Fellow Wine Lovers,
Oh, where to start? How about talking about the weather, the richest seam of conversation available to dwellers of this fair isle. It may be bright outside now but it won’t be later – welcome to Shivery Spring 2026, the sequel to Waterlogged Winter. Wayne went off to play golf on Wednesday, wrapped up warm and ready for what the world could throw at him, or so he thought – 4 hours later he had experienced sunshine, thunder, rain, sunshine, sleet, sunshine, snow, grey clouds, sunshine and rain – most of which was on the front nine. He has now declared that golf is no longer a hobby that he wants to have anything to do with and will be abandoning this ‘sport’ for others to ‘enjoy’ whilst he indulges in the pleasure of long-distance cycle rides coated in just a thin smear of Lycra and a triumphant smile because, apparently, this will be warmer!
Anyway, this is all just preamble before reminding you all that this Sunday, 29th March, is the chronometric start of summer. This means the clocks will leap forward by one hour at 1am in the morning, giving us all less time in bed but increasing our chances of sitting in the garden beyond 7pm. We will then have 210 days of unbroken, wall-to-wall sunbeams until the 25th October, when we’ll have to put long trousers back on and mothball the sun loungers – sounds good?
However, we still have a couple more days of winter to get through, so don’t get too enthusiastic. Having said that, the number of people lighting barbecues last weekend slightly beggared belief and Rosé sales tripled what they had been the week before, which goes to show we should never underestimate the British ability to pretend it’s summer!
The world of wine continues to revolve despite attempts from all sides to knock it off kilter. Good news comes from Wine GB who released their 2025 harvest report which was filled with positivity – a 39% harvest increase from 2024, possibly resulting from it being the earliest and ripest grape harvest “ever seen” in the UK has led them to predict that there should be some exceptional wines available in the near future and decent volumes of them too – very exciting! The bad news came from the UK’s biggest high street wine merchant, Fortress Investment Group, owner of 200 shops around the country and employer of over 1,000 people has put its business up for sale. More commonly known as Majestic, FIG have owned the company since 2019 and their overriding objective is to protect and grow their investors’ capital – apparently they don’t view multi-site wine retail as offering sufficient capital growth which is probably something that Wine Rack, Unwins, Oddbins and Thresher could have told them years ago.
News has just reached us that duty on fuel has been halved, with the Government saying the move is designed to shield consumers and businesses from rising global costs amid fears of a wider cost of living impact. The change in legislation comes as governments elsewhere respond to the economic impact of the ongoing conflict involving Iran: ‘it is essential that we don’t bury our heads in the sand and believe that we operate in a bubble’, said the minister announcing this wise decision. Have no fear though, this news comes from Gibraltar, our fuel prices will remain reassuringly high for as long as this not-forever war goes on.
Before you ask, we know that Nottingham Forest and Manchester City both won at the weekend, no further discussion required. Quins get the coach down to Bristol this weekend but will likely be thumbing a lift back given their season. Meanwhile, in cricket news, we both met Sir Ian Botham on Tuesday and tasted his latest range of wines which were actually very good, possibly coming to our shelves soon if terms can be agreed.
In the absence of Booze by Botham, we’ll be openings Wines chosen by Wayne this weekend and he has selected thus:
Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2024 – £20.99 is a delicious barrel fermented Chardonnay from Swartland in South Africa. Crisp, fresh and elegant, with grapefruit and lime citrus notes, a hint of something a tad more tropical and then a lovely creamy textured finish. It’s not Burgundy but it could be a nice alternative and certainly more wallet friendly.
Fattoria di Calappiano Vinciano Chianti Riserva 2022 – £22.49 which comes from an estate dating back to Medici Florence. Today it has more than 200 hectares of vines planted alongside woodlands and olive groves situated in this natural heritage site. Predominantly Sangiovese, this has an appealing aromatic bouquet of soft red fruits following on to a mouth-watering palate filled with redcurrants, cherries and plums and that spicy finish that is so often associated with Chianti Classico.
Wines will be open on both Friday and Saturday so do pop by and join us in our ongoing discussion of just how cold that wind is!