The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ve got Wayne to thank for bringing the sunshine back, though I wish he’d shut up about it raining in Mallorca. Anyway there is some Rosé in the fridge (I hope that doesn’t put the kibosh on the weather again!).

The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed we were a bit late on Thursday. We had a quick trip up the road to Olympia for the London Wine Fair. We put our palates through a series of tests involving English Sparkling, Champagne, Red, White and Rosé wines, finishing with a quick trawl through some Rums. A very satisfying 2.5 hours catching up with a few friends old and new. Watch this space for a few new arrivals!

In wine news this week Italian luxury fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo are suing a retired American football player for naming his winery after himself. They claim that Vincent Ferragamo is confusing consumers by selling his “inferior” award winning Cabernet and Sangiovese blend (Gold Medal Los Angeles Wine Competition). The estate they own in Tuscany (formerly owned by the Medici’s) markets their award winning wine (Silver Decanter World Wine Awards, Bronze International Wine Challenge) under the name Il Borro. We’re confused.

Tasting this weekend

On the red front we have been hankering after a glass of Domaine Wachau Blauer Zweigelt 2013 (£15.19). Medium-bodied with dark fruits and soft tannins, we think it’ll be sehr gut with that butterflied leg of lamb you’re barbecuing. Red from Austria, whatever next?

Staying with mainstream wine producing regions, we’ll pop down the A12 for the white. Near Chelmsford you’ll find New Hall Vineyards Bacchus 2014 (£12.99) a lovely fresh white that is perfect as an aperitif, or a cheeky partner to that big prawn brochette you have up your sleeve!

Alex is still on about his rosé, he has made a big pile of it by the counter. Sixty years as Cru Classé, Chateau Aumerade is our preferred Provence. Deliciously light and dry, pale in glass and is £13.99 a bottle or £72 for a six box. Chillin’ out in the fridge!

That’s us for this week pop in, say hi, have a taste and have a great weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Unfortunately, you can lay the blame squarely at our door this week.  Confident that the rain on Monday was the last dampness we’d see until September, we decided to write this message on our blackboard outside:

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND – Is this the official start of the Rosé season?  I think it probably should be!

And I think you all know what happened next – hail, snowstorms and stair-rod rain, blue skies interspersed with darker-than-night grey clouds, stiff breezes, all rounded off by a rumbling thunderstorm on Wednesday evening.  Well, at least the storm cleared the humidity…!

Living in the UK has made us stoic when faced with poor weather and it has been a pleasure to be selling plenty of Provence Rosé all week in spite of the climate – it’s the stiff upper lip, it’s the blitz the spirit, it’s the ‘this could be as good as summer gets so let’s pretend we’re on the Côte d’Azur’.

18 Celsius and bright sunshine in Cannes, as I write.

Sand-buried heads

Not sure if you’ve noticed, it certainly has crept up on us, but this time next week we’ll have a new Mayor.

I know, what with all the jangling and jostling over the EU referendum that is taking place on Thursday 23^rd June (after the group stages of the Euros have finished, any significance?) we seem to have paid less heed, or perhaps there has been less to heed, about who should be next in line to imprint their vanity project on London.

Ken gave us the congestion charge, oyster cards, brought the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France to our streets and was the incumbent when London got awarded the Olympics.  Nowadays, he’s making headlines for slightly different reasons.

Boris gave us bikes and banned boozing on the buses.  He poked his big stick into the hornet’s nest with his proposals for the Thames Hub Airport and then retreated to Uxbridge to be an MP and perhaps PM-in-waiting.

So who is going to be next?  Some selected candidates:

• Sadiq was born in Tooting and is Labour.
• Zac was born in Westminster and is Conservative.
• George was born in Dundee and was Labour, is now Respect, with a much respected Celebrity Big Brother sideline.
• Ankit was born in New Delhi, is allegedly the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, and, as leader of One Love, wants to clear air pollution whilst simultaneously legalising pot!?
• Counterculture icon Lee is 79 years old, was born in Johannesburg and he represents CISTA – Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol – but I’m a bit vague as to what his manifesto is…
• John is a Polish Prince, standing as the only Independent.

