The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I know, I know, in spite of our successful weather predictions for last weekend we have decided to stay in the wine game for the foreseeable – we have the reassurance that we can do successful forecasting if needed but frankly the wine business is far more fun.  Just yesterday in fact, Alex spent 3 hours clearing up after the upstairs flat flooded and proceeded to pour water into the shop via the light fittings – you don’t get that sort of fun at the Met office!

But today it’s business as usual in many respects, with a bit of proper excitement this evening which I’ll get to later.

When we first opened the shop in 2010, we only sold wine and champagne and a bit of port.  Well, actually when we first opened the shop we only sold wine because everyone was a bit suspicious of the beardy man and the one with the earring, but eventually we managed to persuade you all to hit the bubbles and fortifieds.  As time went on we added a few beers into the range and 3 spirits – a whisky, a gin and a brandy.  Caution was very much our watchword.

Fast forward to 2016 and where previously we struggled to fill a shelf with spirits, we now have over 30.  Our increase in range, as is often the case, is led by you.  In the past, cocktails you made at home would basically involve a clear spirit and a quinine based mixer.  And a slice.  Things have moved on and you have become more adventurous and, as a consequence, more demanding.  Five years ago we wouldn’t have known where to lay our hands on Orange Bitters but now we sell them.

And we also sell other fun things.  We have two Italian delights from Antica Distilleria Quaglia – a Vermouth Rosso and a Bitter.  The Vermouth is deliciously tasty with a lovely herbaceousness – leagues ahead of the branded stuff we all tried as teenagers.  The Bitter is also a little bit awesome – nestling midway between the sweeter style of Aperol and the bitterness of Campari, we find it extremely moreish which makes it a blessing that it comes in a litre bottle.  Oh, and the Orange Bitters I mentioned earlier – made by a company called By The Dutch, these are aromatic and intense and come in a groovy little 5cl bottle with a pipette to help add a dash of science to your cocktailing.

By The Dutch Orange Bitters – £8.99

Berto Vermouth Rosso – £14.99

Berto Bitter – £21.49

Little Bird Gin

‘Small batch.  Cocktail strength Gin.  South London.  Seductive pink-grapefruit, fresh juniper, zesty citrus, dazzling ginger.’

That’s how Little Bird describe themselves on Twitter.  However, if you want to learn more about this fantastic Gin from Peckham, pop in this evening, as we are honoured to have Laura, the driving force behind the gin, in the shop.  She’ll be chatting and pouring and who-knows-what-else from sometime after 5.30 and she really is a lot of fun – what better way to start a weekend than with a gin with a ginmaker and a Negroni aficionado!

Saturday Tasting

As we’re all about Gin on Friday we’ll save opening any wines until Saturday.  When we do open them they will be two South African wines that we have sold since we opened but very rarely taste.

Percheron Chenin-Viognier and Percheron Cinsault (£8.19) have both consistently out-performed their price point over the years and both have a very loyal fanbase – this is your chance to join the club!

Wine School

Places are filling, get it booked before the summer engulfs you!  £150 for the six weeks, term starts Wednesday 28^th September – full details attached

That’s all from us for now – just make sure you remember to pop in and see Laura this evening and drink some Gin – definitely an opportunity not to be missed!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ve long believed that, should the world become teetotal and there be a need for us to find other employ, the realm of weather forecasting wouldn’t be a bad place to start.  We spend more time than you might imagine, even as Englishmen, discussing the current weather, the future weather and telling witty tales of weather we have enjoyed a great deal in the past.  We are, as you can tell, very, very Rock ‘n’ Roll.  In our defence, the weather does have a direct impact on our business – a rainy Monday in May yields few customers but stick a bit of sunshine in the sky at around 6pm and suddenly the gym seems less enticing than a glass of Rosé in the garden.

So, with this in mind we looked at our two most regular influencers – the BBC and Accuweather – to see what might be going on this weekend.  As we all now know, weather forecasts are much like inspections led by Hans Blix – they’re interesting studies but only of relevance if they say what we want them to say.  So we gave the weekend weather the Blair treatment:

Friday 8th July

Accuweather – 22°/14°C – Partly sunny, a few showers

BBC – Rather cloudy with showery rain, perhaps heavy at times, especially across northern parts in the morning. Becoming drier in the afternoon with some brighter spells possible later.

