The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Oh, where to start?  How about talking about the weather, the richest seam of conversation available to dwellers of this fair isle.  It may be bright outside now but it won’t be later – welcome to Shivery Spring 2026, the sequel to Waterlogged Winter.  Wayne went off to play golf on Wednesday, wrapped up warm and ready for what the world could throw at him, or so he thought – 4 hours later he had experienced sunshine, thunder, rain, sunshine, sleet, sunshine, snow, grey clouds, sunshine and rain – most of which was on the front nine.  He has now declared that golf is no longer a hobby that he wants to have anything to do with and will be abandoning this ‘sport’ for others to ‘enjoy’ whilst he indulges in the pleasure of long-distance cycle rides coated in just a thin smear of Lycra and a triumphant smile because, apparently, this will be warmer!

Anyway, this is all just preamble before reminding you all that this Sunday, 29^th March, is the chronometric start of summer.  This means the clocks will leap forward by one hour at 1am in the morning, giving us all less time in bed but increasing our chances of sitting in the garden beyond 7pm.  We will then have 210 days of unbroken, wall-to-wall sunbeams until the 25^th October, when we’ll have to put long trousers back on and mothball the sun loungers – sounds good?

However, we still have a couple more days of winter to get through, so don’t get too enthusiastic.  Having said that, the number of people lighting barbecues last weekend slightly beggared belief and Rosé sales tripled what they had been the week before, which goes to show we should never underestimate the British ability to pretend it’s summer!

The world of wine continues to revolve despite attempts from all sides to knock it off kilter.  Good news comes from Wine GB who released their 2025 harvest report which was filled with positivity – a 39% harvest increase from 2024, possibly resulting from it being the earliest and ripest grape harvest “ever seen” in the UK has led them to predict that there should be some exceptional wines available in the near future and decent volumes of them too – very exciting!  The bad news came from the UK’s biggest high street wine merchant, Fortress Investment Group, owner of 200 shops around the country and employer of over 1,000 people has put its business up for sale.  More commonly known as Majestic, FIG have owned the company since 2019 and their overriding objective is to protect and grow their investors’ capital – apparently they don’t view multi-site wine retail as offering sufficient capital growth which is probably something that Wine Rack, Unwins, Oddbins and Thresher could have told them years ago.

News has just reached us that duty on fuel has been halved, with the Government saying the move is designed to shield consumers and businesses from rising global costs amid fears of a wider cost of living impact.  The change in legislation comes as governments elsewhere respond to the economic impact of the ongoing conflict involving Iran: ‘it is essential that we don’t bury our heads in the sand and believe that we operate in a bubble’, said the minister announcing this wise decision.  Have no fear though, this news comes from Gibraltar, our fuel prices will remain reassuringly high for as long as this not-forever war goes on.

Before you ask, we know that Nottingham Forest and Manchester City both won at the weekend, no further discussion required.  Quins get the coach down to Bristol this weekend but will likely be thumbing a lift back given their season.  Meanwhile, in cricket news, we both met Sir Ian Botham on Tuesday and tasted his latest range of wines which were actually very good, possibly coming to our shelves soon if terms can be agreed.

In the absence of Booze by Botham, we’ll be openings Wines chosen by Wayne this weekend and he has selected thus:

Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2024 – £20.99 is a delicious barrel fermented Chardonnay from Swartland in South Africa.  Crisp, fresh and elegant, with grapefruit and lime citrus notes, a hint of something a tad more tropical and then a lovely creamy textured finish.  It’s not Burgundy but it could be a nice alternative and certainly more wallet friendly.

Fattoria di Calappiano Vinciano Chianti Riserva 2022 – £22.49 which comes from an estate dating back to Medici Florence. Today it has more than 200 hectares of vines planted alongside woodlands and olive groves situated in this natural heritage site.  Predominantly Sangiovese, this has an appealing aromatic bouquet of soft red fruits following on to a mouth-watering palate filled with redcurrants, cherries and plums and that spicy finish that is so often associated with Chianti Classico.

Wines will be open on both Friday and Saturday so do pop by and join us in our ongoing discussion of just how cold that wind is!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week, Reuters, a news organisation founded in London in 1851, revealed a major investigation to unlock a decades long kept secret. The investigation ran to 8000 words, featured some rather good pictures and referenced sources in London, Bristol, Horenka, New York and Kyiv. There were comments from war photographers, musicians and a hotel worker. Having read all of the 8000 words we can safely reveal that, apparently, Banksy is the same person that the Mail on Sunday revealed over 20 years ago. He has, over the years, used several pseudonyms and still isn’t Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack.

I’ll admit to being a little surprised to find there were no more pressing topics to investigate other than an ‘almost’ anonymous artist who was unveiled two decades ago. Does knowing his name and what his face looks like improve or lessen his work?

