The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Another week passes.

The schools are now out, Biden is soon to be out, the sun is in and out and many of you have gone out too – welcome to summer in SW19.

I think, in the past week, we have seen what happens when too much power is concentrated in too few hands.  Crowdstrike brought millions of lives to a standstill last Friday after a glitch meant “problematic content data” in a file went undetected.  Unsurprisingly, they acknowledged that they could prevent this recurring with better software testing and checks, including more scrutiny from developers.  Basically, if they didn’t cut a few corners then this probably wouldn’t happen again.

Now, according to their website, their customers include:

• 298 of the Fortune 500
• 538 of the Fortune 1000
• 8 out of the top 10 financial services firms
• 7 out of the top 10 manufacturers
• 8 out of the top 10 food & beverage companies
• 8 out of the top 10 auto companies
• 43 of the 50 U.S. states
• 6 out of the top 10 healthcare providers
• 8 out of the top 10 technology firms

This feels like a lot of important eggs in the same cybersecurity basket, just one clever hack away from being scrambled.

Still, at least they’ve got it all fixed before the Olympics start.  The Opening Ceremony takes place today (Friday) at 7.30pm (French time), which you would imagine would herald the start if a two week extravaganza of sporting excellence.  However, in a shift from what would seem logical, the games actually started on Wednesday, a world record was broken in the archery on Thursday (How can you have a new Olympic record when the Olympics hasn’t yet started?  Discuss.) and a large chunk of the Men’s Rugby Sevens has already taken place.

Andy Murray has announced that he won’t be playing singles in Paris and frankly we’re not sure why he was planning to anyway.  Currently ranked somewhere in the 120’s but, due to being a former grand-slam winner and Olympic gold-medallist, he was given the nod despite the fact that his Wimbledon campaign was a washout and he can barely move about the court – perhaps Nancy Pelosi should have a word….

Further to our regular reports on the English wine scene, it seems that Chapel Down is not going to be sold to Treasury Wine Estates, owners of Penfolds, Blossom Hill and 19 Crimes, amongst others.  However, Gusbourne Estate, the fabled sparkling wine producer from Kent, has announced that majority shareholder Lord Ashcroft of Belize is reviewing his options – we wonder, could it be that he wants to get his money out sharpish, now we have a Labour government?

Speaking of sparkling wine makers, LVMH, owner of Dom Pérignon, Krug, Möet and Ruinart to name just a few of their brands, have apparently invested £150 million in the Paris Olympics, so don’t expect champagne to get any cheaper in the near future.  Apparently Louis Vuitton has crafted the trunk being used to cart the Olympic torch around and also the trays to carry the medals for the victory ceremonies.  On top of that, Chaumet (another LVMH business) has designed all the medals, all of which include a piece of wrought iron nicked from the Eiffel Tower, which we think is quite a fun touch.

So, what shall we drink with all this Olympic action.  One of the trade rags ran the headline 10 French wines for the Paris Olympics Games which I hoped might be a cleverly crafted list of pun-heavy wines that might raise a smile in all of us, however it was none of this, just a random selection of cut-and-paste tasting notes with no real theme running through it and arguably some of the laziest journalism I’ve seen in a long time…

So, having gathered zero inspiration from there, we’ve just decided to open a couple of wines this weekend that we both like and haven’t had on tasting for a while, with not an Olympic theme in sight:

Follas Novas Albariño 2022 – £17.99 comes From Val do Salnés, one of the five distinct sub-regions of Rías Baixas and is the oldest, coolest and wettest part, whilst also being the birth place of Albariño sometime before the 12th century.  The vines for this wine are between 20 and 40 years old and vinified in a state of the art winery completed in 2005.  Fabulously clean and crisp with citrus and floral notes on the nose, tangy stone fruit on the palate and a lovely mineral laden finish.

Klinker Brick Winery Brickmason 2018 – £18.99 is a blend of 80% Zinfandel, 10% Syrah and 5% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah.  All of the vines were planted before 1989, so produce less fruit with greater intensity.  Thus we have bright red fruits, a touch of juicy blueberry too, lovely freshness of finish and a little tannic grip that gives it great balance – a barbecue shoo-in, should there be a break in the clouds…

That’s it from us, enjoy your holidays and see you in September….

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We had the King’s Speech this week. Judging by its measured tone and relatively sensible content, we may have our work cut out mocking this lot, for the first couple of months anyway!

I do have questions though. What’s happened to Rishi Sunak? His measured and statesman-like speech could have been made by a completely different person. Is he a replicant?

Lettuce Liz made a complaint. She didn’t like her budget being attributed to her, claiming that was a political statement. Given how keen she is to keep her name in the spotlight, I was surprised she asked for it to be removed from the document but removed it has been. In the meantime, she described the King’s Speech as containing “Stalinist” house building targets. She is currently attending the Republican Convention in Milwaukee.

Also at the Republican Convention is Boris Johnson. He made an opening day speech to a room full of empty chairs. Nigel Farage is there too, the voters of Clacton clearly have very wide ranging demands of their MP.

Elsewhere at the convention, Trumpolina announced a man with initials for a name as his running mate.  JD Vance used to claim he was a ‘never Trump’ man. The junior senator from Ohio has also gained the endorsement of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Despite this, as well as backing Trump, JD yesterday quoted Nixon: “Professors are the enemy…” As if this wasn’t mad enough, I saw pictures of the audience at the convention all cosplaying by wearing ear patches. It really would be quite funny if it wasn’t quite so serious.

Talking of serious, the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio Two yesterday morning had a lady who makes political predictions based on how asparagus falls. No really. Her prediction is that the next President of the US will be a woman. She said it keeps coming up that way and she has dropped the asparagus a number of times with the same result.

