The Weekly Wine

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

Fellow Wine Lovers,

When we look back at the week commencing 8^th September 2025, I’m not sure it will be with much fondness. 

Arthur Road could be renamed the Wimbledon Wilderness with the vibe in the area being akin to early Covid but without the hysterical boozing.  It’s astonishing that a tube strike can bring a local economy to its knees but there you go, it has.  I know we are not alone and that businesses have suffered all over London but to what gain – we don’t seem to be much further forward and the prospect of some sort of planned TfL/RMT peace talks next week surely begs the question, why couldn’t these talks have taken place this week?  In fact, DesignMyNight, the long-established company that does what it says on the tin, has reported a 67% drop in bookings for venues across London during the strike period which doesn’t even take into account the collapse in numbers of spontaneous walk-ins.  On a local level, Monday was a nadir.  4 customers, 3 of whom visited between 5.12pm and 5.26pm, followed by a power cut starting 20 minutes later meant that, even if there had been people on the street, we couldn’t have traded anyway!

In fairness, the week got a lot better as everyone realised this wasn’t going to be over in a hurry and we started to see more people wandering around, in shorts and t-shirts rather than their usual weekday work attire, many of them displaying a keenness to fill their bags with bottles of something nice to enjoy in the hours they would usually be stuck commuting!

Across the pond, Lord Mandelson gets the boot for being a friend with someone we already knew he had been close friends with.  Donald obviously hasn’t been given the boot for the same thing because Donald doesn’t draw (?), so it all must be a hoax, the lawyers have been called.  Keir sacked Peter – if Donald worked for Keir, would he sack him too?  The answer must be yes, which could make for some great conversation amongst the guests whilst they tuck into their pie, mash and jellied eels at Windsor Castle next week!

Wayne, at this point, would be telling you something exciting about La Vuelta a España but, sadly, I’m not Wayne so I’ve been watching the golf at Wentworth where it rained for much of yesterday and looks likely to continue all weekend.  Happily, I didn’t watch the foreshortened T20 on Wednesday evening, 12.5 overs really doesn’t make for any sensible sort of competition but I did watch the dead rubber One Day International on Sunday which also wasn’t competitive.  Rugby is on again this weekend with the Women’s World Cup Quarter Finals offering us a New World double header on Saturday followed by an Old World version on Sunday – England v Scotland at 4pm would be a good time to settle into the sofa.

In admin news, everyone’s favourite topic, we are in the midst of tasting season, as mentioned last week.  Tuesday 16^th September sees us venturing to Camden for a big tasting with our biggest supplier so we won’t be opening until 4pm; the following Tuesday, 23^rd September, we will be closed ALL DAY as we put our palates to the sword with tastings at four different venues across town – remember, we do this so you don’t have to!

Speaking of tastings, we’ll have our usual couple of bottles open this weekend for you to savour tonight and tomorrow.

It’s New Zealand v South Africa in both men’s and women’s rugby on Saturday, so it’s New Zealand v South Africa here in the shop too and both sides have fielded some heavy hitters.

Representing New Zealand, we have Mahi Pinot Noir 2022 – £29.00 an absolute belter from Marlborough. The grapes come from two vineyards – The Twin Valleys portion gives the palate structure and finesse whilst the grapes from Ward add depth to the palate and rich black fruit characters.  Aged in French barriques for 15 months, we have a full and rich nose followed by a rich and supple mouthfeel showing dark cherry and plum fruits pursued by soft tannins that give a well-rounded finish.  I’m astonished that we seem to have never put this on tasting before…

The South Africans have opted to show us a white – Patina Chenin Blanc 2021 – £25.99.  This is a wine, a project from the mighty Boekenhoutskloof winery, that we only stumbled across last year and it’s gaining more and more fans as time goes on.  Helpfully, the winery has provided us with a spot-on tasting note: “the nose is initially shy, yet very complex, offering subtle layers of citrus and stone fruit aromas, and whiffs of angelica, acacia flower and allspice.  Flavours of lemon, yellow apple and nectarine follow through onto an elegant, balanced palate with delicate notes of greengage, papaya, yellow apple and passion fruit.  The wine is light to medium bodied, with a smooth, fleshy texture and vibrant, integrated acidity.  Lime zest, green apple and lemongrass linger on a clean, refreshing finish with hints of orange blossom, ginger and saffron.”

