The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

An extraordinary thing happened to me earlier this week. 

You know how you carry on your life month in month out, and time passes by quickly, and you get tied up in your day-to-day existence, and before you know it a whole year has passed, and that meet-up you said would definitely happen in a few weeks has never happened, and now it’s almost forgotten about…

Well, the other day, I stumbled around the corner and BANG!, blow me, if it wasn’t Summer just standing there with a ‘bet you never thought you’d see me again’ smirk on his face (because Summer would be a he, something to do with being unreliable and letting people down)!

‘Where the hell have you been?’

‘Europe, like the rest of the sensible people, but school holidays are over now, so I thought I’d hang out in Wimbledon Park for the next few days, drink some rosé, perhaps even come on your wine and cheese tasting on Thursday 20^th September…’

I was impressed he knew the date.

And in the real world

Life goes on, cabinets get re-shuffled (shouldn’t it just be shuffled as it’s the first time of asking), east London still seems to be paved with gold, Mr Murray marches on and Prince Andrew skids backwards down the shard.  The best quote I heard was from one of the esteemed gents who descended after HRH, commenting on the panorama from the top:

‘The view was breath-taking, you could see the south coast, clear as gin!’  Clear as crystal, your days are numbered…

And in Wimbledon Park

For those of you that may have missed the announcements, we have two events coming up shortly.

Our 6 week Wine Course returns after the summer recess.  This starts on Wednesday 19^th September and concludes on Wednesday 24^th October, just before half term, very neat.  It takes place at 8pm and lasts between 1 ½ and 2 hours, and the whole course costs only £150 per person.

You’ll learn about whites, reds, fizz and sweeties plus you’ll get to try, if you want, some faulty wines to educate your palate – if you learn nothing else you will at least have tasted about 60 wines over the course, and you’re bound to like some of them.  Previous alumni have gone on to enjoy wine for many years, and this, I think, is not a bad premise.  So book a babysitter, or tell your other half they’re in charge of kids for the next six weeks, grab a likeminded pal and head on down.

Spaces still available, phone me or email me or visit me, I’m not fussy, and the wonderful world of wine will be demystified for you!

Then, Thursday 20^th September sees another return – the Cheese and Wine tasting evening.  Again this starts at 8pm, costs £15 per person and is always an exciting night.  In a nutshell, drink wine-taste cheese-chat about it.  But it’s so much more than that, it’s food and wine matching heaven, new discoveries are made and common myths exploded, who could ask for more?

As before, phone, write, visit, you know the routine.

And in Chile

Wayne set the Chilean ball rolling last week and I will continue his theme.  We trod carefully last week with the Central Valley, this week I will be venturing to the northern end of the wine lands, visiting the Limari and Choapa valleys. 

The Limarí Valley is located 470 km north of Santiago and is both an old and new wine region. Vines were first planted in the mid-16th century but more recently winegrowers have been making good use of the cool sea currents just off the coast and the morning fogs, the combination of which creates fresh wines with a distinct mineral edge – De Martino Legado Reserva Chardonnay 2010 £12.49 – is our representative here.

The Choapa Valley is located 400 km north of Santiago at Chile’s narrowest point, where there is no distinction between the Andes and the Coastal Mountains. This small, very dry valley, which historically has been coupled with Limarí, consists of two sectors, Illapel and Salamanca.  Neither have wineries in place as yet, but vineyards planted on rocky piedmont soils are producing limited quantities of high quality Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.  De Martino Legado Reserva Syrah 2010 £12.49 – is our choice here, as I said, there are no local wineries so De Martino make the wine.

That just about rounds it off from me, wines open from 5pm this evening, rosé wines installed in the fridge, butcher has ordered more sausages and is sticking meat on sticks as I write, so let’s do it!

Alex & Wayne

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The Stoke Mandeville Sports Event kicked off in big style this week and with 4,000 athletes competing, I’m sure we can look forward to thrills, excitements and disappointments over the next week or so.