Park Vintners – Bright and Sunny

Saturday 9th July

Accuweather – 23°/17° – Variable clouds; breezy, humid.

BBC – Cloudy and muggy but most likely dry on Saturday, and turning breezier.

Park Vintners – Nice and warm with a refreshing breeze

Sunday 10th July

Accuweather – 22° /15° – Partly sunny with a shower

BBC – Rain overnight and muggy conditions should clear during Sunday, becoming fresher with sunshine and scattered showers into Monday.

Park Vintners – Sunny sunshine Sunday

As you can see, it’s going to be an absolutely glorious weekend, with sunshine in abundance – a weekend that Alex and I will nostalgically discuss for years to come!

Sunny weekend = sunny wines!

In order to fully appreciate the glorious weather we thought we should get some wines open.  ON a complete whim last week, Alex decided to buy some Edelzwicker.  I know, sounds uncomfortable.  Anyway, he has been rattling on about this style of wine for more years than I can bear to recall, ever since he had a bottle in his father-in-laws back garden.  It was, apparently, a beautiful summers day and this quaffing blend from the Alsace (Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Riesling) went down a treat over lunch.  I told you we had weather related anecdotes.  Anyway, long story short, he saw some for sale, fell foul of a salesman’s pitch and a pretty label and before I could stop the cheque, he had 4 dozen bottles sitting in the shop.

Pretty label or not, it is delicious and I already think we might need to order more – Edelzwicker Vin d’Alsace £9.99.

Pretty as the white is, I feel we might need to have a red with a bit of backbone to go with all these barbecues we’ll be lighting over the next few days.  Bodegas Farina Gran Colegiata Tinto Roble 2012 – £11.99 – from Toro to the west of Ribera del Duero in Spain, this has lovely berry fruit, some nicely evident tannins and a gentle touch of oak.

Wine School

We have finished our tastings for the summer now, and will be taking it easy over the summer, checking our notes and rehearsing for the new term in September.  Our 6 week Wine School jumps back to life on Wednesday 28^th September at 8pm.

Over the course you will learn about and taste around 6o wines.  You’ll fall in love with Chardonnay once more, discover life beyond Malbec and be able to spot a corked wine from 5 paces.  You’ll do a lot more than this obviously and all for only £150.

Sign up today, before you go away.

Other news

I think you all know the news.  Tennis is on still.  Football has us in a quandary about who to support.  We are still waiting to find out who will be leading our country in the autumn.  Trump is getting closer to the White House as Hillary loses a lot of trust.  We’re still talking about Brexit…

As Andy Murray said, ‘it’s not that bad is it?!’ – enjoy the weekend, enjoy the tennis and in memory of Caroline Aherne, enjoy the weather because it’s going to be SCORCHIO!

Wayne & Alex

PS Park Vintners takes no responsibility for the weather this weekend but is happy to take the credit if it does turn out nice!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As a fleet of freshly minted Wimbledon cars flows slowly past our window, we find ourselves wondering about heatmaps (it’s far too cold to think about flow charts!). So, is the current heatmap for the population of SW19, measured in Land Rover Discovery vehicles, higher or lower than in Solihull?

Does SW19 currently have the majority of Jaguar F-Pace vehicles already licensed for use on our roads, or is there a cheeky concentration of them in Norfolk?

Yes, you’ve guessed it folks, Wimbledon 2016 is in full flow, Brits have been knocked out, unknowns have become suddenly very known, and Alex and I have been watching loads of brand spanking new Sports Utility Vehicles with blacked out windows privacy glass (Optional Extra £385 on the Jag!) and drivers who appear new to the area. We’re never sure who they carry, but they appear each year in the latest model with Wimbledon Championship markings.

We wonder what they do with them afterwards, low mileage, very carefully driven for 2 weeks (we’ve been watching after all!), and only ever carried a sports bag or umpires clipboard in the boot. We thought it might make a nice delivery vehicle, not that the Volvo isn’t up to the job, but, well, it’s just not quite so shiny! We’ll see, maybe we can do a wine/Jag swap deal of some nature.

Four wheels?

Yes, I know I just mentioned it above, but did you know we do delivery? We can lend you glasses as well if you’d like us to bring the Prosecco round for that party you’re planning. We sell Ice too, if the sun ever shows up.

