Fellow Wine Lovers,
I will confess to being in a bit of a crisis this week, a crisis of excess.
In one hand, we’ve got 50 letters being sent out by the Met to various unnamed recipients, relating to potentially shady goings on in Downing Street; we’ve got the ongoing fallout from the Sue Gray report and we’ve got a famous bodice ripper written by EL James. Ideally, in the other hand, I would have a clever pun combining all of the above, that would make us all smile for a moment as we unwrap our lunchtime burrito; however, as I uncurl my fingers I find that the palm is empty, there is no pun to be found, just a P45 named Dick. So, if anyone can come up with something clever using the tools provided, please do let me know before the end of the email and I’ll slot it in.
Were you one of the lucky 50 recipients of a letter from Scotland Yard? I imagine not, given that you were all at home isolating for the last two years but I have to say I’m intrigued to know what the emailed questionnaire is going to ask, or perhaps should ask:
- Did you go to any parties in Downing Street in 2020 or 2021?
- Was Boris Johnson there in a work capacity or was he working the room?
- As these questions are part of Operation Hillman, which of the following Hillman motor vehicles did you see at Downing Street? Minx, Husky, Super Minx, Imp, Hunter, Avenger or Hustler (please tick all that apply)
- And finally, to help our sponsors, do you prefer Claret or Beaujolais with your Brie de Meaux?
This questionnaire has formal legal status and all responses are required within seven days. You must answer every question with either ‘YES’, ‘NO’ or ‘IT IS SIMPLY THE CASE THAT WE WOULDN’T WANT TO BE SEEN TO BE PREJUDGING THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION. GIVEN THE CLAIMS AND SPECULATION THAT’S BEEN REPORTED ON, WHAT’S RIGHT IS THAT THE INVESTIGATION IS ALLOWED TO CARRY OUT ITS WORK’
However, we have to assume that we’ll never know the whole truth, so I’ll move on to other things and this week we have a couple of diary notes for you.
It’s the 11th February today, I imagine many of you are all dusting off your passports in anticipation of a snow filled half term break and I fully applaud this. Anyway, if today is the 11th, tomorrow will likely be the 12th, Sunday should be the 13th which will result in Monday being the 14th. The 14th February aka Valentine’s Day. I’d pack a card and a bottle of something nice in amongst your long johns if I were you…. don’t say you weren’t given enough warning!
Almost as exciting as the prospect of drinking Champagne on a Monday night is the prospect of us hosting a winemaker tasting here instore. On Tuesday we received the following email:
Howdy,
We’re planning on coming to the UK in April for a friends 50th and wondered if you would be interested in doing a tasting on the evening of Thursday 21st April with Jonathan like in the old days
To which we replied:
Yes please, we’d love too
To clarify, the email came from Rachel, Rachel Treloar to give her full name, one half of team Domaine Treloar, down in Roussillon in the nice warm part of France. Now, over the years both Rachel and her husband Jonathan have done tastings for us here and they have gone down an absolute storm – the combination of great wines, great anecdotes and the opportunity to ask the winemakers some really geeky questions is Alex’s idea of atop night out. It would seem that, historically, you all have a pretty good time too, given the speed with which tickets tend to sell!
The last time we did a Treloar tasting was with Rachel on 17th October 2019 and prior to that Jonathan filled us with wine and information on 26th November 2014, which just goes to show that another visit is well overdue, where has the time gone?
WINES FROM DOMAINE TRELOAR WITH JONATHAN HESFORD
THURSDAY 21ST APRIL 7.30pm – £20 each – limited numbers, when it’s full, it’s full!
Very exciting!
Back in the here and now, we’ll be having a wee tasting of our own this weekend as usual and these two characters will be on show:
Cramele Recas Solara – £11.99
We chose this because frankly, on this most romantic of weekends, what says ‘I love you!’ better than a vegan natural wine from Romania with a slice of orange pretending to be the rising sun on its label? See, we’ve got all the moves.
Anyway, back in truthful-land, we first listed this wine last summer in our Case Club and it sold out really, really quickly. When we tried to re-order in September we were told it was out of stock until 2022. Well, we’re in 2022 now and the wine is here once more. The estate is owned by Englishman Philip Cox and his Romanian wife Elvira who have immaculate vineyards, in mountainous terrain, containing a combination of evolved plantings from 1447 alongside more recent plantings. A natural minimal intervention wine, it is made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice, creating a deep orange-hued finish. The wine ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or any other additions. The nose exhibits quince, Poire William and a hint of vanilla. A complex and structured palate, it is elegant with discreet fruit flavours of stone fruits, backed up with a complexity and long, balanced finish, incredibly fresh.
Or, in simpler terms, try it, it’s fab!
Keeping the romantic theme, the red is Spanish this week.
Valenciso have become a leading light amongst Rioja’s small, yet growing, band of micro, terroir-focused producers. Leaving behind excellent careers at Bodegas Palacio, Luis Valentin (see what we did there!) and Carmen Enciso started Compania Bodeguera de Valenciso in 1998. The vineyards and cellar are located in Rioja Alta in Ollauri, Spain, a small village 4-km away from Haro and we’ll be opening:
Valenciso Reserva 2012 – £25.99
“2012 was a warm and dry year, when some vines were blocked and stopped ripening the grapes. Surprisingly enough, many wines have retained more freshness than what the natural conditions of the year anticipated. Valenciso’s 2012 Reserva has more stuffing and power than the 2011 and comes from a year that was saved by some rains in September and big temperature contrasts between day and night. It’s very tasty, almost salty (the words of Jean Gonon from St Joseph saying “our wines are salty, to be enjoyed with food. There is no room for sweetness in our wines,” comes to my mind). It’s a modern classical Rioja in the making, still young but showing some development and incipient complexity. These wines develop slowly and nicely in bottle and seem to hit the spot after some eight years after the harvest.”
93 points Luis Guttierez, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (6/2019)
Now, that should probably be it from us, you finished your burrito a while back now and I’m sure are itching to get on with your afternoon but, just to confirm, yes, you’re right, there’s a very good reason why we haven’t mentioned the Six Nations….