This week also saw the annual Tomatino Festival in Buñol in Spain, where participants threw 120 tonnes of tomatoes at each other in a tradition that started in the 1940’s. Double-check where your passata is from is all I’m saying.

Channel 4 has come under fire for its presentation of the opening ceremony and I have to join in: Jon Snow, white suit with a white shirt, what were you thinking?

The story that gave me the biggest smile was about procrastination.  Craig from Bedfordshire bought a book entitled “52 Steps To Defeating Procrastination” and never read it.  I have to say that struck me as almost artistic!

Wine School

The six-week term starts at 8pm, Wednesday 19^th September, here at the shop.  It goes on for 6 consecutive weeks, costs £150 per person, and in this time you will taste around 60 different wines.  Homework is all on a practical basis, and you can do as much as you want!  

Haven’t signed up yet?  Full details attached for those of you who’ve been boozing snoozing in the sun somewhere – there are just a few places left.

Cheese & Wine Tasting

Thursday 20^th September at 8pm, four cheeses, with six or so wines (whites as well as reds) to match.  Tickets are £15 per person as usual, and there are a few spaces left…

Chile

For September we have teamed up again with Wines of Chile for a closer look at the country’s wines.

Chile is a long, thin, and many would say, fairly isolated country.  To put this in context, pin the top of Chile to John O’Groats and you’d find the bottom hanging out in Niger around the Southern Sahara!  

Isolated by the Andes that run the length of the country’s east, and then barely 100-150 miles to the west you’ll find the Pacific Ocean.  This isolation very often works in the vine growers’ favour since many vines grow on their own rootstocks, whereas in most other parts of the world this is not the case as vineyards have been ravaged (most notably in the late 19^th century) by a root eating louse known as Phylloxera.  Chile is protected, and strict quarantine regulations aim to keep it that way.

The long thin nature of the country gives a variety of microclimates and different soils, all bringing little bits extra to the party.  Running along the coastline we have the Humboldt current, which brings a cooling influence to those vineyards closer to the sea such as Casablanca and San Antonio/Leyda.

All this folks adds up to some very interesting wines, which we hope to explore with you all over the coming weeks.

Tasting This Weekend

To ease us all gently back in to it, we will be tasting the three wines we carry from Oyster Shack.

These wines are all from the Central Valley which stretches south from Santiago, in the corridor between the mountains and the sea.  Within the valley are a number of sub-regions with specific geographical traits – Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Curicó, Maule, Itata, Bio-Bio and Malleco.  We will look more closely at these regions as we proceed through September, but for now we’ll keep it simple with the Oyster Shack wines.

We have Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Chardonnay 2010 and Merlot 2011 they all cost £6.99 and will be open from this evening – see you after 5pm!

Transfer window closes at 11pm, put your offers in…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Poor old Prince Harry, a few late drinks, a game of pool, and before you know it somebody has papped the crown jewels.  What ever happened to chivalry and the rule “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?”

NASA announced this week that they are absolutely chuffed because Curiosity, their Mars Rover, has roved.  I, for one, would have hoped for loftier ambitions than that, given the trouble they went to get it there in the first place.

So it turns out that Asil Nadir did have his fingers in the till after all.

You can just picture it can’t you, Asil behind his big leather desk…Shall we transfer another £5 million to the account offshore?  The man from del Monte, he say YES!

Lastly, scientists in Japan have discovered that if you give gibbons helium, they sound funny just like we do.  How long till we have a gibbon soprano at the proms I wonder?

Tasting This Weekend

This weekend we’ll be heading out to Marlborough in New Zealand.  

A few new wines have crossed our paths from here, we’ve been given samples to try, so we thought we’d share them with you.  Usual rules apply – we don’t actually have any of these wines in stock currently and we would love your feedback as to whether they have a place on our shelves, or not!

