The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Only 6 more sleeps, how exciting is that?

Thursday 2^nd May gives us all the opportunity (providing we’ve got photo ID) to choose who will be our next Mayor.  If we look at the form book, we should be expecting an Eton educated Tory, having had two labour incumbents, both of whom are local boys and certainly didn’t play the wall-game.  Having looked at the mini-manifesto booklet, it appears that the Tory candidate is actually Susan Mary Hall, who also didn’t play the wall-game and thus the form book goes out the window.

Now, what does the Mayor have to do?  According to londonelects.org.uk they are responsible for:

• Making plans, strategies and policies for Londoners
• Acting as the executive of London’s government and managing a £20.4bn budget to run transport, police, fire services and investing in London’s housing. Part of the council tax levied by London’s councils is set by the mayor to help fund these services
• Acting as a representative for the capital at home and abroad

We have 13 candidates to choose from and we can only make one choice in this election, so we need to get it right first time, people.

11 of the candidates chose to pay the £10,000 to promote themselves in the MY VOTE DOESN’T COUNT pamphlet and here are the York Notes:

Femy Amin (Animal Welfare Party) – People, Animals, Environment – some nice, vegan-based ideas including the aim to become a global leader in opposing speciesism and the sale of foie gras and fur is rejected – no mention of police or ULEZ

Rob Blackie (Liberal Democrat) – unusually, no punchy strapline – fix the Met, support the NHS and, rather excitingly, tackle the sewage dumping in the Thames!

Natalie Campbell (Independent) – I will take a zero B.S. approach to rebuilding London – build homes, bobbies on the beat, affordable transport

Howard Cox (ReformUK – London Deserves Better) – London needs Reform – obsessed by ULEZ and cars generally

Amy Gallagher (SDP) – Stand Up To Woke – make public transport pleasant, build houses, reduce rents, scrap ULEZ and LTN’s

Zoë Garbett (Green) – It’s time for a Green Mayor – as a councillor, I hear how Londoners need better housing, safer streets and reliable, cheaper transport

Tarun Ghulati (Independent) – Empowering Growth Through Trust – more police, more tourism, scrap ULEZ and LTN’s, free school meals, minimise council tax

Susan Hall (Conservative) – We’ll fix the issues that keep Londoners up at night – more bobbies on the beat, scrap ULEZ expansion and LTN’s, build houses

Sadiq Khan (Labour) – Now let’s go even further – Sadiq is in the unique situation where he can reference what he has done over the last 8 years, including a pledge to end rough sleeping by 2030 which, if he were to see it through would be in his fourth term, 14 years after he came to office.  No rush.

Andreas Michli (Independent) – Make London Strong – end knife crime, fix the police, scrap ULEZ, build houses

Nick Scanlon (Britain First) – No To Immigration – deport illegal immigrants, stop immigration, close down migrant hotels, protect our monuments and, of course, abolish ULEZ and Congestion Charge.  It’s a no from me…

The 2 candidates who didn’t stump up the promotional readies were:

Count Binface (Count Binface for Mayor of London) – To Take The Piss Out Of The Thames, Vote Binface! – also planning to price-cap croissants and renaming London Bridge after Phoebe Waller.  Like Rob Blackie, he also puts the Thames sewage problem front and centre.

Brian Rose (London Real Party) – A Campaign for Freedom – which in along with scrapping ULEZ etc also involves making London the financial capital of the world once more by making our capital the centre of the crypto, web3 and blockchain industries.  For someone keen on finance, you’d have thought he’d have scraped together the £10,000 with ease…

Sadly, the St George’s Flag wearing hooligan that calls itself Laurence Fox failed to fill in its candidate form correctly and thus won’t be standing whilst also picking up a fine of £180,000 for being obnoxious – not a good week for the pound-shop Farage.

Oddly, not one of the candidates seems at all interested in the Fire Brigade and, if Sadiq’s figures are correct that more than 90% of cars are ULEZ compliant in the zone, then surely it seems a bit daft for so many of them to be banking on the Uxbridge Strategy to sweep them to power.  Thus, I think I’m more likely to go with one of the two candidates who has put the health of the Thames in their crosshairs, I’ll decide which one on the day!

And there you have it, Mayoral election in a nutshell – we delved through all the waffle so you don’t have to!

In the world outside politics, it’s been mainly cold with bits of showery stuff. 

The worlds of wine and sport collided unexpectedly last weekend as Tom Gilbey, a thoroughly engaging wine trade eccentric, hit the headlines when he decided that running the London Marathon for over 4 hours was far too much time away from his vinous pleasures, so he proceeded to blind taste a wine every mile of his journey – chapeau!  Obviously, having done the Denbies Bacchus half-marathon a number of times, the concept of drink-running is something we have long endorsed.

Arsenal won, Liverpool lost, Man City won and will doubtless win the League, whilst AFC have settled for mid-table mediocrity.  Bike-boy tells us that despite the fact that everyone knew exactly where and exactly when Pogačar would make his move last Sunday, none of them could do anything about it and he proceeded to win by a couple of minutes.

And what about those Red Roses.  Having been knuckle-rapped for not covering the Women’s Six Nations, I proceeded to watch the clinical destruction of an Irish team that seemed to be addicted to staring straight into English headlights – 88-10 is a scoreline even Bristol would be envious of!

And so to wine.  A survey by Aldi into their customers wine buying habits cast many pearls but what stuck with us was that 47% of those surveyed considered themselves knowledgeable about wine whilst 89% wished they knew more and that a desire to impress friends was a significant factor in purchasing decisions.

The good news for us is that 53% of folk don’t consider themselves knowledgeable, which hopefully means that our jobs are safe for a few more months!

