The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, here we are, the USA has again been tangoed and the space hopper that was President 45 is now President 47 and, to quote the News Agents, ‘the velociraptors now know how to open the gates.’ Did you see any of the inauguration? I tried to avoid as much as I could but still managed to see much more than I would have liked. Some of it was like a rogue’s gallery; we had the Tech Bros lurking like second rate Batman villains alongside Lettuce Liz, Suella Braverman, Aaron Banks, Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage. Could nobody manage a zap-biff-pow? Sixties kids shows aside, it seemed to me that Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment might even prohibit him being President but I’m guessing smarter folk than I have managed a legal work around.

Talking of work arounds, as promised, he signed loads of executive orders, avoiding any actual law-making but making him look very busy with books, pens and clever stuff.  Those executive orders range from bad to just terrible and there are even accusations from lawyers that some are so error strewn that they may have been written by AI!

The wall is going back up, the drug cartels have been declared terrorists and yet Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, the drug world’s dark web Amazon if you will, has been pardoned. On the subject of pardon’s, many of the people behind the January 6^th invasion of the Capitol building have been pardoned, which rather suggests that treason is acceptable in some way or other. How long before the Secret Service is replaced by the Proud Boys we wonder? It’ll end up like the Rolling Stones experience in Altamont I suspect, albeit with less Sympathy for the Devil and more street fighting, man.

Whilst the Statue of Liberty is busy packing her bags to head off ‘home’ to France, Trump has also suggested that Vlad Putin heads homeward with his guns and North Korean soldiers and leave Ukraine alone. If that happens that actually would be at least something good to come out of all the chaos.

Saturday sees us celebrating the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-Race and the poet that wrote the address. Yes, 25^th January has arrived with undue haste and Burns Night is upon us. Over the years, Trump has made much of his Scottish heritage through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis. Sadly, since 1971, he has not been able to celebrate properly because haggis has been banned by the US authorities, depriving Trump and 27 million or so Scottish Americans of their rightful heritage. Whilst we are somewhat surprised that a repeal of this wasn’t in the pile of executive orders signed, we may have good news. Macsween’s are developing a ‘compliant’ haggis so they can reach that untapped market by substituting the sheep lung for sheep heart. That’s going to give the Donald a change from his cheeseburgers!

Whilst we’re on the subject of haggis, we naturally were looking at a wine match that we might not have thought of and naturally had a chat with you friend and mine, Google. They have an AI search now which suggested a selection of red wines much the same as we had thought of but then ended with: “You can also try a sweet dessert wine like Sauternes to cut through the fat of the haggis”. Clearly, I don’t want to incur the wrath of Hal, Grok or whatever the AI is called, but Sauternes, really? Just no!

Whilst talking foodstuffs it appears that Kemi Badenoch would like Lettuce Liz to shut up. We’re with you on this one Kemi!

So, we’re going to suggest we taste some wine this weekend that will be very tasty should you be enjoying an evening with a wee haggis beastie.

We’ll open the bidding with a glass of Troballa Garnatxa Blanca 2022 (£19.99), Costers del Segre, Spain which is just the right sort of weight and fruitiness to hang in there with the richness of a haggis if necessary, and will be an absolute wow with the Cullen skink starter, the right kettle of fish if you will!

Following on with the red waistcoat will be Le Voisin D’En Face Syrah (£16.49), Ardeche, France which is absolutely the right balance of fruit and juiciness to tame the wee beasty.

That’s it from us – we’ll be a bit late opening up on Tuesday 28th as we have yet another tasting to go to but we will be back before most of you realise we’re gone!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ve had an exciting week, travelling on the tube all the way to Camden to spend the day tasting a selection of potential new wines, some new vintage Burgundy and even a few spirits. There’ll be a few new things along the way in due course and we’ll be able to replace some of the Burgundy that you all drank over the tail end of last year.

In Parliament, it seems to have been similarly exciting with Tulip Siddiq resigning after becoming embroiled in her Aunt’s Bangladesh corruption scandal which is hardly a good look for the Corruption Minister. Also in Parliament, Met Police are investigating allegations of the drink spiking of a parliamentary researcher in the Strangers Bar on 7^th January. There are definitely some wrong’uns in politics, aren’t there?

Over the pond, we only have a few days to go before the installation of Trump 2.0. This new version has enjoyed a large upgrade of the surrounding tech but sadly no change has been made in integrity, truth or morality. He seems to have spent a large part of the last week badmouthing the firefighters trying to keep Los Angeles from burning to the ground. He might do well to consider a quote from a very old children’s programme: “I can’t think what Trumpton would do without its Fire Brigade”. Hardly a great way to start but I guess they knew what they were getting when they voted for him.

Back to wine though. Tasting a broad selection of wines side by side from the same villages and vintage is always a nice indicator of where we think the vintage is going. For 2023 Burgundy, we tasted in the region of 75 wines, a mixture of both reds and whites. We found the whites a little on the rich and fruity side and, unusually for us, found we preferred the reds. Wayne was also lucky enough to taste an alcohol free rosé from Provence however, judging by the look on his face, it’s not something that we’ll be budgeting for this summer!

Which bring us on to our world beating January Sale. It might be the best sale we’ve ever done, it’s a beautiful sale and from our standpoint, certainly has the same mechanic as our previous sales.

It’s quite simple: come to the shop, choose six bottles of wine and we’ll give you a discount of 16.66%. That’s the mathematical equivalent (to two decimal places) of paying for only five bottles. The wine doesn’t even have to be all the same, you can choose six entirely different bottles and we’ll still give you a discount. A mixable six for five!

So, step right up, form an orderly queue and feel free to ask questions.

