Fellow Wine Lovers,
Less than seven months to Christmas. Not had a day this year nice enough to wear shorts for the duration. Yet to sit outside the pub for longer than twenty minutes before admitting defeat. That suncream purchase seems a bit premature. Watching cricket last Saturday wearing a beanie and two coats, sitting on the bonnet of the car to steal the engine warmth.
Come on, snap out of it, Alex, be positive.
Midsummer looming, Maypole dancing, mead by the bonfire, silly shenanigans. Half term next week, hurray. Thunderstorms predicted, and we all know that thunderstorms are tropical creatures. Tropical storms lead to clear blue skies and beautiful sunshine – FACT. Bank holiday weekend in the offing, barbecues and Rosé, blitz spirit.
Plus, the good news is that having a glass of grog makes us happier, no matter what. There are a number of articles doing the rounds this week all reporting on the Mappiness app and the research done by some clever chaps at University of Kent over the last 5 years or so. I won’t regurgitate the article that I read, as they wrote it far better than I ever could, (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/24/scientists-have-figured-out-exactly-how-much-fun-it-is-to-get-drunk/?spon_con=today10&tid=a_inl) but I will comment on its findings.
Apparently, drinking with friends makes us happy – who knew? However, there is a chance we were already quite happy before we met our friends, so the uplift in joy is not huge but nonetheless worth mention. However, the really interesting bit of news was that our innate happiness levels increase proportionally more when we have a drink whilst doing something we don’t necessarily enjoy. Commuting and waiting were mentioned here as boring pastimes improved by a cheeky snifter.
So, our analysis of this data tells us that for that glass of wine to make us most happy this weekend we need the weather to be mediocre and underwhelming rather than charming and bright!
But the weather is not going to make us put our plans on hold: Wayne’s off in a tent to Brighton, flip flops and sunglasses already packed, confidently. Alex is off to Devon, waterproofs and board-games packed – he’s been before…
One thing is for sure, we will certainly be drinking…. Wayne has lined up some cheeky campfire reds whilst Alex has his eyes on some wines with a bit of age on them, a serious Italian white and a few cheeky guzzlers too. He is also muttering about making his own version of Pimm’s – if the sun shines we’ll be happy, if it rains we’ll be happier, allegedly, but only if we start drinking…
But what will you be drinking?
Perhaps we might be able to help by putting a few things on tasting. We will start proceedings this weekend by opening a bottle of the fabulous Cidre Breton (£5/litre). Slightly cloudy, seriously habit forming and extremely tasty – taste it, taste it again and before you know it, the bottle will have gone!
For a white, how about the new vintage of Leira Seca Vinho Verde 2015 (£10.99) Alvarinho and Trajadura doing what they do best – producing a ripe, soft stone-fruit character wine with oodles of appeal. The red is slightly more warming, in anticipation of Wayne’s night under canvas – Sesti Monteleccio 2013 (£17.99) organic, biodynamic and made by an astronomer but don’t let get in the way – they are one of Montalcino’s finest producers, their Brunello being highly regarded and priced accordingly. This is what we drink whilst we are saving up for the Brunello, and it always makes us happy, no matter whether we are waiting for a train or having a dinner party…
As always on Bank Holiday weekends, we’ll be closing at 6pm on Saturday evening and will remain closed until Tuesday morning.
Lastly, thanks to all who came to last night’s Cheese & Wine Tasting. Who knew the Norwegians made such tasty goat’s cheese?
The next one is Thursday June 23rd at 8pm. Tickets as usual £20 per person call us on 020 8944 5224 or pop in to book your place.
Be Happy all weekend!