However, to help make us all more knowledgeable we, as might be expected, will be opening a white and a red today for tasting and to hopefully impress your friends with…

For the white, we will dip back into an old favourite that hasn’t shown its face on the tasting table for a long time:

Domaine Jouan Menetou Salon 2022 – £18.99.  Menetou-Salon is a small appellation of around 300 hectares right next to Sancerre, to the south-west.  Here the Sauvignon Blanc vines are planted on Kimmeridgian limestone soils, very similar to those of Chablis and similar minerally notes can be detected in the wines.  It has always been the case that a bit of careful hunting and tasting can find you some real gems that rival its more famous neighbour in the quality stakes.  Fresh and floral with aromas of citrus and blackcurrant leaves and elegant mineral tones and a long finish – excellent value for the canny shopper!

The red we have chosen because we haven’t had it for a while and the wine itself seems to be suffering a bit of an identity crisis.  When we first took this vintage it was called ‘Tradition’ in a Bordeaux bottle but with the latest re-stock we discovered it is now called ‘Intuition’ and comes in a Burgundy bottle – same wine, insane winemakers!

Château Viranel Tradition/Intuition 2017 – £18.99.  A fabulous Saint Chinian estate, which has been in the same family since 1551.  This cuvée is a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache Noir, 10% Mourvèdre, and 10% Carignan.  A supple drinker with cherry, violet and liquorice notes and a palate, framed with velvety tannins, of rich dark black fruits and a hint of chocolate from the oak.  We think we’d like to try it with the winemakers suggestion of lamb shoulder stuffed with herbs.

And with that we’re gone.  Hopefully our election rundown was useful – bike-boy has just informed me that when Binface gets in, he’ll petition that Chelsea Bridge gets renamed Wayne…

Over and out.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We have witnessed, over a good number of weeks, a lot of running happening. People passing the shop with a backpack on, clearly having run back from the office whilst others are settling in for a long run with a CamelBak on, the tube dripping down their arm as they pass. All this rather points to Sunday and the 2024 London Marathon. First run in 1981, the London Marathon has had over a million people run past the Cutty Sark, over Tower Bridge and raise their arms on The Mall!

This year chasing the spoils, we have the Women’s World Record holder, Tigist Assefa, the Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir, and Ruth Chepngetich the fourth fastest woman of all time. I’ve not seen the start list for Elite men but I’m sure we’ll be seeing a stellar line up as usual although probably without He Jie….

I have just read that the average man takes 55,374 paces and the average women 62,926. We’re not sure that tells the full story though, before you run a marathon you have to do a fair amount of training, with a long run each week that seems to get ever longer. That’s a lot of extra steps we’re adding there. Some of our longer standing readers may recall that we both ran the 2014 edition of the London Marathon we didn’t run much together in training but did one time run from here up to and around Hyde Park and back, and another time three laps of Richmond Park.

Lots of steps.

In the end, Wayne completed it in 4.27 and Alex in 4.40 having queued for 7 minutes for a comfort break at Tower Bridge. We raised over £3,000 for The Children’s Trust and each expended over 5000 calories.  We enjoyed our pizza that evening, the stairs to the cellar on Monday morning? Not so much. 

So, where am I going with all of this? Reader, I wish I knew. If you’re running the marathon this week enjoy it, all the hard work is done. Enjoy all the northern soul blasting out of the pubs you pass, the drummers, the cheers, the tears and the amazing sense of achievement that follows. You got this.

In other news, certainly for the older folk amongst us, it’s been known as a Snickers since 1990.

As unlikely as misinformation from us might be, I find I have to apologise for being a little bit early with my discussions on Record Store Day last week. Actually, it is happening this week, no, honestly, it really is. I am staying with my choices though. To remind you, I went for X-Ray Spex album ‘Germ Free Adolescents’ and Horace Andy with Sly and Robbie ‘Livin it Up’.

In UEFA news, Manchester City and Arsenal are both popping their passports back in the drawer for this season whilst West Ham and Liverpool get their Thursday evenings back. In the cricket, Essex top the Counties table but it is really rather early in the season.

Meanwhile, in proper sports, we say ‘chapeau’ to Stephen Williams who became the first British winner of La Fleche Wallonne. It was a really tough race with awful weather and even snow for much of it. ‘Chapeau’ also to Kasia Niewiadoma, who won the women’s edition.

This weekend sees the last of the Ardennes Classics with Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday where it’s difficult to see past Tadej Pogačar in the men’s race, the parcours suits him better than high flying Matthieu van der Poel, though Tom Pidcock seems to be in fine fettle too.

In the women’s race will Demi Vollering defend her title from last year? She certainly has the form but I’m hoping for a win for Pfeiffer Georgi who’s been so close in the last few. As always, watch out for seasoned campaigner Marianne Vos, she’s not known as the GOAT without reason.

To paraphrase a Fast Show character, this week we shall be mostly tasting Italy.

We’ll start off with Cà dei Frati ‘I Frati’ Lugana 2022 (£26.49). A random conversation with a customer about a fabulous wine he’d had at a client dinner reminded us of this wine. We re-tasted it, remembered why we loved it and puzzled over why we had forgotten about it. Why not come and see for yourself? 

We’ll move onto Cantine Povero ‘Dianae’ Barbera d’Asti 2022 (£15.99) a rather fabulous red from the Piemonte. It’s a natural wine without the weird bits, being made without the addition of extra sulphites. Bang on with a spot of duck.

Lastly, having mentioned it last week, we couldn’t leave without sharing a bit of Lettuce’s book with you.