Talking of forming an orderly queue, this weekend we’ll open some tariff beating wines. We’ll start off in the white corner with De Loach Russian River Chardonnay (£30.99) from the cool climate of Russian River this is a cracking Californian white wine with tropical and citrus character and a lovely touch of vanilla spice.

The red corner is a populated this week by a rather delicious Lalande de Pomerol that is Fleur de Bouard (£39). From the same folks that make Chateau d’Angelus this is a medium to full bodied red with a lovely voluptuous palate and dark cherry and berry fruit notes, polished silky tannins and a touch of mocha spice to finish.

To end with a smile, Donald Trump once stated: “I judge people based on their capability, honesty, and merit.”

Fellow Wine Lovers,

• Babe, I love you so, I want you to know…
• That I’m gonna miss your love, the minute you walk out that door
• So please don’t go – don’t go – don’t go away
• Please don’t go – don’t go – I’m begging you to stay

Wise words, written by KC & the Sunshine Band in 1979, covered by KWS in 1992 and sung by wine merchants all over the country this week, these are sentiments that straddle the generations.  Welcome to January 2025.

A quick admin note though, before we get stuck in – as often happens in January, there are tastings galore.  As a result, we will be closed all day on Tuesday 14^th January to attend some important ones – apologies, we will be open on Monday and Wednesday onwards…

Back to it now.

And it’s been a brutal start to the year.  The Trump caravan has wobbled into town and the attendant nuttiness has perhaps set a benchmark for the months to come.  If a man can actively suggest that Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal should now be part of the USA then I fear we can project what his thoughts might be regarding Ukraine becoming part of Russia.  Meanwhile his current crush, Mr Musk, famous for dabbling in marijuana and ketamine, has clearly had his doors of perception opened so wide that he has time travelled more than 10 years back in time and has concluded that an individual, whose career has focused on fighting for women and victims of sexual violence, is in fact a witch and should be in prison.  Welcome to January 2025.

And it’s cold.  Whilst we live in a London bubble, even here we have seen the mercury touch below zero and rumour has it snowflakes have been spotted, sporadically.  Around the country the news is less appealing and doesn’t seem to be getting better.  Flooding in York, snow and ice chaos in Devon whilst Northumberland looks like a lunar landscape – welcome to January 2025.

Which all begs the obvious question, what on earth would possess anyone to welcome a ‘dry’ January?

Just to add to all this mirth, a quick look ahead to what is going to happen on February 1^st.  Currently, the duty on wines between 11.5% and 14.5% has been set at a standard rate.  However, in February, new duty rates will come in to force, meaning a rise in price on most wines, since the new rates will now be on a sliding scale with duty dependent on alcohol content – effectively every 0.1% ABV will be subject to a different tariff.  Thankfully, the ABV for most wine in the UK increases in 0.5% jumps, so that is a small mercy.  To cut to the chase, every wine over 12% will go up in price with the hardest hit being those at 14.5% where a bottle will immediately cost 65 pence more when we buy them! 

Perhaps it might be worth buying a few bottles before the end of the month which segues quite nicely into my next paragraph…

JANUARY SPECIAL OFFER – SIX BOTTLES FOR THE PRICE OF FIVE

Some of you may find this offer familiar, as indeed you should.  This is our annual kick-start the year/make money to pay the VAT bill/encourage people across the threshold strategy which we have done every year since 2011 – and it works for us and hopefully it works for you too!

16.666% OFF SIX BOTTLES is another way of putting it, for those that are good at mental arithmetic.

Either way, the offer goes on until 31^st January and applies to most of the wines in the shop – in fact, we’ve attached a current wine list, should you fancy a perusal.

Whilst we’re talking attachments, we’ve also attached the notes for this month’s WINE CLUB wines.  For those of you that don’t know, each month we select 6 wines for £75 and 6 wines for £100 that we think you might like.  The way the club works is simple – give us your email address and at the start of each month we’ll send you the notes and you can decide whether they tickle your fancy.  Should you be tickled, you just need to respond affirmatively and we’ll deliver them to you at a mutually convenient time.  There are no strings or fees, just the cost of the wines, so you can dip in and out at will.  It’s very simple, just let us know if you fancy joining in…

This month the £75 case includes:

• Cave de Turckheim Riesling 2021, Alsace, France
• De Wetshof Bon Vallon Chardonnay 2023, Robertson, South Africa
• Orovela Cuvée Chandrebi 2007, Caucasus Mountains, Georgia
• Cantine Povero Barbera D’Asti ‘Dianae’ 2023, Piemonte, Italy
• Famiglia Bianchi Malbec 2022, Mendoza, Argentina
• Palacio del Camino Real Reserva 2017, Rioja, Spain

Whilst the £100 case contains:

• Domaine Jouan Menetou Salon 2023, Loire, France
• Max Ferd. Richter ‘Zeppelin’ Riesling 2023, Mülheimer Sonnenlay, Mosel, Germany
• Meerlust Chardonnay 2023, Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Chateau de Paraza ‘Cuvée Spéciale’ 2020, Minervois, France
• Finca Bacara ‘Time Waits For No One’ 2022, Jumilla, Spain
• ‘La Côte Sauvage’ Cairanne 2021, Rhône, France

To whet your whistles, this weekend we’ll be opening the orange wine from Georgia – Orovela Cuvée Chandrebi 2007 – £12.99 and then for the red, a new listing,Famiglia Bianchi Malbec 2022 – £14.99 which seems appropriate for the current climate!

That’s it from us; we’ll leave you with these last words:

• Don’t you, forget about me
• As you walk on by, will you call my name?
• As you walk on by, will you call my name?
• When you walk away, or will you walk away?

Over and Out.