% less rather than 4% more, ready for February?!

Whilst we’ve obviously been as busy as ever in this first week of the New Year, we did manage to grab a couple of minutes to look at the calendar and put some dates in for the first Wine & Cheese tastings of 2026:

• Thursday 12^th February – 7.30pm – 12 spaces available
• Thursday 12^th March – 7.30pm – 12 spaces available

The cost is £30 per person and as ever, first come – first served, don’t dally and risk disappointment!

In Westminster, insincere Keir has been talking beer, or more accurately he has admitted that many hospitality businesses would struggle with the changes in business rates.  Happily, he and his pit-crew are very used to executing U-turns in tight situations so expect one very soon.  Elsewhere, the last thing we never knew we needed is now finally available at eltonjohnzero.com.  Elton John Zero Blanc de Blancs is, according to the Rocket Man himself: “… born from a simple yet exquisite idea – to create a world where every moment of celebration can be shared by all. Our 0% alcohol Blanc de Blancs captures the elegance, effervescence, and joy of a traditional Blanc de Blancs, without compromise”

It’s also available at Sainsbury’s and Amazon and is made by Benchmark Drinks, who are responsible for all of Kylie’s ‘creations’, so I think we can all see what is going on here.  However, really the biggest disappointment must be the completely missed god-given opportunity to call it ‘I’m Still Standing’!

Sport has not been generous to some of us thus far this year: Harlequins, Spurs and England cricket all need to be watched from behind the sofa and the fact that Arsenal didn’t’ collapse over Christmas doesn’t make things any easier, so we’ll move on and return to wine.

To tickle your tastebuds this weekend, we’ll be opening the following brace of beauties:

Highgate Chardonnay 2022 – £14.99 hails from Hunter Valley in sunny New South Wales and has been an absolute hit since we listed it in October, here’s your chance to find out why.  Aromas of ripe stone fruits, citrus blossom and a touch of flinty minerality lead into a palate that’s bright yet textured.  There’s a subtle influence of oak, adding gentle spice and creamy weight, but it remains beautifully restrained, allowing the peach, nectarine and lemon curd flavours to shine.  A lift of acidity in the finish keeps it fresh, vivacious and hugely appealing.

San Marzano ‘Il Pumo’ Primitivo 2023 – £14.49 is from deep in the south of Italy.  Sometimes we think it’s important to just choose a wine because it makes for great drinking regardless of what food you have.  This is one of those – an aromatic wine with plenty of rich dark plum/prune fruit aromas, and some garrigue herbs.  All this is present on the palate too which is soft yet pretty full-bodied with nicely integrated tannins make it perfect for fireside drinking!

I think that’s probably enough from us for now, come and taste some wine, buy some wine and let’s get this year started!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Sorry to burst into your inbox on a Wednesday but we’d like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support, derision, patience, purchases, sports chat, music chat and TV series tips. Looking over the course of the year, we don’t seem to have discussed much wine, again!

It would appear that the biggest contributor to global warming could be the hot air that continually flows from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW or from 126 Arthur Road talking about those goings on. For next year, we’re hoping to talk more about the orange in sunsets, sunrises or wine bottles than we do about orange in the Oval office.

It seems the travel bug is alive and well amongst you all as we have bumped into some of you in so many places; be they pubs, airports, swimming pools, islands in Greece or Richmond Park. We’ll wish you all safe travels and hope to keep bumping into you in places close and far.

We’ll be here today until 6pm if you are in need of some supplies and then we’ll be back on Monday 5^th January.

Our January sale will start then and will be the usual mechanic of six bottles for the price of five on most wines. That equates to a discount of 16.6% and as usual we’ll exclude spirits and anything we have to beg for an allocation of.

So, as we draw the curtains at the end of another year, we’ll wish you all a happy and healthy 2026 filled with laughter and high jinks.