“I had become increasingly concerned that Britain’s judiciary had become a self-perpetuating oligarchy, Here was a group of similarly minded people from similar backgrounds who had a particular worldview and were resolute in protecting their own interests.”

How’s that for self-awareness?

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well here we are again, Friday rearing its head to welcome the weekend and we need to begin with an apology.

One of our cricket experts pointed out to us, quite correctly, that last week we’d used the words “willow” and “leather” without also including the word “thwack” – for this we bow our heads in apology and will now trudge back to the pavilion on a duck.

Back to the weekend, it’s a warm one and the horses running the Grand National may be a little confused; it can’t be that often they run on heavy ground in 20˚c. 

We’ve had a week of chit chat about whether Angela Rayner should be paying tax of £1500 on a house she sold over 10 years ago before she became an MP. We have had not so much chit chat about Michelle Donelan’s libel case costing the taxpayer an extra £19,000 on top of the already declared £15,000 settlement. The extra money is for legal advice, £7,785 of it to government lawyers and a further £11,600 on private counsel. One wonders why we have government lawyers if we’re then going to spend money on private counsel as well – almost feels like people are lining their pockets, again!

Whilst we’re on the subject of folks named Michelle, I would just point out that Monbeg Genius has been withdrawn from the Grand National. The horse is owned by Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman and I have to say I’m a little disappointed, given the heavy going, having something on fast track could have been a winning strategy.

Lettuce Liz has been on the airwaves again, anybody would have thought she had a book out. Well she does, it is called “Ten Years to Save the West” and costs £20 if you pre-order it. Given her track record I suspect a donation of £20 to the Trussell Trust so that somebody could have some lettuce would be more use.

It’s Record Store Day on Saturday. Lots’ of limited vinyl releases abound, some actually really limited! My picks might be X-Ray Spex ‘Germfree Adolescents’ album on a 1000 copy picture disc for a pitch perfect pop punk album from 1978, or perhaps 1000 copy first time on vinyl for Horace Andy with Sly and Robbie ‘Livin’ It Up’ from 2006. Whilst we’re on the subject of tunes, Robert Miles’ anthemic ‘Children’ is now 29 years old and is just the song for a sunny day like today!

So, over to the Grand National. As we mentioned it looks like the going will be heavy and a warm day for all involved. We’ve had a perusal and come up with Minella Indo, Noble Yeats and Latenightpass. As usual, caveat emptor, we’re normally fairly rubbish at this sort of thing.

For the stick swingers amongst you, it’s the US Masters in Augusta this weekend. The usual wander around a beautiful course that nobody else is allowed to play on and at the end win one of the coveted green jackets. We’re looking at Jake Knapp as an outsider, Ricky Fowler who’s always good on a Par 3 and frankly owes us and Akshay Bhatia after his cracking form last weekend.

In real sports, both the men’s and women’s Paris Roubaix last weekend were great spectacles of bicycle racing, De Brabantse Pijl midweek started the transition from Flanders to the Ardennes but first, we’ll look forward the Amstel Gold Race this weekend. I’ve no idea who’ll win however I’m hoping for Pfeiffer Georgi in the women’s and Joseph Blackmore in the men’s but think there is a risk of disappointment…

Given how cheap and easy it is to ensure your 18 year old on the family car, it seems odd that the government has decided to lower to 18 the age at which one can drive a bus or coach. It would appear recruitment has been challenging and the transition from Polo to Routemaster is considered child’s play.

After that, I need a drink. If you’ll join me we’ll be opening Percheron Chenin Blanc/Viognier 2023 (£9.99). We have chosen it mostly because there’s a horse on the label if I’m honest. Wine wise it’s a lovely drop from old bush vines in the Western Cape.

Wearing the red cap we’ll zip off to Chile for a slurp or two of Sierra Grande Pinot Noir 2021 (£10.49) a wine with strawberry and raspberry fruit and soft tannins that’s almost indecently easy drinking.

As we say goodbye to OJ, we’d just offer up this thought. If OJ hadn’t done what he did, we may not have had the Kardashians…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

And now it’s April, it’s summertime and the world still seems to be in a bit of a tangle.  Looking into the archives, it seems this is not a new situation – on Friday 5^th April 2019 we wrote:

‘News reaches us that Ukraine may be in line to get a comedian as President. Leading the race in first round of Presidential elections is popular TV comedian Volodymyr Zelensky. I see no problem with it at all; we have 649 jokers in our parliament, whilst the US has a TV star in the top role who definitely knows his oranges, what could possibly go wrong.’

Whilst on Friday 5^th April 2013, we seemed a tad chilly:

It’s been snowing too much recently, it’s been too damn windy and frankly our small oil-fired radiator is having to work too hard.  If it wasn’t our own business we would take industrial action against our inhumane working conditions.  The Bordeaux we had on tasting last week became a study in tannins as the shop chilled down whilst the Eiswein was standing there in his shorts and flip-flops wandering what all the fuss was about.  Oh and I may well have started hallucinating…

So what news does Friday 5^th April 2024 bring us?

Well, firstly that we missed the party of the year on Wednesday evening, when everyone’s ‘favourite’ Nigel turned 60.  With a guest list of luminaries including:

• Lee Anderson
• Arron Banks
• Nick Candy
• Derek Chisora
• Lizzie Cundy
• Jim Davidson
• Sir David Davis
• Mark Francois
• Andrea Jenkyns
• Andrew Rosindell
• MT Stevens
• Richard Tice
• Georgia Toffolo
• Liz Truss
• Holly Valance

I have to say, we were very glad to have missed out

Interesting fact about Nigel.  Wayne bumped into him many years ago, just off Victoria Street and noted in his Filofax that Mr Farage was far shorter than him but not as short as Gilles Peterson (funny what comparisons people make) – anyway, work that into a dinner party conversation this weekend and we’ll buy you a drink!