Oh, and did we mention the £10,000 deposit each candidate has provided, only returnable if they get more than 5% of first choice votes?  Or that, to have their election address manifesto published in the Mayoral address booklet, the candidate was required to pay another £10,000.

Ankit and John didn’t submit a mini-manifesto.  Lee did.

Head for the hills

Moving away from politics now, it’s the first May Bank Holiday of the year.  Morris Dancers are busy ironing their hankies, hardy souls are still skiing in the Cairngorms whilst others of you have escaped to Mallorca for sunshine, San Miguel, Sangria and shome sherious shycling Shilvie, honesht…

However, for those of you who are staying in Le Parc de Wimbledon, we will be here to help today until 8pm, as usual, and tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am until 6pm, at which point we will saddle up and disappear into the sunset until 11am on Tuesday morning.

And whilst we’re talking about being closed, we won’t be open until 4pm on Thursday 5^th May – we’ve got to go off tasting again, sorry, but you should reap the rewards in the long term.

And whilst we’re talking about tasting, it would be appropriate to mention what we will have open this weekend.

The white is going to be an old favourite hat we haven’t opened since the year before last: Pulenta Estate Chardonnay 2014 – £12.99.  The estate is located in Alto Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, one of the most prestigious winemaking areas in Argentina.  Its high altitude, at 980m, ensures a wide temperature range and a slow ripening of the grapes.  This Chardonnay has citrus and tropical fruit notes, gently underlined with vanilla from the oak, which is delicately balanced with both fruit and freshness.  We love it and have done so for almost a decade now – come and see if you can snatch the glass from us!

For the red we have chosen Uitkyk Pinotage 2013 – £14.49 and one of Wayne’s favourites.  From a plot planted up the slopes of Simonsberg Mountain at a mere 350m, not quite as high as the Pulenta, we have a wine with fabulous round ness from its time spent in French and American oak.  Lovely dark fruits and a real velvety character to the tannins make this a real meat lovers wine – it is South African after all!

And with that we must now leave you – it’s been an absolute pleasure and a joy, same time next week?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Always remember, it’s a Marathon not a sprint.

The Queen hit 90 yesterday.  That, my friends, is a marathon.  She’s been in charge for 64 years and doesn’t particularly look like hanging up her white gloves yet.  She hasn’t let anything upset her rhythm – World War II, marriage to Prince Philip, four children, Mop Tops, flares and Cliff Richard – all were left in her wake as she trotted on resolutely.  Everywhere she goes, people shout her name and wave; and she graciously waves back, whilst maintaining a constant forward motion – impressive.

Remember, it’s a Marathon, not a sprint.

400 years is a marathon.  Tomorrow will be the 400^th anniversary of the death of a chap called William Shakespeare.  You may have come across some of his works but if you haven’t, you should.  I’m not sure how many other 17^th century authors you are currently enjoying, certainly my list is quite short, but big Bill has been consistently top of the list.  Whilst he wasn’t greatly praised in his lifetime, his works have adopted the long game and are showing no signs of diminishing popularity.  That’s impressive.

Remember, it’s a Marathon, not a sprint.

Mind you, 400 years is nothing if your name is St George.  1,713 years ago our Patron Saint shuffled off this mortal coil (thanks for the quote, Mr S.) and yet we still celebrate him to this day.  He’s a dragon killer, he’s the design of our national flag, he’s the protector of the royal family and has been for a good few centuries now and we don’t see that changing.  Raise a glass to our impressive Saint.

Remember, it’s a Marathon not a sprint.

