Fellow Wine Lovers,
Right, I think Wednesday night was probably the confirmation we all needed that summer is definitely over even if the sun is doing its best today. We’ve had some wobbles over the last few weeks and shorts have been seen on Arthur Road as recently as last Friday but now it’s time to put some trousers and socks on because it’s definitely chilly. And the change in the weather is perhaps timely, given that the farmers also agree with us and are putting the clocks back this Sunday morning. 2am becomes 1am, we get an ‘extra’ hour in bed, it’ll be dark by 4.30pm and instead of lighting the barbecue, we’ll be setting a fire, whilst drawing the curtains.
It’s not all bad news though: roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, stuffing, gravy and fine roast meats now return to the throng; the slow cooker will dust itself down and turn grisly/gristly hunks of unloved cuts into succulent, melt in the mouth, show-stopping stews and whisky is considered medicinal once again, to be administered as and when required.
However, before we do all this, how about a glass of Champagne? We just been reminded that, since 2009, the fourth Friday in October has been declared ‘Champagne Day’ and, whilst I realise a lot of you make every Friday a fizz Friday, this week it definitely needs to be the proper stuff! Who reminded us you may ask? We currently stock Champagnes from 8 different suppliers, so you could be forgiven for expecting it to be one of these Champagne houses that gave us the tip off. However, you’d be wrong. Not a single one of them has mentioned it to us, so we can only assume sales are so robust they feel no need of further promotion; in fact, a customer read about it in City AM on Tuesday and gave us the steer – we are eternally grateful for his attention to detail, the customer is always right!
If you need help choosing tonight’s tipple, here’s what we have in stock right now:
Bollinger La Grande Année 2014 – £135
Bollinger RD 2007 – £200
Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut NV – £60
Charles Heidsieck Brut Millésime 2012 – £115
Collet 1er Cru Brut Vintage 2016 – £58
De Saint Gall Orpale Blanc de Blancs 2008 – £125
Delavenne Père et Fils Grand Cru Brut Rose NV – £45
Jean Gimonnet ‘La Guette’ 2008 – £58
Lété-Vautrain 204 Brut NV MAGNUM – £66
Lété-Vautrain Echo Blanc de Noirs 2019 – £41
Lété-Vautrain Grand Millésime 2016 – £38
Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 NV – £33
Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 NV HALF – £18
Louis Roederer Cristal 2013 – £290
Louis Roederer Brut Vintage 2016 – £90
Louis Roederer Collection 245 Brut NV – £54
Pierre Moncuit Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Millésime 2012 – £70
Tarlant Brut Nature NV MAGNUM – £120
Tarlant Brut Nature NV – £60
Something for everyone there, we think!
Talking of fancy drinks, it was wonderful to read yesterday that our local heroes, Thames Water, have been awarded a single star by the Environment Agency, chapeau! One star means the company is poor performing and the scoring is based on, amongst other things, pollution incidents, compliance with permits and self-reporting. Apparently, we’ll be getting £75 million back from them, taken off our bills, which we’ll promptly return to them to pay for the necessary system upgrades, so that’s alright then, they should be able to balance their books.
We should all raise a fancy drink to the England Women to mark their qualification for the Cricket World Cup semis – a masterclass in beating India on Sunday was followed by a brutal wake-up call against Australia on Wednesday which could prove to be timely as both these teams are also into the final stages. European football was back on and in the Champions League this week all the English teams got results, none of them lost in fact. 4-0, 3-0, 0-2, 1-5, 0-0, 5-1 – anyone care to guess which of these swashbuckling results belongs to Spurs?!
And now to this weekend’s fancy drinks. We have a new iteration of one of our ‘old’ whites and a brand new red – I know, we’ve gone bananas…
We’ve been selling wines from Cape Mentelle for a few years now, having been fans of the Western Australia winery for even longer. We used to sell their Margaret River Chardonnay but they stopped making that and replaced it with Cape Mentelle Sixteen Hectares Chardonnay 2023 – £26.99. A subtle name change, which was explained to us thus: Sixteen Hectares wines do have some oak maturation, with vineyard selection being key – for example, blending Chardonnay from Chapman Brook Vineyard for its white peach character with fruit from Crossroads Vineyard which has citrus notes that can fill out the mid-palate. Ok, noted. When we tasted it, it was a bit like greeting an old friend that you haven’t seen for a while and desperately hoping that you still get on – suffice to say the relationship just grew stronger. Peach, melon, mandarin and honeysuckle on the nose with richer fruit on the palate, a hint of savoury nuttiness and zesty, crisp acidity – welcome back, old chum!
The red is a Pinot Nero from Venezia. It’s been many moons since we had an Italian Pinot so this is a welcome new arrival. La Cantina Pizzolato Pinot Nero 2024 – £14.99 – Settimo Pizzolato is the 5th generation of his family to run this winery and over the last 20 years he has focused on sustainability and organic production. This Pinot Nero has a nice open cherry nose whilst the palate has a slight spritz of freshness on the front, followed by juicy fruit that is a touch richer leading to a decently persistent finish.
That’s all from us, time for a glass of Moncuit Millésime 2012 I reckon…bottoms up!