Two Wheels

The world’s greatest race (the Tour de France for those of you at the back) starts on Saturday, with stage 1 from Mont-St-Michel to Utah Beach 188km of basically flat cycling that suits the sprinters at the finish. Fingers firmly crossed for Mark Cavendish to end in yellow, but difficult to rule out André Greipel or Marcel Kittel.

Stages 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday see us in wine country as the Tour wends its way through the vineyards of the Loire. I’d say it is worth watching for the scenery alone, add in the thrills, spills of top athletes doing their day job and we have TV gold!
I think our delicious Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Champigny 2015 (£15.99) is a suitably local tipple to watch the highlights with.

Wheels falling off

Following on from the England football teams sparkling performance in the Euros, we would just note that French Olympic swimmer Yannick Agnel has vowed to swim around Iceland if they win. Now, I’m no expert, but swimming around Iceland seems a long way for a man who specialises in 200m freestyle!

Elsewhere, the Westminster shenanigans seem to be making Yes, Minister look more like a documentary than was ever intended.

Evening Classes… wheel teach you (!)

Yes, as we mentioned last week, Wine School is back.

Term time is 28th September – 9th November (Half term break 26th October). Taste 60 wines over 6 Wednesday evenings. £150 per person and space is limited. Get smart for the winter!

Anyway enough waffle from me, what are we tasting then Alex?

Tasting This Weekend – oiling the wheels…

Well, with a mild threat of sunshine in the evenings I thought we’d start in the white corner with Accomplice Chardonnay (£8.49) a crisp, fresh, and modern Australian with bright fruit and lively finish that’s perfect to kick the evening off with, and we’ll follow that up with Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir (£15.99), again from Oz and a bit of a bobby dazzler with those bangers I’ve got lined up for the barbecue later on!

Come on July, bring us sunshine!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, I was lying in bed early on Thursday morning, listening to the thunder, listening to the dog scratching away beneath me in a vain attempt at escape, listening to someone snoring, listening to an incessant car alarm, listening to my daughter counting the seconds between lightning and crashing and I found myself pondering, is this rain a good thing?

Being English, we’re used to weather, particularly the damper end of the spectrum.  We can do rain with the best of them and in some perverse way we revel in it.  It’s our weather, we like it as it is and we like the status quo – if we joined a more sunny European climate, well, we wouldn’t be British any more would we.

Equally, if we acknowledge that these storms will continue, are we happy for more and more storms to cross the channel and add more atmospheric pressure to an already overcrowded storm market.

However, there are also plenty of positives to this wet weather.  These storms have originated on the European mainland and have crossed the channel to help us survive.  The rain feeds the earth; the rain clears the atmosphere of its fervent humidity; the rain washes the streets that often we don’t have the inclination to clean.  We have been part of this weather system for a good while now, why change?

But can we feed the earth too much?  If it rains too much don’t we risk becoming too cold?  When does washing the streets become flash flooding and thus damaging to the infrastructure?  How can we control this weather?  Would it be better to stick a big umbrella over the British Isles or would the investment be better used stopping the weather at borders far from our own?

Fitfully, and unresolved, I fell asleep at around three.

In the morning, I took my daughter to school and she put another spanner in the cognitive works.  She likes the stormy weather during the day when she can see it clearly, can understand its positive attributes really quite enjoy it, but at night, uncertainty creeps in, she feels nervous and wants the thunder to go away, now.

Pondering if all this could be seen to be a metaphor for something, I strolled towards the polling station and marked an, albeit uncertain, X in a box…

Sun over the yardarm

We now know what the ‘weather’ is going to be like for the next however many years and thank god that’s all behind us.  If you voted for sun but got rain, even if you voted for sun and got sun, we all need to move on now and focus on what’s really important – wine from Europe.

This weekend sees us wrapping up our two week long Sherry Festival.  We’ve been pouring loads of lovely libations and will continue to do so.  Open for savouring are:

Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla Classic Dry Manzanilla

Equipo Navazos Fino En Rama

J.C. Gutiérrez Colosía Amontillado Seco

Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla Antique Amontillado

Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla Classic Oloroso

Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla Antique Palo Cortado           

And, now we have it back in stock, from Chipiona,

Bodegas César Florido Moscatel Dorado

Come in, taste them all and marvel at the quality and value erupting from the south of Spain!

Wine School

Guess who’s back, back again, Wine School’s back, tell a friend!

