Fellow Wine Lovers,
Not good news, just not bad news.
Having been inflicted with a radical overhaul in duty rates at the end of July, we were very nervous about the rumours that Mr Hunt was going to announce a further hike in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday. This would have been a real gut-punch and frankly one that we didn’t need in the lead up to Christmas but the rumours proved to be unsubstantiated and we all breathed a small sigh of relief – not good news but certainly not bad news.
Duty is now frozen until 1st August 2024 (not bad news?) and then, on 1st February 2025, the second stage of July’s radical overhaul comes into force – happy days.
Still, at least the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, introduced in April 2018, has yet again swerved any increase, which means it is still set at the same level it started at. Considering it is one of the infamous ‘sin taxes’, the taxes put on products seen as harmful to consumers or costly to society, you’d have thought this might have been subject to review/increase at some point in the last 2,000+ days? Particularly as it was key to the government plans to reduce childhood obesity by removing added sugar from soft drinks when first announced in 2016. Without going into too much detail, obesity levels, either in children or adults, have continued to rise over the last 5 years…
Away from tax, Mr Hunt announced his intention to fund £4.5bn to attract investment to strategic manufacturing sectors, including green energy, aerospace, life sciences and zero-emission vehicles – nice idea certainly, two environmentally focused targets wrapped around the less-than-green aerospace climate change providers.
In happier/more exciting news, we were pleased to see that Northvolt has developed a sodium-ion battery that has no lithium, cobalt or nickel – clearly a long way to go but this certainly feels like a move in the right direction.
Anyway, let’s move away from real world news and closer to wine chat. When not reading Vice/Rolling Stone/Penny-Farthing Weekly we do occasionally cast a glimpse at the Financial Times – similar to how 30 years ago we read The Daily Telegraph for the sport, we now read the FT for the wine. Jancis Robinson is of course the star here and last weekend she came up with an amazing suggestion that we just had to share.
In the article Jancis Robinson answers your festive wine questions (FT Magazine – Jancis Robinson – November 18 2023) she was asked for advice for people that find that their long awaited bottle of wine is actually corked on opening. I cannot copy her response verbatim due to FT rules but, in short, she suggested that if you do end up with a corked bottle then scrunch up some cling-film, push this into the bottle, re-seal it (not with the offending cork of course) and then give it a good old swirl around so that the cling-film gets in contact with all the wine. Not sure what the science is here, if any, but she states that whilst it’s not a perfect solution, it does seem to reduce the cork taint! Normally I would raise an eyebrow at such a suggestion but this is Jancis talking, so advice worth taking, we thought!
Not much news for us to report on in the wine world this week – it’s the calm before the storm of Christmas and we know this because it’s Black Friday today and everyone seems to be trying to sell me a cheap iPhone and old model Garmin which is weird because I’ve never previously bought either but I digress.
Black Friday means that yesterday was Thanksgiving in the USA and so, with a nod to those folk across the pond, we thought we’d open two new listings from California this weekend.
Both wines come from DeLoach Vineyards located in the heart of Sonoma’s renowned Russian River Valley. The winery has over 45 years of experience experimenting with the perfect combination of soil, rootstock, and clones, resulting in a history of producing high-quality, eco-friendly wines. In 2003, the Boisset family, from Burgundy, brought their sustainable winemaking experience to Russian River Valley and haven’t looked back since!
Alex tried these wines in September whilst Wayne was too busy drinking Marsala in foreign climes to come to the tasting and liked them enough to push for shelf space for them!
Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2020 – £29.99
On the nose this wine reveals nectarine and ripe pear aromas. The palate is endowed with integrated oak structure, hints of vanilla cream, lemon zest, and baked apples. Building momentum across the mid-palate, this wine is formative with lingering flavors of spice and crème brûlée. The finish has refreshing and persistent acidity that is well-balanced.*
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2020 – £31.99
Aromas of raspberry coulis, red plum, strawberry, and baking spices on the nose. Dried cranberry, Alpine strawberries, and sweet/tart cherries on the palate of this 2020 Pinot Noir. This is a medium-bodied wine with an outstanding texture and a long finish.*
(*tasting notes from winery website since Alex’s notes ran more along the lines of ‘rich, buttery style will appeal to those who like this style’ for the white and ‘nice, medium body, good length, fresh finish, pleasing’ for the red, which aren’t so heavy on detail, thanks Alex….)
And now I think we’re done – we’ll just leave you with this headline which appeared on Reuters on November 21, 2023:
Wimbledon suffers expansion plan blow after council refuses permission
Quite good news, certainly not bad news….