2010 Free Sauvignon Blanc, Greystone River Vineyard 13.5% is made from organic grapes in the Wairau Valley’s Greystone River Vineyard.  A tiny part of the cuvee is fermented in French Barriques to add a bit of complexity and texture

2011 Ra Nui Sauvignon Blanc 13.5% – grapes are hand-harvested from two vineyards: Cob Cottage and Summer Valley, about 3km from Blenheim.  The vineyards are run organically and the philosophy is definitely for minimal intervention.

2010 Ra Nui Pinot Noir 13% – grapes for this are from the Summer Valley vineyard, and also the Delta Vineyard, which is one of Marlborough’s highest (cooler than the valley floor!).  Owner Steve Hotchin spent time at both Allen Scott Vineyards and Mt.Riley, and is helped out on the winemaking front by ex-pat Brit Hugh Girling.

2010 Petit Clos Pinot Noir 14% – a difference in style here, perhaps reflected by the fact that the owners are Domaine Henri Bourgeouis from Sancerre.  The vineyards are further up in the hills above Wairau, giving us a cooler microclimate.

It should be an interesting tasting and I, for one, am looking forward to it.  Pop along and join us, we are eager to hear your opinions!

AOB

Both the Wine and Cheese Tasting on Thursday 20^th September and the 6 week Wine School that starts on Wednesday 19^th September are filling up, so if you want to reserve a place on either, don’t forget to be in touch soon!

I think perhaps today the last bit should come from Lance Armstrong, his words not ours:

The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced.

Whatever that means.

Nice weekend one and all – and do please come and help us make our minds up about these NZ wines!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I don’t know about you but I’m missing them already. On the plus side Test Match Special is burbling away in the background, but after our last go, we are still too shamefaced to put any Park Vintners predictions on the outcome.

What is the sudden obsession with David Cameron’s feet? I’ve seen an article moaning about his wearing brogues for the holiday snaps (should that be non-article I wonder?) and now Boris has been talking about pussy-footing around, kicking airports into the long grass!

Footie season starts off good and proper this weekend, good luck to AFC Wimbledon at home to Chesterfield.

The transfer window seems to be hotting up too, with news reaching us that AC Milan have signed a 10 year old girl from East Dunbartonshire, after scouts spotted her playing at La Manga on holiday. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Cheese and Wine Tasting – 20^th September at 8pm

We mentioned this for the first time last week and already we’re half full. If your diary has free space you know where we are! Usual rules apply, 8pm start and £15 each.

Park Vintners Wine School

Our popular 6 week course starts again on Wednesday 19^th September and finishes the week before half term, which would be the perfect time to host a dinner party and show off all your newly learned super powers!

Taste sixty or so wines, and learn where the bubbles come from. We promise no exams at the end!

Tasting this weekend

Given the holiday theme continues (it is August after all) we thought we’d taste something from popular destinations for those of us still in Wimbledon Park.

From Southern France

2011 Domaine Félines Jourdan Picpoul de Pinet (£11.99) you’ll remember as a wine we twittered about during Le Tour de France as Bradley & co whizzed past, now’s your chance to see what the fuss was about.  Grown on vineyards only separated from the sea by Étang de Thau (a lake, oysters live here!) it’s a deliciously crisp, mineral wine with lively apple fruit flavours.

From Tuscany

2008 Cedro Chianti Rufina Fattoria Lavacchio (£13.89) is a new addition to the range. Organically grown on top of the Montefiesole hill at 400m the vines are 20-40 years old. The farm has a 250 year old Lebanese Cedar tree, is about 20km from Florence and also produces olive oil. The wine itself is dry, yet juicy, with some lovely woodland fruit flavours and a gently spicy long finish. But don’t take my word for it come and have a glass and tell me what it tastes of.

 Should you be planning a holiday in Chiantishire they even do a spot of award winning B&B!

 That’s enough from me for this week; see you all at the weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well it seems that London 1948 is going better than expected. The ladies and gents on the bicycles have been fast and successful, as have the rowers and pedalos on the pond at Eton, and also those fierce ladies in the fisticuffs.