We’ve got dates in the diary, we’ve got spittoons polished, we’ve even got some new jokes…

The course takes place on Wednesdays at 8pm on 28^th September and goes through until 9^th November – it’s a six week course and the keen calendar watchers amongst you may have already realised that this is a seven week period.  You are correct – Wednesday 26^th October is a week off, half term if you will.

Anyway, over the 6 weeks you’ll learn about white wine, red wine, a bit of rosé, faulty wines, a bit of wine and food matching, a jot of sweet wine and of course, sparklers.

If this sounds up your strasse and your boisson du thé then drop us a line and let us know.  It costs £150 per person and payment of this will ensure you definitely have a place at the table.  Go on; learn about wine, you know you want to!

 Wet Weather Warning

Accepting that it’s already weather worthy of Noah and his crew, we thought we would remind you that the Wimbledon Park Primary School Fair is this Sunday from 12pm until 3pm – Alex will be there with a stall, some gin, some wine and perhaps something else, we’ll see.

If that wasn’t enough to keep it raining, the start of the tennis on Monday will ensure umbrella sales rocket whilst parasols plummet.  Remember, it was here that you heard it first.

And now it is time for us to let you get back to work.  Have a lovely afternoon, see you this evening for a glass of something cold!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week has been fun hasn’t it? Write the a-board put it out in the sunshine, watch the rain wash it off and repeat. Seven or eight times a day.

In the end we left it blank and indoors on Wednesday and changed the window display instead. You may notice as you pop in that it has bottles of sherry, tennis bats and balls. I can already see that question mark forming above your head.

Sherry! Baby! (In your best Austin Powers voice)

The reason for all the sherry is that this week sees our annual celebration of all things sherry. We’ve joined up with the lovely folk from Sherry Wines UK and will have a fabulous selection of Sherries open to taste this weekend. (More below).

Some of you will have heard us wax lyrical about what fabulously complex wines you get from the region north of Cadiz, but we are just the latest in a long line of celebrants.

Famous bowls player and occasional sea captain Sir Francis Drake is known to the Spanish as a pirate, after sailing into Cadiz and making off with 3000 butts of the nectar.  Following this, sherry became so popular that James I had to instruct his cellar master to bring no more than 12 gallons to his table a day!

Shakespeare was a big fan, and Alexander Fleming was of the view “Penicillin can fix the sick, but only Sherry can revive the dead.” These days we find such claims a little less likely.

The Sherry region itself is a land of gently rolling hills where the grapes laze around in the sunshine shooting the breeze, chatting about football, whilst they ripen. Once ripe and harvested, the grapes are pressed, and only the first press (mosto de yema) is considered to be sufficient quality for making sherry. One hundred kilos of grapes will produce around seventy litres of liquid.

After fermentation the wines are classified, the lighter wines are fortified to 15° and go on to become Fino or Manzanilla styles after ageing under flor.

Flor? – Flor is the name given to a thick layer of yeast that forms naturally on the surface of the delicate styles.  This yeast imparts the distinctive flavour to Fino. The Flor needs fresh wine in order to survive and this fresh wine is added by the use of a solera system that also gradually blends the wines of different vintages together. The flor, being a thick layer on the surface, also protects these styles from oxidation, which is why the lighter wines are chosen for this style.

The fuller, more robust wines from the fermentation process are fortified  to 17.5° and placed into sherry butts to undergo aerobic aging (no leotards, it is the real name of the oxidative process!) This style will produce Oloroso, and no flor will form because of the higher alcohol (16° is its limit).

The only way to learn more without eye ache is to come and see us and put your tasting tackle through it’s paces…

Weekend Tasting – Sherrytastic

Fernando de Castilla Manzanilla (£7.99 37.5cl) a Fino in essence, but ageing by the coast at Sanlucar de Barrameda gives it the salty tang of a Manzanilla. Not to be confused with chamomile tea.

Equipo Navazos Fino En Rama (£10.99 37.5cl) an unfiltered Fino of impressive complexity. “Serious stuff – much more serious than most wines at this price.” – Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com

Gutierrez Colosia Amontillado Seco (£21.99 75cl) this undergoes both forms of ageing process, as a fino for 3 years and then at least 5 years in the oxidative process. Wayne likes this one, really enjoying the nutty character.

Fernando de Castilla Oloroso (£14.99 75cl) no flor involved here, just oxidation over the course of 12 years. More viscous in the mouth, yet still dry it presents spicy, rich dark fruit notes and a long pleasantly warming finish.

