The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This time next week it will all be over. The dust will have settled, Alex Salmond will have made his victory speeches, the sound of financial institutions scuttling towards the borders will be deafening and Scotland will have taken its first tentative steps on the road to independence – a road that 49% didn’t want to go down.

Anyway stuff the politics for now, let’s look at the settlement. As with all divorces, this is the moment when shared belongings get split up and returned to their original owners, regardless of whether they want them or not. Having undertaken some particularly thorough research over the last six minutes, we’ve come up with a short selection of items that Scotland brought to the world that we might need to re-pack and say farewell to next Friday.

Inside
The television, the fridge, the toaster, the electric clock, Roses Lime Cordial, Bovril, and dare I mention it, the flush toilet. Oh, and if you have a piano, the foot pedal also needs to go!

Outside
Not such bad news here, as many of the sports they have had a hand in are, let’s say, a tad niche in England.

Aussie Rules was apparently heavily influenced by Scottish settlers in Melbourne; shot put and hammer throw come from the Highland Games, and who can forget shinty and curling?!

Perhaps more significantly, we have to give back golf and cycling. For that matter the pneumatic tyre needs to go too but as we’ll have already returned tarmac we’ll be back on horses anyway!

Oh, and rather bizarrely they want the football dugout back in Aberdeen!

Finance
According to Wiki, the Bank of England was devised by William Paterson and the Bank of France by John Law; however I think we’ll be getting plenty of banks back.

Whisky & Haggis & Irn Bru
Bugger, we can’t let these go – who do we talk to, ACAS, UNESCO?

In the meantime, we still have a week left as the Great Britain we have been for the last 300 years, so let’s just carry on as usual.

This, for me, means I’m talking about Chile.

As mentioned last week, we’re ‘doing’ Chile in September in return for plenty of POS support from Wines of Chile. Pretty much all of this is now in our window and it would be hard to deny that Chile is strongly featured. This week though, I wanted to tie the tasting wines in with another topic that often gets brought up – Organic Wine.

Customers regularly ask if we sell organic wines, to which we reply, ‘Yes. Yes, we do.’

Such enthusiasm can often render people speechless so, to help their recovery and avoid awkward silences, we move up a gear and discuss the differences between organic wines, biodynamic wines and natural wines.

What we try to make clear in this discussion is that we fully support the ideals of organic (not using artificial fertilisers, pesticides in the vineyard etc), biodynamic (similar to organic but using special biodynamic preparations at particular times linked to the lunar calendar, often involving cow horns and hairy big toes) and natural (again, like organic but continuing the non-intervention, no artificial additive strategy in the winemaking as well as the grape growing, definitely involving hairy big toes, usually six on each foot) but we don’t make such practices the sole reason for us buying the wines we put on the shelf.

We buy our wines because they taste good and they are at the right sort of price for how good they taste. If they’re biodynamic too, fabulous, but it’s not a deal breaker.

This all leads me to the wines on show this weekend. Both are wines that we tasted, thought delicious and bought. It was only when they arrived and we looked more closely at the packaging that we found out they were both organic:

Emiliana Reserva Riesling 2012, Bío Bío Valley – £8.99 – previously the Alsace varieties we have tasted from Chile have been deeply disappointing and not worth anyone’s money. I think this was definitely a case of us kissing the wrong frogs – this is a lovely crisp, dry Riesling with lively lime, citrus character and a hint of apple on the palate. Spot on as an aperitif and an all-rounder when it comes to food matching – Wayne recommends Ceviche, I think he spends too many evenings at fancy restaurants!

Novas Gran Reserva Garnacha Syrah 2012, Cachapoal Valley – £11.99 – the classic southern Rhone blend with a twist of south American power and one to consider as the nights draw longer and the game season properly gets under way.

That’s it from us except for one note of admin:

Tomorrow, Saturday 13th September, we will be opening at the slightly later time of 11am due to a morning delivery to Croydon! Sorry for the inconvenience.