Meanwhile, sports fans will no doubt have spotted England batting first at Trent Bridge and that we’re into the second day of the British Open at Troon. Whilst I write this, there seem to be quite a few scores with a plus in front of them. For this non-golfer, it seems a bit strange. Alex, however, mentioned something about wind and umbrellas. In real sports, the Tour de France is drawing to a close in the Alps. Today we’ll be heading to the highest rideable road in Europe at 2800m, before finishing on Sunday with tough Individual Time Trial between Monaco and Nice. It really has been quite the ride!

Meanwhile in wine news, Pernod Ricard has sold its Australian, New Zealand and Spanish wine portfolio to Australia’s Accolade Wines but kept the French, Argentinian and Chinese wines in their portfolio. So that’s Jacob’s Creek back with the Aussies, just where it belongs!

Tasting This Weekend

We’ve heard it might be warm and sunny so we’re putting Domaine Lafran-Veyrolles Bandol Rosé 2023 (£23.99) in the fridge for the chilled corner. One of the top estates in Bandol, this 10 hectare estate is cooking on gas. Excellent drop and we’d urge you to come and taste.

The red corner will be populated by Fleurie Cuvée Sept 2022 (£15.99) which will be really rather wonderful with pork shoulder you’ve just decided to barbecue. A juicy red, with lovely cherry fruits and just a touch of fine tannins to keep it honest.

Enjoy the sunshine – it’s here for a good time, not a long time!

Fellow Wine Lovers, 

The cars on Arthur Road go toot-toot-toot, toot-toot-toot, toot-toot-toot; the cars on Arthur Road go toot-toot-toot, all day long… 

Whilst Wimbledon tennis continues to wage war with the weather, the good motorists of Arthur Road continue to get their fits & giggles by creating gridlock and then berating each other for being unable to reverse/drive forward/use their mirrors/read the road signs/know the width of their vehicles.  In fairness, it’s not local traffic, it’s Wimbledon Tennis Land Rovers vs Mitcham Plumbers and, suffice to say, it has made more exciting viewing than some of the televised sports we’ve seen of late! 

Although, wait a minute, what’s this?  We thought that, post-election, our lighter political entertainment this week would be limited to watching PM Starmer wandering around with a football in his hand reminding everyone that he’s a lifelong support of the other North London club, whilst hoping to tap into the Euro Final excitement and show he’s properly down with the kids.   

However, the Conservatives had other plans.  Never shy of a headline, prize-fighters Kemi and Suella have really hit the big time this week, with verbal fisticuffs, talk of taking responsibility for the election failure, a suggestion that one of them was having a nervous breakdown and generally tasteless trolling in the full media glare.  Jerry Springer could have had a field day whilst, in the background, someone gently recited The Scorpion and The Frog. 

My, my, how we’ll miss them! 

Not to be out done across the pond, the 81 year old leader of the free world and the man with the nuclear button has proved his suitability for the job.  To prove George Clooney, Stephen King and Michael Moore right, but not meaning to, he not only got President Zelensky confused with the Putin but also referred to Kamala Harris as Vice-President Trump. 

The convicted felon will win again if this goes on much longer…. 

Back to here for now, we seem to have become good at sport again!  I mean, we’re still not really 2^nd week candidates in the, tennis and, since Cav’s epic win the cycling hasn’t really been troubled by anyone carrying a Union Jack but you know, in the cricket and the football, we’re doing alright! 

It all feels a bit 1996/1997 – are we about to witness Cool Britannia 2.0?  Watch this space… 

In the world of booze, we discover that during the Euros we have spent more time and money in the pub than usual and that bears are still rushing off into the forest, Kleenex in paw.  By all accounts, if the sun shines, people drink more rosé and in the depths of winter a hearty red is often desirable.  Do we think some of these researchers are getting money for old rope?  Or are the biggest charlatans those characters at the Met Office who can incessantly mis-forecast our weather but will always get paid… sometimes I think there are easier ways to earn a living than selling wine (but not many!). 

And then we hear, from Wine GB, that there are now 1,030 vineyards in the UK (mainly England and Wales, I think).  

So, in 2004, Seyval Blanc was the most grown grape variety (a hybrid variety suited to cooler climates), followed by Reichensteiner (a crossing of Müller-Thurgau and Madeline Angevine – which isn’t necessarily a good thing), Müller-Thurgau (of Liebfraumilch fame) and Bacchus (light, elderflowery, delicate and actually not bad). 

Nowadays, it’s a very different story – Bacchus has 8% of the total vineyard space, Seyval Blanc 3% and Reichensteiner just 2% – now the big players are Chardonnay with 32%, Pinot Noir with 27% and Pinot Meunier with 9%, the famous grapes of Champagne.  They say don’t put all your eggs in one basket but why would anyone listen to that – 76% of wine produced in the UK from 2023 will be sparkling – that’s an awful lot of competition…. 

Speaking of competition, we’ve got a game on this Sunday and so for tasting this weekend we’ll put England vs Spain on the counter.   

Since Kane & Co have been playing champagne football all tournament, we thought we’d open Rathfinny Classic Cuvée Brut 2019 – £33.00.  Hailing from East Sussex, about 4 miles from Seaford, in Alfriston, east of Newhaven, this estate was established in 2010 by husband and wife team, Mark and Sarah Driver.   

The first 50 acres of vines were planted in 2012 and they eventually expect to have 350 acres under vines, predominantly Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier (of course) as well as a small amount of Pinot Gris.  Consequently, the blend is 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier and they say it spends 36 months in bottle before release – in fact the stock we have now was disgorged in January this year, which puts it closer to 48 months on the lees, which can only make it more delicious! 

For the red, we’ll be visiting the most famous Spanish region, Rioja.   

