Fellow Wine Lovers,
Thank you all for the plaudits for our fantastic weather forecasting last week – if you ask me nicely I’ll let you know the lottery numbers later on. This week looks a bit bleaker, genuinely parky once the sun has gone in, and so it should be given that the clocks change in 17 days’ time and winter draws on.
Put the barbecue away and dust down the slow cooker and, for goodness’ sake, please put some trousers on!
“I’ve done stuff that nobody else has ever done. I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you the facts.” One might be forgiven for thinking that this was part of Lionel Messi’s speech following the Argentina match versus Benin on Tuesday, which was his last representing his country. And he would be absolutely fine to say such a thing, being one of the GOAT.
However, it wasn’t Lionel, it was everyone’s best pal, D-Trump, emphasising his suitability as the most obvious destination for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Starting a war in Iran and then failing to bring peace doesn’t seem the most solid basis for such a campaign but we never expected him to be President either, certainly not twice! If he had won, he would also be the first person to receive the Peace Prize twice in one year (which he would remind us of regularly), having been gifted the 2025 prize originally awarded to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights and striving for a just and peaceful transition from the Maduro regime to democracy in Venezuela, which seems more in the spirit of things.
Thankfully, the Nobel committee saw sense, perhaps trolling the POTUS at the same time: “At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law” they wrote whilst awarding the prize to South African Judge Navi Pillay.
Moving abruptly away from the world of peace, we see that in the world of beer it’s not just the small heroic independent breweries that are facing tough times. Earlier this week, Molson Coors confirmed that they will be closing the Sharps Brewery in Rock in December. So, Doom Bar, named after a sandbar in the estuary, will now move its brewing to Hartlepool, over 400 miles away. Then yesterday we read that Carlsberg Britvic will be closing the iconic Marston Brewery in Burton. This is where they historically have brewed their own Pedigree whilst also now host brewing Bass, Wainwright, Hobgoblin, Old Empire IPA, 61 Deep, King Goblin, Lancaster Bomber, Pearl Jet and EPA – because the original breweries have been closed down – Carlsberg closed Wychwood in 2023, for example. It’s all a bit depressing and corporate and takes away the sense of provenance that first got people drinking these ales – it reminds us of how we felt when we first discovered that Stowells of Chelsea didn’t actually have any vineyards behind the Fulham Road! Still, at least Madrí is still brewed in Spain…
We now seem to have come to the end of the ‘International’ window in the football season but whilst it’s been on our resident Spurs fan, missing the misery of the Premier League, turned his attention to Harlequins last Saturday and he certainly got the fix he was looking for. To give full disclosure, his go-to teams in Europe are Fiorentina in Italy (currently 17th in Serie A with 4 points) and Málaga in La Liga (20th – 3 points) – rumours that Kent County Cricket Club, newly promoted back to Division 1, have written a letter requesting that he no longer support their team, whilst insisting he focus his passions on Surrey instead, are obviously true!
And now to the bit you actually care about – what are we opening this weekend? For reasons that we cannot explain, we will be opening a couple of charmers from Chile.
Adobe Reserva Gewürztraminer 2025 – £12.99 – Many of you swerve this variety because you think it’ll be too sweet. Sure, there are floral aromas with a splash of lychee perhaps, that lead into a soft fruity palate with a touch of spice and a nice clean finish. It’s fruity but it’s dry which makes it a fabulous food wine for spicier dishes – perhaps now is the time to stop the swerve?
For the red, an old favourite: Casa Silva Cool Coast Pinot Noir 2024 – £21.99 – hailing from the coastal vineyards of the Colchagua Valley, this is a proper cool climate Pinot Noir. It has a nose filled with red fruit notes, strawberries, raspberries and a subtle background note of cinnamon and spice from the French oak that it spent 12 months reposing in. With a truly excellent length of finish this is a real pleasure to drink, come and see for yourselves!
And now we leave you with news that Antinori, the top tier Tuscan wine producers, have had 30,000 bottles of wine stolen from their warehouse in Cortona. The haul includes 10,000 bottles of Solaia and unspecified quantities of Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. Tignanello has been going up in price steadily over the years, this isn’t going to make it any cheaper!
Salute!