The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Whilst we hopefully still have your attention, a spot of admin.

Next Tuesday, 15^th September, we will be closed all day.  We need to go off and do a whole load of tastings all about town and just won’t make it back in time to open – we will be here on Wednesday though, so all is not lost!

Back to now, what’s been going on this week?  Trump has gained weight, offered to bribe the entire adult electorate to vote for him, watched as oil went to $100 a barrel, decided not to go to Ground Zero and will be on a plane soon to watch the Irish Open – just another week in your average octogenarian’s life!  Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills have announced that they be playing the American and Canadian national anthems ahead of every home game this season – we guess they’re not fans of these cross border loggerheads!

Over here we’ve had men all dressed in black moving menacingly through Dover and Portsmouth last weekend.  The RNLI had to rescue the 140 migrants from their mega-dinghy on Sunday and were then subject to quite awful abuse when they arrived ashore.  Nigel Farage was not in attendance, as there was no money to be made and no one had offered him oysters.  In 2021 he suggested the RNLI was a taxi service for migrants which resulted in a huge wave of donations to the charity.  Since Sunday, they have received a spike in donations, reportedly £5,000 so every cloud etc etc. 

Also in Portsmouth, on Tuesday we had masked protesters outside, and inside, the Marriott Hotel who believed that a busload of migrants had been delivered to the 4 star venue.  The Pakistan U-19 cricket team, who had arrived at the hotel by bus earlier on were surprised to hear “knocking on their doors” during the incident, but the players “behaved responsibly and didn’t escalate the situation”. 

Cricket seems to be continuing its summer of silliness with the ‘new’ Pakistan team seeming keen to get it all over with as quickly as possible.  Cycling is almost over in Spain with the Malaga-Ronda-Estepona stage today, essentially a tour of Alex’s favourite golf courses.  Champions League action returned but the funniest moment of the last week was watching Alex’s celebrations when Spurs got their first point of the season with a magnificent nil-nil draw at Forest.  Perhaps this week they might score a goal…

Wine news is about as exciting as it was last week – all talk is either about harvesting or duty cuts with the Wine and Spirit Trade Association asking the Government to cut duty in the Autumn Budget – successive tax increases have reduced sales without delivering the revenue expected by the Treasury, they say.  We expect the man from the treasury will say no.

And so, to this weekend.  To celebrate the arrival of Alex’s wife’s mum’s half-sister from Sydney, we thought we’d open some Aussie kit to make her feel at home:

Pauletts Polish Hill River Riesling 2018 – £22.99 comes from Clare Valley, South Australia.  There are very few producers that hang on to part of their production to release mature wines but luckily for us, the guys at Pauletts do.  Their patience is our gain and to be fair, they have garnered much praise and many plaudits too – they have four “Best Dry Riesling in the World” Trophies.  We’re big fans, having stocked successive releases since we opened.  We love its vivacity, its lime-cordial fruit notes and the crisp mineral finish that just seems to go on and on.

Geoff Merrill Bush Vine GSM 2017 – £22.99  – like the guys at Pauletts, Geoff always likes to release his wines with a bit of age on them and this 8-year-old is a joy.  This fabulous blend of 54% Shiraz, 37% Grenache and 9% Mourvèdre has outgrown the boisterously youthful fruit you would get in a younger wine and is filled with rounded blackberry fruits encasing notes of vanilla and mocha.

That’s it from us for now – bet you’re all glad that  you weren’t trying to fly back into Heathrow or Gatwick this week but if you were, our condolences, come and have a glass of wine on us!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome back.

Shorts are back in the drawer and shirts have been ironed.  Daily swims are a thing of the past, whilst the fantasy of building your own 25m piscina in the back garden fades into the gloaming once the real cost of heating it without the help of the sun makes your eyes pop.  On the plus side, imagine all the money you have saved that you can now spend on wine!

Whilst you’ve been gone we’ve re-arranged the shop so that everything is a bit confusing and seemingly misplaced for now, please ask Alex for directions to the fridges.  Wimbledon Park has now been renamed Park Vintners Park and we’re going to be changing the name of watery area, effective immediately, to Lake Park Vintners – we also have intention to annex the greenland surrounding the lake, for strategic purposes, with a view to renaming it Park Vintners Park Golf Club which is what everyone wants.  If you think about it, we now have a park and we have a lake. Now, all we need is tennis courts. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the AELTC…

Keir Starmer stopped being PM on 20^th July and has now decided to stop being an MP too; we imagine he will write some sort of memoir, his version of Ten Years to Save the West, perhaps?  As long as we finally find out what his Dad’s job was, we’ll be satisfied!