I should probably stop now, always leave them wanting more is the advice I think, although I’m sure you’ve never wanted any more piffle from us!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, that didn’t take long.  Shorts and sunglasses off, sou’westers on, September starts with a splash!  By all accounts, it may cheer up this weekend but next week looks like the start of something different – Autumn.  So, this could be the last barbecue weekend for a while, or this could be the weekend that you clean the barbecue in preparation for hibernation – imagine the delight when you open it up next April and it’s gleamingly clean rather than covered with white mould and dead snails… yep, I think we all know that’s not going to happen!

Anyway, welcome back, bienvenido, bienvenue, välkomna.  Since you’ve been gone, we’ve welcomed two new businesses to the street and lost one too.  The Felt bakery opened its doors in late July and seems to have quickly garnered local support.  Not long after this opening we saw the closure of Wimbledon Tapas, which will be much missed.  After many chaotic years under the previous management, they really seemed to be doing good business now, with the evening suntrap a popular destination.  However, the apparent allure of life in Liverpool resulted in an upping of sticks but the good news is that they were immediately replaced by Bengal Bistro, adding some spice to our lives.  Currently they are operating as a BYOB, so, you know, if you fancy a bit of Riesling with your samosa, perhaps we can help.  Finally, whilst on a field trip to the Pig & Whistle, we noticed that A1 Cars has a new neighbour – Sakura Sushi House, which seems to have some lovely clean white tiles in the kitchen however, beyond that, we cannot comment.

Politicians are also back from their summer recess, at a canter, almost as if they never left.  I mean, they are all off again for conference season at the end of next week, so they need to start fast.  The Chancellor, having put us all through months of uncertainty last year between the election and her budget on 30 October, has decided to inflict similar misery upon us once again this year.  The Budget will take place on 26^th November, just in time to put a massive dampener on many people’s favourite time of year (no Alex, not the Ashes, the other thing).  There is a whiff of sadism about this, keeping us all on tenterhooks whilst drip-feeding potential proposed measures and stimulating unease.  For a guide, last year September and October were dreadful for business; no one was sure what was going to happen so were nervous to commit to long term plans and thus loathe to spend money in case they spent it in the wrong direction – not the best look for the party of business and growth.  Fortunately for Keir and Rachel, Angela has charged in to hog the headlines and deflect from economy chat.  Did she evade or did she avoid?  Her finances appear far too complicated for 2 vintners to pick through because if the 3 ‘professionals’ she consulted couldn’t get it right what chance Wayne & Alex?  Equally, if you can’t trust the pros, where do you turn?!

Over the water, it’s been a mixed week for the POTUS.  The highlight for him must have been reading online that he was dead.  He was able to confirm that, in actual fact, he wasn’t and thus proved to us all that a lot of things that you read on the internet and social media aren’t necessarily true – who knew!  However, his joie de vivre was promptly chastened, as the aforementioned internet became flooded with photos of the Putin-Xi-Modi love-in; don’t they know he’s the most important man in the world?  How dare Narendra laugh in the face of tariffs and cuddle up to Vlad, it’s almost as if they don’t take the POTUS seriously!

In other news, the bruises on Donald Trump’s hands definitely come from too much flesh pressing and glad handing and definitely not chronic venous insufficiency, FAKE NEWS, FAKE NEWS, FAKE NEWS!