In the world of booze, conflicting messages are coming from all sides.  In one article we read that Nyetimber, the famous sparkling producer, has agreed a deal in principle to buy The Lakes Distillery, a Cumbrian producer of single malt whisky and other spirits, in a £46.1 million deal.  Nyetimber would also inherit a debt of £25.8 million upon acquisition, bringing the true value to approximately £71 million – that’s a lot of bottles of fizz to shift!

Elsewhere, Adnams, the Suffolk brewery with over 1oo years in the trade, has made noises in the market that it wouldn’t be against the prospect of a full sale of the company, given the parlous state of the industry currently and the marked increase in insolvencies.

So one company is looking to accumulate whilst another is considering getting out completely – who will prove to be right?

Meanwhile, Glyndebourne, the famous Sussex Opera Festival, has announced that Bolney Wine Estate is now their official wine partner, which is very exciting news.  More exciting still, you don’t have to wait until the Summer, take a drive down the M23 or pretend to like Opera, as you can pick up a bottle of Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Brut Reserve NV – £33.00 from usright here in Wimbledon Park!

Elsewhere, we welcome back the sound of leather on willow as the County Championship cricket season starts today and will continue until 29^th September, which feels a life time away.  If the conversation at the dinner party seems to be hitting a slump again, Surrey are probably favourites to win it, Essex would be a good back up bet whilst Kent, the garden of England, should perhaps stick to the landscaping.

Back to wine now though, what shall we taste this weekend?  In 2019 we tasted a posh Verdicchio and a posh Rioja whilst in 2013 we tasted two wines from Portugal that we can no longer get hold of.  Sensing no obvious theme to our April 5^th tasting selections we thought we’d get out of Europe this year and get some sun in the southern hemisphere.  From Marlborough we have:

Staete Landt ‘Josephine’ Chardonnay 2020 – £23.79.  Land (discovered in honour) of the Governors (Staete) of the Dutch Republic.  In 1642, Staete Landt was the working title Abel Tasman gave to the newly discovered lands now known as New Zealand and Ruud Maasdam decided to honour this name when he set up the winery in the 1990’s. 

The ‘Josephine’ Chardonnay is one of the best kept secrets of the Estate: full and round yet stylish, great texture and length, this wine shows the perfect balance between fruit, acidity and oak integration.  A whiff of sea breeze, citrus fruit and cream on the nose, white peaches on the palate and with a mineral aftertaste that lingers on.  A truly great wine with a strong personality and European elegance

For the red, we go to Constantia:

Beau Constantia Lucca 2019 – £29.99.  2019 was a difficult vintage with very low production throughout the region, related in no small measure to the after effects of 4 years of drought.  For the first time Cabernet Franc was the prominent grape (53%) with Merlot making up the balance.

An appealing nose of cedar wood and black cherry is complemented by some tart cranberry on the palate.  This mix of fresh fruit and spice is beautifully complemented by fine-boned tannins and Megan, the winemaker, thoroughly recommends some medium-rare game with chimichurri, which seems totally reasonable!

That’s all from us, enjoy your weekend but do remind me before you go, who’s taller – Gilles, Wayne or Nigel?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to Thursday, the new Friday for one week only. It’s not often we make excuses for brevity but this week we might have to make an exception.

We’ve been stock counting this week it really is as dull as you can imagine and takes the best part of a day. Not ideal when you’re already wrestling with a shortened week but it’ll be different next year, our year end doesn’t move around like Easter.

Outside in the world, the party politicals are all gearing up for a local election campaign. We’ve already seen New York subway footage falsely used to describe London, Labour mocking the successes (!) of levelling up and all the while child poverty is moving in the wrong direction. Still.

The UN Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. For their 2025 session Saudi Arabia has been chosen as chair. I’m not sure had them in my Top 10 of candidates but we all love a surprise. Reports the Garrick Club have offered to host are, apparently, somewhat wide of the mark.

We learnt this week that water companies up and down the land have been pumping raw sewage into our rivers for 4 million hours. That is the equivalent of 5.6 average lifespans for a human in the UK. As someone who likes to swim outside this really makes my blood boil. We also learnt that rowers have been warned not to go into the water after discovery of E Coli in the Thames (I wonder how that got there).

In sports news this week, the Boat Race is on Saturday. The women’s race starts at 14.46 and the men’s at 15.46. As far as I can see Oxford appears to be favourite to take both.

Whilst on the subject of sports, I’d like to talk about the Barkley Marathons. Participation of the 100 mile race is by invitation and the course has a 60 hour cut off time. The challenge is obviously the distance, but more so the amount of ascent and descent, which is the equivalent of around two Mount Everest’s. This week, the UK runner Jasmin Paris became the first woman ever to finish the race, arriving at the line with just 99 seconds to spare. Truly inspirational stuff, especially given that she is only the 20^th finisher since 1989.

Whilst on the subject of tough sports, Classics season in the cycling is in full flow with the Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday. The race should have everything looking at the forecasts with strong cross winds on what should have been the easier part of the course. Looks like it’ll be worth tuning in if you have time!

I’ve got this far without mentioning that it’s a long weekend! So put on your comfy shoes, search for Voodoo Ray on your smart speaker and dance like it’s the first time you’ve heard it.

We’ll be open…                      Good Friday 12-5pm

Saturday 12-6pm

Then we’ll be back as usual on Tuesday.

That leaves me to talk about what we shall taste this weekend.