Bodegas Roda Sela 2021 – £24.99 – class, elegance and a source of constant pleasure – this could be the Spanish team in a glass… made with fruit from bush vines of between 15 and 30 years old where yields are kept low to encourage a concentration of intense aromas and depth of flavour complexity on the palate.  The blend is 87% Tempranillo, 7% Graciano and 6% Garnacha and spends 12 months aging in 100% semi-new French oak. A nose bursting with aromas of cherries, redcurrants and blackberries lead onto an elegant palate with lively, fresh red cherry flavours.  A suitable drink with which to drown ones sorrows… 

And that’s a wrap.  We hear the that The Burnley Express has left the station for one last time and we salute him, even if he did celebrate retirement with a can of Guinness Draught 0.0%… 

Cheers! 

Fellow Wine Lovers,

To recap then:

Coldplay did not finish with Clocks.

Slovakia has gone home and, remarkably, it will be England to face Switzerland on Saturday.

Sir Mark Cavendish is, of course, the greatest Tour de France stage winner, having won majestically the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas stage on Wednesday, a day ahead of our schedule.

We saw Andy Murray and brother Jamie lose on Centre Court yesterday evening and not a dry eye could be found in the house! There’s still another chance though, as he is due to team up with Emma Raducanu in the mixed doubles.

I think we all suspected hiring a helicopter to go strawberry picking would be a folly!

Quite some years ago the US had a chap called Richard Nixon as President. In a rather famous interview with David Frost in 1977, he said “Well, when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal.” On Monday this week the US Supreme Court appeared to pretty much enshrine that in law. It may come as a surprise but several of these judges were appointed by Trumpolina whilst he still had keys to the White House. No prizes for who might benefit from the decision.

We’ve also had the first debate between Biden and Trump for the November election. Neither covered themselves in glory but it seems falsehoods and lies trumped bewilderment in the eyes of the swing states. I don’t know why but that Chinese curse about living in interesting times keeps popping up in my head lately.

Closer to home, we hope you all remembered your ID, wondered on the policy implications of a bungee jump and actually got to cast your vote yesterday. Not all the results are in yet but we do appear to have lost that odious toad Rees-Mogg, swordsmith Penny Mordant and, of course, Lettuce Liz. Bungee jumps do appear to have helped the Lib Dem and we have a new PM in Sir Kier Starmer. We’re heading into a time of change, here’s hoping that it’s all for the better!

Biggest surprise of election day though is a knighthood for Chris Grayling, the only transport minister to have doored somebody with a ministerial car! That said Lord Grayling of Failing does have a certain je ne sais quoi.

There’s an enormous amount of sport on at the moment, we mentioned England facing Switzerland on Saturday (5pm!) but before we head there we’ll enjoy Spain and Germany facing off at 5pm and Portugal playing France at 8pm both on Friday. Whilst the later game on Saturday involves the Netherlands tackling Turkey.

Just across the way there’s some absolutely cracking tennis going on with seeds being cast aside, harsh schedules pitching British women numbers 1 and 2 against each other in a game that went to a thrilling tie break with Harriet Dart prevailing.

We’ve also got the Tour de France going on, the women’s Giro d’Italia starts on Sunday and the F1 Grand Prix circus has landed at Silverstone for the weekend. Unsurprisingly, Mr Verstappen is the bookies favourite but let’s see how the weekend plays out.

In wine news, Lidl has put out a red wine swirl ice cream, yes, ice cream. It looks like raspberry ripple gone rogue. We had just one question, why? In Gravesend, a teacher has been fired after being found sat in his car in the school car park drinking wine at lunch time. Even in the City a boozy lunch doesn’t float like it once did, clearly the message hasn’t got that far east yet!

Tasting This Weekend

We’ll start in Spain with J. Fernando Verdejo 2023 (£14.49) from Rueda. We were really rather chuffed to find a Rueda Verdejo at this price, usually they’re a few quid more expensive.  The family has had vineyards for three generations and now, having completed their new winery in 2017, they have produced a fabulously zesty quaffer.  A fabulous balance of fruit and herb notes and that lovely zesty finish will be pitch-perfect with a platter of Cantabrian anchovies.

We’ll then head to Marlborough, New Zealand for a snifter of Mahi Pinot Noir 2022 (£29). We’ve stocked wines from Brian on and off over the years but never had this one on the shelves. They always are looking for a decent texture in their wine and to achieve this grapes are always hand harvested, sorted and then fermented with wild yeast. Come along and see what you think!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, by this time next week, we’ll know won’t we?

We’ll know if Coldplay have closed Glastonbury with Clocks, The Scientist or Yellow, all of which they have performed at least 5 times before at the festival.

We’ll know whether Slovakia will be facing Switzerland or Italy in the Euro 24 quarter finals.

We’ll know that Sir Mark Cavendish is the greatest Tour de France stage winner, having won majestically the Mâcon-Dijon stage on Thursday.

We’ll know what Andy Murray plans to do next, injury having forced his retirement in Round 1 of Wimbledon, if his 24/7 rehab manages to get him there.

We’ll also know whether it is cheaper to buy strawberries at the All England or to hire a helicopter down to Stonepitts Farm in Kent and PYO.

What we might know is whether Chapel Down is for sale or not, as it seeks to raise even more funds for expansion.  Via Seedrs they raised almost £4 million in 2014, just short of £2 million in 2015 to build a brewery, raised £18.5 million by issuing new shares in 2017 and almost £7 million in 2021, once again through Seedrs.  In the meantime they opened Gin Works at Kings Cross, a bar and restaurant that opened in 2019 and closed in February 2020, before COVID could take the blame. 

What I don’t know is how much longer they can keep doing this.

We’ll know that the Men’s T20 World Cup has no winner this year once the final falls foul of wild wet weather and the organisers, consistent with their policy throughout the competition, deem it impossible to postpone the game until the following day and proclaim a draw.