Wayne has been watching cycling this week, which may not come as a surprise.  He’s not been watching the Tour of Britain though, which is Geraint Thomas’s swansong ride, finishing in Cardiff on Sunday.  The fact that this stage starts at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales could mean there isn’t a dry eye in the house and we can surely expect some pearls of wisdom from the great man at the finish line – buy some tissues.  Alex has been watching the rugby world cup, even persuading his daughter to watch some of the Australia v USA match which was an absolute belter.  Talking rugby, it looks like the red trouser/Quba jacket brigade will now be supping Nyetimber at the Twickenham Autumn internationals rather than Bollinger – we imagine the Sussex fizz producers must have come in with one hell of an offer to see off the mighty Champagne house – either way it’s quite a serious changing of the guard!  Cricket is a bit of a mixed bag at the moment, however the golf will soon get exciting, as the Ryder Cup looms on the horizon and the captain’s picks have been finalised.

With our admin hats on, we can now confirm that we have 4 seats left at the table for our Wine & Cheese evening on Thursday 2^nd October.  If you fancy joining us, the evening starts at 7.30pm and costs £30 per person, payable in advance.  On a different note, we’ll be opening later on Monday, as the wine tasting season has started again – over the next few weeks we’ll be finalising our wines for December festive fun, so do bear with us.

Speaking of tasting, what’s on show this weekend?  A couple of easy drinkers from Italy to toast Giorgio sound good to us…

The white will be Zagare Vermentino 2024 – £10.99 from Sicily.  We regularly get asked for wines from Italy’s Islands and Vermentino particularly.  We’d been looking for one that put a bit of a smile on our faces for a while when we came across this one from the west coast of Sicily, named after the blossom of the lemon tree. Lightly floral on the nose, with crisp appley fruit and a lively citrus freshness in the glass that hints at lemon marmalade and has some nice weight and texture in the finish.

For the red, we’ll go a bit further north: Calappiano Chianti 2023 – £12.99.  With a fascinating history, dating back to Medici Florence in the 1500’s, the Fattoria di Calappiano as we know it today is made up of 200 hectares of vines, planted alongside the olive groves and woodlands.  We are huge fans of this wine; it is velvety smooth, yet light with some smoky earth aromas and plenty of black fruits on the palate.  Perfect on its own, with a Bolognese, or just a pizza!

So, that’s it from us, check your diaries for the wine tasting and don’t come knocking too early on Monday!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How’s life this week? We received an exciting email offering us a chance to join a scheme to help increase our biscuits sales. They promised a selection of Point of Sale items, advice on shelf placement, feedback from their thousands of members and even a free case of biscuits just to welcome us to the team. The only drawback, as far as we could see, was that we don’t sell biscuits. But if this kind of promotion is your thing, we don’t sell Porsches either but might be willing to entertain the idea of a free 911 or two in order to help improve our sales!

None of the main childhood vaccines reached their uptake targets in England this last year, with uptake of the four-in-one pre-school booster vaccine (for polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria) at just 81.4% among five-year-olds in England in 2024/25. As somebody whose grandmother wore a calliper on her leg for most of her life after contracting polio as a child, I would call this a victory for stupidity.

In Nottingham, Reform leader of the council has banned councillors from speaking to the Nottingham Post, which doesn’t sound to me as great for democracy. That’s Reform demonstrating their well-advertised unwavering commitment to free speech – imagine how it’d be if they actually got into government!

International relations are all rocking and rolling too. Denmark called in the top US diplomat over covert influence operations with respect to Greenland. Whilst it seems that talks of peace between Ukraine and Russia seem to often lead to escalation?

When the employers National Insurance Contributions changed in the budget, The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that 50 000 jobs would be lost. So far, of the 164 641 jobs lost since then, 53% of them have been in hospitality. This correspondent went to a free musical event at a local pub this week and it was almost empty – use them or lose them!

In Vuelta news, it seems Juan Ayuso may have already gone pop so we’ll see Wayne’s predictions as being as useless as ever, though Jay Vine has won a stage and Jonas Vingegaard is looking comfortable so far. In the men’s football, it looks like it’s going to be a tough season for Manchester United and West Ham United supporters.  In the Women’s Rugby World Cup England captain Zoe Aldcroft has been ruled out for the rest of the pool stages with a knee injury. It’s a much changed team that face Samoa on Saturday.