When you jog down from Blackheath and are feeling super relaxed on Sunday morning and everybody is shouting ‘Go on Kelly, you can do it, only 24 miles to go’ remember to smile and wave (like the Queen) and trot on resolutely, remembering the training, remembering the examples set by Betty, Bill and Georgy-boy, remember it’s a marathon.  When you coast through the wall of noise that is Canary Wharf and people shout ‘Come on Laura, you’re nearly there’, look back at them and smile and wave, safe in the knowledge that you’re nowhere near ‘nearly there’ at all, but thankful for the support.  If our Queen can still rule the country, if our Bard can still be a bestseller and if our Saint can still inspire a feast, then you can certainly run 26.2 miles.

Remember, it’s a Marathon not a sprint.

This should be the warning to our Wine & Cheese tasting attendees – last night we held another successful evening of processed grape and processed milk appreciation.  However, when 10 people are confronted with just short of 3.5 kilos of cheese there is only going to be one winner…

The next Cheese & Wine evening is Thursday 26^th May at 8pm.  There are half a dozen places left and £20 will save your chair at the table with a few chunks of cheese!

Elsewhere

Sadness, once again.  As we remove our headgear for AFKAP at 57 and Victoria Wood at 62 we wonder if it’s just us getting older and thus our heroes aging accordingly, or has this just been a really, really bad year for showbiz?

Here

Unintentionally, this week’s email has become somewhat focused on death and mortality.  However, we are great believers in celebrating life and it is with these thoughts in mind that we have decided on which wines to taste this weekend.

For the white, we have upped the ante a bit this week and added bubbles.  Herbert Hall NV Brut (£28.99) is a cracking English Sparkler from Marden in Kent.  A blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, that Matthew Jukes described as “the finest debut English Sparkling Wine I have ever tasted”.

And for the red it was impossible to look past one of our best-selling wines from the Rhone.  Les Vignes du Prince 2014 (£9.99).  When we tasted this wine we thought ‘an inexpensive Rhône red from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape vineyards, what’s not to like?’  Made by Celliers du Prince, a co-op founded in 1924 and still the only one in the Chateauneuf area, this wine is soft and juicy in your glass with plenty of brambly fruits.  Syrah brings just a touch of pepper to the soft berry palate, making it the ideal partner to bangers and mash.

Good luck to anyone running on Sunday, eat lots of pasta have a good night’s sleep and remember it’s not a Marathon, it’s a Snickers…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How have you all been faring this week? The sun’s been out and, whilst the tree blossom has looked lovely, it has made our eyes itch.

Medals

Alex has been exercising his palate judging in the first round of the International Wine Challenge. The report I had was that some were interesting, some not, and that 130 wines tasted blind is tiring and makes you want a beer.

Music

Elsewhere, we see Record Store day is almost upon us and Wayne noticed that Grace Jones Private Life 12” is getting a re-release. If you have a turntable, he recommends it for the terrific version of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control” on the flipside. (errr, is this a wine newsletter?-Ed.)

Drinks

Thanks to all tasters for attending our ‘Pinot Round The World’ tasting last night. We think fun was had and the odd surprise discovery made – a burgundy producer making wine in Oregon beat all the ‘real’ Burgundies, according to our tasting panel, and a Pinot from Mornington Peninsula came second.

Politics

Despite having voted firmly against inclusion in the range many eons ago, Alex has had a bit of a conversion lately. Spotted leaving the building with a bottle of Portuguese wine under his arm, he strenuously denied it was a half-hearted attempt to join in with what everyone else on the team was drinking.

Sport

Wow, Barcelona… out!  And Liverpool, doing another Istanbul….

Wine

In the wine world, the ‘En Primeur’ campaign for Bordeaux 2015 is about to kick off. It is, by all accounts, a great vintage; perhaps not as age-worthy as 2010 or 2005 but with the charm and elegance of 2000 or 1985. St. Emilion and Pomerol seem to have been particularly successful, with the southern Medoc showing a bit more power than the north, where they had a bit more rain to give some elegance. Given the public’s recent disenchantment with the entire process, it will be interesting to see how this year’s campaign plays out.