What we won’t know is who, between Farage and Sunak, won the race to Heathrow and the battle for seat 1a on the flight to the US.

We also won’t know who is going to form the coalition with Ed Davey whilst “Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next prime minister of our great country?” is still ringing in our ears….

But enough of all this for now.  I appreciate I might be a bit late to the party but there was a bit of disappointing news regarding Gerry’s, the legendary spirits shop on Old Compton Street.  It used to be that, if Gerry’s didn’t have it, it most likely didn’t exist, such was their portfolio.  However this all might change – they have been bought by Booker, which in turn is owned by Tesco and I think we all understand that their differing business models might not be very compatible.

In ‘better’ news, move over Kylie because Meghan Markle, TAFKADOS, is launching a rosé!  Apparently a keen pink drinker, she is also not averse to a Frosé, the delicious blend of strawberries, rosé wine and, of course, icing sugar, so we expect something sweet, and having sold out of our new Provence rosé, Chateau Paquette, last weekend, we figure that Meghan’s style may not be to your tastes!

This week we’re off the pink and back onto the white/red tasting combo.

The white is a new listing, Domaine Fournillon Bourgogne Chardonnay 2022 – £16.50.  It is likely that many of you will have come across this domaine before since we have been selling their Chablis and their Epineuil Pinot Noir for a number of years now and certainly the Chablis is our best-selling Burgundy.  Anyway, a few months back, Alex got the opportunity to try their entry level wines and this one really stood out.  From the 23 hectare family-run domaine situated in the small village of Bernouil, close to Chablis, this is lovely and crisp and clean, with gentle orchard fruit and hints of citrus.  Not as intense as the Chablis but a really nice introduction into the world of Fournillon.

As it looks like it’s going to be barbecue weather again this weekend, we thought we’d crack open something from Argentina.  Sottano Selección Blend 2020 – £19.99 is a blend of Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Franc; dark in the glass as you’d expect and with lovely aromatic berry aromas with a hint of violets and wood smoke.  The palate is rich and layered with cassis and berry fruit notes, coffee and wood spice with a touch of black pepper to end on.  It works very well with rib-eye, should you need some inspo!

That’s probably it from us but we’ll leave you with a message from Katy Moon@Oog that Wayne found on Twitter yesterday, which made us smile:

Reasons to love Belgium #12546: They’re playing Last Christmas by Wham! on the radio on the 27th June.

Bless ‘em!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week, I’ve found myself watching the Newsnight and Sky News round-ups of the newspapers to try and get my head around this election business. I have learnt quite a lot from it. I have learnt that regardless of who you vote for taxes are unlikely to go down. And I have learnt that when Nigel Farage tweeted that Lettuce Liz and Kamakasi Kwarteng’s budget was the best Conservative budget since 1986, he actually liked it so much that Reform have included a similar unfunded amount of money in their manifesto.  

My biggest takeaway though, was that these programmes are very easy to nod off to. Given the content and time of the evening, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise but, if the angle of your head isn’t quite right, you can awake with a rather stiff neck. Now, I do have a solution for this. We could take Countryfile out of the earlier evening slot, shuffle everything along by that amount of time and then put Countryfile on after Newsnight. Surely, a programme with all those sheep and lambs is ideal for the countdown to bedtime so, if any of our readers at the BBC could put a word in, we’d appreciate it!

Talking of sheep, Rishi Sunak is so confident that the country is still with him that he and David Cameron were campaigning this week in a North Devon constituency with a large Conservative majority. The obligatory photoshoot was of trying to feed sheep that all turned and ran away from them. Just can’t catch a break, eh lads?

Following on from last week’s chat about the Gambling Commission looking into a Tory MP for placing a bet on the date of the election, it turns out that the Director of Campaigning, his wife, who is a Tory candidate, and a member of Sunak’s police protection are also being looked into. The policeman has been suspended and arrested. The politicos? Not so much…

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse Post Office, it turns out that they have published the names and addresses of 555 postmasters prosecuted during the Horizon scandal. Whilst the Post Office has, quite rightly, referred itself to the Information Commissioner, as I type this, it is yet to issue an apology. How are our institutions so riddled with such incompetence?

On a lighter note, England’s T20 World Cup defence finally got some oomph to it with a decent eight wicket win over the West Indies. Phil Salt was man of the match with an unbeaten 87, with some great willow slinging by Jonny Bristow too.

It seems Andy Murray has picked up an injury at Queens which might rule him out for Wimbledon. Let’s hope not, eh? Just 10 days to go, the action starts on the 1^st July.

In Olympics news, Katie Archibald has had a disaster, suffering a freak accident tripping over a step in her garden. She has managed to break her tibia, fibula and detached a ligament or two. She is now recovering from surgery and we wish her a speedy recovery. It’s unlikely she’ll manage to get up to race speed in the 35 days till the Olympics start in Paris so we’ll be adjusting our medal expectations down by at least a couple!

With just 8 days to go until the Tour de France has its first ever Grand Départ in Florence, we see that both Wout Van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard have been named in the Visma Lease a Bike team, seemingly recovered from their early season crashes. Should you be a person of leisure with some spare time and planning to watch a bit of a bike race I’d suggest stage 9. It starts and finishes in beautiful Troyes, the entertainment of Beefeater Bend is going to be there, and it’s in the champagne region. What’s not to like?

In wine news, chemists at the University of Cordoba have established that a liquid found in an urn, during the restoration of a house in Carmona, is a 2000 year old wine. It is the oldest liquid wine discovered and appears to be a white, sherry-like wine from the local area. The urn also contained the cremated bones of a man and a gold ring, so I’m not sure anyone will be rushing to taste it!