Parliament also welcomed back NF on Tuesday, fresh from his famous victory over Count Binface in Clacton last month.   He barked at a few people, got into trouble for filming himself on the roof of the Palace of Westminster and then scuttled off to Birmingham for the Reform Annual Conference.  Maintaining their mixed message on defending freedom of speech, 3 journalists were banned from attending, significantly Anna Isaac who broke the undeclared £5 million donation story which led to the silly summer shenanigans.  Good news is, there will always be another journalist investigating away, as Dan Jukes and Jame Orr have just discovered.

Richard Tice is not concerned.

Elsewhere, football we no longer talk about.  Rugby starts tomorrow but only at top level because, frankly, it’s too dangerous at grass roots (if you can find any amongst the dust).  Wayne has plenty to say about the Tour of Britain and La Vuelta, particularly now Tadej has decided to de-bike himself and broken his collarbone in so doing.  Cricket has managed to stay sober for a week now too, which is a new record we believe.  Sales of Botham wines in Arthur Road are still buoyant though, thanks to the aforementioned leather and willow sport.

And Ski Sunday has been cancelled – we’ve noticed it’s been going downhill for a longtime now and that the presenters were very often noticeably frosty – we’re told there are more jokes available if anyone wants to join in…

And now to wine.  No new news here, personally I’m still chuckling about the Majestic/Sainsbury’s/Bollinger debacle from last week, which will take a bit of beating.  A weekend that doesn’t immediately suggest rose is a rare treat of late, so let’s carpe diem and open a couple of brand new arrivals (landed today).

From the people that bring us our Grillo, Nero d’Avola and my favourite Orange wine, we have now taken on their Chardonnay, to replace the no longer available Chatelain Desjacques offering.  Sibiliana Sensale Chardonnay 2025 – £12.99 of course comes from Marsala, Sicily.  The wine is fully Organic and has spent its childhood in stainless steel rather than oak, giving us delicious hints of mango and papaya accompanied by pleasant floral notes and a nicely structured palate with a marked freshness.

The new red comes from our chums at Cave de Gigondas whose Terrissimo Beaumes de Venise 2024 – £20.00 joins their Vacqueyras on the shelf.  65% Grenache and 35% Syrah this is just pure indulgence.  A beautifully complex, full-bodied wine with tight tannins and red fruit notes that should appeal to everyone!

Finally, in their wisdom TFL have taken over all the parking on our stretch of Arthur Road (23 bays) from today until Monday and 10 bays on The Crescent for ‘rail works’ and thus the District Line is closed between Edgware Road and Wimbledon all weekend.  Whilst it’s nice to think they are going to fix all the issues that make the line go down almost weekly, it would have been nicer if they’d scheduled the works for August, before the football season starts (Fulham at home tomorrow) and when they could have parked all over SW19 whilst everyone was away rather than now… might be a good time to remind you all that we offer free local deliver if you want 6 bottles or more because you might struggle to park!

And that’s it.  Walk on up, have a taste, book a delivery – we’ll be here!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Good morning, how has your week been? I noticed we had some kind of wet substance fall from the sky yesterday morning. The park still looks like shredded wheat, but perhaps it’s a start, certainly the Bank Holiday arriving normally triggers such behaviour from the skygods. Looking up and down Arthur Road it seems that parking around here is still remarkably easy so I suspect you’re reading from Devon, Wales, the Lake District or Provence and that traffic will be challenging on Sunday or Monday.

Andy Burnham has abandoned plans to cap political donations; it seems he was got at by vested interests that fund the Labour Party. Seems a bit of an error to me, I think we’d rather the entire funding was reformed to keep the dirty money and bad influence away from our politicians.  In unrelated news, it seems Thames Water is not about nationalised either.  I guess that’s more dirty water than dirty money, but who knows?

In the US, Facebook owner Meta has paid $18 billion to 48 states, the District of Columbia and three US territories to settle a lawsuit that claimed Facebook and Instagram harms children. There will also be a host of protective measures implemented. As you’d expect, Meta claimed they have done nothing wrong. Seems a lot of money to pay to stay out of a public trial though, doesn’t it?

In football, UEFA are pursuing criminal legal proceedings against both FIFA and Gianni Infantino over his, now binned, attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup. Closer to home, ever larger amounts are changing hands in the transfer window, and rather oddly, Savinho of Manchester City has changed his name to become Sàvio of Tottenham Hotspur.

We’ve had the Champions League draw, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and two Manchesters now all know who they’ll be facing. There are of course other British teams available, but not in the Champions League.

Way down in the National League, a place we visit scarcely, I’d just like to point out that Southend United are top. Mostly because 14 year old Wayne can’t imagine writing “Southend are top”. Even if it is the National League!

In real sports, La Vuelta finished stage six yesterday withTadej Pogačar winning the stage (his third!) and remaining in the red jersey with a lead of over 3 minutes. He almost came a cropper on a descent, overcooking a corner and coming off the road so it’s not over till it’s over! Honourable mention to British Rider Matthew Brennan who has won two stages already and this is his first Grand Tour! The Tour of Britain starts next Wednesday in Lincoln with most of the world’s best sprinters on the start list.