Tasting This Weekend

Given Alex’s recent conversion (though he’s not recanting any previous comments), we thought we’d put on the Luis Pato Maria Gomes 2014 (£11.99) in the white corner, representing Portugal.

Red-wise, we’ll be pouring a drop of the Calusari Pinot Noir (£8.69), from our chaps in Romania, the great value opener at last night’s shenanigans.

That’s all folks!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

What a week we’ve had. Sunshine and rain has been passing us by with regular intervals, neither of us knows what to wear, should we open the door, put a sweater on, open a window, or just carry on reading some more of these 11 million documents!

We’ve been reflecting on how technology can be a force for both good and bad. If you’re a whistle-blower, fitting 11 million documents on a flash drive is considerable easier to get away with than several trolleys loaded with filing cabinets.  So there we have a force for good. If you’re engaged in nefarious asset hiding with your old mate Mo Fonseca then that flash drive is less good.

Rufus has been in a bit of a fug this week. With it being half term, he’s not been at work as much as usual, and Alex caught him on the smartphone the other day furiously swiping right. A bit of doggy dating it wasn’t though, he was just diverting a journalist’s calls. Poor Rufus had been terrified his name would be leaked as a beneficiary in the Boneyard Trust his father had set up, but has now ‘fessed up in the hope that his Luxembourg Winalot holdings will remain a secret.

In an entirely coincidental manner we tasted a delicious rum from Panama this week, we’re investigating the possibility of buying some and bringing it on-shore, so do watch this space!

Horses

Saturday sees the Grand National with a new even later start time of 5.15pm. The pundits seem to like last year’s winner Many Clouds to do a RedRum and repeat the feat. We’re not so sure, Red Rum was a bit special. Wayne suggests a small each way on The Romford Pele (about 50/1 at writing) but his tips have been rubbish so far this year. Alex has been talking about Rickie Fowler but that might be in the golf!

Birds – A flock of Little Birds arrived this week.

Little Bird Gin (£33.99) is our very latest discovery. A London Dry Gin from Peckham , so definitely a South London beverage. We loved the grapefruit citrus edge to the properly dry juniper flavours.

Laura from Little Bird reckons it makes the perfect Negroni, which we suspect is her favourite cocktail, given that an unsatisfactory Negroni was what sent her and Tim into the gin business in the first place!

Wines – Tasting for the weekend

We have managed to lay our hands on a small parcel of mature Rioja. Mentoste Gran Reserva 1995 (£22.99) is at the peak of its powers right now, fully resolved and rounded and frankly really rather tasty. When it’s gone….

In the white end of the spectrum we’ll open Seifried Riesling 2014 (£13.99), a really rather delicious little number from Nelson, New Zealand. We think its zippy freshness and stonefruit flavours will be pitch perfect with some sushi and vegetable tempura.

This Evening early close

Apologies folks, but we will be closing at 7pm this evening as we are doing a private tasting off-site.  If you’d like us to come to you and do a tasting at your house just pop in and have a chat with us.

Have a great weekend one and all!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Diversify they say.  To survive against the forces of e-commerce and supermarkets the smaller independent needs to diversify from the norm and concentrate on a point of difference.  Or so they say.  Mind you when cameras first appeared on phones and hot dogs were first paired with champagne we all laughed and raised our eyebrows.  Nowadays no mobile is complete without a capture option and the success of Bubbledogs is plain to see.

But what’s all this got to do with Park Vintners?  Well, after 5 years of trading as a specialist wine merchant we think it’s time to shake things up a bit.  In the past we have dabbled with the idea of selling cheese but instead ended up with biltong – less smelly and a longer shelf life.  Otherwise we haven’t really diversified from the norm – I think the craziest thing we did recently was list an Irish Whiskey for the first time…

That all changes now.  Those of you better acquainted with the layout of our shop will be aware that we have a couple of office rooms downstairs that are currently just used for storage but will now be put to better use (but not in a Thai Spa way).  For many, many years Wayne has harboured a desire to sing professionally.  Having passed a significant milestone just recently, he decided to carpe diem.  Conveniently, in one of the upstairs flats we have a professional string player who has been keen to back him for a while.  Wayne’s favoured genre is nineties country and western – Billy Ray Cyrus and Shania Twain are regulars on his spotify – and his interpretations are really innovative and unusual!