We’ll start off with a trip to Piemonte for a sample of Gavi Folli e Bonato (£17.99) before have a dash north through the mountains to alight in Burgundy for a taste of Beaune to be Wild (£30.99) a red burgundy made without the addition of sulphites.

That leaves me to wish you all a Happy Easter and just say if anyone has a 2009 Cheval Blanc knocking around, we haven’t lost one in the stock count, but do have glasses and a corkscrew if you need any assistance.

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Just to follow up from last week, Kemi Badenoch has told us that we all need to move away from the Frank Hester row and that the general public don’t really care about it.

Read the room, Kemi.

More locally, last weekend saw the annual elections to the Executive Board of Park Vintners Limited. 

Once again, the combined post of Executive Chairman and Managing Director was up for grabs and the shortlist of candidates had been whittled down to two – Wayne, the incumbent, and Alexei, the token opposition.  Wayne has held the role of Executive Chairman since 2010 and, following his Constitutional Revision of Monday March 23^rd 2020, (coincidentally the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown) the role was combined with that of Managing Director, in perpetuity. 

It was a free and fair election, with 100% turnout and it soon became clear that Wayne’s time on the hustings the week before would pay off, as he received 470 votes to Alex’s 71, a truly remarkable performance when one considers only two votes were cast… however, Alex did keep his seat on the board and looks forward to taking the minutes at any meetings – it is a dumacracy after all!

In a happy coincidence, Wayne’s hunting buddy Vlad P was also fairly elected for another term this week…

Hopefully though, Wayne won’t emulate his pal by considering the implementation of a 200% duty on wines from ‘unfriendly’ countries and members of NATO that has been proposed by the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia.  Good news for Russian wineries, also those in Argentina, Chile, South Africa and perhaps China but even better news for those working in the black markets!

Hopefully Wayne won’t emulate Harrods by listing French Bloom La Cuvee Vintage 2002 though.  This is the brainchild of French model Constance Jablonski and Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger, who spent time working for the Michelin Guide and is married to the Rodolphe, whose great-grandfather perhaps founded Taittinger.  As the tasting note goes:

An exceptional vintage French sparkling wine, reveals all its complexity when tasted, like a great wine full of singularity.

Crafted from organic French Chardonnay grapes, this French sparkling wine surprises with its depth and complexity upon tasting.  Despite its youthfulness, it exudes the character of a well-aged sparkling wine at its pinnacle, boasting a richness of aromas and flavors that defy expectations.

Sounds quite tasty to be honest and the revelation that it is 0% alcohol shouldn’t necessarily dissuade us from trying it as alcohol free wines seem to be improving by the week

However, what does dissuade us is the shelf price of £109 per bottle (including wooden box) – Seedlip eat your heart out!

Happily, the wines we have on tasting this weekend will contain more than 12% alcohol:

Vina Robles Viognier 2020 – £23.49

How Hans Nef, a civil engineer from Zurich, ended up with a wine estate in California is a story… he discovered Paso Robles in the mid-1990s and quickly became enamoured with the emergent wine country.  Here, where the Pacific coastline unfolds into rugged ranch-lands and cowboy ambiance (and who doesn’t love a story with cowboy ambience?), a new generation of California winemakers was turning Paso Robles into one of the world’s most dynamic winegrowing regions. 

This Viognier is planted in the highest part of the Huerhuero Vineyard benefitting from the cooling afternoon pacific breeze.  Crisp and medium-bodied with peach and mandarin fruit with a long lively finish – really rather fabulous and a great wine for a hearty Sunday roast.

 Il Palazzone Vino Rosso NV – £24.79

The Il Palazzone philosophy is based around terroir and tradition; they believe that it is the Montalcino terroir which is responsible for the character of its wines, that the winemaker’s job is to do as little as possible and simply allow this to be communicated and that the traditional methods do this most effectively.  Reflecting this ethos, the Rosso del Palazzone is a blend of different vintages, so they cannot put a year on the label.  The wine is produced with Sangiovese grapes and is an authentic expression of Tuscan terroir.  Whenever possible, they declassify a portion of their Brunello to be blended with the Vino Rosso barrels to result in greater complexity.

Born of a desire to return to the tradition of “Il vino di tutti i giorni”, the Rosso is definitely a second glasser, revisiting the ideas of the old customs of wine and food of the people in Tuscany and Montalcino.

Red wine from Montalcino, Alex – what’s not to like?!

Before we send you back to your desks, a spot of Bank Holiday admin:

EASTER OPENING HOURS

Thursday 28th March – Noon – 7PM

Good Friday 29th March – Noon – 5PM

Saturday 30th March – Noon – 6PM

Easter Sunday 31st March – CLOSED

Easter Monday 1st April – CLOSED

Tuesday 2nd April – As you were – Noon – 7pm!

Finally, I’d like to thank the Executive Chairman for giving me the opportunity to type this email today; it’s been an honour and privilege to serve him!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Indecent Proposal (1993) – Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson

David Murphy and Diana Murphy have been together since high school and get married. Everything goes well until the recession strikes and they go through financial turmoil. In their last attempt to revive their financial situation, they decide to gamble in Las Vegas, where they meet John Gage, a very rich man, who offers them $1,000,000 to spend the night with Diana. Out of desperation, they both agree to do it and forget it forever. However, it begins to erode their relationship. (IMDB synopsis)

A film that courted much controversy at the time, dealing with many taboos, amongst them the power that money can have over everything else:

• I guess there’s limits to what money can buy.
•  Not many.
• Well some things aren’t for sale.
• Such as?
• Well you can’t buy people.
• That’s naive.  I buy people every day.

Anyway, we digress.

