Fellow Wine Lovers,
Unfortunately, you can lay the blame squarely at our door this week. Confident that the rain on Monday was the last dampness we’d see until September, we decided to write this message on our blackboard outside:
BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND – Is this the official start of the Rosé season? I think it probably should be!
And I think you all know what happened next – hail, snowstorms and stair-rod rain, blue skies interspersed with darker-than-night grey clouds, stiff breezes, all rounded off by a rumbling thunderstorm on Wednesday evening. Well, at least the storm cleared the humidity…!
Living in the UK has made us stoic when faced with poor weather and it has been a pleasure to be selling plenty of Provence Rosé all week in spite of the climate – it’s the stiff upper lip, it’s the blitz the spirit, it’s the ‘this could be as good as summer gets so let’s pretend we’re on the Côte d’Azur’.
18 Celsius and bright sunshine in Cannes, as I write.
Sand-buried heads
Not sure if you’ve noticed, it certainly has crept up on us, but this time next week we’ll have a new Mayor.
I know, what with all the jangling and jostling over the EU referendum that is taking place on Thursday 23rd June (after the group stages of the Euros have finished, any significance?) we seem to have paid less heed, or perhaps there has been less to heed, about who should be next in line to imprint their vanity project on London.
Ken gave us the congestion charge, oyster cards, brought the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France to our streets and was the incumbent when London got awarded the Olympics. Nowadays, he’s making headlines for slightly different reasons.
Boris gave us bikes and banned boozing on the buses. He poked his big stick into the hornet’s nest with his proposals for the Thames Hub Airport and then retreated to Uxbridge to be an MP and perhaps PM-in-waiting.
So who is going to be next? Some selected candidates:
- Sadiq was born in Tooting and is Labour.
- Zac was born in Westminster and is Conservative.
- George was born in Dundee and was Labour, is now Respect, with a much respected Celebrity Big Brother sideline.
- Ankit was born in New Delhi, is allegedly the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, and, as leader of One Love, wants to clear air pollution whilst simultaneously legalising pot!?
- Counterculture icon Lee is 79 years old, was born in Johannesburg and he represents CISTA – Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol – but I’m a bit vague as to what his manifesto is…
- John is a Polish Prince, standing as the only Independent.
Oh, and did we mention the £10,000 deposit each candidate has provided, only returnable if they get more than 5% of first choice votes? Or that, to have their election address manifesto published in the Mayoral address booklet, the candidate was required to pay another £10,000.
Ankit and John didn’t submit a mini-manifesto. Lee did.
Head for the hills
Moving away from politics now, it’s the first May Bank Holiday of the year. Morris Dancers are busy ironing their hankies, hardy souls are still skiing in the Cairngorms whilst others of you have escaped to Mallorca for sunshine, San Miguel, Sangria and shome sherious shycling Shilvie, honesht…
However, for those of you who are staying in Le Parc de Wimbledon, we will be here to help today until 8pm, as usual, and tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am until 6pm, at which point we will saddle up and disappear into the sunset until 11am on Tuesday morning.
And whilst we’re talking about being closed, we won’t be open until 4pm on Thursday 5th May – we’ve got to go off tasting again, sorry, but you should reap the rewards in the long term.
And whilst we’re talking about tasting, it would be appropriate to mention what we will have open this weekend.
The white is going to be an old favourite hat we haven’t opened since the year before last: Pulenta Estate Chardonnay 2014 – £12.99. The estate is located in Alto Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, one of the most prestigious winemaking areas in Argentina. Its high altitude, at 980m, ensures a wide temperature range and a slow ripening of the grapes. This Chardonnay has citrus and tropical fruit notes, gently underlined with vanilla from the oak, which is delicately balanced with both fruit and freshness. We love it and have done so for almost a decade now – come and see if you can snatch the glass from us!
For the red we have chosen Uitkyk Pinotage 2013 – £14.49 and one of Wayne’s favourites. From a plot planted up the slopes of Simonsberg Mountain at a mere 350m, not quite as high as the Pulenta, we have a wine with fabulous round ness from its time spent in French and American oak. Lovely dark fruits and a real velvety character to the tannins make this a real meat lovers wine – it is South African after all!
And with that we must now leave you – it’s been an absolute pleasure and a joy, same time next week?