In wine news, Majestic staff has, according to The Sun, been busted buying Bollinger from Sainsbury’s after receiving an internal email stating “Please visit Sainsbury’s today and buy as many as possible using petty cash. If there are fewer than six bottles available, top up the order using Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc to secure the 25 per cent discount.” The email continued:  “park in a discreet position” and to “wear plain clothing over your uniform so you are not recognisable as Majestic staff”. Sounds all a bit peculiar to us!

Tasting This Weekend

In the white jersey we’ll head to Haute Vallée de l’Aude in the Languedoc and start with Altugnac ‘Turitelles’ Chardonnay 2024 (£15.99). Burgundian in style but without the Burgundian price tag.  This makes a lot of sense when you learn that the two owners have a very successful Domaine in Mâcon and have brought their skills across to the sunny south.  Refreshing acidity and notes of peach, hazelnut, all rounded off with an elegant finish.

Sharing the red jersey with Tadej will be Duas Quintas 2023 (£22.49). The Duas Quintas of the name refers to the two Ramos Pinto Douro vineyards where the grapes for this wine are grown.  The hotter Quinta de Ervamoira produces ripe rich flavoured fruit, while the high altitude Quinta dos Bons Ares adds freshness and balance.  The wine has an expressive, vinous nose with spices, tobacco leaf, sweet peach and orange blossom notes.  Rich and full in the mouth, with fine tannins and body followed by floral and spicy notes and a long finish.

Lastly, thanks to Dolly Parton for the songs, entertainment and the books, Tim Curry for playing Dr. Frank’n’Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov in Hunt for Red October and especially Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers

A-level results done, GCSE results also done – it feels like we are waddling towards the end of the longest school holidays on record.  The other obvious signal of approaching winter is the start of the football season – most started last weekend whilst Arsenal play Coventry in the Premiership this evening at 8pm, hoping to maintain their spot at the top of the table on more than their alphabetical merits.  Of course, Spurs are starting the season at the bottom of the table, let’s see if they can improve on that at any point between now and 30^th May!

However, whilst we are veering towards September and it has rained at least 4 times this week, we are still in summer holiday time and SW19 is still quieter than a Harry & Meghan welcome home party… where are you all?

Devon & Cornwall, I imagine.

Every morning we read the news and not a lot holds our attention.  However, there was some  excitement when we saw that Clément Vandenkerckhove, a junior car salesman at Garage Dhont in Deinze, Belgium now has a new career as a half-blood Prince, after his father, Prince Laurent Benoît Baudouin Marie de Saxe-Cobourg recognised him as son and heir.  It may not have escaped notice that the House of Windsor is in fact Saxe-Coburg in disguise but we’re certain there wouldn’t be any ‘surprise’ Princes lurking amongst our Royals…

For a mere $100,000 a month, we have signed up for early priority access to Truth Social, the World’s Wildest Wig-Wearer’s two-bit Twitter wannabe.  Is this money well spent?  We’ll let you know once our first bit of insider trading goes through and hopefully there won’t be any footage from inside that catering truck.

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention the return of the martyrs and masochists of men’s bicycle racing.  La Vuelta a España starts tomorrow (Saturday) but, due to a lack of space in Spain (505,992 km²), is teeing off in Monaco (2.08km²) and then spending a couple of days in France and Andorra before becoming Spanish.  We’re keen for Stage 19 Vélez-Málaga to Peñas Blancas, Estepona which includes the fast, windy descent from Ronda to San Pedro d’Alcàntara however there are bound to be fireworks before then because we’ve got Tadej Pogačar in attendance for the first time since 2019 which may upset fellow countryman, Primož Roglič, who has won this five times out of the last seven.

In wine news we keep hearing reports of early harvests which doesn’t seem that odd given the summer we’ve had.  Some English sparkling wine producers are talking about mid-September as a start date which makes me a bit nervous – if we get proper, biblical storms then there could be damaged vines and flattened grapes and no wine to show for all the fabulous growing conditions earlier on.

Whilst you’re all enjoying Hugo Spritz on the west facing veranda, we’ll be standing here with a couple of open bottles of wine, should anyone happen to be passing by.  As it’s La Vuelta, we’ll do Spain:

Ameztoi Txakoli 2024 – £18.99 is a deliciously fascinating white wine, from the slopes above San Sebastian, in the Basque country.  Lots of green apple and lime aromas on the nose with touches of herb and flowers in the background.  A very elegant mouthfeel with a natural zingy spritz, which is its defining style.  For many it is reminiscent of a crisp dry cider of all things and is an absolute wow with seafood in all its forms.

