Fellow Wine Lovers,
We’ve had an exciting week, travelling on the tube all the way to Camden to spend the day tasting a selection of potential new wines, some new vintage Burgundy and even a few spirits. There’ll be a few new things along the way in due course and we’ll be able to replace some of the Burgundy that you all drank over the tail end of last year.
In Parliament, it seems to have been similarly exciting with Tulip Siddiq resigning after becoming embroiled in her Aunt’s Bangladesh corruption scandal which is hardly a good look for the Corruption Minister. Also in Parliament, Met Police are investigating allegations of the drink spiking of a parliamentary researcher in the Strangers Bar on 7th January. There are definitely some wrong’uns in politics, aren’t there?
Over the pond, we only have a few days to go before the installation of Trump 2.0. This new version has enjoyed a large upgrade of the surrounding tech but sadly no change has been made in integrity, truth or morality. He seems to have spent a large part of the last week badmouthing the firefighters trying to keep Los Angeles from burning to the ground. He might do well to consider a quote from a very old children’s programme: “I can’t think what Trumpton would do without its Fire Brigade”. Hardly a great way to start but I guess they knew what they were getting when they voted for him.
Back to wine though. Tasting a broad selection of wines side by side from the same villages and vintage is always a nice indicator of where we think the vintage is going. For 2023 Burgundy, we tasted in the region of 75 wines, a mixture of both reds and whites. We found the whites a little on the rich and fruity side and, unusually for us, found we preferred the reds. Wayne was also lucky enough to taste an alcohol free rosé from Provence however, judging by the look on his face, it’s not something that we’ll be budgeting for this summer!
Which bring us on to our world beating January Sale. It might be the best sale we’ve ever done, it’s a beautiful sale and from our standpoint, certainly has the same mechanic as our previous sales.
It’s quite simple: come to the shop, choose six bottles of wine and we’ll give you a discount of 16.66%. That’s the mathematical equivalent (to two decimal places) of paying for only five bottles. The wine doesn’t even have to be all the same, you can choose six entirely different bottles and we’ll still give you a discount. A mixable six for five!
So, step right up, form an orderly queue and feel free to ask questions.
Talking of forming an orderly queue, this weekend we’ll open some tariff beating wines. We’ll start off in the white corner with De Loach Russian River Chardonnay (£30.99) from the cool climate of Russian River this is a cracking Californian white wine with tropical and citrus character and a lovely touch of vanilla spice.
The red corner is a populated this week by a rather delicious Lalande de Pomerol that is Fleur de Bouard (£39). From the same folks that make Chateau d’Angelus this is a medium to full bodied red with a lovely voluptuous palate and dark cherry and berry fruit notes, polished silky tannins and a touch of mocha spice to finish.
To end with a smile, Donald Trump once stated: “I judge people based on their capability, honesty, and merit.”