As we welcome you all back from your summer sojourn we thought we might mention a Cheese and Wine Tasting evening on 2^nd October at 7.30pm. We have a maximum of 12 people per tasting and a seat at the table costs £30, first come, first served.  You can reserve your place by giving us a call on 020 8944 5224 or just pop in and see us on Arthur Road.

Tasting This Weekend

We’ll start off in the Loire Valley with Chatelain Desjacques Chardonnay 2023 (£12.49) A light, crisp and appley Chardonnay given a bit of depth by some time spent on its lees but, with no time spent in oak, this fits into that comfortable space where you’d like a glass of Chablis but don’t have the posh Burgundy budget!

Then we’ll head down to Jumilla in Spain. Sierra de Enmedio Monastrell 2023 (£11.49) Alceño is a family owned winery that has been making wines in Jumilla since 1870 and specialise in Monastrell. We’re both fans of this medium bodied red that is a fine match for a burger!

Nice to have some rain last night but wouldn’t it be nice to have some sunshine for the last weekend of summer – fingers crossed!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As many of you might be aware, it’s the Reading Festival this weekend so I’m sure many of the A-level grades received last week will be toasted once again. However, this time with Strongbow Dark Fruit and the tunes of Hozier and Chappell Roan on Friday, Lambrini Girls and Limp Bizkit on Saturday. With Amyl and the Sniffers, Travis Scott and The Dare bringing the tunes on Sunday, will the Strongbow still be cold?

The line-up in 1975 was a little different. On Friday we had up and coming rock bands Judas Priest and UFO alongside a more established Hawkwind and a show stealing Dr Feelgood. Saturday brought us Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, Supertramp, Yes and a new Irish band, Thin Lizzy. Sunday’s showstopper was apparently Wishbone Ash with other performers on the day including Caravan, Climax Blues Band and Joan Armatrading. Fabulously, Strongbow was the most popular cider! It seems whilst the bands may change, the festivals, drinks, memories and fun live on regardless!

Elsewhere, The Rocky Horror Picture Show had its 50^th Birthday last week. I bet Frank’N’Furter’s hips aren’t what they were; fifty years of jumps to the left will take their toll!

Things could have been going better for the government, with the high court ruling that the hotel in Epping housing asylum seekers may have breached planning rules in relation to its licence. The Met Police’s plan to use facial recognition technology at the Notting Hill carnival is unlawful because it is incompatible with European laws according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

La Vuelta starts on Saturday, in Turin! Stage one winds its way from Turin to Novara, Stage two manages to ride the flat parts of Piemonte with Barolo in the bidons and an uphill finish. We finally get to Spain for stage five and a Team Time Trial around Figueres which is where Salvador Dalí lived. I hope there’s somebody in the crowd dressed as a giraffe or a telephone! Jonas Vingegaard is favourite to win the red jersey and I think I’ll put Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine alongside him for the podium.

Rugby World Cup action starts on this evening with Red Roses hosting USA at the Stadium of Light and with more than 40 000 tickets sold it should be quite the night.

In Sweden, engineers have moved a 113 year old church. Kiruna is a city 90km north of the Arctic circle and has had iron ore mining for over a century. This mining activity has left the old part of city at risk of fissures hence the decision to move the 35m tall church, once voted the most beautiful pre 1950 building.

Whilst we’re in the Arctic, scientists have been surprised to discover that the melting of sea ice in the Arctic has slowed dramatically in the last 20 years, with no statistically noteworthy decline since 2005. That sounds like good news to me.

What’s in the glass?

Given the Rugby World Cup we thought we might use that as a theme, and as luck would have it New Zealand’s Women will be playing Spain’s Women so we even have a Vuelta tie in too!

Representing the Black Ferns we have Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2024 (£13.99) from Marlborough. This has all the trademark passionfruit, citrus, nettles, cut grass and hints of capsicum that you would hope for.  These aromas light the path to a soft, well rounded palate with a luscious mouth feel and pronounced fruit characters whilst the finish is limey and assertive and more-ish!

To represent Las Leonas we’ve gone with Borgia Borsao Garnacha 2023 (£9.49). This hails from the foothills of the Moncoyo massif near Zaragoza. 100% Garnacha giving us plum and berry fruit with fine tannins and just the weight that might suit some slow cooked pork shoulder.