He first performance ‘Downstairs at 126’ will be this evening from 6pm – come and see what you think, there’ll be wine too!

Not to be outdone, Alex has long bemoaned the fact that whilst there are plenty of places to get your barnet tidied up on Arthur Road, no one is helping out those of us sporting facial furniture.  Having trained as a barber whilst at University to make extra cash when he lived in Italy, he now feels it is time to offer a full shaving and styling experience on Arthur Road, Wimbledon’s haircare strip.

His first bookings at ‘Uncut @ 126’ are today, appointments available from 2pm – come and get a trim today, there’ll be wine too!

Eventually we hope to somehow merge the two alternate revenue streams and create some sort of bespoke barber shop a cappella group currently called A Poor Silly Fad – if that’s not enough diversification for them, I really don’t know what to say to them, on today of all days!

And now in other news

Not a lot to report really – yesterdays end of year stockcount revealed to us how many bottles of wine we opened for tasting over the preceding 12 months and that someone stole a half bottle of champagne in the same period.  Actually not a bad result all in all, so we opened another bottle…

Cricket seems to be in an up phase for now, we are preparing for a downward hurtle anytime now.  Football is back on this weekend and the Pig & Whistle is having a refurb.  That, I believe, is the main topics covered, apart from what we are tasting this weekend.

Tasting this weekend

Representing white wine and Argentina will be Michel Torino Coleccion Torrontes 2015 (£10.49) a wine we have enjoyed for absolutely ages but haven’t shared with you since July 2011! Sadly the importer has ditched it so we bought all we could but it’s a case of when it’s gone it’s gone. Fragrant, crisp and dry and grown at 1700m altitude in Salta not far from the Atacama Desert, we believe it an ideal partner to some South Asian cooking.

Our red tipple Domaine de L’Agly ‘Les Impressions’ 2010 (£17.99) is from gnarly old vines on the edge of the Pyrenees. Rich on the nose with dark fruit and spice aromas, the palate doesn’t disappoint either, with black cherry and spice and a long velvety finish. Smoother than a drive in a roller this is the perfect partner to some lamb!

And it’s goodnight from me and it’s goodnight from him – Goodnight!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The scribbled message Alex wrote to me, on a scrap of paper he had clearly salvaged from the bin last night, had definite traces of Yoda:

‘if approaching long weekend, shorter email must you send!’

Frankly, having just got back from holiday, my last couple of weeks have been one long weekend, but I don’t think he was talking about that.  I think he’s referring to the upcoming Easter break which starts this evening and demands that you vacate the office until Tuesday morning, at least.  Hurray, the longest free holiday of the year is here, so the last thing I want to do is distract you with lengthy epistles about upcoming tastings and sporting trivialities.

So, as we haven’t used this format for a while, let’s bullet point things for speed and clarity:

• Good Friday – we are open from 11am until 3pm
• Easter Saturday – we are open from 10am until 6pm
• Easter Sunday and Easter Monday – we are closed
• Easter Tuesday (?) – we are open, as usual and for the foreseeable…
• England won the rugby – hooray!
• Afghanistan very nearly beat England in the cricket – hooray?
• Further to our Aldi comment last week, we discover Tesco selling a champagne for £7.50
• That’s only a couple of quid more than the cost of the required volume of grapes to make a bottle of Champagne, off the vine, prior to any vinification
• We think the supermarkets are just super!
• Tasting a white and a red this weekend, unusually
• Champalou Vouvray Sec 2013 – £15.39 – ‘very good indeed’, is what we wrote
• Belisario Lacrima di Morro d’Alba 2014 – £13.49 – ‘hailing from near Ancona, this is a bit special’, is just the start of an exceptional tasting note…
• Come and see us today, tomorrow and Saturday but definitely not Sunday or Monday…

And that’s it for this week.  Have a lovely Easter, hug your loved ones and stay safe!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

“I don’t really understand why journalism has to be so nasty, so sarcastic and intrusive.”  Paul Daniels, February 2005

Pick a card, any card

Just a few weeks after Blankety Blank’s finest moved upstairs, the diminutive host of Odd One Out and Every Second Counts has now gone to join him.