Shall we taste something a bit fresher this weekend?  As the sun is out, we thought we’d stick a pink in the fridge:

Château Paquette Côtes de Provence 2023 – £18.49 – so a few weeks back we have a routine meeting with a supplier to taste a few new wines.  One of them to be pulled out of the bag is this, a Provençal rosé that, frankly, we weren’t looking for.  Anyway, the cork gets pulled, we have a taste and decide that it is really rather good.  Lovely and crisp with bright fruit, a touch of herbiness and a long dry finish.  It turns out that the wine is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and a local variety, Tibouren, which is what brings the herbiness.  It also turns out this small estate in Fréjus was pointed out to our supplier by Elizabeth Gabay MW, who is the world’s foremost expert on rosé.  Probably you should try it….

Hesketh ‘Unfinished Business’ Pinot Noir 2022 – £16.99 – this is perfect summer drinking.  Made with fruit sourced from a selection of premium cool climate vineyards within the renowned Limestone Coast region in South Australia’s south-eastern corner, this is made in a way that allows the juicy intensity of this parcel of fruit to shine.  Light to medium bodied with luscious red fruits and juicy acidity pursued by plush tannins, this is an incredibly moreish wine that we expect to be rather tasty gently chilled in an ice bucket!

So that’s it from us, enjoy the sunshine!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome back – hope you’ve all had a splendid week?

Personally, I’ve been on a bit of a digital detox.  A few days away from London, in the sunshine with a golf-bag on my back.  For a while I was able to forget about the absurdities at home and remember how monumentally bad I am at putting.  However a cold glass of white and a plate of Gambas al Pil-Pil helped ease that pain and so, the next day, we went again.  One of the characters on my trip is a long term resident of UAE; he is so used to living in a place where all political parties are banned that he has no need/facility to get agitated about the status quo, since there is nothing he can do – for a moment that felt quite utopian until I remembered the downsides of the police state…

Before I left and before Wayne wrote last week’s email, I watched the Have I Got News For You episode hosted by Victoria Coren-Mitchell.  At one point she clearly needed to vent her frustrations and, whilst I appreciate this quote is a few weeks old, it resonates still:

‘Why are they so bad at it?!…. One side is sending the guy to stand in the rain and at the Titanic.  The other side can’t even decide who their MPs are.  And these are all people who think they can run the health service.  It’s pitiful.’

Back in the days when we worked for Oddbins, about once a year we’d hear news that somewhere in the estate a manager, or more often an assistant-manager, had had a sudden rush of blood to the head and emptied the shop safe on a Sunday evening, grabbed a case of Vodka and a slab of beer before doing a runner.  The safe takings could be perhaps £5,000 and the booze would have just been drunk.   A few days later they’d be arrested, charged, lose their job of course and have a permanent scar on their CV.  Five grand does not set you up for life but a criminal record certainly slows you down.

As news comes in of an arrest as part of the investigation into PPE Medro, we mull over the fact that Michelle and Doug were a little more ambitious than those Oddbins staff…

And now we hear about Craig Williams. 

Most recently he was MP for Montgomeryshire and standing for re-election, having got 59% of the vote in 2019 and increased the Conservative majority.  Now, most of us hadn’t really heard of him until The Guardian discovered that he had placed a bet on there being a July election, just before Sunak announced exactly that.  He is now going to be talking to the Gambling Commission having placed £100 at 5/1 – a monkey does not set you up for life but a criminal record certainly slows you down!

As V C-M might say – why are they so bad at it?!

Wine news might offer some respite, perhaps?

A study, commissioned by the WSTA (Wine and Spirit Trade Association) and produced by Cebr, has found that we (you, me, my brother Jake, everybody) are contributing £76 billion to the UK economy.

Using data from 2022, this shows growth from less than £50 billion in the past five years but of course, there need to be some spoilers too.  By all accounts, the Institute for Alcohol Studies state that alcohol is ‘costing’ the UK economy £27bn a year however, the Institute for Economic Affairs’ head of lifestyle economics, counters that these figures do not include a full cost-benefit analysis of the alcohol trade.

Somehow, far beyond my GCSE maths, it could be thus deduced that the net-benefit to the UK economy of wine and spirits is £49bn.  Not entirely sure what all this means but, in the meantime, keep up the good work, you’re doing it for the economy!

To help with your continued contributions, we’ll be opening a couple of gems this weekend to tickle your taste buds.  There is no theme, just wines that we fancied a glass of and, given the meteorological uncertainty, definite all-rounders both of whom are in this month’s case club:

Lyrarakis Vóila Assyrtiko 2022 – £16.99.  Located in the mountainous commune of Alagni in Crete, Domaine Lyrarakis stays true to local winemaking traditions.  The domaine focuses on indigenous varieties, taking them from obscurity and driving them in a more modern direction, while still retaining a clear sense of place.  Its style focuses on pure varietal character, precision and supple texture.  The 2022 Assyrtiko is a delicious wine, grown at 580 metres’ altitude in the Voila vineyard.  There is a definite floral character, refreshing minerality and chalky texture to this delicious wine that marries well with all forms of seafood, as you might expect from a producer surrounded by sea!

Casa Silva Cool Coast Pinot Noir 2021 – £20.99.  Hailing from the coastal vineyards of the Colchagua Valley, this is a proper cool climate Pinot Noir.  It has a nose filled with red fruit notes, strawberries, raspberries and a subtle background note of cinnamon and spice from the French oak that it spent 12 months reposing in.  With a truly excellent length of finish this is a real pleasure to drink and would be spot on with some flash griddled lamb leg steaks and some greens.

Just for your guide, as we speak, Heraklion is 36˚celsius with a real feel of 40˚, whilst Colchagua is 10˚ with a real feel of 8˚ including drizzle – so stop moaning you lot!