There have been tears, disappointment, equipment mall functions (broken stick in the pole vault was a tad dramatic!), and laughter too. I have to admit enjoying the fact that L’Equipe printed Dave Brailsford’s comments about “really round wheels” after the usual whinging and quizzing as to how the cyclists were so fast.

Also on the radio this morning I heard an interesting statistic: if food prices had kept up with house prices for the last 30-40 years a chicken would be £47. Now I don’t know if I should call a butcher or an estate agent, but interesting nonetheless.

Wine News

The nasty patches of hail continue with the third storm in a month to hit Burgundy. This time it hit the Hautes Cotes de Nuits and Hautes Cotes de Beaune areas. There has been barely a week since April that hasn’t seen some rain in the area.

Beer News

Sambrooks Pale Ale (£2.59) is back in stock and chilling in the fridge as I write this.

Beer Lovers don’t need me to tell them, but The Great British Beer Festival is on at Olympia and finishes tomorrow at 7pm. Pace yourselves!

Cheese & Wine Tasting

You’ve all been asking so we have pulled our finger out and come up with a date. Thursday 20^th September at 8pm.

Many of you will be familiar with our cheese and wine evenings but for those of you who aren’t I can promise there will be no pineapple chunks on cocktail sticks.

We normally choose four cheeses, and then select six or so wines (whites as well as reds) to match. We’ve been known to throw in a beer or cider for good measure too! We then taste side by side and throw the merits of the choice open to discussion, which is where you point out the error of our ways. Sound fun? Then come along, tickets are £15 per person as usual.

Tasting This Weekend.

Keeping the Wimbledon Park taste buds tantalised this weekend we’ll choose from two countries that are better at wine than London 1948 sports.

So to start with Percheron Chenin Blanc/Viognier 2011 (£8.19) from Western Cape, South Africa, the sharp eyed of you will recall we had its Red sibling a couple of weeks ago. This is crisp and fresh with some lovely peachy fresh stone fruit character. We’ll follow up with Morton Estate Hawkes Bay Pinot Noir (£12.99). Its ages since we opened a New Zealand red and I think this will be just the ticket.

I think that’s it from us this week, have a great weekend and do pop in for a taster.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Bit short on comment this week.  Absolutely nothing sport related to report upon, and it looks like this situation is going to continue well into next week. 

If only Andy Murray was in a semi-final at Wimbledon, or Bradley Wiggins was leading from the front, or the footballers were filling us with falsely high expectations… sigh, if only…

Wayne was telling me earlier how much he has been enjoying the competitive nature of the beach volleyball, specifically the Austrian team who, whilst coming from a land-locked country, seem to have adapted well to the concept of ‘beach’, even beating the Aussie’s apparently. Brazil also play, he informs me, and the USA.  Bikinis are far from obligatory, and in fact most of the gents choose to wear shorts and vests.

Frankel won yet again on Wednesday at Goodwood, with a fantastic starting price of 1-20, oh yes indeed, bet £20 and win £1 plus your stake back… time for him to move onto stud soon. 

Cricket is on in the north but, after my predictions last time, I have been obliged to refrain from comment.

Syria is also beyond comment, the banks, the government, the lawyers and the lawmakers are all holidaying on their yachts ,which makes for the usual August graveyard shift for the journos, so really all there is left to talk about is wine, and its consumption!

New in!

We don’t usually list new wines at this time of year, but these two pushed our buttons too hard to be ignored.

Türk Grüner Veltliner, Kremser Weinberge, Kremstal, Austria 2010 – £14.99  

Lots of words there, many of them quite difficult to get your teeth round.  The Krems valley is where the warm Pannonian climate from the east meets the cooler, oxygen-rich air from Waldviertel.  This warm/cool variation ensures the perfect conditions for the Grüner Veltliner grape.  The wine is elegant with great texture.  Grapefruit, pear and stone-fruit flavours linger on the palate that finishes deliciously crisp and fresh.

Try a bottle in place of your normal Sauvignon Blanc, see what you think!