Whilst it was never cool to profess a liking of Paul Daniels, for many of us he was as much a part of our formative years as Crackerjack and Rentaghost, and he was most definitely a TV superstar and a housewives favourite.  Alongside a bit of magic here and there, he was most famous in our house for being the rug-topped host of the two shows mentioned at the top.  If you don’t know these programmes, google them, they will provide a perfect time capsule of life, and dress sense, in the 80’s – you’ll like it, not a lot, but you’ll like it!

Pick a winner

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the depressing news this week.  It seems to have been coming at us from all angles: buoyed by an English win in the rugby, we tuned into the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday to watch what turned out to be a masterclass.  Chris Gayle was giving it and the England team seemed overawed.  We’re yet to have a winner at Cheltenham and we’ve tried everything – except backing the favourites.

Stop picking on us

Outside of sport, everybody’s favourite George crushed our spirits on Wednesday.  Well, actually, he didn’t do anything to spirits, beer or cider, but he did let wine duty increase for the first time since 2014.  Interpretations amongst our suppliers vary between a 3 or 4 pence increase in duty, which in fact means 5 pence once you’ve added VAT.  This now means that every bottle of wine on the shelf has more than £2.50 worth of taxes included in the price – makes me wonder what may, or may not, be in that Tempranillo that Aldi are selling for £3.49 (apparently with free delivery too…)

Don’t pick him

Outside of wine, in the real-er world, we still seem to have that other famous wig worrier, Donald Trump, filling our screens.

In the Global Forecasting Service for April 2016, from The Economist Intelligence Unit, nestled between “Grexit” is followed by a euro zone break-up (risk intensity 15) and The rising threat of jihadi terrorism destabilises the global economy (risk intensity 12), also at risk intensity 12, sits: Donald Trump wins the US presidential election.  Apparently, his lack of consistent policies, his consistent hostility towards free trade, China, the Middle East, Mexico and everyone in between, mixed with the previously inconceivable fact that he is the Republican frontrunner for Presidential candidate has set some serious alarm bells ringing.

I think, perhaps, we ought to tell someone…

Pick up a bottle of wine on the way home, love, it’s been a rotten week…

And now it’s Friday and we need a drink, I think.  The sun shone yesterday and I had the door open all day until the darkness descended.  And it was lovely.  If it carries on being lovely (not today admittedly) you might well start thinking about Rosé again.  We can help.  The new vintage (2015) of Chateau Aumerade Cru Classé arrived at the end of last week and we believe this is probably the best vintage we’ve tasted.  There’s a bit more bright fruit this year but still with a beautifully dry finish – the three people to have tried it so far have been definitely wowed.

Chateau de L’Aumerade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ 2015 Côtes de Provence Cru Classé

The Chateau de L’Aumerade is a 400 year old vineyard in the heart of Provence. Its red soils are rich in minerals, giving it an edge on the quality stakes amongst its neighbours. This edge was recognised in 1956 when the estate was designated “Cru Classé”. A lovely pale salmon colour, it is indeed cracking stuff with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral and an impressively long finish. We think they’ve pulled out all the stops for the 60th anniversary of their Cru Classé designation. 

The perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the Sunday papers and a deck chair.

£13.99 each – Six bottles for £72

Should pink not be your drink right now, why not have a taste of Pauletts Aged Release Riesling 2009 – £18.99.  From Polish Hill River in Clare Valley, South Australia, this is absolutely delicious.  Light straw in colour with an enticing floral, toasty honey nose.  Citrus flavours, particularly lime, pack the palate and some of that floral honey character closes it all off beautifully.

