Fellow Wine Lovers,
It has turned a bit fresh in the mornings perhaps but it seems incredible that we’ll be putting the clocks back this weekend, doesn’t it? If you’re stuck for something to do with the extra hour I might suggest having a spin through Richmond Park, the colours are turning really rather splendidly.
We received an email this week, it was an apology. Intrigued, I read it all the way to the bottom so surprised was I to receive an email apology. It turns out there was good reason for being sorry, they’d sent us an email from a sister company, in direct contradiction of all the GDPR rules.
Let me explain, a company we’re on the radar of, let’s call them ‘Only Booze’, continually try and sell us in-depth industry studies and annual subscriptions. So far we have managed to resist their temptations, cynically viewing the in-depth study of ‘Big Seven Booze Trends’ and it’s £600 ex VAT price tag as perhaps less relevant to our small local wine shop.
So to get to my point, it seems this sister company, let’s call them ‘Only Clothing’ also seem to offer in depth industry studies and annual subscriptions at exactly the same price as Only Booze. Interestingly, the latest in depth study they offered us was entitled ‘When Things Go Wrong’ for which they apologised.
In a similar vein Trumpolina, who only last week was making jokes about a Republican Congressman convicted of assaulting a Guardian reporter, has this week taken a very different approach to civility. He is suggesting that “Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective,” and called on the media “to stop the endless hostility”. Sadly, I didn’t see the speech so can’t tell you if he blushed, even a little, when he said it. Seems to me even Fake News is now so yesterday, you don’t even need to make it up. It’s a good job he doesn’t think restarting the Cold War will fix global warming. Err…
In Brexit news this week, UKIP MEP’s may have had their best ever attendance record in Strasbourg as the Parliament announced the transition payments and allowances for clearing their desks and offices by the 29th March. All good things come to an end, it would appear, but not before a pay off!
In wine news this week there are all sorts of snippets. A bottle of 1945 Domaine Romanée-Conti sold for £424,000 last week, undoubtedly a great vintage but you can’t help but wonder if it’s getting a bit long in the tooth? Still it’s the most expensive bottle of wine, ever. England’s grape harvest is looking fairly sensational, only a winemaker can mess it up now! Most excitingly though, there is talk of a new train service that could link London and Bordeaux in less than five hours. It seems to me that’s a proper sit down lunch, in Bordeaux, in a commutable time. What’s not to like?
Finally, a 20 year old in Selkirk has been ordered to carry out 90 hours unpaid work after admitting hitting himself over the head with a wine bottle, drawing blood and knocking himself out.
Wine School
Although we’re only a short way into the current term, many of you have been asking dates for when we’ll run Wine School again. We’ll start on Wednesday 6th February and run the six week course over seven weeks skipping 20th February for half term and finishing on Wednesday 20th March. We’ve held the price at £150 and you’ll taste around 60 wines. (An absolutely spiffing Chrimble present!)
New Wines
We’ve bought some new wines this week. Domaine Cherrier Sancerre Rouge 2017 (£22.49) is not something we generally go for, but to be honest this was so tasty we didn’t want to miss it. (Apparently that’s known as FOMO, we are reliably informed by young people). Also Vieux Chateau Gaubert 2010 (£26.99) a delicious Graves from a great vintage that’ll be very tasty should you be planning some roast beef in the near future. On the white front, the new vintage of Zeppelin Riesling 2017 (£14.99) has finally landed.
Tasting this Weekend
Having mentioned it above I propose opening the proceedings with Max Ferd. Richter Zeppelin Riesling 2017 (£14.99) before moving swiftly on to De Martino Legado Carmenère (£13.99) which could be just the ticket with that Roast Pork on Sunday (make sure the oven is hot for first 20 mins so the crackling is crisp!)
Bill and Ted were right “Be excellent to each other”