So do pop in and try some wine over the weekend and don’t forget to ask us about Organic wine – in the meantime, altogether now:

Ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye…. (fade to black)

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Glass of Pinot Grigio, Wayne? Don’t mind if I do….

And so we signed off last week’s email.

Friday and Saturday saw many of your tasting the wines on show and numerous positive comments were made regarding our first ever Pinot Grigio tasting – the general consensus being it was pretty darn good. Imagine our amazement when this email arrived on Monday morning:

Dear All,

Di Lenardo has achieved a delicate balance of robust fruit and crisp acidity, characterising the complex palate with flavours that mirror the wine’s bouquet.

So to everyone that thought the wine was delicious give yourselves a pat on the back, you were right!!

Elsewhere

Not a great deal to report – Andy Murray loses to an extremely capable young man named Novak, England grind out a tedious win in a friendly football match and our boys in flannels watch a masterclass in One Day cricket that should only surely result in a serious change of personnel.
Phone/photo hacking sweeps the USA as the Cloud seems to be pretty much the least safe place to store confidential files but also shows an interesting celebrity idiosyncrasy – I’m beautiful therefore I must take some photos of my beautiful naked body over and over again – the argument for Polaroid’s has never been stronger!

Here

If it’s September, it must be Chile.

Over the last few years we have made September a chance to focus on the wines from this long, slim South American country partly linked to the fact that Chilean Independence day is on the 18th and the Wines of Chile chaps always send us some nice maps and goodies!

So the focus of this month’s tastings will be Chilean wine plus our Case Club this month is also a Chilefest, replete with a couple of Wayne’s favourite recipes!

For those of you wondering what this ‘Case Club’ thing is, allow me to elaborate. Each month we select 6 wines, 3 white and 3 red normally, write up tasting notes and charge £50 for the box of six – a discount of anywhere between 13-20% off the shelf price. We offer to deliver this case locally to you or you can pick it up from the shop – it’s a wine club like many other wine clubs the difference being you know who we are, where we live etc etc.

Should you be interested in joining in the fun just let us know and we’ll add you to the list. At the beginning of each month we send you the tasting notes, you then say ‘yes, please’ or occasionally ‘no, thank you’, we then deliver and you pay us. Pretty simple, much like us!
Here are the notes for this month’s case, to give you an idea of what we do:

Oyster Shack Chardonnay 2013, Central Valley – £7.29 This Central Valley Chardonnay is unoaked with lively ripe red apple and tropical fruit flavours with a touch of leesy complexity. Nice and crisp in the finish, we’re looking at some early season pumpkin risotto, or if you’re looking for something authentic how about Ave Palta, a chicken and avocado sandwich.

Carmen Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Colchagua – £10.69 We figured it’d be rude to wander around Chile without popping a Cabernet Sauvignon in to your glass. We read somewhere that all the antioxidants in Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon are especially good for you. We’re not qualified to comment on that front, but we would mention the dark black fruits overlaid with hints of cassis, eucalyptus and allspice. Rich and velvety smooth on the palate with excellent weight into the finish. We’re suggesting Pastel de Choclo with this one which is similar to Shepherd’s Pie, which would also work.

All this, for £50, marvellous.

Tasting
As predicted we’ll be putting Chile in your glass too. I think we’ll dip into the selection above to start with and try the Muscat from Itata and whilst we’re towards the south, how about the Cabernet Sauvignon too?

Lot’s about wine this week, one of the most focused emails we’ve written for a long time!

Salud!

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

A quick apology – all the fantastic, efficient service, witty repartee and solid wine advice that you have become so accustomed to over the last six weeks has been heavily diluted over the last few days. Yep, Alex is back; he seems to have forgotten where everything is and how much it costs, brought bad weather and a broken toe with him plus post bank holiday gloom and doom. Welcome back chum, we’ve really missed you!

