The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Before we go any further, a bit of admin to follow up the brief email we scrambled out mid-week.

Today, Friday 28^th February, we will be shutting at the earlier time of 5pm. 

As some of you may be aware, in fact some of you may even benefit from this, every year we help with the Kings College Quiz Night.  By helping out, what we really mean is that we run the bars and sell wine to the local masterminds whilst providing a steady, overly confident stream of wrong answers to anyone who will listen…

Suffice to say, we apologise for any inconvenience this causes and we hope to remedy our absence by being here from noon on Saturday.

Admin done.

We’ll start with some quotes:

After more than 25 years in Wimbledon, we have made the heart wrenching decision to close…  We have loved serving you, creating many wonderful memories…  Thank you for being part of our amazing journey.

This was from the email sent out by The Lighthouse restaurant, on the Ridgeway, that closed its doors just over a week ago.

From our first shop on Northcote Road in 1991 to our Marylebone location and beyond, it has been an absolute joy to serve London’s wine lovers—whether in-store, online, or through our private client and En Primeur services…  Sadly, increasingly challenging trading conditions and the additional complexities of Brexit have made it impossible for us to continue… It has truly been an unforgettable journey.

Another journey almost over, as one of the ‘original’ independents, Philglas & Swiggot, announced that it would close its doors in two weeks’ time.

Meanwhile, reports from the hospitality industry show that year on year sales in January were down 1.3% compared to January 2024.  The comment from the consumer intelligence company providing these figures went:

…it shows many consumers remain hesitant about their spending, and while inflation has eased in some areas, business costs remain very high across the sector… energy price rises and the government’s planned changes to National Insurance thresholds and rates could hardly be coming at a worse time. Hospitality’s outlook is positive in the long run, but it deserves much better support than it is currently getting

Is there a point I’m trying to make here?  Probably.  I last went to The Lighthouse in July and had a wonderful evening remarking, as often one does, that we should go there more often and why hadn’t we been there for so long.  And now we can’t.  As the gym rats might say, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Regarding Philglas & Swiggot, if you lived in Southwest London in the 1990’s it was the destination for any interesting wine.  There was Vingt across the road for a few years, with the jeroboam of d’Yquem in the window (fake?) run by Attila, who eventually decided to deal solely with private clients and then there was Mike and Karen, on a one shop mission to gentrify Northcote Road.  The road in the late 90’s and early 00’s didn’t resemble the Nappy Valley it has now become but P & S could definitely lay claim to being the first movers to see it’s potential.  And now they’re closing, a sad end of an era….

So, go and give your local wine merchant a hug, even if he does decide to close at 5pm on a random Friday!

Elsewhere, I’m still serving the self-imposed ban on rattling on about the state of world politics and am even trying not to mention cycling too much.  In other sports, we have rediscovered our ability to lose to everyone in the cricket and, whilst we did manage a win against Scotland in the rugby, the real question is did we win or did Finn Russell lose?  Meanwhile, the our friends across the Severn Bridge have two things to celebrate tomorrow – the Feast of Saint David and a weekend without a 6 Nations defeat!

Back in our world of wine, it seems we’ve hit a bit of a low alcohol glitch.  We rang our alcohol free sparkling supplier to discover they have delisted Belle & Co Brut but have kept the sweeter, less appealing, Rosé whilst our alcohol free beer, Loah, when we contacted them told us that they hadn’t brewed any beer so far this year and were:

currently perfecting our recipes and aim to brew in early spring, we don’t have a set date yet but happy to keep you updated on when our new range will go live

Looks like we’ll all have to drink full-fat then for a bit then, sorry.  We do have an alcohol free red and white though, Contraseña, from Spain which ticks all the boxes…

However, this weekend (well Saturday mainly, sorry), we’ll be going full-fat, with a couple of old favourites from the USA, which is not a phrase that trips off the lips very often these days:

Vina Robles Viognier 2021 – £23.49 – this hails from Paso Robles in California, where the Pacific coastline unfolds into rugged ranch-lands and cowboy ambiance (and who doesn’t love a story with cowboy ambience?).  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.

Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 – £26.99 – ‘Black cherry, mocha and vanilla cream aromas make for a satisfyingly lush nose on this estate bottling. A firm structure frames a very pure palate of roasted red fruit, vanilla cookie and toasty oak flavors, as generous spices push into the finish’ – Matt Kettmann – Wine Enthusiast

So, I think that’s it from us, it’s March tomorrow, the sun is out today, I think we’re going to make it!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

There is a film, from the early 1980’s, called “The Gods Must Be Crazy”; it’s a slightly bonkers film that my wife is rather fond of. In essence, a pilot throws an empty Coca-Cola bottle out of his airplane window and it lands, unbroken, in front of the chief of a nomadic tribe in the Kalahari Desert. The chief believes it to be a gift from the gods and promptly picks it up. Throughout the film a series of chaotic mishaps befalls him, which quite possibly created the title. Spoiler alert- he ditches the bottle at the end of the film. That said, there was a sequel!

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, other than the sense of chaos that pervades the film is what made me think of it. This week, we read of enormous sinkholes that appear to be trying to consume Godstone High Street, its houses and cars. A burst water main could be the culprit, apparently.  That very same day we discovered 2024 YR4 which is an asteroid of around 40-90 metres in size scheduled to hit the earth in December 2032. Thankfully, that’s not as big as the one that caused all the problems for the dinosaurs. Well that’s a relief!

Talking of chaos, much of it centred on Spacehopper 47, who, trying to achieve peace in Ukraine, has decided that President Zelenskyy is the dictator who started the war. Even a modestly successful comedian elected President should not have pointed out the one thing that nobody says aloud but everybody knows. He said that Spacehopper 47 was “Trapped in a disinformation bubble”, which rather upset the apple cart.

Still pushing for a Nobel Peace prize, the White House hosted Tiger Woods and a number of members of the PGA Tour along with members of the Saudi Public Investment fund to try and broker a peace deal between LIV and the PGA.

Meanwhile, Musk and his DOGE team have continued to fire government employees and remove funding from institutions without any wonder about the consequences. Seems the $36 billion that goes to Space-X hasn’t been cut yet, or even the alleged $10.7 million that Trump has spent on golf trips since his re-election!

Having touched upon golf and Russia, we find ourselves pondering the likely outcomes of Amazon assuming “creative control” of the James Bond franchise. Will Bond get around London in a transit van that stops every 10m blocking all traffic? Will those parcel boxes be renamed dead drops? Will Amazon sell you a pack of Penfold Hearts golf balls? Will they just suggest Spectre has been misunderstood? So many questions…

Talking of questions, Six Nations Rugby is back this week. Will Wales score any points against Ireland? Will Italy make France’s trip to Rome a miserable one? Will England finally wrestle the Calcutta Cup back from the Scots who’ve won it the last four times?

The real question is, what are we going to have in our glass whilst we ponder upon all of this?

France will be represented by Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier 2023 – £11.49.  This Languedoc estate, belonging to the Fayet family, is based in the village of Moussan, close to Narbonne. The property has a small brook running around the outskirts which provides natural irrigation to give much needed water. This gives the wines their freshness and appeal; keeping the vines cool in a very hot climate. A flirty Viognier: shimmering hay and peaches with a lush viscous texture give way to a sensual palate of roses, pineapples and mangoes. A delicious partner to Thai or fusion food.

At the other end, Italy will be represented by Urban Park Appassimento 2020 – £14.99 is from our chums at Montresor and is made from grapes dried for around 30 days before being made into wine. A mini Amarone, if you will. We’re quite excited about it, so come and tell us what you think. We’ve got a mushroom stroganoff against this one, how about you?

That’s all from us – Ireland, England and France all playing in the same shade this weekend, will it be a whitewash?!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

• Then I look at you and the world’s alright with me,
• Just one look at you and I know it’s gonna be,
• A lovely day…

This week, all we need is love.  Not tainted love, because that would give love a bad name and would probably require a love resurrection, more the groovy kind of love that grows where my Rosemary goes, that you can’t hurry, that you can’t help falling in, that one love that will keep us together rather than tear us apart.  And once we have found love, what are we gonna to do with it?  Not that, thank you Mr Meatloaf, if we want to know what love is we’ll probably consult the Troggs rather than you or Ms Benatar…

February 14^th today, just in case you missed the hint – if necessary, we’ve got chilled Champagne ready to save your bacon!