If red is more what you’re seeking then can we offer you a glass of Carlonet 2012 – £17.49?  From the Uitkyk Estate in Stellenbosch, whose Chenin Blanc went down a storm last week, this Cabernet Sauvignon has a cassis laden nose framed with a bit of oak and a palate of fresh rounded, red fruits and less oak character than threatened on the nose.  Very tasty with a supremely long finish – would be great with lamb at Easter, should you be thinking that far ahead.

That’s it from us for this week, Spring starts on Sunday, shorts and flip-flops to the front of the wardrobe, please!

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It seems to us that a variety of sports have forced their way into the newsletter this week.  Early cycling season event, The Race to the Sun (Paris-Nice), had to abandon stage 3 because of snow, which suggests our chums heading to Beaujolais for some bottling action may be a bit chilly!

Warren Gatland seems fairly confident that Wales are going to do a job on England by repeating their World Cup Pool win, but we at Park Vintners are not so sure. The memory alone should be motivation enough, without even counting the inclusion a certain Mr Tuilagi as a super-sub (can we say that, or do we have to get a red top?). At the risk of upsetting some of our readers, it seems to us that George Ford will survive the test and may end up slaying the Dragon!

Maria, Maria, Maria! We’re frankly rather disappointed to be talking about drugs and cheating in sport again. If you can’t do it without cheating, do something else! Maria Sharapova has been busted, proving positive for a banned substance during the Australian Open.  Even if the substance was only banned from the beginning of the year, the list of changes was published at the end of the September, so at the very least she is guilty of naïve negligence!

It seems that the notorious gangster, who had previously died of natural causes (in his garden -with gunshot wounds!), was possibly professionally bumped off!

The hokey-cokey karaoke of the EU continues with Her Maj getting involved (allegedly) this week. It seems the claims on both side get more extraordinary every couple of days, what on earth will they all be claiming by June. Could everyone take a deep breath, have a glass of wine, and just give us some facts?

Before moving swiftly on, we felt we should share some congratulations with you all. Sparkling wine sales in the UK have topped £1 billion annually, for the first time.  Sales over last year are up around 20%, which is enough bubbly to fill an Olympic swimming pool (what a thought!). You have all played your part in this, so pats on backs all round!

Window Work

Since Alex very decoratively filled our window with whisky and King’s Ginger you’ve all got a bit carried away, so much so that we had to buy some more whisky. Then, whilst no one was looking, Wayne snuck our first Irish onto the order form.

Jack Ryan Beggar’s Bush 12 Year Old Single Malt (£51.99), was launched in 2013 to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the Beggar’s Bush Pub in Dublin. The pub, still owned by the Ryan family, has had a long association with fine whiskey. This whiskey is smooth, with a vanilla sweetness to the fruit, a gentle spice and a very long silky finish. Isn’t St Patrick’s Day on the horizon?

Tasting This Weekend

Well, given that we mentioned Beaujolais already and we just happen to have a new one in stock, I can’t help but think we should give Château de Belleverne ‘La Basse-Cour’ Beaujolais Villages 2014 (£9.99), a quick gargle. A lovely drop of Gamay, with fresh strawberry aromas and a lovely fresh light touch on the palate. We’re suggesting popping a Brie in the oven and tucking in with some crusty bread!

In the white corner, we thought we’d wrap our tasting apparatus round Uitkyk Chenin Blanc 2012 (£12.99), a delicious new drop that we’ve discovered from the Simonsberg mountain in Stellenbosch.

Have a fab weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

‘I’m off now’, said Alex as he strode out the door yesterday morning, brimful of self-importance.

It being just past 11am, I was slightly concerned about his work ethic.  ‘I’m off to the supplier tasting up in town, you know, I told you about it yesterday evening, at St Martin in the Fields.’  Aware that he has a habit of making things up and then blaming my not knowing about them on the fact I’m a few years older than him, I let it ride.  The opportunity to have a few hours of peace and quiet in the shop and actually get some serious work done, without puerile, bearded distractions, was too tempting.  So, I let him go.

