Fellow Wine Lovers,
How’s your week been? We’ve had a bit of a busy one – it seems some of you are having parties and getting organised. To join in, we’re having a birthday on Saturday, it’s the shop’s 12th anniversary, I’m sure we’ll be celebrating!
Happily, Matt Hancock didn’t win I’m a Celebrity. Sadly, they did get him out of there though so he’s not left wandering the jungle for 30 years, reflecting on his shortcomings…
Happily, Emma Raducanu was awarded an MBE. Sadly, it appears the Royal Household is still having racism issues…
Happily, England’s football team qualified for the next round of the World Cup. Sadly, that’s not true for the Welsh.
Happily, some of you got last week’s message about Claret. Sadly, not enough of you have tucked into the selection yet!
Happily, Trump’s tax returns have been handed over. Sadly, we have no further news on that and he’s so slippery…
Happily, there’s been a big breakthrough with a drug to treat Alzheimer’s. Sadly, it’s not available yet.
Happily, England broke some cricket records on Thursday. Sadly, we all know that we can still lose from here.
Happily, we could go on like this for pages. Sadly, we’re not going to.
There’s stuff to be done, lunch to be eaten, cycling to be discussed and wine to be moved down to the cellar, up from the cellar, and out to that chap’s car please Wayne!
We had our end of year Spotify Wrapped round up this week; they’ve decided we are Adventurers because we have listened to 129 genres of music. Sadly, they failed to name them all as, having discussed it, we certainly couldn’t!
I think this is an ideal opportunity to mention that we’ve been in touch with the lovely Nick at Foxdenton and can confirm than not only is Foxdenton Christmas Liqueur (£23) back in stock but it is absolutely the same price as last year. For those with short memories, we might even be able to let you have a taste!
Whilst we are on the subject of tasting, we will of course open a bottle of our house champagne on Saturday. Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 (£30 – £75 if you buy three bottles) is of course the perfect bubbly to celebrate the shop’s birthday, or indeed any other occasion that might crop up in the next few weeks.
We’ll also be wading into a bottle of Mountford Liaison Pinot Noir 2019 (£23.99). It’s a cracking Pinot Noir from Canterbury in New Zealand’s South Island. Fermented with natural yeast, low sulphur and aged in old french oak for 24 months it’s bright red with a touch of smoke, red plum fruits a hint at leather and a long supple finish. It’s also suitable for vegans if that’s a concern.
White wise we’ll stay south of the equator and head to Swartland, more specifically the Goldmine vineyard owned by Boekenhoutskloof. Patina Chenin Blanc 2019 (£25.49) is a wine we only came across this year but we’ll let local MW Tim Atkin describe it: “Patina comes from a 1.6-hectare parcel planted on schist soils in 1996. Partially fermented on skins, it has good grip, taut acidity and layers of pear, green apple and beeswax. Concrete eggs add some focus to the vanilla oak spice.”
I suspect that’s enough from us for this week.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here
Christine McVie RIP