Fernando de Castilla Antique Amontillado (£30.99 50cl) ageing in a barrel for 20 years, having started life under flor before additional alcohol added to kill the flor allowing oxidative ageing. Nutty, caramel notes in the nose but the palate is bone dry and deliciously complex. Jamón Jamón!

Fernando de Castilla Antique Palo Cortado (£34.99 50cl) a real treat. This rarity starts life as a Fino until the flor goes wrong. Luckily for us when the flor went wrong here it didn’t turn into sherry vinegar but into this rare beast that has hung out in a barrel for 30 years just becoming awesome.

That seems to be a bit to be going on with so come in, have a taste and tell us what style you’ll be sipping through Wimbledon!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The Q, The F, The WGD, The C, The R, The DBR, The MASP, The WRHRSP.  Not a great Scrabble hand, an even worse selection for Countdown’s letters round.  However, we need to discuss all of the above, anagram suitability or not.

The Q

Yep, this weekend we’re all officially celebrating Her Majesty’s 90^th birthday.  Since neither of us was able to attend her shindig on 21^st April as we had already arranged a Cheese & Wine Tasting for that evening, we will be raising a glass or two this weekend to her good health.  If anyone is having a street party as a celebration, and is looking for some suitable refreshment, we can happily offer you a 10% discount to help you on your way – Melrose, Wellington, Havana are partying, anyone else?

The F

What could be more patriotic and Red, White and Blue than the start of our home nation battles at Euro 2016.  Well, perhaps not blue and, of course, there’s no dragon on the union flag, but you know what I mean.

Wales v Slovakia and England v Russia on Saturday, Poland v NI on Sunday – plenty of opportunity to raise a glass or two.

The WGD

Gin lovers of the world rejoice as World Gin Day returns for its EIGHTH year on Saturday 11 June 2016!!  Not quite sure what this means in real terms but I would suggest juniper is involved.  As ever we’ll have Little Bird, Dodd’s and the rest of the gang open for a sniff and a swirl or two.

The C

And perhaps the end of the C.  Lords is hosting, the sun has been shining and Nick Compton has signed off from his England career.  Will the match last the weekend?  Nice to see the D of E there on Thursday, clearly avoiding any involvement in seating plans for Liz’s big lunch on the Mall.

The R

First Test in the Rugby against Australia – 11am our time on Saturday, perfect excuse for a glass or two…

The DBR

There’s Dragon Boat Racing in the park this Sunday.  Organised by The Really Helpful Club, and with a variety of teams involved, we suspect the team from Bounce Gym will probably win but it will undoubtedly be very wet and wild and is free to watch.

Red, White & Blue tasting this weekend

As ever, the weekend is a great excuse to open a bottle or two and have a glass or three.  We’ll be opening suitably patriotic wines, in as much as there’ll be a red, a white and a beer with a blue label.

The red will be Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Champigny 2015 – £15.99 – This is the go to address for Saumur reds.  If, like us, you love a crunchy medium bodied red this is the top dog.  Beautifully aromatic on the nose, dark fruit and gentle spice in the mouth with an elegant, long and juicy finish.

The white will be Domaine Felines Jourdan Picpoul de Pinet 2014 – £11.99 – always a top notch drop and unbelievably we haven’t had it on tasting for two years.  Felines Jourdan are arguably the best producers of Picpoul and this vintage is deliciously fresh and dangerously quaffable.  Summer in a glass, or two…

And the beer?  Sambrook’s Wandle Ale – £2.79, of course.  Our original ale, the first beer we sold here, the backbone of our beer range.  If you’ve not tried it yet, try it now.  We’re open at 10am on Saturday so plenty of time to stock up before sport commences!

The LWNBR

It might just be one of us here on Saturday.  The London World Naked Bike Ride is taking place and Wayne’s enjoyment of pedal power is well chronicled – a Union Jack and a smile is all he will need, and just perhaps a glass or two…

Bottoms Up!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

You can imagine my surprise when wandering around the shop, putting deliveries away, wondering what I might choose for a #winewednesday tipple, when a customer wished me a nice weekend. Weekend? I thought possibly someone had their days mixed up. Turns out it was me, as much as I love a Bank Holiday Monday it does confuse the week a little.

With just a week to go before the Euro’s kick off in Paris, it seems most of France is on strike. The oil refineries, fuel depots and railways are all having their difficulties, but it appears the airport workers have cancelled their plans to strike. It is unclear if this is because they couldn’t get to work anyway!