After a year filled with so much idiocy we feel the last word should come from Albert Einstein: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Less than a week to go until Ashes winner Sir Alistair Cook turns 41, Ashes winner Simon Jones turns 47 and Ashes winner Marcus Trescothick raises his bat to the crowd, celebrating 50.  Multi-award winner DJ Armin van Buuren will be 49 and Oscar winner Annie Lennox starts her 72^nd year.  Weirdly, the most famous person celebrating his birthday on 25^th December, Jesus of Nazareth, by all accounts wasn’t born anywhere near December.  In fact, experts over the centuries have offered a variety of dates that he may have been born on but none of them coincide with the Roman Winter Solstice; and then on 30^th December, Ashes winner (2015) Joe Root will celebrate his 35^th birthday and we fully expect he’ll be given the day off work to celebrate.

“That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are” – Rob Reiner

“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies” – Marjorie Tayor Greene

“reportedly due to the anger he caused others through … a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” – Donald J Trump

Three examples of how 3 people, known to be outspoken, react to another person’s murder.  Rob Reiner now also murdered, seemingly by a member of his own family, showed grace in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s shooting.  MTG for once also showed some humanity whilst Trump once again shows zero empathy, typical of his current tenure.  We struggle to imagine any other current political leader who would survive or make such comments – why won’t the Republican party kick this sordid sociopath into touch? 

In booze news, not a lot to report really – everyone in retail is nose to the grindstone, whilst those who are involved in the wholesale agency side of the trade have already packed their cars as they slope off to the Alps for a couple of weeks, their work here now done, next stop 2026.  However, with a nod towards April Fool’s Day, we read that AB InBev, proud producers of Bud Light (?) and sponsors of the Buffalo Bills NFL team have made a beer using snow!  As written in The Drinks Business:

The limited edition beer, named Bud Light Blizzard Brew, “celebrates the great lengths Bills fans will go for one of the NFL’s greatest traditions,” the company said, noting that this season is the last for the Buffalo Bills at the stadium.

The snow used in the brew was gathered from the first snowfall at Highmark Stadium earlier this season. It was then transported to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville, New York. The brewery team then integrated the snow into the brewing process to create a limited-edition beer sold in custom 16oz cans.

Looks like they’ve found a way to give their beer even less flavour and using free snirt whilst charging more for it – I suppose that sort of innovation got them where they are today.

And our different approach got us where we are today, who’s laughing now, huh?!  Plus, we’re not just here today but everyday until Christmas Eve, when we’ll be closing our doors at 4pm, hopefully to a shop with significantly less stock than we have currently!

To help you decide what to drink over the festive period we’ll have a few bottles open for your delectation this weekend:

Lété-Vautrain 204 Brut NV – £33.00 or 3 for £75

Situated southwest of Reims, towards Paris, this is our house Champagne.  A blend of the usual suspects – Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, from a small producer who we think is really delivering the goods.  Ideal apéritif champagne, crisp and dry with complex apple and stonefruit notes, a touch of breadiness and dried fruit to finish – perfect with smoked salmon!

Creation Chardonnay 2021 – £26.99

100% Chardonnay from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge.  The grapes are hand-harvested before being barrel-fermented in 10% new oak and 90% second and third-fill French oak barrels.  It is then left on lees for another 10 months while undergoing malolactic fermentation.  The resulting wine has lovely fruit characters of ripe pear and yellow peach with a touch of fresh minerality and hints of spice.  We found it to be really rather sophisticated.

Bodegas La Horra Corimbo 2021 – £29.99

This is the Ribera del Duero estate with the same ownership and technical team as Bodegas Roda.  Similar to Bodegas Roda, they are also at the helm of innovation with the Tempranillo research and are conducting trials with clonal varieties of 243 clones in a designated nursery to find which are best adapted to coping with the extreme heat.  We really enjoyed it, not as polished as a Rioja Reserva possibly but no less delicious for that!  Savoury, spicy game notes complement the forest fruit aromas nicely.  The palate has sweet ripe raspberry fruit, a nice bodyweight and a lovely perfumed spice to the finish. 