Valentine’s Day serves as a bit of a watershed for us as it feels like we’ve got the grim dark days of January well behind us and, with half term also here, the sense that we’re moving towards brighter days – it’ll be March in two weeks’ time, which feels amazing!

We thought that by blockading news from the USA this week, we would avoid political muppetry and mistruth; however our Chancellor seems to have found herself in the hot-seat for all the wrong reasons.  The suggestion that, whilst at HBOS, she might have used her expenses inappropriately on dinners, events, taxis and gifts that led to an investigation cannot be a good look for the person in charge of the government’s current account.  With a sense of déjâ-vu, we also learn that perhaps her CV is not everything it purports to be, although I’m sure there are others in positions of power whose résumés wouldn’t bear too fine scrutiny.  However, since all this comes in the week after the Andrew Gwynne/Oliver Ryan WhatsApp scandal and hot on the heels of ‘voice-coachgate’, it does leave a bitter taste and confirms that the moral pedestal that Labour placed themselves upon when in opposition was really not where they belonged.

At least we all know Nigel Farage is a fibber, not sure he’s ever pretended not to be but where does that leave UK politics if he’s the most transparent player!?

In sport, Tottenham fans can finally celebrate a win!  Enfield Council has approved the football club’s plans to build floodlit all-weather pitches in Whitewebbs Park, taking a 25 year lease for 130 acres of the 240 acre park.  The council got £2 million for this (doesn’t seem much to us) and the irony that the sports grounds will be built on a former golf course should not be lost.

A sage did warn us that once the AELTC Wimbledon Park planning application was approved that it could open the floodgates for development on green belt land and well, look, here we go… What next, Heathrow runway expansion into Windsor Great Park?

Enough of all this, let’s talk drinks and drinking.  We’ve been here for 14 years now and have probably bored you to death with this fact too much already.  Over the years we have seen numerous comings and goings locally – Wine Rack closed and re-opened and closed again within 18 months of our arrival; The Sampler opened on Leopold Road and sadly didn’t last; cigar specialist, Friarwood, opened in the village, followed by the Jeroboam’s deli with Amathus, the spirits specialists, practically next door; last week we learnt that local brewer, By the Horns had gone into liquidation which is a huge blow especially when you consider they started at about the same time as us, made great beer and were running the Phoenix Pub at the AFC ground.  Many ups and downs, over the years.

However, yesterday we heard from a gentleman called James, who rang up out of the blue to tell us about his shop in Wimbledon Chase.  The Artisans Depot is on Merton Hall Road and has just recently changed ownership – they sell wine, beer, deli goods and snacks, have plans to open a wine bar and by all accounts are an asset to the neighbourhood.  We’ve obviously not had a chance to visit them ourselves but, admiring their chutzpah and ambition, we thought we’d give them a shout out!  If you visit, tell them we sent you and they’ll know their marketing worked.

Time for me to stop distracting myself/answering the phone and get on with choosing some wines for the tasting table today:

V Sauvignon Blanc 2022 – £12.99 seems very appropriate for Saint V’s day.   As you’d expect from Marlborough Savvy B, we have vibrant flavours and alluring aromas of zesty citrus and vivacious tropical fruits.  Superbly balanced by a delightful texture and minerality, apparently a good match to Walkers Sensations Roast Chicken and Thyme crisps, according to The Crisp Sommelier!

And for the red, Gran Passione Rosso 2022 – £16.89 seems pretty darnn obvious!  Made from 60% Merlot and 40% Corvina in the Veneto and made in the appassimento method to give us a rich luscious nose and palate full of sweet ripe dark cherry, plum, vanilla and spice.  The Crisp Sommelier recommends Popchips barbeque but in some parts that could be seen as a crime against wine!