Clearly there was no tasting going on in the church, it was just an excuse for him to pop into Viandas de Salamanca on the Strand for a ham roll and then to catch a matinée performance of Matilda.  But this was all fine if he was going to be out of the way for those precious few hours.

So what did I get up to in his beardiness’s absence?

First up, coffee, followed by a quick sweep of the shop to clear up any leftovers from Wednesday night’s tasting.  Floor stack back in place, Spotify #ThrowbackThursday on the computer, fridges filled.

Then, between writing a few tasting notes for our new wines, rehearsing my oldest and best jokes on Rufus the dog (If I’ve got three eyes, four ears, two mouths and a sprouting beauty spot, how do I look?  Ruff, he replied) and re-merchandising the Biltong, I had some lunch.  It was already half past two – the day was flying by and I hadn’t yet looked at the BBC website to read about the Arsenal game!

Loved ones and close friends have often queried what it is we do all day and I do hope this snapshot gives you a good glimpse into our busy retail existence.

To continue, when Alex came back at about 4pm, still replete with importance and silly beard, I decided it was time to grab my coat and grab my hat and head out to the pub and some dinner with some old friends.  Another day, another dollar.

However, during his brief sojourn in the shop, micromanager Alex had written me a list of things that I need to mention in this week’s email, along with his patented egg-sucking instruction, so here you go…

SUNDAY

Sunday is Mother’s Day and needs to be celebrated.  To forget is inexcusable and rightly so.  A piece of advice, courtesy of Alex, to anyone who is a father.  You may well be reading this, confident that you have organised a card and some flowers for your Mum, and thus see yourself as being off the hook.

However, have you thought about the mother of your children?

That’s right.  It’s an absolute guarantee that your 12 year old son will not have even registered the date, let alone actively done anything about it and now is the time to step in, rather than at 7.30am on Sunday morning.  Croissants and flowers are nice but so, too, is Bollinger.  A good friend of mine has always believed that there is no problem that can’t be solved by throwing the appropriate amount of money at it and, on more than one occasion, we have benefited from his resolutions.  However, to help you all out, this weekend you won’t have to throw as much money at it as you would normally:

FRIDAY 4^TH MARCH – SATURDAY 5^TH MARCH – BOLLINGER SPECIAL CUVÉE PRICE CUT

NORMAL PRICE £45 – OFFER PRICE £33.33 PER BOTTLE, WHILST STOCKS LAST.

So don’t forget, Mother’s Day on Sunday, to forget is inexcusable.

THURSDAY 21^ST APRIL

Our ever popular Wine & Cheese evening is on again.  We select four cheeses with a little help from our new pals at The London Cheese Board and we line up some wines to taste alongside them.  It’s a very simple formula but it seems to have plenty of fans!  £20 per person – tasting starts at 8pm.

TODAY & TOMORROW

Occasionally Alex and I are in the same tasting, at the same time, and what tends to result is that we buy some new wines.  This time it was Spain, again.  We love Spain and are constantly finding new wines that we have to try and cram onto the seemingly shrinking shelves.  This week we have listed Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero 2013 – £17.99 which Alex first had in Spain last year and has been hassling to buy ever since; Gran Colegiata Lagrima Toro 2012 – £11.99 which adds a bit of body to the shelf; Lopez de Haro Rioja Crianza 2013 – £10.99 purely because of its darn fine label and Nisia Old Vine Verdejo 2014 – £16.99 from Rueda, where all the good Verdejo comes from.

We’ll open the Lopez de Haro Rioja Crianza 2013 and the Nisia Old Vine Verdejo 2014 this weekend so why not pop in to try them out – you never know, you might even catch us working!  (well, perhaps not Alex)

Now Rufus, did I tell you the one about the interrupting cow….

Wayne & Alex