Fellow Wine Lovers,
‘I’m off now’, said Alex as he strode out the door yesterday morning, brimful of self-importance.
It being just past 11am, I was slightly concerned about his work ethic. ‘I’m off to the supplier tasting up in town, you know, I told you about it yesterday evening, at St Martin in the Fields.’ Aware that he has a habit of making things up and then blaming my not knowing about them on the fact I’m a few years older than him, I let it ride. The opportunity to have a few hours of peace and quiet in the shop and actually get some serious work done, without puerile, bearded distractions, was too tempting. So, I let him go.
Clearly there was no tasting going on in the church, it was just an excuse for him to pop into Viandas de Salamanca on the Strand for a ham roll and then to catch a matinée performance of Matilda. But this was all fine if he was going to be out of the way for those precious few hours.
So what did I get up to in his beardiness’s absence?
First up, coffee, followed by a quick sweep of the shop to clear up any leftovers from Wednesday night’s tasting. Floor stack back in place, Spotify #ThrowbackThursday on the computer, fridges filled.
Then, between writing a few tasting notes for our new wines, rehearsing my oldest and best jokes on Rufus the dog (If I’ve got three eyes, four ears, two mouths and a sprouting beauty spot, how do I look? Ruff, he replied) and re-merchandising the Biltong, I had some lunch. It was already half past two – the day was flying by and I hadn’t yet looked at the BBC website to read about the Arsenal game!
Loved ones and close friends have often queried what it is we do all day and I do hope this snapshot gives you a good glimpse into our busy retail existence.
To continue, when Alex came back at about 4pm, still replete with importance and silly beard, I decided it was time to grab my coat and grab my hat and head out to the pub and some dinner with some old friends. Another day, another dollar.
However, during his brief sojourn in the shop, micromanager Alex had written me a list of things that I need to mention in this week’s email, along with his patented egg-sucking instruction, so here you go…
SUNDAY
Sunday is Mother’s Day and needs to be celebrated. To forget is inexcusable and rightly so. A piece of advice, courtesy of Alex, to anyone who is a father. You may well be reading this, confident that you have organised a card and some flowers for your Mum, and thus see yourself as being off the hook.
However, have you thought about the mother of your children?
That’s right. It’s an absolute guarantee that your 12 year old son will not have even registered the date, let alone actively done anything about it and now is the time to step in, rather than at 7.30am on Sunday morning. Croissants and flowers are nice but so, too, is Bollinger. A good friend of mine has always believed that there is no problem that can’t be solved by throwing the appropriate amount of money at it and, on more than one occasion, we have benefited from his resolutions. However, to help you all out, this weekend you won’t have to throw as much money at it as you would normally:
FRIDAY 4TH MARCH – SATURDAY 5TH MARCH – BOLLINGER SPECIAL CUVÉE PRICE CUT
NORMAL PRICE £45 – OFFER PRICE £33.33 PER BOTTLE, WHILST STOCKS LAST.
So don’t forget, Mother’s Day on Sunday, to forget is inexcusable.
THURSDAY 21ST APRIL
Our ever popular Wine & Cheese evening is on again. We select four cheeses with a little help from our new pals at The London Cheese Board and we line up some wines to taste alongside them. It’s a very simple formula but it seems to have plenty of fans! £20 per person – tasting starts at 8pm.
TODAY & TOMORROW
Occasionally Alex and I are in the same tasting, at the same time, and what tends to result is that we buy some new wines. This time it was Spain, again. We love Spain and are constantly finding new wines that we have to try and cram onto the seemingly shrinking shelves. This week we have listed Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero 2013 – £17.99 which Alex first had in Spain last year and has been hassling to buy ever since; Gran Colegiata Lagrima Toro 2012 – £11.99 which adds a bit of body to the shelf; Lopez de Haro Rioja Crianza 2013 – £10.99 purely because of its darn fine label and Nisia Old Vine Verdejo 2014 – £16.99 from Rueda, where all the good Verdejo comes from.
We’ll open the Lopez de Haro Rioja Crianza 2013 and the Nisia Old Vine Verdejo 2014 this weekend so why not pop in to try them out – you never know, you might even catch us working! (well, perhaps not Alex)
Now Rufus, did I tell you the one about the interrupting cow….
Wayne & Alex