However his return didn’t cast a cloud over everyone’s week, we’ll leave that to Berlusconi’s Icelandic volcano. Whilst we are deep in AFC Wimbledon country here, and I’m sure we have a few Man U fans out there, one cannot help but admire the MK Dons 4-0 scoreline from Tuesday evening. One hell of a beating and one can only guess at how much claret was spilt at the Ferguson household!

Otherwise it’s business as usual. Heather Watson loses in the first round of the US Open, Andy Murray strolls through his second round match, the media pundits are debating the future of Alistair Cook and Tottenham top the Premiership.

Elsewhere, in the wide world of wine we have an earthquake in Napa causing an estimated 4 billion dollars worth of damage. Kerala in southern India continues with its plans to have a dry state within 10 years by closing hundreds of bars throughout the region. Except for the ones in 5* hotels – know thy master, perhaps. Pernod Ricard post a decline in net profit that can be linked directly to the clampdown on gift giving in China – they own Chivas Regal and Martell, so say no more.

WINE & CHEESE TASTING – Thursday 4th September – 8pm

Owing to a bit of diary mismanagement we now have two spare tickets available for the tasting next Thursday. For those of you who haven’t been before the tasting goes something like this: we select 4 cheeses with the aid of the chaps from Norbiton Fine Cheese and then we match 5 wines, a sweetie and a beer with them, hopefully successfully! We taste them altogether and discuss the various merits and drawbacks of each selection. Fun, informal and full of cheese – what more does one need on a Thursday evening?

Tickets are £20 per person – clearly they are in short supply so first come, first served.

WINES ON THE TABLE TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
As ever we will have a couple of bottles open for you to sample from 5pm this evening. In a massive break with tradition we will be opening a Pinot Grigio for your pleasure. We have often found Pinot Grigio to be a bit over-rated, with the obvious exceptions of the ones we sell, and have never put one on tasting before, until tonight.

DI LENARDO ‘GOSSIP’ PINOT GRIGIO RAMATO 2013, VENEZIA GIULIA, ITALIA – £14.99
Ramato means ‘coppery’ in Italian and this refers to the colour of the wine rather than the taste. The wine gets this gentle rosy tinge from 18 hours of skin contact with the grapes. The nose has delicious red fruit and pear aromas whilst the palate has some real fruit character and a lovely crisp finish. Pink Pinot Grigio never, ever tasted this good!

BREZZA VIGNA SANTA ROSALIA BARBERA D’ ALBA 2012, PIEMONTE, ITALIA – £19.99
A beautiful Barbera with a distinctively elegant, floral character. Vinified with no oak contact whatsoever and capped with a distinctive glass closure to help keep freshness. Designed to be drunk young it has delicious cherry character and some balanced tannins on the finish which make it a natural match for cured meats and foods with a bit of fattiness.

Bit of a watershed weekend this one as we all transition from August to September, from holidays to school, from flop-flops to brogues. We suggest keeping the August, holiday, flop-flop thing going for one more weekend with a glass of wine and a barbecue and worry about September school brogues on Monday!

Glass of Pinot Grigio Wayne? Don’t mind if I do….

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The queues outside of Clark’s have been epic this week with the youngsters all waiting for foot measuring for new school shoes. The excitement, and trepidation, evidenced as GCSE results were picked up on Thursday – indeed I heard one chap with his mates “Oh man, I got two D’s”.

Some will be staying on for A-levels, some moving off for apprenticeships, or maybe a BTEC in engineering. Some of the younger ones are excited to be putting on the new uniform and moving up to “big school” with all the challenges and opportunities that will bring. Getting up earlier probably being the first of these!

Where am I going with all this? I don’t really know, the thought struck me that many of you are back from your holidays, all looking bronzed and lovely, some of the schools go back next week and some the week after. More importantly I have not heard a single child say “I’m bored” which means, Mums and Dads, you are doing a fantastic job.

Sports wise Balotelli is on his way to Liverpool – you have to hand it to Brendan Rodgers, he doesn’t go for the easy life, does he? Crystal Palace have parted with their sporting director this week, leaving junior from the office in charge – they’d like to apologise for the delay in answering the phone.

Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, Spa is a challenging but exciting circuit with the longest lap length. It’s also one of the quickest, so will Rosberg or Hamilton prevail?

La Vuelta a Espana starts this weekend too with Froome and Contador back in the saddle after their tumbles in the Tour. I can’t help but think they’ll both still be a bit sore and that Quintana may well be the man to beat. As always staying on the bike will be key!

In wine news, we find that Chilean producers ‘Carolina Estates’ are replanting a near extinct red grape variety called Romana. Virtually unknown in Chile, it originated in the Chablis area of France, where it is known as César. It is almost extinct there too, with just about 10 hectares left. Elsewhere we hear that ‘Treasury Wine Estates’ (owners of Wolf Blass and Penfolds) made a massive A$100 million loss. Apparently next year is a ‘reset year’. No kidding!

Bank Holiday Monday
We are closed on Bank Holiday Monday.

Beer
Congratulations to our chums at Sambrook’s Brewery, their Wandle won a bronze medal at the Great British Beer Festival last week.

Tasting this weekend
Alex is back this weekend to regale you with stories of Fino, Flamenco and Feria. He’ll be serving you all in his best Spanish accent, though talk of a Toreadors’ outfit is probably wide of the mark. I suspect he’s had plenty of Spanish wine so we’ll be looking elsewhere for this week’s palate pleasers.

It’s a long weekend this one, last Bank Holiday until Christmas so let’s hope the sun shines and the barbecues keep burning – let’s make it count, people!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I knew it was going to be a slow news week when our wine news provider sent a story entitled “10 weird ways to open a bottle”. Being August it’s been a slow everything week with the exception of my commute from Balham. No traffic to speak of makes my short cycle whizz past even quicker, I have to go the long way just to keep it interesting!

Anyway, most of the ways weren’t weird at all, pushing the cork into the bottle when you forgot the corkscrew at a picnic, we’ve all done that I’m sure. The weird bit was taking a toothbrush to a picnic and using that to push the cork in. Do people really take toothbrushes to a picnic? I’m not talking about a camping trip, I’d hope we all take a toothbrush then; maybe I’m the odd one not brushing after my scotch egg in the park.

It’s been a good week for sport with the English ladies making it to the World Cup final in the rugby, Mo Farah finding his mojo again in the 10k, and Mark Cavendish back in the saddle at the Tour de l’Ain.

Performance of the week though must surely be Jo Pavey absolutely bossing the 10k at the European Championships just weeks before her 41st birthday. Inspiring.

The premiership kicks off this weekend with lots of shiny new players to watch and even a few new managers for the ‘good team performance’ slot on MOTD, while in what must be surely an unassailable new record, we note that Crystal Palace have parted company with their manager less than 48 hours before the first ball was kicked. Not inspiring.

In other news, Raleigh are releasing a limited edition Chopper this year. Sure to be top of the kids’ requests to Father Christmas this year, the picture I saw it looked like it had been given an F1 Lotus paintjob circa Emmerson Fittipaldi’s era!

Finally, following on from last week’s history notes, I’d just mention that 45 years ago today Richie Havens was the opening act at Woodstock.

Wine this Weekend
Following on from Alex’s Spanish Fiesta last weekend, I’m staying on the Iberian Peninsula and plumping for Ciconia Tinto (£9.99) which hails from Alentejo in Portugal. A winning blend of Touriga Nacional, Syrah and Aragonez (Tempranillo in Spanish!) it is rich and rounded and just the thing to go with a last day purchase from the butcher.
On the white front we’re going with Percheron Chenin Blanc/Viognier (£8.19) a summery white from old bush vines in South Africa. Good fruit and a nice weight make it a good all-rounder really, but it is particularly good with cold chicken.
Both come with a screwcap so if you’re off on a picnic you won’t need the toothbrush!

Until next week,

Nanu nanu.