The US Open, Euro 2024, and Father’s Day – none of these made the cut and featured in this email, suffice to say they’re all happening this weekend and should not be ignored!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So did you watch the ITV debate on Tuesday? I watched the programme, it made for some fairly awful television. The two men in suits evading the questions asked and talking over both each other, and the moderator.

As it later transpired  it turned out that Rishi Sunak was telling porkies about Labour’s tax plans being verified independently by the Treasury, the Treasury minister had already written to Labour warning them of this and yet still Ministers were wheeled out doubling down on the lies. The surprise in all this was that ‘Rishi tells lies’ actually made the front page!

It was so successfully received that the BBC are having it large tonight with seven, yes seven party representatives all debating in the studio whilst Mishal Hussein attempts to keep control. With such gripping TV could it be a quiet night in Tooting Market as we all stay home with gammon for tea?

Talking of gammon, a drive to Clacton passes lots of pig farms. Attempting to become an MP for the 8^th time, Nigel Farage is standing as Clacton’s Reform candidate despite spending a week or more saying he had no interest. I suppose anyone can change their mind!

Whilst we like to gently poke fun at the state of politics, we are often grateful that we don’t have to write about it for a living. Not only are there people who report it much better than we do, but there luminaries who predict what happens 15 years ahead of time. Armando Iannucci this week tweeted:  “Those asking if ‘The Thick of It’ is writing this election may want to note that today’s Tory immigration plan -shunt it off to an independent body to decide, so ministers can avoid talking specifics in interviews- is the main plot of 2009’s special ‘The Rise of the Nutters.’”

Lastly for the UK Election news this week, I feel we should give props to those fundraisers at The Conservative Party for their 2024 General Election Souvenir Mugs. It’s a brave call to use: “Once they’re gone, they’re gone!” as your strapline.

Staying with election news, the world’s largest democracy, India, has returned no majority to Narendi Modi’s BJP party who fell well short of their target of 400 seats with just 240. They’ll now need the support of some of the opposition party to pass any laws. In one constituency in Mumbai 1.7 million voted and the winner had a majority of just one vote! Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter if you go to the polling station!

In South Africa, the ANC is also facing building a coalition having lost its majority with their share of the vote falling from 57.2% in 2019 to 40.2 % now.  The current plan is to form a government of national unity.

This weekend also sees voting across 27 countries in Europe for MEPs. Not you Farage.

Elsewhere, most of us have been commemorating the 80^th anniversary of D-Day invasion that started the end of World Wat II. Not you Rishi!  

There were still some veterans of that battle sprightly enough to make the journey and tell their stories. In a moving ceremony, there were many speeches, tears and music alongside flypasts and also a firework display. I’m not sure all the explosions of the fireworks whilst the centurions stood on Juno beach was necessarily the best idea, but as the saying goes:  “All’s well that ends well!”

According to Pete Brown’s book “Man Walks into a Pub” a West Midlands brewery managed to ship more than 2,000 barrels of beer across the English Channel to Normandy in June 1944, with each labelled with a message to the recipients: “A gift to our fighting forces from Mitchells and Butlers Limited, Birmingham. Best of luck. If this cask is returned we will refill it and send it back to you. Replace cork.”

Further afield, in China a hiker has discovered that China’s tallest waterfall, Yuntai Mountain Waterfall, seems to emerge from a pipe! The Yuntai Mountain Geopark explained that water is pumped during the dry season so that visitors always see the waterfall at its prettiest.

As the French Open races towards the Finals we know that Wimbledon is just over the horizon. Expect to see the cars doing their practice runs over the next week or two.

More pertinently you only have till the 8^th June to tell the GLA if you object to the AELTC’s plans to build over Wimbledon Park. You have probably seen their adverts on the tube claiming to be creating a new London park rather than building over most of a historic one.

Full details here: Tell the GLA You Object to AELTC’s Planning Application (savewimbledonpark.org)

The Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain started yesterday, Lotte Kopecky won the stage ahead of Leti Paternoster, with Pfeiffer Georgi and Lizzie Deignan coming in 3^rd and 4^th. Lizzie Deignan will start today in the Queen of the Mountains jersey.

In wine news, a heavy hail storm hit the Penedès region in Spain causing a lot of damage over some 1500 hectares of vines, whilst in the US Dolly Parton has released her first wine. Dolly Wines California Chardonnay 2023 is about to be released to consumers. Ideal for when you’ve finished the ‘9 to 5’.

Tasting This Weekend we’ll start in Costers del Segre with Mas Blanch I Jove Troballa 2022 (£19.49) – a great wine, 100% organic Garnacha Blanca with wild fermentation, aged for four months in concrete eggs.  A rich and fruity wine with a lovely mouthfeel that we think would be splendid with a rare tuna steak or perhaps a lightly spiced vegetable and coconut curry.

How about a trip to Piemonte for the red? Cantine Povero Cabanè Langhe Nebbiolo 2019(£14.99) – this is from grapes just outside of the designated zone for Barolo, the wrong side of the tracks if you like.  Usually the wines are 100% Nebbiolo but in this instance I am led to believe that there may be a smidge of Barbera in there plus a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon!  The nose is sweetly aromatic with an intense bouquet containing hints of roses, tobacco and spice.  On the palate we have more roses and red fruits and fresh tobacco leaf on the simply delicious finish.

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Seems like weather forecasting has yet again proved itself to be a bit of a dark art and, in fact, Wayne’s cooking activities provide a more accurate guide to future meteorological activity.

We call him Weather Vane Wayne.

Having expected rain on Sunday and cloudiness on Monday, we actually ended up with two sunny weekend days (whilst Wayne was, for the most part, inside) and then, no sooner had he lit the coals on Monday than the heavens opened and his back garden became a lido with a barbecue shaped bird bath in the corner.

