Fellow Wine Lovers,
Less than a week to go until Ashes winner Sir Alistair Cook turns 41, Ashes winner Simon Jones turns 47 and Ashes winner Marcus Trescothick raises his bat to the crowd, celebrating 50. Multi-award winner DJ Armin van Buuren will be 49 and Oscar winner Annie Lennox starts her 72nd year. Weirdly, the most famous person celebrating his birthday on 25th December, Jesus of Nazareth, by all accounts wasn’t born anywhere near December. In fact, experts over the centuries have offered a variety of dates that he may have been born on but none of them coincide with the Roman Winter Solstice; and then on 30th December, Ashes winner (2015) Joe Root will celebrate his 35th birthday and we fully expect he’ll be given the day off work to celebrate.
“That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are” – Rob Reiner
“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies” – Marjorie Tayor Greene
“reportedly due to the anger he caused others through … a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” – Donald J Trump
Three examples of how 3 people, known to be outspoken, react to another person’s murder. Rob Reiner now also murdered, seemingly by a member of his own family, showed grace in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s shooting. MTG for once also showed some humanity whilst Trump once again shows zero empathy, typical of his current tenure. We struggle to imagine any other current political leader who would survive or make such comments – why won’t the Republican party kick this sordid sociopath into touch?
In booze news, not a lot to report really – everyone in retail is nose to the grindstone, whilst those who are involved in the wholesale agency side of the trade have already packed their cars as they slope off to the Alps for a couple of weeks, their work here now done, next stop 2026. However, with a nod towards April Fool’s Day, we read that AB InBev, proud producers of Bud Light (?) and sponsors of the Buffalo Bills NFL team have made a beer using snow! As written in The Drinks Business:
The limited edition beer, named Bud Light Blizzard Brew, “celebrates the great lengths Bills fans will go for one of the NFL’s greatest traditions,” the company said, noting that this season is the last for the Buffalo Bills at the stadium.
The snow used in the brew was gathered from the first snowfall at Highmark Stadium earlier this season. It was then transported to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville, New York. The brewery team then integrated the snow into the brewing process to create a limited-edition beer sold in custom 16oz cans.
Looks like they’ve found a way to give their beer even less flavour and using free snirt whilst charging more for it – I suppose that sort of innovation got them where they are today.
And our different approach got us where we are today, who’s laughing now, huh?! Plus, we’re not just here today but everyday until Christmas Eve, when we’ll be closing our doors at 4pm, hopefully to a shop with significantly less stock than we have currently!
To help you decide what to drink over the festive period we’ll have a few bottles open for your delectation this weekend:
Lété-Vautrain 204 Brut NV – £33.00 or 3 for £75
Situated southwest of Reims, towards Paris, this is our house Champagne. A blend of the usual suspects – Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, from a small producer who we think is really delivering the goods. Ideal apéritif champagne, crisp and dry with complex apple and stonefruit notes, a touch of breadiness and dried fruit to finish – perfect with smoked salmon!
Creation Chardonnay 2021 – £26.99
100% Chardonnay from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. The grapes are hand-harvested before being barrel-fermented in 10% new oak and 90% second and third-fill French oak barrels. It is then left on lees for another 10 months while undergoing malolactic fermentation. The resulting wine has lovely fruit characters of ripe pear and yellow peach with a touch of fresh minerality and hints of spice. We found it to be really rather sophisticated.
Bodegas La Horra Corimbo 2021 – £29.99
This is the Ribera del Duero estate with the same ownership and technical team as Bodegas Roda. Similar to Bodegas Roda, they are also at the helm of innovation with the Tempranillo research and are conducting trials with clonal varieties of 243 clones in a designated nursery to find which are best adapted to coping with the extreme heat. We really enjoyed it, not as polished as a Rioja Reserva possibly but no less delicious for that! Savoury, spicy game notes complement the forest fruit aromas nicely. The palate has sweet ripe raspberry fruit, a nice bodyweight and a lovely perfumed spice to the finish.
All three of these appear in our Christmas Day mixed 6 box (£150) alongside another white and two other reds – could this be the gift you’ve been looking for?
We’ll also have the Krohn Late Bottled Vintage – £21.99. Krohn ports always seem to punch above their weight for us. Perhaps the secret lies in the high quality of their vineyards – the magical combination of terroir, locality, aspect, incline and low-yielding vines. Their Quinta do Retiro Novo estate in Sarzedinho, in the Rio Torto valley (where vinification takes place), is all A grade vineyard. The generous plummy characters, freshness and pure berry fruit are surely the best way to end the day! That’s about it from us, if we don’t see you, have a very Buon Natale and if we do see you and you’re struggling for inspiration, we do still have some of the Foxdenton Estate Christmas Liqueur – £25 which is the bomb in a glass of festive fizz!