The Conservative Party have been in government since 2010.  Everything goes well until the recession strikes and they go through financial turmoil.  In their last attempt to revive their financial situation, they decide to gamble in Las Vegas take sizeable party donations, from amongst others Frank Hester, a very rich man, who gave them £10,000,000 in the year up to March 2024 perhaps to help with the NHS, having previously said: “We are here for our NHS.  We are here to help.  Not to drive profits for shareholders, or to grease revolving doors” and also having profited from £135,000,000 of NHS contracts between 2019 and 2022, during the Covid pandemic. 

Out of desperation, the Tories refuse to return any of the money and agree amongst themselves to forget forever any racist, misogynist and threatening behaviour, because the multimillionaire has shown ‘genuine remorse’.

However, it begins to erode their relationship with the British public, once again.

Apparently you can buy people, every day.

I’ll stop here though, just in case Mr Gove decides to continue his journey through the dictionary and re-define the meanings of freedom of speech and censorship.

Still, it’s not all bad news in Westminster as we hear that MP’s will get a 5.5% pay increase in April.  This knocks into touch the piffling 2.9% they received last year and isn’t too shabby when you add in the NI savings of around £700 – trebles all round!

Looking elsewhere for our fun, it seems we managed the unmanageable by beating Ireland at Twickenham last Saturday which was a fantastic achievement matched only by Italy’s win in Rome.  Wayne is back from his Riviera recharge and, as such, is not fully up to speed with the cycling but I’m sure he’ll be full of it by next week, you have been warned.

The Cheltenham Festival finishes today; Alex won big on Captain Guinness on Wednesday but was down yesterday so his tipping form is definitely in need of calibration.

Wine continues to sell and we continue to buy.  With this in mind, we will be opening later on Monday 18^th March as we have yet another tasting to go to (nothing to do with it being St Patrick’s Day on Sunday, promise) and will only be back in the shop for 3pm, sorry.

I think this is the last of these for a couple of months; hopefully the fruits of our labours will appear on our shelves soon.

To clear some space, what shall we taste this weekend?

White will be a posh Albariño from Galicia, a place with average rainfall levels almost matching those we have in SW19… Granbazán Etiqueta Ambar 2022 – £25.79 has fresh, almost tropical aromas then stone fruit and citrus on the palate with a creamy texture, mineral notes, vibrant acidity and classic saline characters.  Quite ripe and complex in style with fresh balancing acidity and a classic saline character.

The red will be a claret, to celebrate victory in Lyon: Domaine Valmengaux 2016, AC Bordeaux – £27.79.  This is from Verac, which is situated between Pomerol and St Émilion.  The wine, made possible by a group of 50 friends forming the business, is certified organic and the vineyard farmed on biodynamic principles.  Minimal use of oak and 10% aged in amphora give us a real juicy moreishness.  100% Merlot, this is dark in the glass, with some lovely damson character, velvety tannin and a lovely long finish.

Finally, should you need something for Sunday, JJ Corry The Gael Batch No. 2 – £73 might be the smart answer. 

In 2015, these guys resurrected the lost art of Irish Whiskey Bonding which is the practice of sourcing new make spirit and mature Irish Whiskey from Irish distilleries and maturing, blending and bottling unique whiskeys.  During the ‘golden age’ of Irish Whiskey (in the 19th and 20th centuries), there were hundreds of distilleries operating on the island of Ireland.  These distilleries made their new make whiskey spirit and sold it wholesale to the Bonders to age, blend and bottle.  The Bonders were the publicans, grocers and mercantile owners.  They would travel to their local distillery with their own barrels, fill them up with new make spirit and then cart them home for ageing and then blending.  Bonders were present in every town in Ireland, giving rise to regional styles.  Sadly, the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed in the 1930s and the few remaining distilleries cut off the Bonders’ supply, leaving Irish Whiskey Bonding to die out.

The Gael Batch No.2 is a 60% Malt and 40% Grain blend comprising of

•           30% single malt bonded in 2002

•           26% single malt bonded in 2003

•           4% single malt bonded in 1991

•           40% single grain bonded in 2010

Aromas of shortbread, peaches and cream and sweet grass fill the nose, complemented by notes of lemon drizzle cake, honeycomb, rye bread and thyme throughout the palate.

Batch No.2 was of just 2800 bottles.

Sláinte!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Once again I need to start with a point of admin relating to the coming week:

Tuesday 12^th March – we’ll be opening later today as we have to go to Camden for a big old range tasting with one of our main suppliers – we should be back here by 4pm though, just in time to meet you off the tube after work!

But now back to now – how’s your week been?

Monday found me nose to nose with the paperwork from February – 29 days’ worth of coffee chits and uber receipts that I had to gently return to my colleague, explaining for the 159^th month that we have to pay for our own drinks and transport, even if we do drink the coffee’s at work… as you can imagine, the hours just flew past.

Tuesday was better.  It found me in a club on Grosvenor Place, surrounded by uber-smart wines and men with waxed moustaches wearing suits with brooches of grapes on their lapels – yes, I was in sommelier land.  Usually sommeliers don’t leave their lairs during service but if I list the wines that were on show, you’ll understand why all the smart restaurants in Mayfair were being run by trainees that lunchtime…

So here’s a snapshot of what these chaps were tasting, amongst others:

Louis Roederer

• Brut Vintage 2015 – crisp, fresh, lean and taut, plenty of potential
• Cristal 2015 – delicious

Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Grand Cru “Kitterle” 2013 – awesome, off-dry, loads of fruit and starting to develop beautifully

Ornellaia

• Le Volte 2022 – oh yes, this has it all, fruit, balance and superb length
• Le Serre Nuove 2021 – more structure here with drier tannins and good length
• Ornellaia 2021 – soft and subtle and plenty of development potential

Sesti

• Brunello di Montalcino 2019 – 5/5 vintage.  That’ll do, absolutely spot on
• Brunello di Montalcino 2011 – beautifully evolved and smooth, can I have a bottle please?