Mahi ‘Twin Valleys Vineyard’ Chardonnay, Marlborough, NZ 2011 – £19.99

Wayne says:

‘I met Brian Bricknell from Mahi Vineyards in June, what a nice man!  He spent about 15  years making wine in various parts of the world, including a stint at Errazuriz in Chile, before heading back to Marlborough in 1996 with a plan (idea really).  He bought the Mahi estate with his wife in 2001, yet it was to be another five years before he gave up his job at Seresin Estate to focus on Mahi.   I was lucky enough to taste a few of his wines and was pretty struck with this one, if I’m honest.

The Twin Valleys vineyard is quite west, where the Waihopai and Wairau Valleys meet, situated on the upper terrace where it is quite cool.  The winemaking style is very non-intervention, using only wild yeasts (those already present on the grapes) and, for this wine, only the free run juice, which is then fermented and left to rest on its lees in French oak barriques.  The wine itself is lovely, with a really lively, zesty character, rich appley fruit, some oatmeal and oak notes (but not too fat!) with a great mouth feel and a long fresh finish!’

Wine School

Dozens of you have now enjoyed the 6 week wine school that takes place here in the shop.

You have had your eyes opened to grape varieties that you would have never considered previously, and you have confirmed the styles that you really do not enjoy.  You have considered food matches to different wines, and you have enjoyed bowls and bowls of water biscuits and breadsticks.  You have made new friends, and you have tasted over 60 wines.  You have woken up on Thursday morning saying to yourselves ‘I can’t wait until next Wednesday evening!’

For the rest of you who have not been on our course, details are attached. 

Simply put –

• it takes place on 6 consecutive Wednesday evenings (19^th September – 24^th October inclusive)
• evenings take place in the shop, commence at 8pm and usually wrap at about 10pm
• cost per person is £150
• aimed at the keen amateur eager to go beyond the Sauvignon Blanc/Merlot comfort zone
• fun, informal, yet informative
• maximum of 12 places available

The places are starting to disappear, so if this appeals to you, drop us a line before you go on holidays and give yourself something to look forward to for when you get back.

You can get hold of us on 020 8944 5224; email us on shop@parkvintners.co.uk; or chat to us face to face on the shop floor (if you do that on a Saturday there’s always a danger we’ll ply you with wine whilst you’re here!)

Plying with wine this Saturday

We’re both guarding the shop this weekend which means that we’ll both need a glass of something to keep the conversation flowing…

We’re visiting Basque country for the white this week: the deliciously different and divisive Ameztoi Txakolina Txakoli 2011, Getariako Txakolina – £13.99. 

As you all know well, Txakoli is made from the local Hondarrabi Zuri grapes and is the perfect match for the seafood pinxos served in San Sebastian.  Fresh, appley with a delicious spritz, it has been likened to the wine equivalent of a wet sponge on a hot day – refreshing!

Sticking with Spain for the red, Albizu Tempranillo 2011, Rioja, – £6.99

Certainly one of our best-selling red wines this is made within the Rioja region but not declared as such because it has been made more as a table wine for immediate enjoyment.  Plenty of exuberant, primary red fruit character here without being over bearing, very juicy and a great all-rounder. To eat, a nice pork loin with plenty of garlic and some salad leaves always appeals.

The Albizu is one of the wines, in this month’s 6 bottle, Wine Club selection – so come and give it a taste and ask about the club.

To finish as I started, if only there was something to look forward to, some athletics perhaps, synchronised swimming even…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Hasty

It would appear that Alex’s call on the cricket last week was just a little on the hasty side. The word ‘thumping’ was well deployed though, given the batting displays we witnessed.

News

In our coverage of the world’s biggest sports fest (apart from the Tour de France obviously!) you will need to mentally time travel. I have looked at the list of things we are not allowed to say, whisper, or even think, in the wrong places, and have discovered that even the season between spring and autumn has been purloined. We shall in future refer to them as ‘London 1948’.