In red, we have Lopez de Haro Gran Reserva 2016  – £23.99.  We’ve been selling this for many years now and find it hard to beat –  and we do conduct extensive tastings!  A blend of Tempranillo and Graciano aged for 30 months in oak barrels, it has complex berry, coffee and vanilla notes and a lovely velvety finish.  Well suited for dining inside as well as outside, depending on what the weather decides to do!

And with that, like you, we’re gone – be seeing you dreckly!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Not going to do too much heavy lifting in the email this week – we’ve all been warned to be careful not to overdo it, amber alert, extreme heat and all that jazz – so we’re sitting here in our sombreros and sandals, doing very little!

What you need to know this week:

• If the queues are too long at Lilywhites, you will now be able to buy your Everlast Punchbags, Lonsdale underpants and Slazenger tennis balls at 109-125 Knightsbridge
• Demi Vollering (FDJ United–Suez) won Le Tour de France Femmes 2026
• In real sport, reigning champion Alexandre Voisine won The Beachy Head World Championship Penny Farthing Hill Climb Time Trial last Sunday, in a new record time
• We currently have 292 cold bottles of wine and 70 cold beers and ciders on site, awaiting consumption
• There are 2 spaces left for the Wine & Cheese Tasting on Thursday 10^th September
• 2 spaces left for the Wine & Cheese tasting on Thursday 15^th October
• 5 spaces left for the Wine & Cheese tasting on Thursday 12^th November
• £30 per person, you know the rules
• On Wednesday, Aston Villa lost 2-1 to PSG in what is known as the Super Cup with the Villa goal scored by 17 year old Brian Madjo – remember that name, he’s 6 foot 4 inches and seemingly scared of nothing
• Matt Vigurs may have hit the longest hole-in-one in UK history after completing a 411-yard par-4 in one shot at Great Barr Golf Club
• August 14^th is Falklands Day, commemorating the first sighting of the Falkland Islands in 1592 – a jolly long time ago
•  

What you don’t need to know:

• Nigel Farage is still MP Farage for now
• 28 men, 5 women and 1 intergalactic space warrior faced off in the Clacton by-election yesterday and everyone got at least 7 people to vote for them
• The Farage share went up to 63.34% but significantly fewer people visited the polling stations – 10,000 fewer than in 2024
• Essex Police did not advise any candidate to not attend the by-election count
• Closer to home, the current population of Wimbledon Park is hovering around 107 but this is likely to change as many more of you go on holiday this weekend
• The Costa del Sol Cervezas Victoria Cup stays at home as  Málaga drew 2-2 with Fulham in their final preseason fixture.  Fulham opted not to take part in the penalty shootout, meaning the 36th edition of the trophy stays at La Rosaleda.
• 38.1 degrees in Kew yesterday, which is 5.2 miles west of us, so we were probably 38.2….
• Zach Holland, an amateur golfer, faked making a hole-in-one at a tournament WingHaven Country Club in Missouri, having fraudulently placed a ball in the cup at the fourth hole earlier in the morning, before his round
• Andy Burnham’s favourite Greggs’ amuse bouche is the Sausage, Bean & Cheese Melt
• 133 days until Christmas
• Thursday 13^th August was International Left-Handers Day
• It was also International Prosecco Day
• There’s a joke in there somewhere – mini bottle of Prosecco for whoever finds it…

Anyway, enough of this piffle, what shall we taste this weekend?  Given that we haven’t tasted this in the shop for a couple of years, we thought we would open Les Vignobles Foncalieu Piquepoul Rosé 2025 – £15.99 which is from close to Beziers and is the palest of pinks in colour, with a delicate nose of cherry blossom, strawberries and peaches.  The palate is bone dry and fresh with summer berry flavours and notes of crushed rose petals.  The fruit notes are balanced perfectly with a lovely, crisp citrus acidity – frankly, it ticks a lot of boxes!

The red will be, understandably, at the lighter end and will also be a new wine to many of you, having only landed with us a few weeks back.  Domaine de la Mariniere Chinon Vieilles Vignes 2023 – £21.99.  We always enjoy Cabernet Franc from the Loire and this old vine character is just the ticket.  All the vines are at least 25 years old and has been certified organic since 2018.   A very classy drop, the epitome of the modern take on classic Chinon.  Perfumed, with youthful intensity whilst still maintaining that tell-tale crunchy fruit mid-palate.  Who knows, we might pop it in the fridge too!

That’s all from us for now – if it’s your birthday today, just remember, as the highly respected philosopher said:

“Age is just a number, maturity is a choice”  (Harry Styles, Redditch)

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How’s it going? We’ve had some news drift in here and there from returnees and passers through. I understand the traffic in North Devon left a bit to be desired over the weekend, that Edinburgh and environs have been hogging all the rain that was forecast for this week, welll except for the minute and half we got on Wednesday at 10.54. Outside of that, Belgium is hot but the mussels are delicious, Spain is hot, the pool is comfy and the sea a little wavy. Here it is a little cooler, but only for a couple of days.

