The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to July, hottest month of the year apparently?!

It’s a month full of celebrations – today Canadians around the world are blowing the froth off a cold Labatt’ Blue in celebration of 155 years of Confederation and political autonomy.  Then, on Monday, the Americans have their turn whilst they de-ice a Coors Light and revel in 246 years of Independence from British Rule.  Ten days later it’s the turn of the French to decapitate a chilled Desperado as they celebrate the storming of the Bastille, the symbolic start of the French Revolution.

In fact, after further research, it looks like July is quite a busy month for Independence days: alongside those mentioned above we have Burundi, Rwanda,  Somalia,  Belarus, Algeria,  Cape Verde, Venezuela,  Comoros,  Malawi,  Solomon Islands,  Argentina,  South Sudan, The Bahamas, Kiribati, São Tomé and Príncipe, Slovakia, Colombia, Belgium, Egypt, Liberia, Maldives, Netherlands, Peru and Vanuatu.  Quite a few of these gained their freedom from the Spanish Empire, a couple from Belgium, however the majority were escaping the grips of the United Kingdom – god bless our imperial past and all its many injustices!

When do we add Scotland to this list I wonder?

As you can no doubt tell from the aimless meanderings above, we’ve not been given much support by world news once again this week.  The news is filled with awful people going to prison for 30 years; it’s filled with reports of the demise of modern, free society in the USA; it’s filled with articles about the Met police being not fit for purpose whilst they are simultaneously given more powers to stop and search anyone they want and arrest peaceful protesters outside parliament.

Not many jokes to be made there.

Sport has given us a bit of succour though.  The cricket produced a thriller once again as England triumphed over New Zealand.  Ireland’s best cricketer retired, having realised his work here is done.  Tennis is getting a bit more exciting too, now that we don’t have to slavishly watch every grimace Mr Murray makes and Ms Raducanu can take some time out of the spotlight and regroup.  We can now just watch it for fun and support the others, like local Putney lad Cameron Norrie (born in South Africa, parents Scottish and Welsh, grew up in New Zealand before going to Uni in Texas….)

Elsewhere, Wayne nearly spat his Cheerios across the kitchen when he discovered that Mark Cavendish hadn’t been picked for the Tour de France.  Even to me it seems a bit bonkers that someone who is in the form of their life and who won the Green jersey last year hasn’t been given the nod.  Almost, feels a bit disrespectful to the Tour itself that he hasn’t been given the opportunity to defend his title – however we won’t be boycotting this epic adventure and will watch it on TV of course – it starts today in Copenhagen (obviously!)

In the world of wine where we choose to spend many of our waking hours not much is going on – grapes are growing, fears of thunderstorms are increasing as always happens at this time of year and prices are going up, again. 

Sadly, nothing new there really. 

We did discover, via a recently revised report on Alcohol Consumption in different countries by Our World In Data, that we don’t even make the Top Ten.  The Seychelles top the table with average alcohol consumption per person, whilst we come 20^th in the list, after Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Portugal and Switzerland.  Of course, this isn’t a reason to up our levels but it is quite nice to know that we’re not as bad as we are often painted by the media!

So, let’s have a drink to celebrate.  We don’t have anything Canadian, sorry Francis.  How about we open something from the US of A and then something from Argentina who will also be celebrating their Independence on 9^th July?  I know that’s next Saturday but, according to Paula, it’s never too early to start the party….

For the white we’ll go with a massively underrated white from Argentina: Manos Negras Torrontés 2019 – £14.99.  Alejandro Sejanovich is probably Argentina’s most knowledgeable viticulturist. As vineyard director for Bodega Catena Zapata for 16 years, he pioneered high altitude vineyard planting which is where this wine comes in. Torrontés is Argentina’s signature white grape, and this one is from the vineyards of the Calchaquí Valleys at altitudes ranging between 1700 and 3100 meters above sea level. The large diurnal temperature range the altitude brings is key to the freshness as we are on the same latitude as the Kalahari Desert (26˚). Torrontés grown at these extremes gives us a wine of light yellow colour, with explosive floral aromas, citrus fruit flavours and a crisp, clean finish.

For the red, I think the Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 – £24.99 will be just the ticket.  Growers and makers of expressive, approachable estate wines from Paso Robles, California, this offering is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot matured for 20 months in oak barrels.  Cassis, blueberries, cedar and anise dominate with hints of black olives and juniper berry.  The palate is full-bodied with the same cassis and blueberries, spicy notes and a rich structured finish.

That’s all from us for this week; we’re off on our skidoos to the Maple Leaf in Maiden Lane followed by a swim on Trafalgar Square, who’s with us?  Oh year, probably about 18 policemen….

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We saw that they found a spare seat on a flight to Rwanda for the PM- the bad news is it wasn’t one of the Home Office’s special tickets, he will be coming back. Perhaps Rwanda is the new fridge, as it appears he went there to announce he wouldn’t resign after the dreadful showing at the by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton. Honiton has returned Conservatives since 1841. Save the man, destroy the party!