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

There’s no denying it, one of life’s greatest and guiltiest pleasures is Wikipedia. It is also a rich seam of trivia suitable for an unimaginative email writer on Friday 8th August – and here I am.

Here is a short list of things related to today which will hopefully make you life and soul of the party at the bar in the Tower & Poppy tonight.
I suggest you open up your account with the question – Any plans for New Year’s Eve? Only 145 days remaining until the end of the year.
Now you’ve got their attention you can follow up with the double-whammy – Not only was Ronnie Biggs born on this day in 1929 but exactly 34 years later, in 1963, the Great Train Robbery took place!

Six years later in 1969, whilst Ronnie was sunning himself in Australia, photographer Iain Macmillan was taking that photo of a zebra crossing in Abbey Road, replete with Beatles in varying footwear. This is a cue for lengthy discussion over the hidden meaning of this album cover ably supported by pub logic and pint confidence that should last until closing time.

Should you need any other titbits to season the conversation you could always mention that in:
• 1974 – President Richard Nixon announced his resignation as President of the United States on national television – the exact same day that ‘big’ Brian Harvey, of East 17 fame burst into the world.
• 2008 – the China Olympics started
• 1988 – Princess Beatrice born
• 1985 – Toby Flood born
• 1981 – Roger Federer served up
• 1961 – The Edge (U2) was born David Howell Evans, in Barking, to Welsh parents.

Now, if that last fact doesn’t earn you a pint then I give up. Slainte!

Not much more to report from here on Arthur Road.

As it’s Friday, we’ll open some tasting bottles this afternoon, so before you go to the pub to impress your mates with your new found knowledge, you might want to pop in and see us for a quick gargle to wet the whistle, as it were. I’m off to Spain next week so to get the mood going I will be opening a couple of Spaniards.
I fancy a bit of a change to start with so will pull the cork on the unique Ameztoi Txakolina Txakoli 2013, Getariako Txakolina – £14.29.
Growing in the Basque country, Txakoli is made from the local Hondarrabi Zuri grapes (which of course you already knew) and is the perfect match for the seafood pinxos served in San Sebastian. Fresh and appley with a delicious spritz, it has been likened to the wine equivalent of a wet sponge on a hot day – refreshing!

For the red wine lovers we are striding across to the northwest (Galicia) where we find Casal de Paula 2012, Ribeiro – £13.99. This is a bit of a blend using grapes most of us haven’t come across before: Ribeiro Tinto, Mencia, Brencellao, Ferron and Souson. Very reminiscent of ripe Loire valley reds with some bramble and hedgerow fruits and a nice fleshy finish. A good food wine that went down a treat at our cheese tasting in June.

Come in and taste them both, fabulous after a warming tube journey!

Lastly, a reminder. Mike, the butcher across the road, is closing his doors for the last time at the end of next week, which is a huge loss to the area. If you haven’t popped in there recently take the chance whilst you still can because they won’t be back.

Which leads me to a comment made by one of our customers this week, who had made a special trip to buy a bottle of our Cidre Breton:

When you buy such a lovely piece of pork from the butcher there is absolutely no way I’m going to cook it with Bulmers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Summer in the city where the air is still/A baby being born to the overkill/Who cares what people say/We walk down love’s motorway/Ambition and love wearing boxing gloves/And singing hearts and flowers

I’ve spent a good portion of today trying to find a musical introduction to the email that would reflect the fabulous weather we have been enjoying of late. I finally went with the slightly surreal pop lyricism of Aztec Camera for a variety of reasons:

• Roddy Frame is from East Kilbride, so close enough to link in with the Commonwealth Games
• The words make absolutely no sense whatsoever but in the late 80’s (1988, I believe) it wasn’t ever about lyrics making sense
• All the other songs I could think of relating to hot weather, cities and such like seemed to revolve around it being too hot in here/we should probably take our clothes off/let’s go out tonight and get drunk/And then take our clothes off/It’s too hot to be dressed/let’s go dancing and get drunk/and then let’s take our clothes off….
• Which just didn’t seem appropriate for what I was trying to say

There are many joys and also some hard times that come with running your own business, especially a wine shop.