Whilst we’re on the subject of footie, it seems transfer time for managers is upon us. Monk is in at Leeds, Di Matteo is in at Aston Villa and Pecchia (Benitez’s No.2) is out at Newcastle, heading for the sunshine and opera in Verona. Koeman maybe in at Everton but maybe not.

In tennis news, for that time is creeping up on us too, Andy Murray has Stan Wawrinka in the way of the French Open final probably against Djokovic who’ll have played everyday this week! As for the ladies, difficult to imagine it won’t be Serena.

In proper sports, legend Eddy Merckx seems to be in a spot of bother over the alleged “sweetener” to a contract as supplier of bicycles to the police in Anderlecht in 2006.

The company building the velodrome in Rio has lost the contract after filing for bankruptcy protection. The velodrome, already with one cancelled event in its history, is 88% finished now with just logistical issues in laying the track. Nothing important then! Rio’s city government expects to be finished in time.

I can’t finish here without mentioning The Derby on Saturday. Our tips last year were fairly useless and I’m slightly nervous of saying it won’t be Frankie Dettori’s mount (Wings of Desire) just to be proved wrong again, but…I think Ulysses will beat him and Humphrey Bogart may be worth an each way!

Cheese and Wine

Thursday 23^rd June at 8pm. Only 2 places remaining! £20 per person.

New or Back in stock

We had a couple of bit’s missing but just to let you know…

Mimi Pink NV (£12.99) is back in stock (6 for the price of 5 if you’re entertaining!)

Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc (£10.49) has wended its way up from Marlborough too.

Arndorfer Hand-Crafted Gruner Veltliner (£13.99) is the wine I was quoted on so eloquently the other week. Don’t tell Alex, he doesn’t know I’ve bought any yet!

Tasting This Weekend

I’ve had a look at the Beeb’s weather app and it seems to promising warmer weather and a spot of sunshine over the weekend, no sign of it yet out of the back window (Wayne’s weather app!). Nonetheless we shall through caution to the wind and choose a couple of wines suitable should cooking be done in the garden!

In the white corner Talmard Macon Uchizy (£14.99) a cracking unoaked white from Southern Burgundy that we think will bring its own sunshine if the real thing doesn’t show.

Red wise Some Young Punks Passion Has Red Lips (£13.99) is a stonking blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale in Australia will go with all manner of char grilling!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Less than seven months to Christmas.  Not had a day this year nice enough to wear shorts for the duration.  Yet to sit outside the pub for longer than twenty minutes before admitting defeat.  That suncream purchase seems a bit premature.  Watching cricket last Saturday wearing a beanie and two coats, sitting on the bonnet of the car to steal the engine warmth.

Come on, snap out of it, Alex, be positive.

Midsummer looming, Maypole dancing, mead by the bonfire, silly shenanigans.  Half term next week, hurray.  Thunderstorms predicted, and we all know that thunderstorms are tropical creatures.  Tropical storms lead to clear blue skies and beautiful sunshine – FACT.  Bank holiday weekend in the offing, barbecues and Rosé, blitz spirit.

Plus, the good news is that having a glass of grog makes us happier, no matter what.  There are a number of articles doing the rounds this week all reporting on the Mappiness app and the research done by some clever chaps at University of Kent over the last 5 years or so.  I won’t regurgitate the article that I read, as they wrote it far better than I ever could, (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/24/scientists-have-figured-out-exactly-how-much-fun-it-is-to-get-drunk/?spon_con=today10&tid=a_inl) but I will comment on its findings.

Apparently, drinking with friends makes us happy – who knew?  However, there is a chance we were already quite happy before we met our friends, so the uplift in joy is not huge but nonetheless worth mention.  However, the really interesting bit of news was that our innate happiness levels increase proportionally more when we have a drink whilst doing something we don’t necessarily enjoy.  Commuting and waiting were mentioned here as boring pastimes improved by a cheeky snifter.

So, our analysis of this data tells us that for that glass of wine to make us most happy this weekend we need the weather to be mediocre and underwhelming rather than charming and bright!