It seems London 1948 got off to a slightly iffy start, with no-cog displaying the wrong Korean flag! More positively, Team GB got off to a flying start with the ladies football team beating the Kiwis (who were managed by AFC Wimbledon’s first league captain!). The men’s footballers were distinctly average, only managing a draw with Senegal.

For me the fun really starts with the road race on Saturday, but I know a lot of people will enjoy the opening ceremony. In 1948 they released 2500 pigeons, the results of which are all around us. Let’s hope this year’s sheep don’t all head for Trafalgar Square too!

Just as the holiday season hits us hard and fast, an 11 year-old who was caught mid-air after boarding a plane without passport or ticket said he found it ‘easier than my homework’. Makes you wonder why it takes so long with a ticket and passport!

Wine

 Moving over to wine, news reaches us this week that Britons spent more on sparkling wine than champagne for the first time ever this year. At this point I’ll cheekily insert a sales plug for our Morton Estate Brut at £12.99, which is just perfect for a Fizz Friday! It’s certainly what I’ll be drinking with the opening ceremony.

Tasting this Weekend

Even if I am the only person left in Wimbledon Park this weekend there will be some wine open.

First up, a taste of sunshine with our favourite rosé, Chateau de L’Aumerade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ 2011 (£12.49). It is a Côtes de Provence Cru Classé (Cru Classé since 1955) and a delicate blend of Grenache, Syrah & Cinsault, guaranteed to revive your taste buds.

Moving over to the red corner we will be breaking out Percheron Old Vine Cinsault 2011(£8.19), which is from 65 year old bush vines grown in Swartland, South Africa. Juicy and elegant with a light enough touch to count as a summery red, yet enough depth of flavour that it won’t be lost should the barbecue become involved.

So we wish good luck to all competitors, but may the really heavy yellow medals be placed on British necks.

As for Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, David Millar, Ian Stannard, Nicole Cooke, Lizzie Armistead, Lucy Martin, and Emma Pooley, I believe the correct terminology is “ALLEZ, ALLEZ, ALLEZ!”

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

All varieties of hell are about to break loose, from all directions. 

In no particular order: Wimbledon Park Primary School holidays start today, the Border Agency is going on strike on the eve of the Olympics, we’re about to thump the Saffa’s in the cricket and Bradley is owning the Maillot Jaune. 

On the weather front, and I quote the BBC here, there is cause for cautious optimism as the predictions for next week seem to promise unsettled weather focused towards the North, which will result in drier, more settled conditions in the south with some brighter, warmer weather.  

Looks like Lord Coe might just get away with it.

Perhaps the least astonishing news followed the investigation into the performance-enhancing claims of some popular sports products that found “a striking lack of evidence” to back them up.

A team at Oxford University examined 431 claims in 104 sport product adverts and found a “worrying” lack of high-quality research, calling for better studies to help inform consumers.

All this from the Oxford University Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

A specialist team from Park Vintners, investigating similar claims relating to wine, can confirm that a chilled glass of white wine enhances any sunny afternoon whilst a decent glass of red will always improve a steak. 

Eat that, Nike…

Before you go…

Now I appreciate many of you will be escaping to distant beaches and far flung hotspots over the next six weeks but, before you go, can we just fast-forward to September.

After a couple of months of going home early on Wednesday evenings, Wayne and I have decided that watching CSI and getting an early night are massively over-rated.

So we will be re-starting our 6 week wine course in September, Wednesday September 19^th to be exact.

A quick recap for those of you that haven’t had the pleasure:

This is a course that takes place over 6 consecutive weeks with the aim of demystifying the world of wine. 

Pitched at the keen amateur, we spend week 1 learning the basics of wine tasting and appreciation, weeks 2-3 are spent investigating white grape varietals, weeks 4-5 we focus on the red grapes, and then for week 6 we concentrate on sparkling wines and Champagne.

Throw in a bit of sweet wine, some rose, a few wine faults, printed handouts and a minimum of 8 wines tasted each week and you have a fantastic little course.  Well, we think so anyway…

Clearly we’re not organised enough to do follow up sheets at the end of the course, but, if we did, we hope they would say things like:

‘Awesome and eye opening’,

 ‘6 great weeks, I wish it had gone on longer’,

‘Fun and informative’

‘Wayne’s knowledge is encyclopaedic and his jokes are timeless!’