Elsewhere, Gianni Infantino is still clinging onto his job by his fingernails. Such is his commitment to cleaning FIFA up; he thinks a “sorry” might cover it. Nigel Farage is still arguing with a bin, EasyJet has been sold to US firm Apollo Global for £5.7 billion and there was a very weird merger/non-merger between AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squib that neither company now seems to want to talk about.

In proper sports, the Tour de France Femmes hits Mont Ventoux today with Marlon Reusser in the Yellow Jersey again, 14 seconds ahead of Demi Vollering. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney has made no secret of her excitement for this stage, but Anna Van der Breggen lost a lot of time yesterday so will have to give it a real go. We’re expecting fireworks.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, and all the other political parties, Ofwat, the Environment Agency and all the water companies for a job well done. All of England’s rivers and lakes are polluted with chemicals and only one in seven of them could be classed as being in anywhere approaching a good ecological condition. That’s no improvement at all since 2019 and deserves a slow handclap all round.

Booze news this week was mostly very dull: blah blah barley project, blah blah cost-cutting at Diageo. Then we saw the news that Westminster Council is trying it’s best to kill off Soho and the West End. Given the challenges the industry is facing, already much discussed here, this no laughing matter.  They seem to think that nobody should be standing in pubs (vertical drinking apparently) and that all service of food and alcohol should be by waiter or waitress service only. Personally I think it’s a ludicrous idea, but is, by all accounts, going out to consultation to residents and visitors to Westminster. I, for one, will be a firm no on that one!

There was one drinks news highlight, and that was Denmark Hill railway station! The Camberwell Society planted 30 Bacchus vines on land at Denmark Hill station and is expecting to harvest enough Bacchus grapes to make around 22 bottles. It’s unlikely to come up for sale though, as the Camberwell Society has agreed that with Network Rail. We thought it was an interesting way to spruce up your local station.

Closer to home, just a reminder that we’ll be hosting Wine & Cheese tastings on:

• Thursday 10^th September – 7.30pm
• Thursday 15^th October – 7.30pm (only 2 places left)
• Thursday 12^th November – 7.30pm

All the tastings are £30 per head and, as ever, first come-first served, so don’t tarry!

Tasting This Weekend

Sporting the white swimmers will be…

Domaine Fournillon Bourgogne Chardonnay 2024 – £16.99. 

It is likely the name looks somewhat familiar, since we have been selling their Chablis and their Epineuil Pinot Noir for a number of years.  From the 23 hectare family-run domaine situated in the small village of Bernouil, close to Chablis, this is lovely and crisp and clean. The clay-rich soils of Bernouil give this wine its depth of fruit combined with freshness and intense stone-fruit aromas. Unsurprisingly, it is a rather Chablis-esque drop.

Whilst over in the Baywatch styled red trunks we’ll go for…

Sensale Nero d’Avola 2024, Sicilia, Italy – £11.99

We’ve been rather chuffed with the wines we’ve had from these guys.  Nero d’Avola is one of Sicily’s indigenous varieties and seems to cope rather well with the heat and sunshine without throwing loads of alcohol into the glass.  Bright ripe red fruits all the way through from nose to finish, a lively fresh finish too.  Alex likes to lightly chill this one, the ever helpful back label suggests meat as a partner, and we’d wager cheese on toast would work too.  It’s also organic!

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

What a time to be alive! On Monday this week The Daily Telegraph published an article by Tim Stanley with the headline “Climate change is real – and the Right needs to get serious about it”. It went on to suggest that we might just look out of our windows to see the evidence. Well, better late than never eh? Or, as the kids might say, “Telegraph enters the chat”.

Wednesday this week saw the 24^th day this year that the temperature in London exceeded 30˚C. In the 1980’s an entire decade had just 21 days. Musically the 1980’s rolled in just as XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel” rolled down the charts and ended with Soul II Soul’s “Get a Life” at number six in the charts. Randomly, Andy Stewart’s “Donald Where’s Your Troosers?” was also in the top 10!  

Meanwhile, Nigel has spent a lot of time being angry. He’s angry that people keep asking about £5 million that was given to him with no strings, he’s angry that nobody is falling for his diversionary tactics involving t-shirts in Bristol. He might be angry at the Clacton café owner who told him he had 36 flavours of milkshake, but I suspect this week he’s angry because somebody has spotted that the 2024 donation of $2 million (£1.5 million) that Reform received from Fiona Cottrell in fact arrived in her accounts from her son. It seems now that the Police and HMRC have joined the voices asking questions about Reform’s financing. On the plus side Nigel, you only have two more weeks arguing with a bin.