But the weather is not going to make us put our plans on hold: Wayne’s off in a tent to Brighton, flip flops and sunglasses already packed, confidently.  Alex is off to Devon, waterproofs and board-games packed – he’s been before…

One thing is for sure, we will certainly be drinking…. Wayne has lined up some cheeky campfire reds whilst Alex has his eyes on some wines with a bit of age on them, a serious Italian white and a few cheeky guzzlers too.  He is also muttering about making his own version of Pimm’s – if the sun shines we’ll be happy, if it rains we’ll be happier, allegedly, but only if we start drinking…

But what will you be drinking?

Perhaps we might be able to help by putting a few things on tasting.  We will start proceedings this weekend by opening a bottle of the fabulous Cidre Breton (£5/litre).  Slightly cloudy, seriously habit forming and extremely tasty – taste it, taste it again and before you know it, the bottle will have gone!

For a white, how about the new vintage of Leira Seca Vinho Verde 2015 (£10.99) Alvarinho and Trajadura doing what they do best – producing a ripe, soft stone-fruit character wine with oodles of appeal.  The red is slightly more warming, in anticipation of Wayne’s night under canvas – Sesti Monteleccio 2013 (£17.99) organic, biodynamic and made by an astronomer but don’t let get in the way – they are one of Montalcino’s finest producers, their Brunello being highly regarded and priced accordingly.  This is what we drink whilst we are saving up for the Brunello, and it always makes us happy, no matter whether we are waiting for a train or having a dinner party…

As always on Bank Holiday weekends, we’ll be closing at 6pm on Saturday evening and will remain closed until Tuesday morning.

Lastly, thanks to all who came to last night’s Cheese & Wine Tasting. Who knew the Norwegians made such tasty goat’s cheese?

The next one is Thursday June 23^rd at 8pm. Tickets as usual £20 per person call us on 020 8944 5224 or pop in to book your place.

Be Happy all weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s no cake walk, wine retailing.

We work slavishly from the ungodly hour of 11am each day (except Sundays of course, which are reserved for golf and cycling); we spend the whole day chattering away, often about wine, but also often about sport, BREXIT, amateurish car-parking, Gin, holidays, what’s for lunch, beer, families, the future, the past and music; and then, perhaps, a customer might bravely cross the threshold and briefly dip into our conversation about whether there is actually any need for Bentley to have built an SUV before interjecting:

‘err, actually I was just wondering, whilst I was here, if I might get some help choosing a bottle of wine please?’

And we leap into action like scalded/scolded kangaroos.

Sometimes, we have to take our chatting elsewhere – for example, Wednesday this week, we paddled up to Home House in Portman Square, purely to taste some different wines and enjoy a couple of jamón rolls.  In the evening, we threw our palates onto the tracks and tasted a dozen organic/biodynamic/natural/weird but interesting/unusual/occasionally pettillant wines with our pal Phil from the sulphite free fields of Raynes Park – and then repaired to The Alex in Wimbledon to freshen our tastebuds with some chemical-laden lager.  Tasting note of the night was, undoubtedly, Wayne’s proclamation about a Gruner Veltliner that particularly tickled his fancy – ‘that’s right dangerous that, you’d need at least a six box for the weekend!’  You can take the boy out of Essex but….

And still we work slavishly.  We write tasting notes, we read wine reports, we evade sales calls from fictitious energy companies and we surf the web.  Surfing the web may not sound like the work you do but we take it seriously and dedicate much time to it – if we didn’t we wouldn’t be nearly so well informed or able to feed you titbits such as:

• Möet & Chandon launches Ice Impérial Rosé, “fresh and vibrant when served over ice and sure to be the drink of the summer season” – oh boy, not this again
• Muirfield will not stage another Open Championship as they vote to bar women members and remain men-only – really? Did they really vote that way?  Dinosaurs
• 21,408 tickets available to AFC Wimbledon fans keen to watch their League 2 play off final against Plymouth Argyle on 30^th May – that’s almost 4.5 times the capacity of Kingsmeadow, COYD!

But perhaps most excitingly, we found this gem on Facebook:

• The Goring Gin Garden – A Living Bar + Gin Safari in London – it would seem that the wild men of Northumberland, and specifically those charming chaps at Hepple Gin, have got themselves a London gig! In their own words:

We’ve created a living bar, complete with sustainable living walls and roof in the hotel’s large private garden that will be open from Wednesday 1st June for the summer months ahead. To help bring this mantra to life the garden has been planted with English juniper, Douglas fir, lovage, blackcurrant and other key botanicals which form the very distinctive Hepple flavour – guests will be able to plunge themselves into an immersive gin safari around the garden, tasting and smelling each botanical –  from the plant to the glass.

