Fellow Wine Lovers,
First up, a reminder and with it an apology. Today, FRIDAY 27TH FEBRUARY, WE WILL BE CLOSING AT 5PM so that we can sell wine and answers (for the right price) at the KCS Quiz, up in the village. We’re sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate this is not ideal but, hopefully, you’ll forgive us when you pop in to tell us off on Saturday!
The February half term is now over, although February is still carrying on, for a bit. The Winter Olympics are also now over, with GB netting an astonishing 3 Gold Medals, just under 3% of the Golds available, which isn’t bad when you consider that 50% of the golds went to the top 5 countries. Champions League football is also over for the Italian powerhouses Juventus and Inter Milan – the latter falling to Bodø/Glimt, currently 2nd in the Norwegian Eliteserien and owners of a rather charming plastic pitch in the Arctic Circle, with 8,270 seats around it, although we suggest standing, keep the feet warm and all that. AFC Wimbledon has 9,215 seats, for those with an interest in such trivia….
Mandy and Andy are still dominating headlines, although I think they’d rather not. Across the pond, Mr Trump isn’t dominating the headlines as much as he’d like but this is most likely because the US justice department hasn’t released enough Epstein files with his name on them. Sadly. the rumour that they couldn’t release more files because they were physically unable to get out of the building due to a monstrous banner blocking their exit, featuring the monstrous man-baby’s monstrous head, appears to be untrue. Given that ‘Make America Safe Again’ is the strapline, we’re really not sure he should be the first choice for poster boy.
In booze news, the beer world seems to be having a moment…
- Carling Black Label will be rolling out across the UK off-trade from mid-March. It has been described as a way for lager drinkers to “trade up” from the rest of the portfolio. Drinks Retailing News 12-02-26
- Diageo GB has significantly expanded its field sales team with the recruitment of over 100 new roles. Harpers 18-02-26
- Diageo halves dividend as new CEO Sir Dave Lewis plots shake-up. the drinks business 25-02-26
- Heineken to cut up to 6,000 jobs over next two years. the drinks business 11-02-26
- Molson Coors has unveiled proposals to close Sharp’s Brewery in Rock, Cornwall… “the site is no longer financially sustainable as part of our national production network”. the drinks business 26-02-26
- Brewdog workers protest sale citing ‘years of catastrophic mismanagement’. the drinks business 25-02-26
- Four pubs a day closing under high-tax Labour. The Telegraph 21-02-26
Not a lot of good news in there, looks like the big boys are feeling a bit of a squeeze, although Molson Coors seem to have mixed plans – re-vamp a poor lager, Carling, on the one hand whilst further destroying the Cornish heritage of Sharps on the other. Our research has also informed us that Carling in fact originates from Canada, which surprised us…
Thankfully, this weekend we don’t have to go through any further international rugby pain as it’s a fallow week although I think Quins fans should probably find something else to do on Saturday afternoon. As should Tottenham fans on Sunday…
And now to wine. It’s St David’s Day on Sunday and as such, the Welsh will celebrate being Welsh with daffodils and leeks in abundance, whilst also celebrating it being a fallow rugby weekend, I imagine. We don’t’ have any Welsh wine here so cannot offer some for tasting but we do have a new wine that might fit the bill, from…. South Africa.
So, if you were of a mind to go and source some strikingly yellow daffodils this weekend, you would probably use a sharp bladed super-scissor to cut them with, some secateurs perhaps? Well, let me introduce you to Badenhorst Family Wines Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2025 – £18.49. We actually have sold this wine before but that was over 10 years ago, however some of you may remember it with its striking yellow packaging! Adi Badenhorst is one of South Africa’s most exciting winemakers and this has always been one of our favourite Chenin Blancs from anywhere. Unctuous, with apple and pear fruit, a kiss of citrus and a touch of spice. Medium bodied and bang on with some rarebit and laverbread, maybe…
For the red, sticking with tenuous links to Wales, let’s talk football, their national sport. On 18th November 2025, the last time the Wales Men’s team ran out in Cardiff, they faced North Macedonia and proceeded to beat them 7-1. To help celebrate such an emphatic victory, we thought we’d open Tikveš Kratosija Crveno – £12.99 which, as you’ve probably guessed, comes from North Macedonia. So, whilst Tikveš Winery may have been flying the flag and spreading the word since the late 19th century, the indigenous grape varieties may be a bit new to us. This one, Kratosija (pronounced Krat-oss-SHEE-yah), has the same genetic origins as Primitivo in Italy and produces a wine with bright aromas of redcurrants, cherry and red berries that would be bang on with a nice bit of Sunday roast Lamb!
That’s probably it from us; we’ve got a couple of later starts on Monday and Tuesday as we have a number of tastings in town to go to but we should be back early to mid-afternoon – well before the evening rush!
Say it quietly but does anyone else feel there might be a hint of Spring in the air?