On the sport front, Gianni Infantino has put forward a proposal to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. If stories are to be believed, Jared Kushner’s fund is near the top of the list. The potential for corruption here seems so enormous that the idea has succeeded in uniting all of UEFA’s 55 associations in announcing a boycott to the plans. With any luck, it’ll finish off Infantino’s tenure, his key advisor, Carlos Cordeiro, has already quit.

In real sports, I find myself amazed that a 3 week race can end with the favourite winning by over six minutes and still offer up such a thrilling watch.  Chapeau to Tadej Pogačar for Tour de France number five, with very honourable mentions to Mads Pederson, Richard Carapaz, Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel.  

Tour de France Femmes starts in Lausanne on Saturday with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Demi Vollering as favourites. Nothing is a given though, and the toughest course yet sees plenty for wine fans, an individual time trial from Gevrey Chambertin to Dijon, a cruise through the rolling hills of Macon and Beaujolais, and a mountain top finish on Mont Ventoux. Keep an eye out for Marlon Reusser on time trial day; she may well set the race alight!

We spoke about the early harvest of grapes at Domaine Lafage in the Roussillon recently and thought we might expand on that a little. Champagne’s governing body has just announced that harvest is likely to start around August 20^th around 10 to 15 days earlier than usual.

Across much of France the rain and flooding we had in January ensured well replenished water tables. This was followed by normal flowering and then no frost anywhere, not even the shadowy corners in Chablis. Since then we have had perfect sunshine and just 3 days of rain since April. Healthy good size crops pretty much everywhere, possibly one of those vintages we’ll talk about for years and not just for the early harvests.

The one thing we do need to think of in this fabulous vintage is smoke damage. You’ll recall in the California fires a couple of years back that more grapes were lost to smoke damage than fire, and I suspect that’ll be true in Bordeaux too. Not good news for the poor folk of Pessac-Leognan, Pomerol and St Émilion who’ve had their windows and doors shut for too many days already!

Tasting this weekend

We’ll swing by Austria for a sample of Funkstille Grüner Veltliner 2025 (£14.99). Niederösterreich is Austria’s largest Qualitätswein wine-growing region and home to the excellent Grüner Veltliner grape.  As with many Austrian producers, quality and sustainability are top of the agenda here – they produce their own fertilizer, hand harvest the grapes whilst their winery is energy neutral, and their biogas plant actually produces more energy than is required.  Oh, and the wine is vegan too, but how does it taste?  Excellent, is the answer; dry with ripe pear and fresh citrus aromas and a palate rich with melon and grapefruit and a refreshingly zippy finish.

Then we’ll head a bit further south for Calappiano Chianti 2024 (£13.49). 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!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, quite a lot has happened since we last spoke. 

As of Monday, we have a new Prime Minister, and Chancellor, and Foreign Secretary and etc etc etc which will lead to fun-packed summer, no doubt.  It was nice to see that Sir Keir is actually a normal human being like us as he was spotted, pint in hand, at a Kentish Town boozer later on Monday afternoon with the look of a man happily unburdened.  Rachel Reeves was there too, with a glass of white wine and a smile – who doesn’t love an impromptu Monday afternoon pub trip.

As of Sunday, we have new World Cup Winners with Spain eventually overwhelming Argentina.  It wasn’t the most enjoyable game and it brought an end to quite a gruelling 39 days of football – not sure we can cope with a 64 team format if I’m honest.  Thankfully our sporting summer is not over though as the Greatest Show on Earth aka The Commonwealth Games started in Glasgow yesterday with Bowls and Para-Bowls being the opening events, obviously.

As of Thursday, we have a hosepipe ban, so no pressure washing your paddling pools for a few weeks.  You can still have a bath and use your washing machine 35 times a day though, so opportunities for over consumption are still available.

Nothing of note from Tuesday or Wednesday it would seem.

Many headlines have been made of Mr Burnham’s promise to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues announced for April next year.  April next year is quite a distance away for many venues and no doubt some of them might not be around to benefit from the cuts but also, why do restaurants and cafes not get the same breaks?  Seems a bit illogical and inexplicable to us but let’s not let logic get in the way of a good soundbite.

No matter what your opinion on global warming, there’s definitely something unusual going on with the climate in France.  We heard yesterday that one of our producers, Domaine Lafage in Roussillon, have started picking their grapes already.  Historically in Europe picking will start perhaps in late August but commonly September is considered the harvest month.  A combination of generous rainfall early in the year replenished water reserves which was followed by an exceptional weather pattern, with consistently high temperatures throughout spring and summer and extreme heat recorded from May onwards.  Given that weather pattern sounds not unlike what we have experienced here in the UK this year, it may be that the English winemakers also harvest early with high hopes for a top quality vintage.

We also read that in an alternate wine universe, 19 Crimes, the supermarket plonk producer has launched two new products, aimed at the TikTok generation we’re told.  There is a red drink, which is a Shiraz & Cola blend and a white drink which is an unnamed white grape blended with lemon we learn.  Thankfully, we both checked and can confirm that we are not members of the TikTok generation so won’t be needing to try these abominations!