It’s only half an hour from the shop to Victoria, and a couple of minutes walk to the Goring Hotel from there – sounds like a great excuse for a roadtrip, who’s with me?

Sad News

Sadly, unexpected passing is not just happening in the music business.

This week we have learnt of the sudden deaths of two of our wine producers:  Peter Neill, the energy, the passion, the owner of Barton Wines from South Africa and Aimé Guibert, the founder of Mas de Daumas Gassac, once referred to by restaurant guide Gault & Millau as “A Lafite in Languedoc”.  Their wines and their passion will live on.

So, it seemed appropriate for us to open a wine from each of these estates.

Barton Sauvignon-Semillon 2013 (£11.59) is a blend of 64% Sauvignon Blanc and 36% Semillon from Walker bay.  We find Sauvignon can sometimes feel a little one dimensional but add a hearty slug of Semillon and the wine fills out splendidly.  Weighty, with a touch of tropical fruit, a nice zing and a long dry finish.

Mas de Daumas Gassac 2013 (£29.99) 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 5% Tannat, 5% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Nebbiolo, 2% Dolcetto, , room for any more?, oh yes, 2% Pinot Noir and 2% Malbec.  Not sure why he didn’t put any Grenache or Sangiovese in but even so, it’s one hell of a blend.  Bordeaux with a splash of Barolo and a drop of Burgundy almost.  Lovely and elegant with oodles of fruit character.  Delicious now but will age for 20+ years, should you manage to keep your hands off it.

Corks will be unscrewed at about 5pm.  Come and raise a glass to AFC.  Raise a glass to Peter and Aimé.  Raise a glass to absent friends.  Raise a glass!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, just when you thought it was safe to answer the door again, voting over, a new mayor installed and all the campaigners put back into the broom cupboard, a thing called Brexit rears its ugly head.  Out of the broom cupboard come the campaigners, blinking in the sunlight wondering what rosette they are supposed to wear. In? Out? What colour should it be and what do we tell people if they answer the door?

Meanwhile, the Leave it Out camp have had a rather shrill, shouty outburst at ITV over having asked Nigel of the Grassroots Out camp to come onto the telly and be interviewed with Dave from the Vote Me In team.

It seems Vote Me In Dave and his chum, Recession George, are rather reluctant to do the big BBC debate at Wembley because they’re worried the crowd might be a bit rowdy.

Meanwhile, Bring It On Boris says he’s happy to fight debate with anybody. He’s part of the Leave It Out campaign but we think he may also have other ideas he’s not told us about yet.

Those are all the key facts in what is, quite possibly, the most important vote the country has had in a generation. I suspect we’ll return to the Hokey Cokey debate before June 23^rd and especially if we hear anything useful that might inform one’s voting intentions.

Elsewhere, we heard of some rudeness during last year’s Chinese state visit. Claims that this was a result of Prince Philip claiming to be the real Hong Kong Phooey are completely unfounded.

In other news, it appears that the IOC is under a bit of heat over “irregularities” concerning Tokyo 2020 and $2 million.

Whilst we’re talking about “irregularities”, the Electoral Commission has gone to court for a disclosure order regarding Conservative spending at the last election. Oops.

We’ve had a good squiz through the news on the wine front and found it very lacking. We could, of course, mention the welcome return of Tedeschi’s Amarone 2011 (£34.99) or the pile of Leira Seca 2015 (£10.49) Vinho Verde that was wheeled through the door this morning (finally!), or even that weird, slightly fizzy white from San Sebastian (Ameztoi Txakoli 2015 £14.29) but that just seems a bit salesy.

Tasting This Weekend

Alex is keen (as always) to open a bottle of sherry, so we’ll indulge him with Equipo Navazos Fino En Rama (£10.99) “Full yellow colour. Mellow, slightly salty, nutty nose with fine citrus and spice notes. The palate is fresh and tangy with nuts, herbs and some spice. Very attractive and quite elegant; nothing sticks out. It has lovely depth of flavour but it’s not too salty or tangy. 92/100.” Jamie Goode, Wineanorak.com

On the red front, we’ll be pulling the cork on Maison Des Bulliats Regnie 2015 (£12.99). A firm favourite with all of you, and a stalwart in the range we’re glad the new vintage has arrived.

That’s all folks!