Fellow Wine Lovers,
A hearty welcome to February and a warm welcome back to the three of you who managed to stay off the grog for the whole of January.
Now that all that January daftness is well behind us we can look forward to 28 days filled with rugby, half term skiing (we can all dream), St Valentine’s Day, Pancake day, Lent (no point in giving up booze again is there), and, news just in, International Condom Day on 14th February – not sure if this is about using or abstaining, but anyway, always nice to know that all the good work is being recognised, internationally.
Oh and it’s Groundhog Day tomorrow, Oh and it’s Groundhog Day tomorrow, Oh and it’s Groun…,
– This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
Keeping with the US and for those of you who like a bit of pub trivia: the Superbowl is on Sunday and the opposing head coaches (of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers) are brothers John and Jim Harbaugh. Yes, I know, fascinating.
Back on home turf we have the start of the Six Nations, the timings of which are:
Saturday Wales v Ireland 13:30 and England v Scotland 16:00
Sunday Italy v France 15:00
The PV predictor says home wins all round, but do bear in mind that this is a wine shop talking – you wouldn’t ask Manu Tuilagi for his opinion on the 2011 Burgundy en primeur campaign now, would you?
With all this going on we fully expect to see no one between 4pm and 6pm, but fear not we will be here, manning the pumps. Plus, we’ve got beer in the fridge: Rocky Head Pale Ale (£3.00) brewed locally by superstar winemaker Steve Daniel; almost as local, from Battersea, we have Sambrook’s Junction, Pale Ale and Porter (£2.59) although no Wandle unfortunately, it’s still not in the bottle, next week I’m told… and then from the North – Chalk Farm from memory – we have the delicious Camden Wheat Beer (£2.29) and the Camden Hells Lager (£1.99).
For those of you who prefer their relaxation to be more wine-bottle shaped, we have plenty of wine, too many to list here, but we will have a couple of bottles open for tasting. To maintain rugby neutrality (ish), we’ll crack a couple of bottles from the home of the current World Champions, or, as some might put it, England’s most recent scalp.
Both wines are from the Morton Estate Hawke’s Bay vineyards – the Chardonnay 2010 is rich and toasty with peach and pear notes, buttered toast and a super citrus laden finish that nicely tidies up the fruit richness. The red is The Mercure 2009 a Bordeaux style blend, Merlot dominant but including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec to give the wine some structure and complexity alongside the supple plumy fruit. Add a touch of spice, some rounded, soft tannins and we’re really cooking! Both wines are £10.99.
Well that’s it for this week, pop along, have a glass with us, celebrate Groundhog Day, and with this in mind, over to you, Bill Murray:
– I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn’t I get that day over and over and over?
Over and out.