Back in our universe, we’ve been looking at the calendar for the next few months with a view to scheduling some tastings in the shop.  As a consequence, we can confirm that we will be hosting Wine & Cheese tastings on:

• Thursday 10^th September – 7.30pm
• Thursday 15^th October – 7.30pm
• Thursday 12^th November – 7.30pm

All the tastings are £30 per head and, as ever, first come-first served, so don’t tarry!

In the meantime, we’ll be opening wines this weekend for more immediate gratification and, given we’re in the midst of the cricket season, a brace of the Botham wines would seem appropriate.

76 Series Margaret River Chardonnay 2022 – £15.99 – The 76 Series Margaret River Chardonnay represents the year he first scored 1000 runs in one season and played grade cricket for the illustrious Melbourne Cricket club.  Citrus, honeysuckle and stone fruits on the nose, joined on the palate by a touch of creaminess, minerality and a lovely fresh finish.

78 Series Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 – £ 29.99 – 1978 was Sir Ian’s first overseas tour with England to New Zealand and he scored his maiden test century at Lancaster Park, Christchurch.  Lifted aromas of red cherry, wild raspberry and subtle floral notes with hints of spice and dried herbs lead to a palate with the same red fruit character and some fine, elegant tannins.

And that’s about it from us, keep on keeping on and enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts, there may be rain on Sunday!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

And suddenly it all judders to a halt, as abruptly as it started:

Wimbledon Men’s Singles Semi Final – Arthur Fery loses to Alexander Zverev 7-6, 6-2, 6-4

Men’s Rugby World U20 Championship Semi Final – England lose to South Africa 53-37

FIFA Men’s World Cup Semi Final – England v Argentina, we know what happened here…

Anyway, we’ve been here before, we’ve got this, we’re Winners in managing persistent sporting disappointment, many times over… looking for a positive, perhaps given this English sporting form, it might be worth a quick each-way on Matt Fitzpatrick in the Open?

Good news elsewhere though, as summer officially kicks off today.  With schools finally breaking up this afternoon, we fully expect an explosion of exhausted teachers and support staff roaming the streets for the next 5 weeks, drinking rosé on a Monday lunchtime and working on their suntans.  Best time of your life, the carefree period between taking A-levels and getting the results, and those clever teachers get to do it every year!

Speaking of taking the summer off, Sir Keir has been doing his farewell tour, to ensure people remember him, before giving up leadership of the Labour Party today and then handing Andy B the Downing Street Chubbs on Monday.  Will he fly to Miami to watch the 3^rd/4^th playoff?  Will Kobbie Mainoo get a run out?  It’s all a mystery…

If you need a bit of cheering up and reminding that things could be worse, here’s what we wrote exactly 6 years ago today:

Last Sunday, for one of the first if not the first time, Mr Johnson was seen in a shop wearing a facemask.  Quite why England’s second most famous Covid victim (yep, Dominic still tops it here) saw fit to suddenly wear a mask seemed a bit odd to us.  Had he read some new research?  Unlikely, given his reputation for reading.  Had he got the virus again?  Surely not because if so, he would have been at home, right.  Had he got a lovebite?  Hard to rule out.  Had enough pressure come to bear that he now had decided the time to wear masks in shops was nigh?  Hmmm….

And by the end of Monday, we knew the answer.  As of next Friday, it will be compulsory to wear masks in all shops – however don’t feel like you have to wait until then, we might as well all start getting used to it because it’s going to be months and months before this decision gets reversed and we really don’t want you to stop coming to see us

At this point, BJ had been PM for just about a year and clung on for just over two more – little did we know everything that was going on behind the scenes including the £10 billion wasted on unusable PPE and thus, on reflection, I think I’m happier now than I was back then!

We have little news form the World of Wine – much like the teachers, the ‘Movers & Shakers’ of the wine trade tend to beetle towards the door once Wimbledon is over and won’t be seen out in and about in their red cords until mid-September, unless you follow their Instagram and catch them supping spritz on a sailboat in Salcombe.

However, we’re here all summer and, in the spirit of good sportsmanship , we’ll be opening a couple of wines from the two countries playing in the World Cup Final (thank God we didn’t have to try and choose wines from England or France!)

Representing Spain, we have Palacio del Camino Real Blanco 2025 – £11.99 which is a cracking blend of Viura, Malvasia and Grenache Blanc grown in the higher vineyards of Rioja Alta.  Pale yellow in the glass, with lovely fresh aromas of stone fruit and citrus, framed with a touch of vanilla from a couple of months lazing around in the barrel and very more-ish – a bit of a winner!