The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that we’ve adorned the window with tennis paraphernalia as The Championship starts at the All England Club just across the park. We’ve seen a few of the cars around and are expecting a nice buzz about the area for the next week or two. No world ranking points on offer but who cares, right, it’s Wimbledon!

As an aside, Wednesday in 2003 a 17 year old Rafa Nadal made his Grand Slam debut. Wednesday in 2022, he beat Stan Wawrinka at Hurlingham.

This weekend also bears witness to Diana Ross making her Glastonbury debut. Sunday @ 16.00 on the Pyramid Stage, since you ask. There are some of the lesser known names worth checking out like the Ishmael Ensemble from Bristol, as well as the better known names like Paul McCartney from Liverpool, who’s on the Pyramid stage Saturday @ 21.30.

One that really surprised us was Gong (tonight @23.00 on the Glade stage). Much as a return to the 1970’s is very much in vogue, we had no idea they were still going. For the uninitiated they are a bit jazz, a bit psychedelic and a bit space rock but quite a lot prog. They were one of the first bands signed to Virgin records, and very much what you’d expect to catch a sighting of on an Old Grey Whistle Test repeat on BBC4.

Anyway, there’s something at Glastonbury for everyone so turn the Sonos up and pull up the armchair.

In wine news, just when you think the government couldn’t say, or do, anything more surprisingly stupid Jacob Rees-Mogg has parked up his horse and cart, doffed his titfer and suggested that a rule that requires sparkling wine to be sold in glass bottles could be ditched, allowing plastic bottles instead. That’ll be the glass bottles invented in England in the 17^th century. Described by Christopher Merrett and produced by Sir Robert Mansell’s factories in Newcastle. You’d think he’d be up to speed on the subject given the era!

I guess we could just roll up with an empty R. Whites bottle? Then we could sneak down to the fridge in the middle of the night – I’m a secret Sussex wine drinker….

Something else going back to the 1970’s is the film business. In July, watch out for The Railway Children Return with a rather more grown up Jenny Agutter the only member of the original cast. Let’s hope it’s not derailed by any strikes.

Tasting This Weekend

We thought we’d pop over to Piemonte in Northern Italy this week and open up a pair of Poveros. Arriving in the white Cinquecento will be Tenuta Fratelli Povero Roero Arneis 2020 (£14.99) the first vines were planted in 1948 and the family are producing a fabulous medium bodied white with mineral and stone fruit character.

Rolling up on the red Colnago Super Saronni will be Cantine Povero Langhe 2017 (£13.99) an impressively velvety red that’s a blend of Nebbiolo, Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon and a real versatile drop on the food matching front.

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

First up, please don’t start moaning about how hot it is. 

We know full well that you are working from home today, dressed for the beach rather than the office and that lunch will be late, light, salady and accompanied by a nice chilled glass of Rosé whilst you gently let the computer ease into standby mode… even Alex has succumbed to the comfort a pair of shorts can bring and there is every likelihood that later on a gentle loosening of his necktie will accompany the unbuttoning of his cardigan.

Is this summer?  Can we trust it?  Probably as much as we can trust anything these days but let’s not go down that road today shall we, just enjoy what is in front of us for a bit.

As I think many of us have seen, letters containing unexpected news have been fluttering back and forth in Westminster recently but who knows what the consequences will be?  For those of you who have been too busy playing golf in Spain and as a result have been on a news avoidance scheme, let me fill you in. 

All is not well in the Palace of Westminster (Lords). 

It would seem that, according to a piece in Open Democracy, the members of the House of Lords have been writing letters of distinct disgruntlement regarding the quality of the food and drink available to them at work.  Whilst, at first glance, these may seem to be very much First World problems, I’m sure you’ll forgive them when you know all the facts.  First we need to understand that the 768 members sitting on the red leather banquettes are not paid to be Peers, they do it for no recompense whatsoever, save the miserly £323 daily attendance rate.  No show, no dough – however if they do show up for every sitting the attendance rate is somewhere in the vicinity of £50,000 per annum but I feel we digress from the main issue here – the poor quality of the food and drink.  Here are some of the complaints:

“There are only so many smoked salmon or prawn and crayfish salads one can take week after week”

“limited range of pre-packaged sandwiches”

“Could the sandwiches be presented on a plate with a bit of salad rather than in cardboard?”

“so much lettuce”

“very little to eat other than a box of 2 pre-packed salads”

“The current offering of salads leaves much to be desired….. I realise you need to make a profit but the margin on your smoked salmon seems extortionate.”

“Both the Chardonnay and the Sauvignon Blanc are really poor quality… Can something be done?”

I know, bit Kafkaesque innit, the poor en-titled lambs!

Oh, and while we’re at it, all is not well in the Palace of Westminster (Commons) either as another of Boris’s Ethics Advisors resigns but, to be honest, we’re running out of energy a bit when it comes to the PM and his affairs.

