Fellow Wine Lovers,
As I write this in the sultry Thursday evening sunlight I find it difficult to see much wrong with the world. This I find extremely vexing because it is a very rare day that I am unable to see 6 or 7 things ‘wrong with the world’ and I am worried if my ‘WwtW’ radar needs re-calibrating.
To continue. There’s not too much wrong tonight in Wimbledon Park – we’ve not been evacuated from burning planes in Las Vegas, not had our LinkedIn photo commented upon or been shamed and outed by the Commons Expenses Watchdog as non-payers of expenses.
In truth, there is actually one thing wrong with WP this evening – none of you are here! I believe this sultry sunshine has got you all standing outside wine bars in the city or by the river, rather than rushing home to your loved ones, and of course, your wine shop!
So how can I incentivise you to come home and not go to the pub over the next few weeks?
PLAN A
(For the purpose of this plan, the word ‘all’ doesn’t refer to everyone, just to those who like the things to which we are referring)
We all love the pub. We all love the rugby, especially International rugby, especially the World Cup. We all love beer. We all love going to the pub, drinking beer whilst watching the Rugby World Cup.
However, a potential glitch has occurred regarding the viewing of the England matches – they are all prime time Friday or Saturday evening… not the easiest time to get a seat in the pub even without world class sport going on. Plus, we all hate queuing, whether for drinks or for the loo….
So, how about bringing the pub to your house?
Become the Landlord of your Living Room by getting yourself a 10 litre minipin of either, Sambrook’s Wandle, Sambrook’s Junction or Sambrook’s Pumphouse. The minipin is racked bright (without sediment) so that it can be served immediately. The shelf life on racked bright beer is typically 7 days unopened and 3 days from opening. Put it on a table in the corner and you have the best part of 18 pints to get through during the match. And you shouldn’t need to queue.
Prices for the pins are:
Wandle Minipin – £35
Junction Minipin – £37
Pumphouse Minipin – £37
Works out around £2 a pint… which seems remarkably good value!
Should this be of interest let us know over the weekend and we can get orders into the brewery for delivery on Friday – bear in mind they do need a couple of days’ notice so I will be ordering by close of play Monday.
And if you have bigger plans that 18 pints can cope with, again let us know, because they do also do a 20 litre polypin which works out even better on a pint by pint basis.
PLAN B
Flattery will get you nowhere… but don’t stop trying (Miss Moneypenny – Dr. No)
Through no fault of my own, it seems I have a quick Bollinger offer for you – maybe something to do with Mr Bond’s imminent arrival on the big screen quaffing it. Anyway, just for this weekend, I am reducing the price of Bollinger Special Cuvée to £40 per bottle. Normally I sell it for £45 and it will still be £200 if you buy 6 bottles (£33.33 per bt), but if you just fancy a single bottle, starting Friday 11th at 11am through until Saturday 12th at 8pm, that’s the deal!
PLAN C
The Power of Wayne
The usual practice is that when I go on holiday Wayne drains the bank account in pursuit of fine wine and fun. The fine wine mostly ends up on the shelves in the shop and I find it best not to ask about the fun. It seems though, even when he’s not here, he still gets up to his tricks…
Earlier this week I received a delivery of 12 bottles of Principe Corsini Le Corti Chianti Classico Riserva Cortevecchia DOCG 1997. This is a wine that we used to sell when we worked in Clapham, is a wine that our suppliers, the main importers, ran out of before we even opened here, so really is a wine I assumed was for the history books.
Clearly not, because it’s here, I don’t know where he found it and cannot find out until he stops sunning himself a few time-zones east of here.
It’s on the shelf for £30.99 – 1997 was a very good vintage in Tuscany and this is a very good wine from that vintage. I just need to sell it all before he gets back in case he had other plans for it…
PLAN D
My daughter says school is sooo boooring but she hasn’t tried wine school!
And quite right too, because she’s only nine.
You, however, can.
Term starts next Wednesday 16th September, then for the following 5 more weeks. It costs £150 per person and you’ll taste masses of different wines from all over.
No children allowed.
AND IF NONE OF THESE PLANS WORK….
How about popping in after work and tasting some wine? We’ve got a couple of wines from the d’Oc: Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier 2014 – £8.99 and Le Malbec 2013 – £10.99, both delicious in sunshine or rain and frankly, if they’re good enough for the Doc, they must be good enough for us!
DIARY PLAN
A few of you have been asking about Wine & Cheese – we will confirm dates next week.
We will be tasting a lot of sherry here in the shop over the next two weeks though, which should be fun – we’ll let you know more after we’ve seen our Sherry people on Monday.
In fact we’re doing quite a bit of offsite tasting in weeks to come, which means that we will be opening late Monday 14th, Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th… we’ll be back by 4pm, at the latest, ideally before…
That’s it from us, time for some Bolli!
Wayne & Alex