We work long hours, we rely on people walking through the door and actually liking the wines we have selected. Every day we have to try to be as jolly at 8pm as we were at 11am, which is, of course, easy as pie. However, one of the joys is the fact that we get to choose our own dress code. Alex has always been strict about us wearing closed-toed shoes (something to do with glass breakages and customers not necessarily wanting to see our feet) but otherwise no real restrictions apply.

Which is why we’ve been wearing shorts and polo shirts for the last few weeks and it’s been darn glorious. It’s a small perk but it’s a perk nonetheless!

Exodus/Movement of Jah people!/Oh-oh-oh, yea-eah!

This link, courtesy of Mr Marley, is perhaps a bit more obvious. The last of the schools closed their doors for summer this week and the roads were soon swamped with estate cars filled with footballs, boogie boards, swimming costumes and parasols. Like a plug being pulled from a bath somewhere around well, Bath let’s say, London has been emptied and Dorset, Devon and Cornwall have been filled to the brim.

We’re still here though, selling Rosé by the tanker and keeping the fridges filled, so if you’re still here too, take pleasure in having the city to yourself and space to park your car!

Not much more to add I believe.

The Wine School (consecutive Wednesdays, 17th September to 22nd October – £150) is slowly swelling in numbers, if you haven’t signed up yet, take advantage of the shorter queues we will have over the next week or two – details attached.

Wine & Cheese evening – Thursday 4th September at 8pm same rules as ever, £20 per person.

Wines to taste this weekend will be the southern French, oyster-shuckers selection, Domaine Félines Jourdan Picpoul de Pinet 2013 £11.99 a white wine built for July drinking and in the red chair we will be opening a BBQ classic Jewel Collection Old Vine Zinfandel 2012 £12.99 from Lodi, California – what better wine to match your grilled meats!

They’ll be open tonight from 5pm and all day tomorrow, so come in and enjoy them both whilst admiring Wayne’s knees!

Toodle-pip!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

In the realm of the ‘drinks and drinking’ media it feels like some of the grown-ups have gone on holiday and the student interns are running amok. Certainly we have found two items this week that I’m sure wouldn’t make front pages around budget time or Christmas.

So, first up and a serious contender for headline of the year and one that would appeal to the aforementioned students:

Mutant worm could help alcoholics
I won’t bore you too much with the science (why let facts ruin a good story) but Professor Jon Pierce-Shimomura from the University of Texas’ College of Natural Sciences and Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research has apparently done something clever involving the words potassium, modified and cell membranes. The worm in question is made insensitive to alcohol (that’s the mutant bit) while still able to carry out its usual functions operating heavy machinery and driving a cab.

This breakthrough doesn’t actually sound like it’s going to help alcoholics address the health issues of their disease, more it’ll just make them able to drink more efficiently and for longer.

In the article the parting shot was: “The research could even be used to develop a ‘James Bond’ drug someday, which would enable a spy to drink his opponent under the table, without getting drunk himself.”
Only in Texas….

Moët Ice Impérial, a refreshing take on summer style

Our love affair (?) with Moët has been documented over the years but this we thought was worth page space. Launched in 2012 but only drifting onto our dusty radar last week we just had to share.

We like Champagne. We like the bubbles, the flavours, nuances, elegance and, damn it, the decadence of a glass for breakfast on a Tuesday. But there exist certain expectations (see previous sentence) and Champagne as a concept/brand/drink doesn’t really need to play around with its image to gain mass appeal. It doesn’t have to try and emulate cider, for example.

Enter Moët Ice Impérial. From their 2012 press release we glean:

The world’s first-ever champagne specifically created to be enjoyed on ice, Moët Ice Impérial is a refreshing take on summer style. “Moët Ice Impérial is a radically new way to drink champagne, and with a single sip, whisks you away to its warm and sunny world,” said Arnaud de Saignes, International Director of Marketing and Communications for Moët & Chandon.