For guidance, he says he might put some lamb chops on the barbecue late Sunday afternoon, so make sure you’ve done all your chores before then or at the very least, take an umbrella…

So, as of yesterday, we have a dissolved parliament.  We are reliably informed by the website www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk that: ‘As of 10:00 on 30 May 2024, 134 MPs have announced that they will not stand again at the election on 4 July. MPs intending to stand again have until 4pm on 7 June to deliver their nomination papers and so it is likely that further announcements will follow in the coming days’

That’s an awful lot of leaving-do’s and cake.

Of the 134 MP’s not returning, 82 started out as Conservatives, 36 Labour, 9 SNP, 3 Sinn Féin, 2 PC, 1 Green and 1 DUP.  In percentage terms, that translates to 100% of Green’s leaving town, 50% of PC, 42% of Sinn Féin, 22% of Tories, 18% of SNP, 18% of Labour and 12.5% of DUP.  Clearly the Lib Dems are doing something right as no-one is stepping down and none of them ended up on the naughty step/independent.

Interestingly, none of the main party leaders in the 2019 election are still in charge which only goes to emphasise the capricious nature of UK politics today.

Elsewhere, the Donald has been Tangoed but I think we should all wait until July 11^th before we get too excited….

But we move on and away from politics, for now, to discover that we were right all along. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has released a report revealing that 70% of beer and wine served in UK pubs and bars is short-measured and that when beer was short, it was typically 4% less than a full pint, while wine was usually 5% below the standard 175ml glass.  Not sure we’re going to pop down to The Wandle and read them the Weights and Measures Act but it’s nice to know we weren’t always imagining things…

As a follow up, another CTSI survey gauging opinion on the inclusion of the beer head in the pint measure was divided.  35% believe the head should not be included and 23% think it should be – which means that 42% of people abstained/are incapable of deciding between 2 polar opposite choices/don’t give a toss, which could also end up being true on July 4^th.

You heard it here first.

Sport and booze collided somewhat unpleasantly earlier in the week when the French Open organisers had to ban drinking in the stands – raucous behaviour and spitting were the complaints from players – I wonder if the AELTC and Pimm’s are feeling a little nervous?

Last week I mentioned some new wines on the shelves, so I thought I might introduce some of them today.

Earlier this year, whilst driving through France, Alex and his wife ended up in the delightful city of Reims, in the heart of Champagne.  Being ‘in the trade’, Alex has been lucky enough to visit the city a number of times, usually on someone else’s dollar, however his wife has not been quite so fortunate.  Alex was excited by the prospect of finally seeing the Cathedral without scaffolding up the façade whilst his wife seemed more invigorated by the prospect of formation champagne drinking.  So they came to a compromise: a quick spin around the outside of their Notre-Dame and then off to the restaurant they’d had recommended by the lady whose house they were staying in.

Café du Palais is in the heart of the city, opposite the courthouse (hence the name) and it was suggested as having the both the best Croque-Monsieur’s and best champagne list in town.  Win, win, what’s not to like.  So they ate and drank and, as luck would have it, got into long conversation with the owner about champagne, of course.  Now this man is connected.  He had just had lunch that day with Garance from Thiénot and was going for dinner the following night with someone from Billecart-Salmon, from memory.  Anyway, after a cellar tour, a couple more glasses and perhaps some of their famous tarte tatin, they wended their way, with the abiding memory that the wines from De Saint-Gall were ones to definitely look out for.

Fast forward a few months and Alex discovers that one importer in the UK has these wines, so he made contact.

We’ve started at the top, no messing about but a GC B de B from a cracker of a vintage, how could we resist?

De Saint-Gall Orpale Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru 2012 – £125

I’ll endeavour to be a little less lyrical about the rest of the wines otherwise we’ll be here until close…

WHITES

Guillaman Colombard-Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Gascogne, France – £11.99 – a zippily fresh drop with grapefruit and passion fruit character on the nose and a rounded palate showing those same fruits.

J Fernando Verdejo 2023, Rueda, Spain – £14.49 – lovely and tangy and fresh with a drop of minerality in its midst to add a bit of texture

Westcott Estate Chardonnay 2021, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Canada – £29.99 – just wow.  Our first venture into Canada for over 10 years, this is awesome – like a burgundy but at the richer end with great poise

ORANGE

Bel A Ciao Vin Orange 2022, Vin Atlantique, France – £16.99 – it’s organic and it’s orange, how on message are we?  A blend of mostly Semillon with a splash each of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, it has tangerine and wild flower aromas leading to more tropical but still citrusy notes on the palate with a lightly spiced lemon note to finish, definitely worth a try!

ROSÉ

Château Paquette 2023, Côtes de Provence, France – £18.49 – a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and a local variety Tibouren, which is what brings the garriguey herbiness.  It transpires that this small estate in Fréjus was recommended to our supplier by Elizabeth Gabay MW, the world’s foremost expert on rosé!

RED

Le Voisin d’En Face Syrah 2023, IGP Ardèche, France – £16.49 – northern Rhône but you know, not named as such.  Beautiful nose, hint of spice and a rich, fruitful palate – more approachable in its youth than any of its posher peers would be.

Klinker Brick Winery Brickmason 2018, Lodi, USA – £18.99 -a blend of 80% Zinfandel, 10% Syrah and 5% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah.  Bright red fruits, a touch of juicy blueberry too, lovely freshness of finish and a little tannic grip give it great balance – a barbecue shoo-in.

Château d’Anielle 2015, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, France – £27.99 – I know, who’s buying claret in June?  Well, if you got caught in the monsoon yesterday afternoon, perhaps it wold be you!  We often find a lot of good Bordeaux in the summer months and this is one we’ve had our eye on for a while, keep it in mind!