And from Argentina, what else but Malbec!  Famiglia Bianchi Malbec 2023 – £16.99 hails from Mendoza.  The grapes for come from three different terroirs: Agrelo (Luján de Cuyo), Uco Valley, and from three different vineyards in San Rafael: Finca Doña Elsa, Finca Asti and Finca Constanza.  The result is a typically dark hued wine with spicy, blueberry notes, a touch of savoury edge to the fine tannins and a nicely balanced finish – everything you’d hope for from a world class grape!

Two champion wines – which one will come out on top?

And now it’s time for us to leave you be – a bit cooler this weekend but still plenty warm enough, so enjoy it and revel in the fact that you’re not having to wear a face mask!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week, a rather whiney man wearing a decidedly non-establishment bright blue suit threw his toys out of the pram. It would appear that he didn’t enjoy coming under scrutiny for receiving a gift that he should have declared. We thought we would scrutinise a little ourselves to see what all the fuss is about.

In 2010, Katy Perry bought her then-husband Russell Brand a $200,000 ticket to space aboard the Virgin Galactic for his 35th birthday.

In 2011, Tyler Perry gifted both Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King a lavish $250,000 Bentley car for Christmas.

Also in 2011, Boris Johnson bought Prince William and Kate Middleton a tandem to celebrate their wedding day.

In 2013, Robert Pattinson helped his then-girlfriend Kristen Stewart ring in her 23rd birthday by giving her a $43,000 a limited-edition white-gold Tibaldi Bentley Crewe pen.

In 2014, Angelina Jolie presented her then-husband Brad Pitt with an $18,500 olive tree as a wedding present. They planted the tree at their French estate, Chateau Miraval.

In 2016, Kanye West gave Kim Kardashian a 20-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, valued at $4 million. This ring was tragically stolen during her infamous gunpoint robbery in Paris in 2016.

In 2024, Nigel Farage received a gift of £5 million from ‘crypto-billionaire’ Christopher Harborne (aka Chakrit Sakunkrit). This gift has been flagged to the Parliamentary Standards watchdog. It is also being looked at by the National Crime Agency in relation to potential money laundering, having been flagged by bankers in a Suspicious Activity Report.

In 2026, Stephen Deleonardis (aka Stevewilldoit) gave every single player and member of staff on Mexico team a Rolex watch valued at between $30,000 and $90,000. They all had to return them because they broke the FIFA Code of Ethics.

As we can see, many of these gifts are between spouses, whilst another was returned immediately following a break of the rules. Finally, the hero of our story has been subject of endless speculation, argument and whinging whilst still the subject of several investigations and doesn’t look like it’s going to be returned.

In other news, it would appear there may be a chance Count Binface will be elected in Clacton after he pledged to bring back Ceefax. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, still Kier Starmer, has suggested there may be a Bank Holiday if the England team win the World Cup. A bit of work to be done before then methinks.

World Cup Quarter Final rounds started last night, with France silencing Morocco, and will continue over the weekend. We’re coming to the pointy end of Wimbledon Tennis whilst in the Rugby Nations Championship it’ll be Scotland’s turn to face South Africa whilst England will be facing Fiji. Other nations are of course available.

Tonight, we have the next edition of the Diamond League Athletics coming at you from Monaco, with Alex Yee competing here for the first time in years. He’s competing in the 5000m but we mostly know him as a triathlete.

That brings me nicely on to proper sports. The Tour de France said goodbye to the Pyrenees yesterday with an incredible performance on the Col de Tourmalet from Tadej Pogačar, who rode into yellow and now has a lead of over 2 minutes ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Today, we’ll be sprinting into Bordeaux and I think Jasper Philipson may want to reproduce his 2023 performance where he beat Mark Cavendish. This time the Cavendish role could be played by Olav Kooij.

In wine news, Californian members of Congress wrote to the new Premier of Quebec imploring her to reopen trade with US wineries. The claim that American wineries “have no connection” to “underlying trade disputes” follows a California Wine Institute report confirming 2025 as “the most catastrophic single-year trade disruption in the history of US wine exports”. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that Canada’s liquor boards, their largest customer, removed American wine entirely from shelves. He’s big and orange and can’t stop making America great again!

Tasting This Weekend

Given the weather, we thought we’d go with something zingy and fresh, like Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2025 (£13.99). This is an excellent Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with 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!

We’ll head down to Southern Italy for the red, where they’re used to this weather, and try Cantine Pirovano Beatrice Nero di Troia 2024 (£13.49). Beginning in 1850 with an Osteria serving Southern Italian wines, the Pirovano family business has developed into an Italy-wide producer and bottler of wines. This deep purple coloured red is made using 100% Nero Di Troia grapes from their sun-drenched vineyards. The nose is full of summer berries, blackberry, black currant and even a hint of strawberry jam. On the palate the wine is sumptuously smooth, juicy with ripe berry fruit and very well balanced.