All three of these appear in our Christmas Day mixed 6 box (£150) alongside another white and two other reds – could this be the gift you’ve been looking for?

We’ll also have the Krohn Late Bottled Vintage – £21.99.  Krohn ports always seem to punch above their weight for us.  Perhaps the secret lies in the high quality of their vineyards – the magical combination of terroir, locality, aspect, incline and low-yielding vines. Their Quinta do Retiro Novo estate in Sarzedinho, in the Rio Torto valley (where vinification takes place), is all A grade vineyard.  The generous plummy characters, freshness and pure berry fruit are surely the best way to end the day! That’s about it from us, if we don’t see you, have a very Buon Natale and if we do see you and you’re struggling for inspiration, we do still have some of the Foxdenton Estate Christmas Liqueur – £25 which is the bomb in a glass of festive fizz!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ll start with some good news. After 25 years of asking, The Rolling Stones have given Fatboy Slim permission to use ‘Satisfaction’ for a release of dancefloor bootleg ‘Satisfaction Skank’. They even delivered the original stems to him by armoured car so he could build it from the ground up. Possibly a bit late to make the Christmas No.1 slot but certainly something to get Grandma grooving in her slippers!

Whilst we’re on entertainment, there has been much debate over the years about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. As we move into that season, we have to admit to being a little surprised to find a remake of Pirates of the Caribbean live on news channels with oil tankers, warships and helicopters. The sound wasn’t great but did we hear a shiver me timbers from the White House?

Netflix is hoping to get Warner Brothers Discovery for Christmas, having launched an aggressive $83 billion takeover bid. Not to be outdone, the Paramount team, which includes Trump’s mates the Ellison family and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also upped their bid. This could run and run and we can’t help but wonder if the political connections will win in the end.

If you’re not in the market for a film studio, alternative Christmas gifts we might suggest could be some Foxdenton Christmas Gin (£25) to get you in festive fervour or perhaps Debt Collector Whisky (£50) which comes from our talented chums at Doghouse Distillery. This is a stunning Bourbon style whisky made in London and is from the first release batch of just 1,000 bottles. Vermouth seems to be a bit of a thing lately and the Lacuesta Reserva (£18.99) is a bit of a stunner. From Haro in Rioja, this acacia barrel aged beauty is the perfect aperitif just over ice. Personally, I think I’ll go for a bottle of Jean Gimonnet 2008 La Guette Blanc de Blancs (£58) champagne. It is a great vintage bubbly that has spent nearly 15 years on its lees. Alex is hoping for some new socks but could be tempted with a magnum of Valenciso Rioja Reserva 2018(£58)!

CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS

Sunday 21^st December: 12 NOON – 3PM

Monday 22^nd December: 12 NOON – 7PM

Tuesday 23^rd December: 12 NOON – 7PM

Wednesday 24^th December: 12 NOON – 4PM

Thursday 25^th December – Sunday 28^th December: CLOSED

Monday 29^th December: 12 NOON – 7PM

Tuesday 30^th December: 12 NOON – 7PM

Wednesday 31^st December: 12 NOON – 6PM

Thursday 1^st – Saturday 3r^d January: CLOSED

Monday 5^th January: 12 NOON – 7PM and then back to normal.

Tasting This Weekend

Alex is keen to get his laughing gear around some Port, so we’ll be finishing with a nip of Krohn LBV (£21.99) but before we get there, we shall pull a cork on Christian Bergeret St Aubin 1er Cru (£36.49) a rather delicious little number from the Cote d’Or in Burgundy. Staying in that neck of the woods, almost, we’ll head along to Emma and Christian Sorine for a tipple on their Maranges Vieilles Vignes (£30.00). We’ve tasted this southern Beaune wine a couple of times and found it be a rather smart glass of Pinot Noir – come and have a sample and let us know if you agree.

Lastly, the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year has arrived and Rory McIlroy is on it. A golfer hasn’t won since 1989, just saying!

Cheers!