In the wide world outside of Westminster, on Tuesday we saw both the zenith and the nadir of life as an English sports fan when our cricketers somehow managed to canter to victory in the last day of the Test Match whilst, but a few hours later, uninspired by the cricketers antics, our footballers lost 4-0 to Hungary, the worst home defeat for over 90 years! 

There was also a bit of exciting wine news – in fact ‘exciting’ is probably overpromising but interesting to us, nonetheless. 

From Wednesday, Sussex Sparkling Wine was granted official Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the Ministry for Farming, Fisheries and Food.  A PDO is similar to the appellations we find in Europe, whereby, particular items that are produced, processed and prepared in a specific region, using agreed techniques and ingredients are allowed to display PDO on their labels.  Whilst not an absolute guarantee of quality, it is a guarantee of provenance and a reminder to any producers who perhaps might be making wine in the west country using grapes grown in Essex  that their geography is catching up with them!

Excitingly for us, Bolney Estate is one of the wineries that qualify for this Sussex Sparkling Wine PDO and, whilst it’s not on the labels just yet, hopefully we all know how good it is already.

However, if you don’t know how good it is already, all is not lost because in celebration we will be opening a bottle of The Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Brut Reserve NV – £29.00 for tasting this evening and tomorrow, so come and have a slurp.

To complement the bubbles we’ll crack open a bottle of barbecue red because, in spite of any weather forecasts to the contrary, we trust our instincts and expect any rain to happen between 3am and 9am on Sunday morning, skedaddling well before brunch – you can quote Wayne on this, he’s an expert. 

The red we’ll crack will be a bit of a treat too – The Chocolate Block 2020 – £23.99 (6 for £126). 

Hailing from Swartland, South Africa this is a blend of 73% Syrah, 11% Grenache, 8% Cinsault, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon & 1% Viognier, predominantly sourced from the Porseleinberg and Goldmine farms.  The cold winter of 2019 and remarkably moderate summer of 2020 have set us up for a really impressive vintage of Chocolate Block with wonderful poise and texture.  The wine is focused and elegant, with fresh yet integrated acidity and fine-grained tannins, adding to exceptional structure.  Black currant and milk chocolate linger on a silky finish – bring a large glass!

That’s about it for us for now – Father’s Day on Sunday – I’m hoping that someone buys me a lie in and a bacon sarnie but I realise that such things might be out of stock already!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week we learned that 211 Conservative either think that the Prime Minister is doing a good job or that they hadn’t actually listened to the question. Mad Nads set the record straight with a live to TV intervention that’s stated, amongst other things, we were at war with Ukraine, and that Boris had to survive, because donors had given more than £80m to the party coffers.

Perhaps the question is what about him that makes them more likely to donate? Is it the money flagged in the New York Times as alleged money laundering? If we found out would we have to involve the coppers?

Did you see any of the comments after the vote and wonder how the Speaker’s investigation into Class A’s on the parliamentary estate was coming along? Anyway, we’ve all been assured that it was a resounding victory and that the public just wants the government to deliver.

Deliver what exactly we’re not sure, we have world beating petrol prices already, levelling down seems more likely than up, and the chances of all those new hospitals being delivered is less likely than Elvis Presley performing at Wimbledon Theatre on Saturday.  Meanwhile Domino’s have confirmed they wouldn’t put the government in charge of delivering tonight’s pizza.

Whilst all this high stakes political drama was happening in Westminster, the real world launched itself into eight weeks of Love Island. We can’t claim to have any expertise in this area, but understand that it, too, is high stakes drama set in a villa in Mallorca. The dress code is swimmers and bikinis and at the end one lucky couple are declared the winners.

In other news, the PGA Tour has suspended members for playing this week’s Saudi funded Liv Golf tournament at the Centurion Club.  Not sure that rates as a Nice One Centurion! Already high on the controversial list we suspect this one will run and run…

Flushed with success at Lord’s the England Test Cricket team pitches up at Trent Bridge today to face NZ in the second test, let’s see what this ground brings us eh? Pitch is a touch on the green side I understand.

In real sports, the Critérium de Dauphiné currently has Wout Van Aert in the yellow jersey and Ethan Hayter in the young riders white jersey. I do find it slightly disturbing that I’ve got a couple of bottles of wine that’s older than him!

Next week we have the Tour de Suisse rolling in and if a nod is as good as a wink, keep an eye out for Hugh Carthy! Tour de France time is truly creeping up on us!

Saturday is World Gin Day so we’ll take this opportunity to highlight our offering…

Eclectic Gin Society – Original Blend (£35.00) – distilled at Kinrara Distillery in the Cairngorm National Park, this is a cracking London style gin distilled in small batches.

Hepple Gin (£38.00) – our bestseller, this is from a Northumberland estate that is lucky to have their own juniper and is at the forefront of a replanting initiative to conserve wild juniper in the UK. The gin is described by Victoria Moore: “It might be the best martini gin I’ve ever tasted.”