Tenuta San Guido

• Le Difese 2022 – still very youthful
• Guidalberto 2022 – more body weight and actually more pleasurable
• Sassicaia 2021 – smooth as silk, gorgeously long – is it worth the RRP??
• Sassicaia 2007 – from a double magnum, he really didn’t want to share this, I think it was for people with ties on however, I got a glass and safe to say, it’s proper kit!

La Rioja Alta 904 Selección Especial Gran Reserva 2015 – very good rich, ripe fruit and opulence

As we’ve said to you over and over again, we do this so that you don’t have to, be grateful.

Wednesday saw me back in the shop with my Egg & Cress and a pile of tasting notes to write.  The chancellor told us “We value our hospitality industry and we are backing the great British pub” but only until February next year it would seem.  To be honest, having, subjected alcohol duty to the largest increase in almost 50 years within the last six months, he couldn’t really do anything else.

Thursday was long and cold, with more tasting notes and the realisation that it was still light at 5.30pm – we’re getting there!

And now it’s Friday, with the happy prospect of a Six Nations weekend where we are fully expecting 3 home wins and tries galore.

I’ll drink to that.

This weekend we’ll be opening another of our new whites: Primordial Soup – £8.99 from the Western Cape, South Africa. 

Primordial soup, also known as prebiotic soup, is the hypothetical set of conditions present on the Earth around 3.7 to 4.0 billion years ago.  In wine terms, we’re talking about this delicious blend of Chenin Blanc and Colombard.  It tastes much fresher than a billion years or two of age suggests too, gentle citrus and orchard fruit characters being the main flavours.  It also comes in at a midweek friendly 11% ABV. 

Wayne is recommending poached haddock and mustard mash, halloumi and salad or just a cheese toasty for partnerships…

For the red, we’ll stay in South Africa and have a go at the very fancy Idun Syrah 2019 – £25.99 which I don’t think we have ever put on tasting before, even though we have had it for 4 or 5 years!

A complex wine from 3 different vineyard sites in the Elgin Valley.  These parcels are situated 200 m above sea level caressed by the cooling sea breezes from the Atlantic a few kilometres away. Rainwater is retained in the iron-rich clay and cobble soils which results in low yield and flavour concentration.  Due to COVID, the wine was matured for longer than usual (16 months) using 30% new French oak barrels.  A lovely savoury bouquet of black olive, spicy fruit and white pepper on the nose.  On the palate we have berry fruits joining in the fun finishing with fine ripe tannins giving us a very elegant drop.

Finally, a public service announcement for anyone who was ever born, which I imagine includes quite a number of you:

This Sunday is Mother’s Day.

Champagne is in the left hand side fridge, by the wall, if that helps…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Wow, that was a long month!  Anyone who is used to celebrating their birthday, in normal years, the day after 28^th February has been made to wait an extra 24 hours this time round and I know for a fact that amongst those celebrating today are my wife’s daughter, my son’s sister and my niece’s cousin – many happy returns of the day to all of them!

So, as it’s now March 1^st, St David’s Day, it’s the the day we always celebrate how very Welsh we are.  Wyn has got a daffodil salad for lunch, whilst Alecs is sporting a rather splendid leek in his buttonhole – both are looking forward to bakestones at teatime with a pint of Brains later on but don’t want to be drawn into talking about the rugby or the value of spoons made of wood…

However, by Saturday, it’ll all be over and we’ll be English again, gazing at the drizzle, contemplating mid-table mediocrity and saddling up our horse to slay a dragon….

… and reading the wine news.

One of you, who shall not be named for reasons that will soon become apparent, directed us towards the following story.  A new wine has been released, called Simp Wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon, made in Walthamstow, apparently using grapes from Spain and Lebanon rather than Wanstead and Tottenham.  Anyway, at this point things become a bit more interesting and frankly we ended up going down a bit of a wormhole, thanks Matt.  With a nod to a traditional method of grape crushing, the grapes for this wine are crushed by feet but not just any feet.  The feet involved belong to a lady called Emilie Rae, who is, according to Matt Wikipedia, a foot fetish influencer and Only Fans content creator, whatever that means.  However, by all accounts, people pay £40/minute to look at her hooves, which means that she is a very successful businesswoman, with 320,000 followers all clamouring to buy her wine proving that she certainly knows how to monetise her ‘brand’.

The wine is limited release (no confirmation of how many units) and is retailing at £100 per bottle, which is a clear bargain for a wine made by Tony Mortimer and Brian Harvey, particularly when you take into consideration that a bottle of Grand Puy Lacoste 2006 from us costs £98!

As a footnote (!) to this whole tale, on the wine website they claim that all the grapes were crushed by Emilie and to support this they show a video of her feet in a bucket of…. white grapes!!

Moving away from the Weird World Web, our next piece of news comes from GQ, because we like to look sharp and live smart, as you can tell.  The article we were reading was reminding us of the nine shared factors that the longest lived people on earth seem to share, even though they may live in Sardinia, Japan, Costa Rica, California or Greece.  The list, on www.bluezones.com, doesn’t necessarily seem hugely surprising – exercise, eat better, manage stress etc or as Dan Buettner puts it:

• Move Naturally
• Purpose
• Downshift
• 80% Rule
• Plant Slant
• Belong
• Loved Ones First
• Right Tribe

And most significantly

• Wine @ 5 – People in all blue zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly.  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers.  The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food.  And no, you can’t save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday.

