Fellow Wine Lovers,
Ok, so we wrote this on Thursday evening, before it wellied it down last night, but I think we’ll still run with it…
Sun’s out, everyone’s feeling a little bit fuzzy and relaxed…
Champagne Houses
We visited the pub on Wednesday night, as you do, for market research and to check the opening hours (all the way to the end) and as the night wore on, the conversation moved onto Champagne and its brands. The next morning, as a follow up, we rooted around t’interweb to see if anything that we had told people last night was true.
And, for the most part, we had been truthful; we had just been too conservative with our figures.
The stats we uncovered are, I’m sure, widely available but our primary source was The Drinks Business, so we have gone with their research, lazy boys that we are.
Based on 2012 volume, the two largest houses are:
Moët & Chandon – 28,080,000 bottles
Veuve Clicquot – 17,688,000 bottles
And in 10th position we have:
Perrier Jouët – 2, 953,596 bottles
So, the largest house produces almost 10 times as much fizz as the 10th. If we then consider that in 3rd position we have the largest cooperative, Nicolas Feuillatte, producing 9,099,996 bottles – a third of M&C production – the figures get a bit more scary.
So what does this really tell us? Firstly that, since Moët and Veuve are both owned by LVMH (that’s Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey FYI), then one company is responsible for producing an awful lot of bubbles. It might also make one think of words such as factory, conveyor belt, bulk. It certainly doesn’t elicit terms such as hand crafted, artisan, specialist, passion.
Moutard – c560,000 bottles
Chassenay d’Arce – c1,000,000 bottles
Both these stats are our own research (!) because neither house featured in the top ten and to be honest with you we’re as pleased as punch that this is the case.
Hand crafted, artisan, specialist, passion – lesson over.
Tall buildings
Petronas Towers, The Shard, The Gherkin, The Leaning Tower of Pisa – all these are names used in reference to our rather magnificent stack of Rosé. It’s going to be hot all weekend, it’s been a while coming, so let’s all get tucked in.
Chateau de l’Aumerade Côtes de Provence Cru Classé 2012 – £12.99
Cuvée Jean-Paul Gascogne Rosé 2012 – £7.29
Borsao Garnacha Rosado 2011 – £6.99
Mayerling Cremant d’Alsace Brut Rosé NV – £15.49
Moutard Prestige Brut Rosé NV – £28.99
And if there are two of you, Moutard Prestige Brut Rosé NV Magnum – £58!
We’ve got about 180 bottles in all, so plenty to go round, and if you’re lucky Wayne might even offer you a tempting discount!
Windmills
It’s Windmill Market time again, down at St Mark’s Church Hall behind the library in Wimbledon, from 10 am until 2 pm on Saturday. It’s a pound to get in, but we’ve got flyers that will get you in for free should you so desire. Alex will be down there with his stall and banter, Norbiton Cheese should be there too, who we buy our cheese from for our tastings, and a host of other local favourites.
Stables
Just a quick back pat for Wayne, who clearly has the connections down at the yard, as his tip for last week’s Derby romped home – Park Vintners’ very own John McCririck…
And to celebrate we’ll open a pair of Percheron at the tasting table this weekend as we think they’ll fit in nicely. They’re both from the Western Cape in South Africa where they know a thing or two about cooking and drinking in the sunshine.
Percheron Old Vine Cinsault 2012 & Percheron Chenin Blanc/Viognier 2012 are both £8.19 come and have a taste!
Yardarm, sun, corkscrew, Rosé – do it!
Alex & Wayne