Poetic licence, fine. But Champagne on ice – bit Magners, luv. It comes in a white bottle and in one of the photos is served with a slice of lime too. Sol, anyone? Oh and it’s sweet too – 45g/litre of sugar, or sweeter than Liebfraumilch if you wish. Think of a dry Asti Spumante and you’ll be close.

But we haven’t tasted it, it could be awesome, it retails for about £60+ and perhaps the last words are best left to Arnaud de Saignes:

“Whether enjoyed on ice by the beach with friends or experienced online, Moët Ice Impérial is itself a luxurious destination.”

We admit to being not the most savvy when it comes to new media, but can someone explain how you can enjoy a drink online – or in fact can anyone explain what the hell he is talking about? Luxurious destination, I ask you….

Why you should come to Wine School and why you shouldn’t.

As you may have read before we are doing our wine course once more after the summer has sizzled, starting on 17th September and drifting through until 22nd October.

That’s right, those Wednesday evenings that form the midweek watershed can now be filled with purpose. You’ve been good on Monday and Tuesday, gone to the gym and played tennis but by Wednesday the prospect of a glass of wine has greater appeal. How about justifying it as educational? We’ll taste about 60 wines over the 6 weeks from all over the world and from an array of varieties. We’ll taste white, red, rose, sweet, fizz and even corked wine, should this take your fancy! We’ll talk about food matching, wine lists, sommeliers and anything else you want to ask us questions about. We have even been known to give Champions League updates.

So really now the question is: why shouldn’t you? Frankly I cannot think of one good reason, even Wayne’s jokes have an endearingly comforting quality, reminiscent of an old cardigan…

So sign up today – £150 per person and a solution to the ‘what shall I do on Wednesday’ crisis!

Why you should vote for us in the Time & Leisure Food & Drink Awards 2014.

Because it would mean the world to us, we would be really grateful if you could and Waitrose don’t deserve it.

http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/food-and-drink-awards/2279-best-wine-retailer.html

Wine & Cheese evening – Thursday 4th September at 8pm.

We’re taking a break from tastings in August but very early September sees us back on track, matching wine to cheese and continuing our quest for the perfect match. If you don’t want to miss out on that eureka! moment then book your place today. £20 per person and a fun evening out. Places as ever are limited, first come, first served seems to be a well established rule so let’s stick with that. 020 8944 5224 or shop@parkvintners.co.uk should attract our attention!

What shall we drink this weekend
Shaping up to be hot and thunderous apparently, so I’m recommending wine.
Very exciting news for us this week was that one of our wines finally broke ranks and hit the big time, getting some airtime on the Food and Drink programme. Maias Branco 2013 – £11.39 is the wine, the estate being situated at the foot of Portugal’s largest mountain range, Serra da Estrela. Fleshy, almost golden delicious apple fruit and a lovely balanced finish, we think it’s fab and so do the celeb chefs now.
You can see for yourself here, fast-forward to 12 minutes 45 seconds and you’ll see what I mean. And just for this weekend, if you do watch the clip you can have the wine for the price she suggests it costs!

There will be red open too but I have to be honest here, I think we’ll decide on that one once the weather has decided which way it’s going to break.

An email filled with wine talk and no mention of sport – don’t tell Alex.

I’m off to git me a mutant worm and a bottle of hooch!

Bon weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Pity the poor soul, mouthing soundlessly at his television in the 91st minute, Ladbrokes slip in hand bearing the legend

MATCH: Germany – Brazil / SCORE: 7 – 0 / ODDS: 1,000 – 1

Pity Jasper Cillessen, substituted off in the quarter-finals for the penalties in favour of Tim Krul, then only left on in the semis because Holland had run out of substitutions, the whole world knowing he was the second choice penalty stopper ( track record: never saved one, no sir, not one) and then Chris Waddle calls you limp wristed! (quote: The keeper will be disappointed because that was the one he could have saved, with strong wrists)

Speaking of wrists, pity Sir Bradley Wiggins, sitting at home, rocking away with his rug on his knees, supping a pint of mild and munching a cheese ‘n chips toastie whilst watching Chris Froome retire from the Tour de France…

Pity Justin Beiber, sent to anger management classes for egging a neighbour’s house – and fined the fabulously filthy fee of $80,000 damages… that’s a lot of eggs!