Renegade Gin (£38.00) – distilled in Battersea, by Braden who lives around the corner, these guys are the only ones in London starting right from scratch with grain. A punchy style of gin with juniper, citrus and herbs to the front with a lovely dry finish.

Eclectic Gin – The Spice Blend (£39.00) – again made for us at Kinrara; botanicals used are Juniper, Coriander, Liquorice, Angelica, Orange, Grapefruit, Cardamom, Grains of Paradise, Cassia and All Spice. Try it with tonic and a slice of ginger!

Procera Blue Dot Gin (£80.00) – we went a bit off the reservation with this one quite frankly. Distilled in Nairobi Kenya at 1638m altitude, it is the only gin using the African strain of Juniper (Juniperus Procera). With botanicals from Zanzibar, Madagascar, Kenya, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Somalia it’s a truly African gin. Earthy, spicy and slightly nutty, with a fabulous floral note to the juniper and a crisp finish. 96/100 at the International Wine & Spirits Competition 2020.

Tasting This Weekend

For those not drinking gin and tonic all weekend we shall open Domaine Jouan Menetou Salon 2020(£15.99). These guys have 4 hectares of Sancerre and 1 hectare of Menetou Salon, but it’s the Menetou we love, and not just for the price! Crisp and elegant, do you agree?

We’ll stay French and sunny on the reds too with Juliénas-Chaintré Fleurie ‘Cuvée Sept’ 2020 (£14.99) Fleurie is probably the best known Cru Beaujolais and is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Beaujolais”, so well regarded are its smooth, supple reds.

Bon Weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Any idea what day it is? Nope, nor us! It seems there’s a decent chance there might already be a glass in the hand of some of you, most of you will send us a polite note to say that you’ll attend to our email on Monday and one or two of you are still in a queue at an airport.

The bunting flew, as did the Red Arrows as well as numerous helicopters, Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster planes. Certainly one of us finds the idea of such elderly planes flying just above our heads a little scary. Her Maj. made it out onto the balcony, Cinderella’s gold coach was towed out of retirement, we’ve had street parties, scones with cream and, no doubt, some barbecue too and we’ve not even made it to the weekend yet!

Food for Thought

A German hospital questioned 628 adults with an average age of 72 about their mood and quality of life, before comparing this information with the amount of alcohol they drank.

The participants, all in for routine surgery, were monitored over six months, each answering questionnaires before their operations and again at a follow-up appointment. About a third of the people questioned were drinking “potentially unhealthy” quantities, which meant drinking at least four nights a week, or regularly drinking the equivalent of two bottles of wine in one day.

But it just so happens that this group of drinkers were slimmer, happier and more mobile than those who drank less or were teetotal.

Before we get too excited, Dr Tony Rao, a consultant old-age psychiatrist at King’s College London pointed out that the study was observational, meaning cause and effect could not be determined.

Tasting This Weekend – At the risk of rather stretching a theme, we’ll be rolling out the gold carriage along the royal road from the Palace…

Palacio del Camino Real Blanco (£10.99) a classic barrel fermented white Rioja…

Palacio del Camino Real Crianza (£11.99) we find Rioja Crianza is rather versatile food wise so why not indeed?

And that about sums it all up I think. Her Maj. has been kind enough to give everyone a few days off and that includes the authors of this newsletter.

We’ll be here till 6pm today then we’re open as normal on Saturday 12-7pm.

Enjoy your weekend peeps!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, the Sue Gray report delivered everything we expected but appears to have changed nothing. We have a child’s swing and slide damaged in the Downing Street garden and people leaving (by the back door) after 3.oo am on the morning of Prince Philip’s funeral. Evidence not of a work event but just one of the examples of evenings where a group of people properly strapped it on leaving empty bottles scattered across desks, red wine on walls and even sick for the cleaners to deal with.

They say you can tell a lot about people by the way they treat their staff.

But it’s a work event. In our experience, leaving do’s aren’t work events held in offices, they are held after work at the pub, something that wasn’t allowed. Funerals, surely the ultimate leaving do, were restricted to less people than those attending these leaving do’s. Anyway, we’ve at least had it confirmed that the moral vacuum at the centre of government is indeed a moral vacuum at the centre of government.

I suspect it won’t be the last we hear of it but perhaps for this week it will be.

In completely unrelated news, the Treasury and Mr Sunak have announced a windfall tax on energy companies that was voted against by all Conservative MP’s, just a week ago. The money will at least be spent on easing the cost of living crisis for low income families. The distant part of me that remembers how inflation works does wonder how increased government spending will do anything to ease it.

I guess we just continue kicking cans down the road.

I don’t know about you but we’ve had dreadful trouble hiring a private jet this week. It turns out they are all in Switzerland as the great and the good are all assembled in Davos. As you’d expect, the discussion has been dominated by the war in Ukraine. Of note though, is that the OECD sponsored deal to tax multinationals has been postponed to 2024, another can kicked down the road.