Have to say, we wholeheartedly concur.

Sport offers us little this week:

“Everything I have built in my professional career has been taken away from me” – thus spake Paul Pogba, after he was banned from football for 4 years for having elevated levels of testosterone in his system, both in an initial test and the follow up B test.  It’s so  refreshing to see the gazillionaire footballer taking full responsibility for everything.

As it’s not far from 5pm, we should probably prepare some wines for tasting over the weekend.

For the white we’ll be visiting Italy again and opening an old favourite: Cantine Colomba Bianca Vitese Grillo 2022 – £13.99.  Grillo is a crossing of Catarratto and Zibibbo and has lovely lifted citrus and tropical fruit character, a touch of minerality, great mouthfeel and a zesty finish.  Established in 1970, Colomba Bianca are dynamic, very quality focused and also just happen to be the biggest Italian producer of organic wine – so a winner all round then: a diverse, gut friendly organic wine that’s perhaps great for your plant slant!

Obviously the red has to be a Cannonau and San Costantino Cannonau di Sardegna DOC 2022 – £19.99 seems the perfect fit.  Cannonau is the most important red wine grape native to Sardinia, and possibly the oldest variety in the Mediterranean being the origin of Grenache or Garnacha.  The 15 hectare vineyard is located on a gentle slope between Alghero and Sassari and is run by Giampaolo Parpinello and his son Paolo.  It has a deep red colour, medium bodied on the palate with mature red fruits, a touch of white pepper spice and a nice elegance to the finish with some gentle dryness of tannin framing those red fruits really rather nicely.

And with that, we’re on our toes, as Emilie might say!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As mentioned last week, we’ll be closing at 5pm today as we have our annual excursion to do the drinks at the KCS quiz night. Again, our apologies for any inconvenience.

This week saw another chapter in the Post Office Horizon saga. A spat between Harry Staunton, the former chairman of the Post Office and Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary over the payment, or delay, of compensation. Both sides deny the other’s story with Ms Badenoch doing so in Parliament whilst Mr Staunton chose The Times.

Coincidentally, Ms. Badenoch said trade talks with Canada over cheese and motor vehicle tariffs were ongoing. In an unusual turn of events, Ottawa’s High Commissioner to the UK said the talks have not happened. Perhaps Ms. Badenoch pursues a rather Johnsonian approach to the truth?

We also saw Parliament descend into chaos when the Speaker broke with convention during a debate into a ceasefire in Gaza. He was accused of playing ‘party politics’ when he allowed a vote on a Labour amendment when it was the SNP’s turn. Now around 50 MP’s have called for his resignation. You’d think a ceasefire was more important than whose turn it was to do the wording, but there you have it.

This week, we’ve read some alarming news on the drinks and hospitality front. The drinks trade warned the government that the biggest hike in duty in fifty years was likely to have a dampening effect on sales which would harm both the trade and also the tax receipts. This week HMRC statistics revealed that between September 2023 and January 2024 revenue from wine, spirits, beer and cider fell by £600 million compared with the same dates a year earlier. Wine and Spirits Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale said “Not only has this hurt British businesses, it has fuelled inflation and significantly reduced excise duty receipts to the Exchequer.”   

We also read a survey by UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association, British Institute of Innkeeping and Hospitality Ulster revealing the cost pressures facing venues compared to 2023. Nearly all venues (98%) have seen food and drink cost inflation and are concerned about the increase in National Living Wage in April. Of those surveyed, 25% no longer have any cash reserves at all and a further 29% have only enough for 3 months. What caught our eye though was the staggering 64% of venues that are not optimistic about their business’s prospects for the next 12 months. The trade bodies issued a joint statement: “These results clearly show the perilous state our pubs, restaurants, hotels and cafes find themselves in. The fact that a quarter have run out of cash reserves completely is a real cause for concern. Those businesses are extremely vulnerable to the slightest shock forcing them to shut their doors for good.”

Use them or lose them folks, use them or lose them!

The Six Nations is back this weekend, with Wales partaking of Irish hospitality and England travelling to Murrayfield on Saturday, whilst Italy will be taking a tour of Paris before their game on Sunday. In proper sports, this weekend sees the real racing season start with cobbled climbs at Omloop het Nieuwsblaad on Saturday. It seems Wout van Aert and Lotte Kopecky are the favourites in the Men’s and Women’s races respectively but there’s a chance that their days may be spoiled by Arnaud de Lie and Demi Vollering. Kuurne Brussels Kuurne is on Sunday with a more sprinter friendly parcours – it’s going to be a fun weekend!

Well, somewhere in all this excitement we should be able to find time for a glass of wine.

Sporting the white jersey will be Deep Roots Riesling Trocken, Rheinhessen, Germany (£13.99). A group of young vine growers all got together with the idea of sharing their marketing costs but in the end decided to make just the one wine to showcase their talents.  Almost a mini co-operative, if you will.  Winemaking duties are spearheaded by the talented Stefan Winter, and this is a cracker.  Citrus and orchard fruit notes on the nose, minerals join them on the palate and we reckon this is a cracking partner to a Thai curry!

We shall visit the Rhône valley for the red jersey, pulling the cork on Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Les Coteaux’, Rhône, France (£13.99). Common practice in the Côtes du Rhône is to bottle the best cuvées as a single named Village wine and the rest as basic Rhône Villages.  The philosophy here, on the other hand, is to start with the intention of making the very best Côtes du Rhône Villages possible.  They source wine from the vineyards of named villages and enrich them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet, Séguret and Cairanne.  The results are fabulous, as you can taste here, with well-balanced brambly fruit and soft tannin that is bang on the money.