And pity the schoolchildren who couldn’t have their sports day yesterday due to the weather… can someone explain to me (and perhaps those in charge) the significant properties and benefits of an All Weather Track?

Sales
It may not be immediately obvious a lot of the time but we are in the business of sales. One of our eagle-eyed customers has actually noticed our selling success and sent us this email:

I have 4x tickets to England v India at Lords 4th day (yes, the day after my mate’s wedding in Bristol). Any chance you can see if anyone wants them for face value? Compton Upper.

This is a genuine offer, I know and can vouch for the muppet, mug, gentleman in question and confirm that he has a history of purchasing too many tickets for sporting events (he pretty much funded the London Olympics via his Visa card) so if anyone is interested, drop us a line and we will proceed from there.

Now back to wine.

Votes
Ok, not quite yet.
Momentum is gathering, knives are being sharpened, teeth are being gnashed as we roll into the last few weeks of voting in the Time & Leisure Food & Drink Awards 2014.

Now, we hope you’ve all voted for us already, or perhaps Waitrose in Worcester Park floated your boat this year but either way your vote is very important so we implore, entreat, beseech and beg that you follow this link and place your X in the box:

http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/food-and-drink-awards/2279-best-wine-retailer.html

TVM.

School
We’re not unionised here, so we don’t have any option to strike, which means that our Wine School will be an un-interrupted 6 week course commencing Wednesday 17th September at 8pm.

There has been a typo in some of the fliers we sent out previously so I would like to confirm that it takes place on six consecutive Wednesdays:
17th & 24th September, 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd October

It’s an enormous amount of educational fun, you will taste a broad spectrum of wines and make some lovely new friends – amongst our graduates we can count the gentleman trying to sell his cricket tickets above and if that’s not a golden recommendation I don’t know what is!?
So sign up today, £150 per person, more than 60 wines over 6 weeks, think of all that new knowledge you’ll have to impress everyone with at Christmas…

Ha, first mention of Christmas – July 11th – must be a record!

Now, back to wine
After all these weeks of late night penalty shoot outs and other joys the World Cup charabanc trundles out of town on Sunday night leaving behind it a trail of broken hearts, unexpected heroes and a new world champion. Being Englishmen of a certain age we are finding it difficult to decide who to back – neither team would be our first choice clearly but we have to back someone.

So this weekend we will be tasting a wine from Germany and a wine from Argentina – the idea being, when we devised this in the pub on Wednesday, that the one we sell out of first is the winner. Great idea at the time ruined by the fact we have 15 more bottles of the Argentina wine than the German which equates to a potentially insurmountable handicap.

So perhaps the one that we sell the most of. Or the one we/you like the most. Or the one with the prettiest label. I don’t know, perhaps it can be a draw.

The contenders are:

Reichsrat Von Buhl Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Pfalz, Germany – £18.49 – a really classy Sauvignon Blanc with classic gooseberry and cut grass character. Racy and tasty on the palate – we likened it more to a posh Sancerre rather than an exotic NZ. Fabulously long finish and a fantastic alternative to the Loire valley.

Crios Limited Edition Red Blend 2012, Mendoza, Argentina – £14.99 – 40% Malbec, 40% Bonarda, 15% Tannat, 5% Syrah. Dark and rich with brambly fruits and a touch of mocha. The tannins are soft and velvety which would actually make it a really nice accompaniment to a bit of roast duck.

Considering the quality of these two wines I think it’s going to be Klose but hopefully it won’t get Messi!

I know, I’ll get my coat…

Have a wunderbar fin de semana!