Fellow Wine Lovers,
Occasionally, we have days where we are less busy.
Commonly referred to as late July, August and January, these are the days when we try and get stuff organised for the days when we are run off our feet. Within this less busy category of days, we have a small subset known as ‘days when we really, really aren’t very busy at all’, which often tend to be Tuesdays. It’s important to clarify here that not being very busy isn’t a reference to sales but more a reference to what we do between customer visits. We haven’t any upcoming tastings to organise, all of our suppliers are stuck in traffic jams outside Dover so there are no wines to be tasted and our VAT paperwork is all up to date.
This Tuesday was one of those days.
We’d read the news, we’d read the wine news, Alex had had a haircut, Wayne had updated his Strava and still it was nearer the start of the day than the busier finish. We’d researched once more the Clinton /Trump conundrum and decided that Hillary just edges it, providing there isn’t a sustained terrorist attack on the US before November in which case Donald being in power will probably be the least of our problems. We’d argued about drug cheating in relation to Russian attendance at the Olympics and discovered that, somewhat to our surprise, that we had unusually different points of view. We moved swiftly on from that debate. We read about Hepple Gin in the press again (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/gin-cocktails-hepple-gin-english-favourites-a7150871.html ) and thus fixed a date to go to The Goring for cocktails – in about 10 days time, if you fancy joining us?
By now we were looking for new avenues of entertainment and discovered the Wine Quiz on the Decanter website. If you’ve not had a go, they are great distraction for five minutes, or an hour and five minutes depending on your workload!
If you fancy beating our scores, I can tell you we got 80% on ABC, South of France and Pinot Noir, 90% on Italy, Rosé and Syrah/Shiraz, and a rather startling 100% on Sauvignon Blanc. Let us know how you get on – there are lots more quizzes on there and there are a lot more Tuesdays!
Summer Saturdays
Please note that throughout the month of August our Saturday hours will be 10am-7pm.
Tasting this weekend
Stung by the fact that we seem to know more about Sauvignon Blanc than Syrah, we have chosen our wines carefully this week.
On the white table we have Willi Haag Braunberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 2013 – £16.79 which we can guarantee comes from the Mosel, is made from Riesling and is a deliciously palate pleasing 8.5% alcohol. We don’t know anything more about it because, well, you know, it’s not Sauvignon.
For the red, we have Château de Montfaucon 2013 – £13.99 which, the label assures us is Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise – I wonder what percentage we’d get in a quiz about Counoise – and hails from the Rhone valley. Someone once likened it to a baby Chateauneuf-du-Pape even – it was Wayne, I believe.
So, without a Sauvignon in sight, I wish you fair passage and hope to see you for a quick tasting later on or tomorrow…. Surrey v Kent at the Oval T20 tonight – should be a Spitfires win, as usual, can’t wait!
Would you like me to bowl a piano and see if you can play that? – Merv Hughes (allegedly)