Meanwhile, in Cuba, Juan Carlos Pino has modified his Polish-built Fiat Polski with scrap and repurposed parts, to run on charcoal. His efforts to get around the US oil blockade involved burning charcoal in a sealed former propane tank sealed with an old transformer. It has a filter that is a stainless steel milk jug stuffed with old clothes. Whilst it all sounds really rather Heath Robinson, his two cylinder Fiat Polski can achieve 70kph! This ingenuity has been copied and now has a 50 kilowatt generator powering a neighbourhood and an icemaker able to make ice again. Juan Carlos said “just about any engine can ​be converted to run on charcoal by drawing hot gas instead of gasoline into the carburettor”.

This week the King opened a project that started in 2009. The King Charles III coastal path is a 2689 mile stroll around the coastline of just England currently and was originally instigated during Gordon Brown’s premiership. There are a couple of challenging spots to negotiate, the Mersey crossing requires a ferry, and to get across the River Erme in South Devon you have to time your crossing within an hour of low tide and wade across as there is no bridge. Should 2689 miles not be quite enough for you, the Wales Coast Path, completed in 2012, adds another 870 miles and most of Scotland’s coast is accessible under the right to roam so that could get you all the way up to about 9000 miles. Those of you who have six weeks off in the summer will be expected to update us with your progress!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the man who would be king has won a war, needs help to win a war, doesn’t need anybody’s help ever, especially to destroy what he already told us was destroyed back in November. Oil is up, gas is up, stocks are down and Russian sanctions are lifted!

In booze news, the Office for National Statistics has booted ‘Premium Lager’ out of the calculation for the Consumer Price Index and shipped in alcohol-free beer instead. New World white wine and Old World white wine are now merged together and just exist as white wine. Randomly, motorhomes have also been included for the first time.

In cocktail news, bone broth is coming to a cocktail near you in the near future. Predictions are of a rise in popularity of Bullshot. We have no comment.

Tasting This Weekend

We will start off in Marlborough with a glass of Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc (£22.99). We’ve stocked this since the first vintage of 2009 and love the restraint that Kevin brings to the now traditional Marlborough character. We’ll head over to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon for the red: Hochar 2021 by Chateau Musar (£26.59) is a blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from a single vineyard in the Western Bekaa Valley, near the village of Aana. The vines are 30 years old and yields kept low. We tasted it recently for the first time in a number of years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Let us know what you think.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Let’s start with something that doesn’t involve war, rugby or Epstein – let’s start with something to celebrate or rather, someone.

This Sunday, 15^th March, is Mothering Sunday, lasting for a full 24 hours and bringing with it a great opportunity to honour your Mum because, let’s face it, we’ve all got one and, without her, we’d not be here!  So, we delved into Wikipedia and found out things we didn’t know.  We knew already that Mothering Sunday to be a celebration of your mother church, the church where you were baptised, but hadn’t noticed that it always takes place on the 4^th Sunday of Lent.  We knew that in the 20^th Century the celebration became more secular and Mothers themselves became more the focus but we didn’t know that it is also known as Rose Sunday, or Refreshment Sunday, a day on which fasting can be suspended and feasting can be enjoyed, kind of a Lenten half-time orange. 

But, before we get to Sunday, today is also a special day, unless you happen to suffer from Paraskavedekatriaphobia.  Yep, we’ve been worm-holing on Wikipedia again, which for us is far more fun than TikTok or Hay Day.  Apparently, the world renowned (?) Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute of North Carolina, tells us that an estimated 17–21 million people in the United States suffer from this particular phobia – about 5% of the population – and as a consequence will avoid walking under ladders, breaking mirrors, spilling salt, opening umbrellas indoors and crossing paths with black cats more than ever today, Friday 13^th.

Sometimes we marvel at how many people have their lives run by folklore!

Mind you, sports fans are having their beliefs tested of late.  France didn’t believe Scotland could beat them; England believed their unbeaten run against Italy was enough ammunition to allow them to play terribly and still win; Wales believed they could beat Ireland and at times it looked like Ireland thought that too.  All this brings us into a very weird final weekend of Six Nations Competition: England fans will be hoping Wales beat Italy (with neither team getting a bonus point) whilst whoever wins out of the Ireland-Scotland clash will be cheering their hearts out for England to beat France, in Paris.  Incredible, in the truest sense of the word. 

Meanwhile, the accolade ‘best football league in the world’ is apparently no longer believable since none of the English teams managed to win their Champions league games this week.  Three teams lost by 3 goals, the overall final score was 16-6 in favour of Europe and Liverpool and Man City failed to even get on the score sheet – let’s pray that form continues into the weekend!

In more local news, as suggested last week, we are hosting another Wine & Cheese Tasting event on Thursday 16^th April at 7.30pm.  We only announced this last week and have sold almost half the seats at the table, so if you fancy fine wine and fancy cheese on a rainy evening in April, we’ve got you!  Tickets cost £30 per person so if you fancy it drop us a line or pop in the shop to reserve your spot.