Bernie Ecclestone got arrested in Brazil this week for having a gun in his bag when it was X-rayed at security before he boarded a private jet to Switzerland. He said that whilst it was his gun, he didn’t realise it was in his bag. I have a certain amount of sympathy for this explanation having lost a corkscrew under very similar circumstances.

In other news, Top Gun Maverick is at the cinema, I’m sure we’re all going aren’t we? I’m expecting Primark to be full of flying jackets and jumpsuits too.

With last week’s news of no ATP ranking points being awarded at Wimbledon this year, we find ourselves agreeing with Andy Murray. Nobody watching cares about the points. We don’t remember that the winner got awarded 2000 points; we remember that they won Wimbledon. That said,  it amused us enormously to discover the possibility that even if Djokovic plays and wins at Wimbledon this year Medvedev could still become World No1 as Djokovic loses the 2000 points awarded for winning last year!

RideLondon is this weekend, heading out on its new route through Essex.

If you’re in a car, expect some frustrating road closures and a fair amount of traffic through Parliament Square along the Embankment, out through Epping Forest to almost Chelmsford and back. If you’re on a bike, expect some awesome road closures and no traffic through Parliament Square along the Embankment, out through Epping Forest to almost Chelmsford and back!

Jubilee Week Opening Hours

Due to Her Maj. interfering with the natural fall of Bank Holidays, we are operating a bit differently next week.

MONDAY 30TH MAY           CLOSED

TUESDAY 31ST MAY            NOON – 7 PM

WEDNESDAY 1ST JUNE      NOON – 7 PM

THURSDAY 2ND JUNE        NOON – 6 PM

FRIDAY 3RD JUNE              NOON – 6 PM

SATURDAY 4TH JUNE       NOON – 7 PM

SUNDAY 5TH JUNE           CLOSED

Tasting This Weekend

We’ve opened the white suitcase and found Veritable Jurancon Sec 2019 (£10.99), a crisp and dry bottle of deliciousness from the foothills of the Pyrénées. It turns out that the red arrived in a box to the back door fresh from the hills inland of Tarragona. Marco Abella Mas Mallola 2018 (£27.99) is from Porrera in Priorat, where the family has been involved in wine since the 15^th century.

Like our peers in Downing Street we’re off  now, out of the back door and will assume complete responsibility!

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As often happens around about 5pm on a Thursday evening, flat panic engulfed us as we realised that we didn’t have a clue what to write in the email for Friday.

In the absence of further fines for Boris, in the absence of Carrie, in the absence of a verdict in the Wagatha court case and in the absence of the much anticipated Sue Gray report, what on earth were we going to write about?

The one glimmer on the horizon was the news that an ordinary couple from Gloucester won an extraordinary £184 million on a lucky dip lottery ticket – lucky them.  This windfall apparently doesn’t make them as rich as Rishi Sunak (£200 million) but richer than Adele (£153 million), Wayne Rooney (£136 million) and Jamie Vardy (£10 million) – not sure why this information is useful, perhaps another titbit for this weekend’s dinner party small talk but also a timely reminder that ‘it could be you!’

So, with the mainstream news sites failing to deliver, we had to delve into the dark world of trade publications and this week Drinks Retailing News (Championing the Off-trade since 1863) has been our champion.  An article written this week, ‘The scoop on summer drinks’, piqued our interest as the journalist instructed us on what should be in our glasses this summer and happily we concurred with many of her suggestions.

First suggestion: sour beer.  We’ve been championing the sour beers for years, particularly the lambic beers from Belgium but very few people have listened.  In fairness, we haven’t shouted too loudly because we really like them but there are often supply issues which means they regularly go out of stock.  However, currently we have two sour beers in situ, one Belgian and one from Wandsworth: Lindemans Gueuze and Belleville Spring Break Gose.  The Gueuze is a delicious drop in a wee 25cl bottle – lots of texture on the palate and an almost cider like malic character on the finish.  The Spring Break on the other hand, is all about tangy grapefruit – if you’ve ever been a fan of lager and lime then this should be your beer of choice.

Second suggestion: cloudy cider.  We’ve been selling the litre bottles of Kerisac Cidre Breton ever since Wayne was in short trousers and certainly we have seen a noticeable uplift in its popularity in the last 6 months.  A traditional French cider at the lighter end of cloudiness, this has a richer mouthfeel than some of the tarter English versions and is an excellent foil to anything pork.

Third suggestion: Vermouth and Aperitivo.  Oh my god,  another area we’ve been banging on about whilst you looked at us with a ‘yeah, right, if you like’ look on your faces.  As discussed, we all love a Negroni but if you just fancy a cheeky quick pre-dinner lift, then these are your boys.  Bodegas Martinez Lacuesta Vermouth Reserva is a white vermouth, aged in Acacia barrels and even works nicely as a digestivo – it’s made by some very good Rioja producers who Alex visited a few years ago and has been a regular on our shelves since.  Antica Distilleria Quaglia Berto Bitter Liquore Amaro is a mouthful to say and bit of a palate pleaser too.  Bitter, dry but with a tinge of sweetness and a nice stopping point between the bitterness of a Campari and the stickiness of an Aperol!  Finally, Mondino Aperitivo is Alex’s absolute #1 tipple.  The Diffords Guide describe it thus “Made to an original Italian recipe, this German organic bitter aperitif is made in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps.  Ingredients include bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and alpine spring water”.  Try it, we think you’ll like it!