As usual we’ll be closed on Bank Holiday Monday, see you Tuesday!

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

August 15^th today and all’s well in Wimbledon Park.  Well, 2025’s version of “all’s well” at least.  The weather has been keeping everyone thirsty, with the thunderstorm on Wednesday only serving to amp up the humidity and thus this thirst; whilst we aren’t suffering a hosepipe ban currently, most of us seem prepared to drink beer, gin and rosé to preserve precious water reserves – great effort, team!

August 2025’s version of “all’s well” has also provided us with the somewhat surreal Vance-Lammy bromance.  The photo of them fishing in the Chevening pond earlier this week just made me feel a bit, I don’t know, weird.  When we find out that David was potentially poaching (only potentially because he couldn’t actually hook anything) since he doesn’t have a rod licence, it all starts to feel a bit like he was coerced into an awkward photo shoot with the soon-to-be POTUS.  We imagine that JD doesn’t have a rod licence either but we fully expect him to declare ‘doplomotic immunity’ à la Joss Ackland.

As of this time last year, the US Embassy owed over £14.5 million in congestion charge fines so £15 for an 8 day rod licence feels like a drop in the ocean, particularly as JD will need it when he casts some lines with Clarkson and the Cotswolds crew…

Meanwhile, his boss is still hard at work on ending the war in Ukraine war on DAY ONE.  It’s worth mentioning that, if each ‘Trump Day’ lasts the same length as this one (207 human days and counting), then his whole term could last for about 302,220 human days or 828 human years, which, I think we all agree, would be pretty cool.

Moving away from dystopia for now, the people who will hopefully craft a safer and friendly world got their A level results yesterday and, by all accounts, did very well.  Go on, get an education and save the world, please.

Prem football is back this weekend, Palace already have some silverware, Liverpool have lost and Spurs have immediately lived up to their ‘Spursy’ moniker on Wednesday.  We might not hear about Liverpool losing many more times this season, nor Palace winning cups but we can promise you that Spurs will stay Spursy.  Just for clarification, Wayne is an Arsenal fan.

We also read that a new ChatGPT-powered mixologist is offering consumers bespoke cocktail recommendations via text or online chat, combining professional bartender expertise and AI technology.  Now, last time we looked, there was no suitable space within our Samsung for a mixologist, and despite a comprehensive search both online and in the cupboard with all the wires and boxes, absolutely no sign of either a cocktail shaker or place to put a straw.  We did wonder why though – comprehensive cocktail recipes are so easily available, to what benefit all that computing power?

Then the penny dropped – advertising, maybe even a product placed in your automatic shopping list.  A bit like those onions that always arrive in the veggy box despite nobody ordering them.  To date the advert profiling is a bit pants, isn’t it?  This week we’ve been offered orthopaedic sandals, vitamins and a dressing gown.  We’d actually searched for a new laptop!

On the other hand, potential new antibiotics that could wipe out MRSA and gonorrhoea like those on the horizon from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are infinitely more useful than a pretend mixologist!

What’s in the glass?

This week we thought we’d weigh in with some fizz to celebrate the A-level results.  Leveret IQ Brut NV (£16.99) is a classic Pinot Noir/Pinot Meunier/Chardonnay blend made in the traditional method with grapes grown in New Zealand.

On the red, we’ll be going with Bodegas Staphyle Iris Malbec 2023 (£11.99).  This is from Lujan de Cuyo, which is pretty high altitude wise and home to most of the smart names in quality from Mendoza.  The winery was originally built in 1930 but was fully updated in 2002 by boutique winery, Bodegas Staphyle.  The wine is brilliant, youthful and bright with light tannins, cherry and berry fruit characteristics and a lovely easy going finish.  Brisket you say, low and slow in the green egg?  This would be perfect!

That just leaves us to again congratulate all the students who got the grades they needed – we’ve heard talk of Bristol, Edinburgh and Exeter so far.

If you didn’t, don’t sweat it.  You can always retake an exam, you can’t retake a party!