Recently one of us went to Italy and discovered, to his surprise, that they do rather good wine.  Filled with this knowledge, he rushed back to London, like a modern-day Sir Walter Raleigh to share the news with his King.  So impressed was King Wayne with the keen traveller’s tales that he decreed that examples of such wines be shown on tasting this weekend, for the delectation of others… and lo, an orange wine and a red wine from Sicily were chosen:

Sibiliana Vini Sensale Anfora Orange 2024 – £16.99.  When we first listed this, it proved an enormous hit and then sold out.  So, we bought more.  Made from organic Catarratto Bianco, Sicily’s most planted grape, this is fermented on the skins and left for 5 months in amphorae.  This process gives us lovely, ripe yellow fleshed fruit character (plums or nectarines) and a long, rich finish.

Collezione Beatrice Nero d’Avola 2024 – £13.49.  Beginning in 1850 with an Osteria serving Southern Italian wines, the Pirovano family business has developed into an Italy-wide producer and bottler of wines.  This is a juicy and approachable expression of Sicily’s signature red grape with a nose brimming with ripe blackberry, cherry and plum fruit, accented by hints of violet and sweet spice.  A smooth and fruit-forward palate make this a real second-glasser!

Come and have a taste and perhaps get your mum a bottle of Champagne whilst you’re at it – I think we all need something to celebrate right now, don’t we?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As some of you may have noticed, lately we have been swanning off on mostly Monday and Tuesday mornings to attend tastings. It’s that time of year and there’s a couple more to come, so thanks for bearing with us.

So how did it go this week? Well Monday saw us at a tasting that was not at all what we were expecting. The wide ranging portfolio tasting we were expecting turned out to be a much focussed event featuring barely a handful of producers, many of which we were familiar with. We tasted a Provençal rosé that was so pale that it defied the name. So pale in fact that I suspect if it hadn’t have said rosé on the label a gambling man might have had his chips on white! We were back at the shop with our lunch by 1.30 that day.

Tuesday saw us start off at a church associated with Jack the Ripper and delivered a much more rewarding tasting experience.  Checking some new vintages of things we already list, spotting a couple of things that we shall try and shoehorn onto the shelves. We also managed to catch up with Swiss, an old chum from Oddbins days and have a quick catch up with the lovely Amy who looks after us remotely from Manchester.

Then, we hot-footed it to Westminster just as quickly as you can ever hot-foot it on the District line.

Here we found ourselves charmed by a bottle of Champagne that was half the price of the one we were supposed to find charming. Oops! We also found ourselves wondering if Manzanilla spritz really would be the drink of the summer, whilst simultaneously bumping into our chum Michael, a wine buyer at one of the London clubs. We’ve known him for so many years I guess we’ll have to stop thinking of him as ‘young Michael’ now. We also discovered that the uniform of the Yeomen from the Tower of London in civvies is almost as striking as their ‘proper’ uniform. Markedly less red though.

Talking of red, whilst having a chat about blends with the upstanding gentleman from Fleur de Boüard, Wayne found himself on the receiving end of an unexpected intervention from the beer buyer for one of the supermarkets: “No, they’re all the same blend just different ages!” Thanks for that! Overall though they were an interesting couple of tastings with the possibility of some new wines in the not too distant future.

Talking of tastings, we feel it is prime time to announce our next Cheese and Wine Tasting: Thursday 16^th April at 7pm. Cost is £30 per head.

Six nations continues on the Rugby front, Ireland host Wales tonight, France travel to Scotland for the early game, and England will have time for a spot of sightseeing in Rome before starting the later game on Saturday. Will Italy make history?

Talking of Italy, in proper sports it’s Strade Bianche on Saturday. If you’ve not watched before, it’s a fabulous mix of white gravel roads and punchy climbs. It marks the opening of the 2026 campaign for three times winner Tadej Pogačar. He certainly starts as the bookies favourite, but Tom Pidcock is not to be ruled out with one win under his belt already. This race certainly appears to match his skill set. In the women’s race last year’s winner Demi Vollering is probably favourite, but do keep an eye out for Puck Pieterse.

Tasting This Weekend

We can’t promise you liveried tasters or the appearance of old chums, but we can offer something really rather tasty to tantalise your taste buds for the weekend.

We’ll start off in Swartland South Africa with Patina Chenin Blanc 2021 (£26.99). Local chap Tim Atkin MW describes it:  “The nose entices with its fresh green fruit character showing aromas of Granny Smith and yellow apple, fresh pineapple, papaya, greengage and lime with whiffs of fig, acacia and lemon verbena. The fruit profile of the nose follows through onto the palate with flavours of poached pear, passion fruit, nectarine and quince. The mid-palate is very balanced with a soft, smooth mouthfeel and a vibrant, yet integrated, lemony acidity. Fresh tropical fruit lingers on a clean finish with hints of tarragon and ginger.” 92 Points.

For the red we’ll head down to Bordeaux for Lussac Saint- Émilion superstar Chateau Lucas 2016 (£24.99). This estate has been owned by the same family since the 16^th century. The Vauthier family own several estates in Bordeaux, also counting Ausone and Fonbel amongst their holdings. This wine is a fifty/fifty blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot and to this taster is an absolutely cracking wine. Shall we have a roast at the weekend?

So drop by, say hi and have a taste!