That’s it from us for now, no Trump-watch this week, it’s all starting to feel a bit like shooting fish in a barrel to be honest and we like fish.   Ducks on the other hand…

How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

Put it in the microwave until its bill withers

Mic drop.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How nice to see some sunshine this week, eh?

The world still seems to be going full gas on the crazy front. There have been a lot of surprising bits of news this week, example being that Kier Starmer has a voice coach!  I didn’t see that one coming; you’ll be telling me next that Boris Johnson has an ethics adviser or Nigel Farage a personal trainer!

Space Hopper number 47’s latest idea is to turn the Gaza strip into ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’.  I thought that was Dubai’s position but perhaps he’s thinking more of a Varadero like experience with less Canadians?  Canada has, in the meantime, dodged tariffs by promising not to send across the border the things they already don’t send over the border.

The Mexicans have been even trickier, suggesting that it might help stop the cartels if the US helped stopped the flow of arms from the US.  Either way, tariffs postponed for now.

Meanwhile, in Pasadena, victims of the recent Eaton fire who lost their homes are being moved out of the Pasadena Convention Centre so that “America’s Got Talent” can begin filming.  The show must go on apparently, let’s hope they’re looking for some talented builders.

Apparently, Russian watchers are suggesting that the Russian censorship tsarina, Katya Mizulina, will soon unlock Twitter because: “There’s now far less destructive content and information censorship”.  Way to go Musk, that free speech thing is working out pretty well, eh?

Whilst on the subject of Russia, there are quite some fears surrounding the EU’s new EES (Entry/Exit System) system.  This is the much delayed system that will require non-EU residents to submit biometric data.  Atos, IBM and Italy’s Leonardo won the contract to build the system but, according to the FT, Atos used staff at its Moscow office to source some of the software – Atos Moscow opened in 2016 and operates under an FSB licence!

Talking of large scale data harvesting, it seems Musk’s DOGE group gained control of the US Treasuries payment systems.  No sensitive data on all taxpayers to be gained there, I’m sure. Anyway, after a couple of days it was announced they would only have ‘Read only’ access.  I’m sure two days with Admin status wasn’t long enough to learn anything useful, eh kids?

Six Nations continues this weekend with Italy hosting Wales for the early game and England hosting France for the later game.  Scotland host Ireland for the Sunday game.  In a gift to commentators Borthwick has picked a couple of Smiths and in a surprise move France have included Jalibert at fly half.  It turned out the surprise was on me, as the spelling is different to that of the French cyclist who retired in 2002.

Meanwhile, in Greece, many residents of Santorini have been evacuated and a state of emergency declared as a series of earthquakes and tremors have been happening below the sea.  So far no damage has been reported on the island and around 11,000 of the population have left.  Scientists say the tremors are tectonic rather than volcanic.

I think its due time to move onto the public service part of this week’s missive.  Next Friday is Valentine’s Day.  You can’t say you didn’t know as we have given you exactly a weeks’ notice.

In 2023 we told you that according to BBC Good Food, these were the four most popular Valentine meals, based on what people searched for last year:

1. Steak with peppercorn sauce
2. Dauphinoise potatoes
3. Spaghetti carbonara
4. Beef Wellington

This year it would appear that Beef Wellington has been replaced by cupcakes.  Horses and courses I guess but I’m not sure a cupcake works for me.  An idea we did like the sound of was partnering Dauphinoise potatoes with some smoked haddock fillets for a kind of garlicky pimped fish pie.

With these facts in mind, we’ll open some wine.

White wine we will pull a cork on Christian Bellang’s delicious Bourgogne Sous Velle 2022 (£29.50), a rather splendid wine made from grapes grown below the village of Meursault and which we think will be rather tasty with that pimped dauphinoise fish pie.

Red wise, we’re taking an excursion to Bordeaux.  We’ll pull a cork on Chateau Saransot-Dupré 2016, Listrac Médoc (£23).  The estate has been owned by the Raymond family since 1756 and was declared the Best Cru Bourgeois Estate in 2017, the first Listrac estate to be awarded the honour.  It’s a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Carménère and should be a great partner to the Steak with peppercorn sauce.

In the interest of completeness, it appears that chocolates and flowers are also popular!

Cheers!