Fellow Wine Lovers,
So, we looked at the map and eventually we found it. Two Chimneys Winery is located on the appropriately named Two Chimneys Road, about 5km/10 minutes by car to the north west of Kingston, the capital of one of the oldest territories and most isolated communities in the world and the second oldest town in Australia, apparently. Welcome to Norfolk Island, lucky benefactor of a 29% TRUMP TARIFF this week. Having done our research it is hard to imagine why this tiny pacific island is being targeted by the USA government – there is no obvious Chinese influence here, which has been an issue in Laos and Cambodia; there is no aluminium smelting and there is no fentanyl production, even growing medicinal cannabis has been mothballed. To be fair, they don’t actually have any ports or harbours here so the export of high end automobiles has had to be suspended for now. They do have cattle and sharks though. They also have the aforementioned winery that, by looking at their website, doesn’t seem to be producing any wine.
It feels to us that the POTUS doesn’t know anything about Norfolk Island and has got his facts wrong which surely, as the most powerful man in the world, shouldn’t be possible? Discuss…
Away from the calamities across the pond, we’ve all had a bit of a hit in the pocket this week. As we watched energy, water, council tax, broadband and mobile phone bills go up at home on Tuesday, we also saw NI and EPR go up at work. NI you all know about but EPR, who he? Extended Producer Responsibility, to give him his full title, is the strategy that requires producers to add estimated environmental costs into the original cost of a product – effectively to cover the costs of future waste management. Paying for plastic bags is an easy example to cite whilst the car and tech industries are obviously heavily scrutinised. Now the booze trade is being hit, in the bottles. One of our suppliers sent us this explainer:
‘An EPR fee will apply on all orders placed from 1st April 2025 in addition to your normal pricing. This fee will vary by product dependent on the packaging used by the producer and the latest base-fees advised by Defra. Glass is currently advised at £240/tonne and makes up most of the EPR charge. The fee ex-VAT for a 75cl bottle of still wine will be between £0.09-£0.12 and £0.22-£0.25 for sparkling.’
We ordered wine from this supplier this week – we were charged EPR of £0.13 on the still wine we bought. The Spirits Business pointed out on Wednesday that: After last week’s spring budget and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecast, it was admitted the scheme won’t improve recycling, with Defra revealing that “the policy is unlikely to have a material impact on rates of recycling or packaging waste volumes in the next five years.”
So, to summarise, all wines went up by at least 10 pence this week, depending on the weight of the bottle, some of the heavier Italian and Argentine bottles probably went up by double this. Meanwhile, our council tax that, amongst other things, pays for our rubbish and recycling to be taken away, also went up – double bubble!
It feels to us that Defra doesn’t know anything about anything and will not have confirmation of exact fees until the summer which surely, as the people in charge, shouldn’t be possible? Discuss…
But let’s move away from all this and talk about the weather. The Daily Mirror, which always seems a bit obsessed by gloomy meteorological reports, announced late on Wednesday – All the parts of the UK set for SNOW as the mercury plunges to just -8C whilst the BBC yesterday was happy to tell us – Parts of UK set to be hotter than the Algarve.
As we’ve said before, we really should be in the weather business, you can say what you want and you always get paid! In this instance though, we’re going with the BBC and will be opening two wines this weekend that we think should be drunk outside, near to a hot griddle…
M & B Talmard Mâcon-Uchizy 2023 – £20.79. Mallory and Benjamin produce just one cuvée of Mâcon each year from their 20 hectares just north of the Mâcon hills. Richer and riper than many, it has a generous weight, subtle, almost tropical fruit with aromas of melon, ripe pear, lemon oil and almonds and rich, bready character on the palate from extended lees aging. A long fresh, finish with hints of apple make this a good all-rounder particularly for those who want to eat steak but don’t like red wine!
For the red, we’ll venture to South Africa and open the Idun Syrah 2019 – £26.99. A complex wine from 3 different vineyard sites in the Elgin Valley. These parcels are situated 200 m above sea level caressed by the cooling sea breezes from the Atlantic a few kilometres away. Due to COVID, the wine was matured for longer than usual (16 months) using 30% new French oak barrels. A lovely savoury bouquet of black olive, spicy fruit and white pepper on the nose. On the palate we have berry fruits joining in the fun finishing with fine ripe tannins giving us a very elegant drop perfect for those who want to eat steak and do like red wine!
With that, I think we’re done. The last words this week will be from Jim Morrison:
“Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts”
Valete, Val Kilmer.