Perhaps.

Anyway, if this appeals to you, we have attached a sensible flier to this email with more accurate information – but in a nutshell it starts Wednesday 19^th September for 6 weeks, it costs £150 per person. We take a maximum of 12 people per course and it’s fun, yet educational!

Pitch over.

Weekend Wine tasting.

We’re both here this weekend for the first time in a few weeks, and we’ve both had our eye on a couple of wines we want to taste together.

From Portugal, we’ll be quaffing a white, Afros Vinho Verde 2010 £13.89. 

Now, both of us really enjoy Vinho Verde and this one has lovely green apple notes on the nose with hints of lees minerality, whilst on the palate we find delicious green fruits and a lovely long finish.  It’s ‘in conversion’ to organic practices and frankly I’m thoroughly looking forward to it and am more than happy to taste it more than once over the weekend!

An old favourite on the red side, Maison des Bulliats Regnie 2010 £9.99. 

The owners have a London base in Southfields, when they’re not crushing grapes or sticking on labels in Beaujolais, and we have been selling their delicious wine for about 5 years now.  Classic Gamay fruit, soft tannins and good length, this was selected by Jancis Robinson as one of the best 2010 Beaujolais.

As an added treat, we have a sample of their 2011 vintage to try as well, so we can compare the vintage similarities and differences.

That’s it from HQ, not much else to report: check your diaries for the wine course and enjoy the sunshine!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s been a week that many people won’t want to see repeated. 

Ashley Cole won’t.  Natwest won’t.  Bob Diamond probably won’t, but it’s harder to tell with him.  Barclays certainly won’t, though.  Caroline Wozniacki won’t.  Rafa Nadal won’t, or Venus, and that bloke on Saturday night, wearing a silver bikini, clogs and a very bemused expression, certainly won’t!

Finally, with the announcement of the musical Viva Forever, based on the songs of the Spice girls, you and I won’t either!

However there must be some positives to be grabbed from the week.  The tennis has been on for four days now and the rain has thus far behaved itself.  Strawberries are absolutely at their best right now, and in abundance.  Even English Asparagus is still popping up, far later than normally expected.

So that’s sport, comment, musicals and food covered off, all that remains is the wine bit…

The Wine Bit

We mentioned last week that we have very special guest joining us for a tasting on Wednesday 11^th July. 

When I say joining us, I think I probably actually mean hosting.

His name is Giacomo Bindi, he is not the youth goalkeeper for Genoa (bless you Wiki), but is in fact the industry behind the Podere Il Cocco wines.  His father is a Doctor, but rather than join the white jacket brigade, he decided to go and run the vineyard that the family have owned for the last three centuries – give or take.

Now, if we all had such choices to make, Harley Street would be full of wine shops…

And he is the real deal – he trains the vines, picks the grapes, makes the wine, does a bit of bottling,  has even been known to stick a few labels on too… he gets involved in the process from start to finish and as such has great authority.

Let’s face it, last time we met him, he was confident enough to taste a flight of deep red wines whilst wearing a snow-white cashmere sweater – and it was still white at the end – legend!

So, what are the wines he’s going to show?

Being based in Montalcino he is clearly very red focused.  His top wines are, of course, Brunello di Montalcino, he also produces a Rosso di Montalcino and his early drinking wine Brunato for while you’re waiting for your cellar full of Brunello to come of age.

Confirmed shows:

2004 and 2005 Brunello.  Hopefully we might also see the 2006 and 2007, but this is subject to Giacomo getting them on the plane.

Rosso 2008. The 2009 vintage is also subject to flight regulations.

Brunato 2010.  This only needs to be taken off the shelf here, so I foresee no difficulty!

So it should be a cracker, a great opportunity to meet the thinking behind the wine and ask those silly questions that seem so sensible when the wine is flowing… oh no, of course that would never happen.