Next up we have Tequila.  We’ve definitely seen a resurgence in interest in the Mexican firewater.  Casa Noble Tequila Reposado is definitely not firewater.  Made from organic blue agave grown in Jalisco, aged in french oak for 364 days, the maximum allowed for a Reposado.  This really is a fine sipping Tequila, really smooth with agave, citrus, cinnamon and almond notes and a wonderful clean finish.  Not the same thing at all, but worth mentioning, is our newly listed Amores Verde Mezcal.  Organically grown 8 year old Espadin agave is cooked over 3 different woods giving us a real complexity.  Naturally fermented with its own yeast and then double distilled this is a new favourite, the smokiness adds texture to the clean, fresh spirit.

At this point our pal at Drinks Retailing News realises she has been a little too esoteric in her suggestions for summer and, realising who her paymasters are, recommends Rosé wine and canned cocktails.  I think you already know that rosé is a summery drink and canned cocktails are not an area we have dug into too deeply – however, if one of our chaps were to come up with a posh G & T in a tin, we’d be all over it!

So, as I draw towards the end of an email focused on summer drinking and the rain continues to teem down, our focus moves more towards what we’re going to taste tonight and tomorrow.

Wayne has made the selections this week and suggests Dog Point Chardonnay 2018 – £27.99 as our white option.  From Marlborough, New Zealand this is a classic rich style with stonefruits, citrus character and a nutty touch of oak.  The palate is crisp, with layers of orchard and citrus fruits balanced with the oak notes providing a great mouthfeel.  Really quite long in the finish and really quite delicious.

His red option comes from closer to home, northern Spain to be precise.  Celler de Capçanes Mas Collet 2019 – £16.49 is the wine we have in mind.  Once you’ve crossed the French Border, skirted around Barcelona and hit the outskirts of Tarragona, take a hard right into the hills and you will hit the region of Montsant after about 20 minutes.  Its relative proximity to the French border means that Syrah and Grenache are still very much in charge here but not without a fine showing from Cabernet Sauvignon.  Aged for 9 months in barrique this is deliciously rich, smooth, balanced, polished and frankly, totally moreish.

So do come and join us for a taste, perhaps treat yourselves to an aperitivo or at least borrow an umbrella! 

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Firstly, an apology.  Having predicted a lovely weekend in our last missive I was aghast to see rain drops descending gently at 11.30 on Saturday morning.  Thankfully the rain stopped falling but the clouds remained and made for a rather drab Saturday afternoon, so sorry.  We’ll stick to predicting the horses that definitely won’t win their races and avoid dabbling with meteorology in future.

So, we’re now up to 100 fines issued by the Met to those fine folk in Downing Street and its environs.  Plenty has been said about all this already but blimey, that’s a whole bucket load of socialising going on during lockdown whilst you were all stuck at home with fractious husbands/children/dogs and goldfish – bonkers.  All we need now is for Keir and Angela to get a ticket and the wheels may well come off completely.

However, the question on everyone’s lips should be whilst Boris was doing cheese, wine and the occasional cake and Keir was doing beer and curry what was Ed Davey up to?  Pork pie and a pint?  Pina colada and a poke bowl?  Prosecco and twiglets?  I think we should be told…

Whilst we’re on the subject of cocktails, apparently the Pina Colada is now the third most popular cocktail in the UK after Negroni and Mojito.  We learnt this having read the latest Waitrose Drinks Report 2022 which says that classic retro cocktails such as Blue Lagoon, Tequila Sunrise and Mai Tai are back in fashion, with Sangria holding the spot of the most searched for cocktail recipe last summer.  Having read this we further researched and discovered the Pina Colada news in an article in the Guardian from 2 days ago, so it must be true.  Not sure where this leaves us intellectually and as we don’t sell white rum, pineapples or coconut cream it certainly doesn’t help us much commercially either but at least you all now have a conversation starter for this weekend’s dinner party!

Back to the Waitrose report though.  They also revealed their 10 most popular drinks choices currently and as ever the findings don’t create many ripples.  Their most popular drink was their own brand Pinot Grigio, followed by some beers, Prosecco, a cider, then a 10% Sauvignon Blanc from South Australia followed by more beers.  No red wine in the top ten and no rosé either, for the moment!

Mind you, a report published in October last year by these jokers also stated that milk derived from potatoes would be one of 2022’s biggest food trends.  “Low in sugar and saturated fat, it’s set to dominate coffee shop menus in the coming months” the report said.  So there you go, 10% Aussie Sauvignon and potato milk on your next Waitrose order please.