We should probably let you get back to work now – we’ll be opening the Guillaman Colombard-Sauvignon Blanc and Le Voisin d’En Face Syrah tonight, so come and let us know what you think.

Finally, yes, we have read the article in The Guardian about Orange wine sales – we do have a few but aren’t planning on extending the range particularly.  Sherry, White Port, Madeira, Riesling, Torrontés, Rum, chilled reds – all are examples of what has been touted as the drinks of the summer in previous years, without actually ever getting close to toppling Rosé from its perch, just saying!

And with that, we’re taking our cynicism out for a drink, filled right to the top please…..

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Happy bank holiday weekend everybody, grab your brollies.  Wayne has been scouring the web for good news and can confirm a reasonable amount of consistency in the forecasting:

AccuWeather

• Saturday – increasing cloudiness, 21°
• Sunday – a shower in the area in the morning; otherwise, clouds giving way to some sun, 20°
• Monday – partly sunny, 18°

BBC

• Saturday – sunny intervals and light winds, 21°
• Sunday – light rain showers and a gentle breeze, 20°
• Monday – drizzle and a gentle breeze, 17°

Met Office

• Saturday – sunny, changing to cloudy in the afternoon, 21°
• Sunday – cloudy, changing to light showers by late morning, 20°
• Monday – sunny changing to cloudy by lunchtime, 18°

Weather.com

• Saturday – generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds, 21°
• Sunday – cloudy with occasional showers, 19°
• Monday – partly to mostly cloudy, 17°

If we all keep in mind that our resident Michael Fish is having a barbecue on Monday then I would suggest that you mow the lawn on Saturday and book cinema tickets for the rest of the break.

Speaking of brollies, there seems to be a shortage in Downing Street.  The forlorn footage of a drenched and solitary Prime Minister announcing the General Election on Wednesday was made more pitiful when we considered that he couldn’t find anyone prepared to hold an umbrella over him, not even Akshata?  I would imagine that someone threw in a towel as he went back inside though.

Elsewhere, we read on Wednesday that Cazoo, the online car retailer, had called in the administrators.  Never quite sure why you’d buy a car sight unseen but by all accounts this was a popular way of doing things during the covid years.  Anyway, they were valued at £5 billion in 2021 but apparently never made a profit.  Never made a profit?  In 2020 they made £99 million in losses; in 2021 they made £542 million in losses; in 2022 they made over £700 million in, you’ve guessed it, losses; in 2023 they sold a large chunk of debt for equity and in 2024 they fold.

Alex Chesterman, the founder, sold £100 million of shares in 2021, so he’s alright.

Thames Water has debts of over £15 billion, largely thanks to the previous owners taking too much money out of the business before selling it.  South West Water also has persistent pre-tax losses on one hand, whilst offering a a £127 million dividend to shareholders with the other, and poisoning the residents of Brixham with another.

Susan Davy, CEO of South West Water’s parent company, has yet to confirm whether she will be taking her bonus this year but she does know that she won’t have to explain the parasite outbreak to MP’s thanks to parliament being dissolved before she’s due to meet with them, so she’s alright.

Everyone’s favourite priest, Paula Vennells, earnt over £5 million in her time running things, very badly, at the Post Office, so she’s alright too.

It sometimes feels that being a debt averse independent wine retailer doesn’t reward success as much as other industries reward failure but then, neither of us went to business school so we don’t know what we don’t know!

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium takes delivery of its first (and probably last) pieces of silverware this weekend but obviously not for anything football related.  The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals, for rugby union, are both taking place in north London and Tottenham are hosting.  With Gloucester being the only English team involved in this, we’ll all be donning Jonny May facemasks for one last time and hoping the cherry and whites have put behind them the 90-0 drubbing by Northampton 2 weeks ago!  Not even Spurs have lost that badly on this ground…

Wayne, throwing caution to the wind, has intimated that he feels there is a possibility that Tadej Pogacar might just have enough to win the Giro d’Italia.  Unless he falls off.  In which case, he will probably still go on and win it.  You heard it here first.  For other tips, he’s offering the prospect of the FA cup ending up in Manchester this weekend and the Champions League being decided on goals scored….

Not much booze news this week – we’ve got a few new wines in the pipeline but we can tell you more about those next time but in the meantime, what shall we taste this weekend?

We’ve decided to go a little esoteric today, so we will open a wine from Romania and a wine from Crete.

Cramele Recas Solara Orange – £14.99

This Romanian estate is owned by Englishman Philip Cox and his wife Elvira.  Their immaculate vineyards, in mountainous terrain, are a combination of evolved plantings from 1447 and much more recent plantings too.  A natural minimal intervention wine, it is made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice, creating a deep orange-hued finish.  The wine ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or any other additions.  The nose exhibits quince, Poire William and a hint of vanilla.  A complex and structured palate, it is elegant with discreet fruit flavours of stone fruits, backed up with a complexity and long, balanced finish, incredibly fresh.

Domaine Lyrarakis Kotsifali 2021 – £16.99

Yep, it’s this super winery in Crete again – they make ideal wines for summer drinking we reckon, so let’s ignore the weather reports above and pretend it’s blazing sunshine out there!  One of the Queens of Cretan grape varieties, Kotsifali is indisputably a classic of the island, offering spicy red fruits, an elegant mouthfeel and a piquant aftertaste which makes it a deliciously fresh drop, not too weighty and seriously good with lamb kleftiko or a bit of fried saganaki.

That’s probably enough from me for now – as I write, 76 Tory MP’s have said they aren’t going to stand for re-election in July, 7 since Wednesday afternoon – really not sure Rishi has enough umbrellas for this deluge!