Wednesday 11^th July – 8pm – in the shop – £15 per person.  Check the diary now.

This weekend

I fully suspect we’ll be opening some wine.

In the white hat, I rather fancy the Puzelat-Bonhomme Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2011 – £13.59 which is a lovely herby, cut grass Touraine character.  For me this really puts many wines from more famous appellations to shame.  Gorgeous.

In the red hat, a wine that we were both absolutely gobsmacked when we discovered we hadn’t shown it before – Domaine de Coyeux, Beaumes de Venise 2007 – £13.99.  B de V is very famous for its sweet Muscat wines, but in fact their reds are very often far more exciting.  A classic Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, we’ve got bagfuls of fruit, hints of spice, dashes of chocolate and the word ‘barbecue’ written all over it.  Or stew, if the storms arrive…

So pop by and say g’day – the Tour de France starts this weekend, and I have Wayne studiously researching the route in order to botch together a T de F Wine Map, although thus far most research has involved him drinking wine whilst watching last year’s highlights…

Over and out.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So another weekend approaches with the summer weather playlist still on shuffle. Sport wise we have a spot of football action at the weekend, cricket is being played in wellies and Wimbledon is about to start. We find ourselves wondering if Prince William will go to Jimmy Carr (Jersey) Ltd for tax advice now that he has a fair amount of folding in his money clip.

Winemaker Tasting Wednesday 11^th July at 8pm

We are taking a diversion from Cheese and Wine for July and are chuffed to announce that Giacomo Bindi from Podere Il Cocco will be joining us for a tasting of his wines.

Many of you will recognise this as the name behind both our delicious Brunato and Brunello di Montalcino. The estate is on top of Montalcino’s highest hill at around 600 metres and covers about 10 acres.

This is a great opportunity to meet the winemaker and hear about the process from the horse’s mouth as it were. He’s going to bring a couple of interesting bits along and we expect take up to be swift, so don’t miss out.

Cost is the usual £15 and places are limited.

Vintage Champagne

A few weeks ago Alex wrote about Moutard Grand Cuvée, our “go to” Champagne.

I was lucky enough to taste the 2002 Vintage again recently (last week of the Wine School to be exact) and I was reminded how good it is. Made from 100 % Chardonnay, it has a really elegant style, with some brioche notes and apple fruit.

Being such a good vintage its worth tucking a few away in the wine fridge too, to allow it to mellow and the flavours to evolve to more honeyed apple shortbread characters. We’ll confess to a bit of history here, a couple of years ago we drank some of his 1993 which was deliciously mature.

Moutard Pere & Fils 2002 – £43.99 (or buy six for the price of five!)

Tasting this Weekend – Sud de France

This is the last weekend of our mini feature on all that is great about the Languedoc Rousillon.

This week we’ll talk to you about Saint Chinian. About 20 km north of Beziers sitting in the foothills of the Cévennes it is a beautiful area with two distinct styles. Around the village itself, the clay soils give fruitier wines, whereas in the north, schist and sandstones dominate and this kind of acid soil retains very little water, and vine has to adapt to important droughts.

2008 Cazal Viel Vieilles Vignes Saint Chinian – £12.99

70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre.  Cazal Viel, with its 135 hectares encompassing 92 different parcels, is the largest estate in St Chinian.  Their philosophy is fairly simple, they want to make the best Saint Chinian you can find.  We think they are doing a pretty good job, this old vine cuvée is rich and rounded with a little bit of grip to keep it honest.  Aged in second use barriques for 12 months to add a little smoky complexity.

Clearly we’ve only scratched the surface on our swift tour of the Languedoc so expect us to revisit it at points in the future.

To provide a bit of balance we’ll also scoot over to South-West France and get our tasting gear around 2011 Cuvée Jean-Paul – £6.79 which is a deliciously fresh blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc, with a zingy character that puts summer picnics firmly in your mind.

Think that’ll do us for this week except to say “Go on England”