With the world going to hell in a handcart under the combined influences of pandemic and Putin, it’s good to see the worlds of film and football still manage to inhabit that realm between reality and outer space.  The Amber Heard/Johnny Depp court case has been going on for a while and neither party is looking terribly innocent or indeed terribly happy.  Not to be bested, the Vardy/Rooney court case kicked off this week in the High Court, where Rebekah Vardy is suing Coleen Rooney for libel.  Now these two ladies are famous WAGS, I think we all know of the story dubbed Wagatha Christie but what we hadn’t realised the costs involved.  It’s estimated that each side has spent over £1 million on legal costs and that the potential payout would most likely not exceed £40,000.  Oh, and even the winner will have to pay a chunk of her legal costs so actually the only winners are the lawyers!  It’s a car crash but it gives a huge glimpse of what life is like in the bubble that is Premiership Football and once again goes to show that being uber-rich doesn’t necessarily make you are a terribly nice person!

Anyway, we shouldn’t go off at the deep end about all this, we should just be thankful for what we’ve got.  In this instance we’ve got a shop full of wine and some lovely customers who seem to enjoy buying it from us, even if they have to put up with our ranty Friday emails.  So, with a view to emptying our shelves a bit further, we’ll crack open a couple of bottles this evening and pretend we’re hosting a housing committee meeting in Whitehall!

To continue with our exploration of things more esoteric, the white this week will be Lyrarakis Voila Assyrtiko 2021 – £15.99.  Located in the mountainous commune of Alagni in Crete, Domaine Lyrarakis stays true to local winemaking traditions.  The domaine focuses on indigenous varieties, taking them from obscurity and driving them in a more modern direction, while still retaining a clear sense of place.  Its style focuses on pure varietal character, precision and supple texture. Grown at 580 metres’ altitude in the Voila vineyard there is a definite floral character, refreshing minerality and chalky texture to this delicious wine.

The red is less esoteric but no less delicious – a bit of a staple in our wine racks at home in fact.  Barton Rouge 2015/16 – £9.99 isfrom Walker Bay in South Africa and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot.  Dark ruby in the glass this is a rich and fruit driven wine with dark brambly fruits and a touch of spice, yet without too much tannin to get in the way of the fun.  Works well with everything from pizza to steak so it should probably be in your rack too!

And that’s it from us – do come and say hello as the North London Derby last night has led to a bit of a frosty atmosphere chez PV!!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to a sunny Friday and, with potential for a rain free weekend ahead of us, I thought I’d jinx it all by opening some rosé this evening on the tasting table… so, when you’re standing under a brolly tomorrow afternoon watching under 13 cricket whilst wearing wellies with shorts (a very British nod to high fashion), you’ll know who to blame!

Anyway, before we get tucked in to all things pink, what’s news?   

Well, it’s been a good week for:

Wayne – as he is finally off on a well-earned cycle extravaganza in the Balearics, apparently a key part of his training for challenges later in the season.  Not sure if he means cycling, dancing or drinking beer challenges but I am sure he is working hard on all three.

Boris Johnson – yeah, who’d have thunk it.  Whilst here in the UK many feel he has outstayed his welcome it would appear that in Ukraine they can’t get enough of him.  Fresh from having a street named after him in Fontanka, near Odesa last month, it was announced yesterday by the mayor of the city of Vasylkiv, that their “new embankment on the Stugna River … will now have the name of a great friend of Ukraine: Prime Minister Boris Johnson.”

Shareholders in Shell and BP as both companies post record profits

Real Madrid – showing us all how important it is to play the full 90+ minutes and to not start easing up when the clock starts ticking down

However, someone’s good week is always someone else’s bad one:

Will Smith – the ongoing fallout from his Oscars performance leads to Dave Chappelle receiving an uninvited armed guest on stage during his act

Boris – Mr Becker this time.  Not only given a prison sentence but now facing the distinct possibility of deportation – not how we thought Boom Boom’s fairytale would end

Golf – as Lee Westwood (estimated net worth £40 million) becomes another golfer keen to play for Saudi money and thus becoming an apologist for them.  Lee, I get that other sports have taken their cash too and I get that playing golf is your job but really, no one is making you do this

Manchester City – showing us all how important it is to play the full 90+ minutes and to not start easing up when the clock starts ticking down

Wandsworth Tories – not sure they saw that coming

Hay fever sufferers – high pollen count for the next few days, you can almost see it in the air – Wayne, stay away!

For the rest of us, I imagine it has been a reasonably decent week, shorter than some thanks to the Bank Holiday and finishing off with a bit of sunshine, what’s not to like!

Anyway, at the top I suggested opening some rosé, who’s with me?  I am going to start the season with our perennial best seller and a wine many of you know and love but not all of you have tasted, Château de L’Aumérade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ Côtes de Provence Cru Classé – £15.99.  The Chateau 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 1955 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 it is the perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the Sunday papers and a deck chair!

