Fellow Wine Lovers,
We find ourselves in a quandary this week. We were about to announce 55.2% tariffs against the landlord, Merton Council and our energy company. We pay them all money every single month and not one of them has ever purchased a bottle of wine in here. Then we saw that Trump had announced: “This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America, like Apple, and so many others, in record numbers, are doing. ZERO TARIFFS, and almost immediate Electrical/Energy hook ups and approvals. No Environmental Delays. DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!”
Knowing his reputation for speaking the truth, we immediately looked into the cost of flights, a container for our stock and the cost of suitable premises. Then it hit us, those ZERO TARIFFS don’t apply to our stock, the walk from the tube might be a bit far for most of you and the Polo is an unsuitable delivery vehicle for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. So we’re staying put, watching from the side-lines, and wondering whether to laugh, cry or just have another glass of wine.
In the meantime, we all have a 90 day breather of only 10% tariffs unless you’re China. The news arrived a couple of hours after a tweet that stated “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!DJT” Apparently, it was Trump’s plan all along, and nothing to do with the Bond Market increasing the price of Government Debt. The stock markets all went back up again. If only the newly slimmed down Securities and Exchange Commission had some staff to look into insider trading I suspect there would be stories to tell on both sides of the house!
How have you been enjoying the sunshine? I had a spin on the bike early Tuesday morning and was a little surprised to see pockets of frost! Definitely should have had a warmer top on! The blossom is all rather stunning as well; let’s take those wins where we can get them, eh? I’ve spent half the week letting dozy bees out of the back window!
In the wine world there’s talk of bottles being made from aluminium on the great green frontier. Quick to chill, infinitely recyclable, low weight for shipping all seem to be in its favour. Quick to chill’s obvious flipside is quick to warm up once out of the fridge. Seems a good idea in principle but can you see Domaine Leroy popping their Meursault in an aluminium vessel? Is it a bottle or a bottle shaped can? What about the Appellation rules where they specify bottle shape? So many questions but, on the face of it, a relatively sound idea.
In proper sports this weekend sees the return of the ‘Hell of the North’. The route from Paris to Roubaix with all its terrifying cobbles is, as usual, providing the parcours. Will Tadej Pogačar be the first to enter the velodrome on his debut, will Neilson Powless snaffle it from a group of Visma riders, or will Wout van Aert get his name in the showers at last? Wout almost came off yesterday with a puncture on his recon, so let’s hope that’s got that out of the way! In the women’s race it seems Lotte Kopecky is the nailed on favourite, but Elisa Balsamo, who was second last year, is on some fine form winning midweek. That said, you can’t rule out Alison Jackson repeating her 2023 exploits! There’s a slight chance of some early morning rain, so it could be just a bit slippery on the cobbles.
Tasting This Weekend
We thought we’d go with Domaine d’Altugnac ‘Les Turitelles’ Chardonnay 2023 (£15.99) Childhood friends, Christian Collovray and Jean-Luc Terrier each grew up in a family of winemakers and shared a bond from a young age. They became closer still, when they married sisters, Brigitte and Florence, also from a winemaking family. They now boast two properties, Domaine des Deux Roches in Mâcon and Domaine Altugnac in Languedoc which means you’ve got Burgundy winemakers bringing all their skill and experience to their property in Limoux – what’s not to like?! Bursting with white floral aromatics and a touch of citrus on the palate, followed by a concentrated and lingering finish this is a complete joy, perfect any day of the week!
Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Les Coteaux’ 2023, Rhône, France (£13.99). Common practice in the Côtes du Rhône is to bottle the best cuvées as a single named Village wine and the rest as basic Rhône Villages. The philosophy here, on the other hand, is to start with the intention of making the very best Côtes du Rhône Villages possible. They source wine from the vineyards of named villages and enrich them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet, Séguret and Cairanne. The results are fabulous, as you can taste here, with well-balanced brambly fruit and soft tannin that is bang on the money.
EASTER OPENING HOURS
Thursday 17th April – Noon – 7PM
Good Friday 18th April – Noon – 5PM
Saturday 19th April – Noon – 5PM
Easter Sunday 20th April – CLOSED
Easter Monday 21st April – CLOSED
Tuesday 22nd April – As you were – Noon – 7pm!
Lastly, F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was 100 years old yesterday so we’ll leave you with: “I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Cheers!