Oh, and did I mention we also offer 6 bottles for £80….

Whilst lots of people like rosé, it doesn’t rock everybody’s world.  For those of you who rock to a different beat, I’m going to open Juliénas-Chaintré Beaujolais Villages ‘Cuvée Six’ – £10.99.  There’s been a quiet revolution going on in Beaujolais, some of the smartest burgundy winemakers have been buying up parcels of land, Co-operatives have been merging and there has been a quality revamp too.  This wine is from the villages of Jullié and Emeringes, and grown on the sandy granitic soils that produce the best Gamay.  Tender, round and fruity as you’d expect from a pure expression of the grape variety and very tasty lightly chilled at lunchtime!

Think that’s about it from us for now – I just want to leave you with some further fruits of my meanderings into the worldwide web.  Whilst googling Messrs Johnson and Becker I kept on being offered details of a Japanese band named BORIS, who by all accounts have been active since the earlier 90’s and have a varied genre of musical influences, to wit:

experimental music, experimental rock, noise music, noise rock, experimental/avant-garde metal, doom metal, post-metal, drone metal, sludge metal, psychedelic music, psychedelic rock, psychedelic metal,  stoner rock, sludge metal, drone music, old-school industrial music, ambient music, acid rock, garage rock, shoegazing, dream pop, J-pop, crust punk

Now, I’m sure that all you people who are far funnier than me could come up with some amazing jokes about The Johnson and The Becker using the tools provided above, so over to you, Hugh!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It seems our democracy continues to be torn apart quicker than a parcel at a five year olds birthday party. According to the Parliament website there are 764 Lords in the house eligible to scrutinise bills, investigate government activity and ask oral and written questions as well as debate.

This week the House of Lords passed the government’s Election Bill which abolishes the independence of the Electoral Commission. Of those 764 eligible to vote only 383 of them bothered. We don’t know about you but we think that putting the body designed to ensure free and fair elections under Government control is surely not the work of a functioning democracy, is it? You didn’t read about it in the papers because they were busily distracted by the crossing of legs and the arching of eyebrows.

In other news, peaceful protest has been criminalised, a DJ has resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct but three cabinet ministers and two shadow cabinet ministers haven’t. That’s our MP’s upholding standards in public life.

There are elections on the 5^th May so do go and vote, it’s us the government is supposed to work for and the continued destruction of democracy relies on continued voter apathy.

Seems our valuation of Twitter was a bit off, the inimitable Ego Musk has maxed out his Amex with an apparent $44billion bid. Surely with that much money you could go to space or something, maybe even set up Thunderbirds in real life. From a secret island in the South Pacific…Tesla Island anyone?

Omid Djalili pointed out some good news though; we used to be able to get about £65 of fuel into the Volvo, now we can get £90 in! Taking a win where we can…

Growing up towards the tail end of the Cold War and witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall, we naively believed that the world was heading in the right direction – that the time of missile crises, repression, persecution, invasions, right wing dictators and the like was over, and while there were still a few rogue bogeymen clinging on in places like Libya, Iraq and North Africa the spread of democracy was inevitable and would reach them in time…Unfortunately it seems our optimism was misplaced and the bogeymen are as present now as they ever were.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affects all of us in a myriad of ways and in the wine industry we can point to availability issue of screwcaps and bottles that are no longer being produced in Ukraine, and the severe price hike of gas and fuel affecting all transport and production as the most obvious examples. And, while Ukraine is clearly taking the brunt of the physical aggression, they are not the only ones struggling as a result of Putin’s empire building efforts.

Georgia, for example, is also suffering – and let’s not forget that the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were annexed by Putin in 2008, citing unnamed threats to ethnic Russians in the region. All of which sounds remarkably familiar but there was less international outrage.

For Georgian winery Teliani Valley, their biggest export market last year was Ukraine, to the tune of 2 million bottles. That market has disappeared in a heartbeat. Second biggest? Russia. Third? Belarus. Fourth? Kazakhstan.

We wanted to do something to help, and the best way we thought we could do that was to get some Georgian wine in your glass. So we’ll be opening Teliani Valley Kakhuri No.8 2020 (£15.99) a blend of Rkatsiteli, Kakhuri, Mitsvane, Khikvi and Kisi grapes. This is a white wine made using skin contact more usually the preserve of red wine making. It gives the wine an amber hue and a wonderfully rich texture. But do come and taste for yourselves it’s actually quite difficult to convey in words.

For those not aware, Georgia is often considered the cradle of wine, with archaeologists tracing the world’s first wine production back to 6000BC with the people of the South Caucasus.

On the red front, we’ll head over to a rather less war torn Sardegna for a drop of San Costentino Cannonau di Sardegna 2020 (£17.99) a medium bodied drop of loveliness. Cannonau is of course the name Grenache goes by when it resides in Sardegna.

Thunderbirds are go…

Wayne & Alex