Fellow Wine Lovers,
Those of us who have lived in the area for a while are, I’m sure, fully aware of South West London’s fondness for fried chicken. There are a plethora of different shops where you can get your fix, Morleys, Roosters and Chicken Cottage to name but a few. There has even been a four episode Channel Four documentary on the subject.
You can imagine then the shock that has radiated around the country as The Colonel himself has had to close most of his shops due to a lack of chicken. We saw some stories of a Bargain Bucket changing hands for £100 in Sussex. Whilst we love the entrepreneurial side of the chap selling, and also the purity of the economics, we do question if it is still a bargain!
It seems the problem comes down to The Colonel switching his logistics supplier from a specialist company to one that was just cheap. Don’t Have Lorries, having won the contract, just didn’t know what to do next. Good news though folks, looks like the fowl up is nearly solved now, so if Kenny’s Fried Chicken needs a wine with it this evening we’d suggest a Viognier!
Rumours that Chicken Cottage is to become Chicken Villa are, so far, unconfirmed.
Elsewhere in the news it’s been a busy week for the Queen. Spotted first at London Fashion week sat in the front row (too short to model apparently) with Anna Wintour. Then midweek she popped up again at the Brit Awards. We always suspected she was a big fan of Rag ‘n’Bone Man but how wrong can you be, she was spotted in the mosh pit of International Band of the Year, Foo Fighters! We suspect there’s a chance of fake news on this, but really love the idea of Her Maj getting her rock on to ‘The Pretender’.
Performance enhancing drugs in sport is something we’ve talked about in the past… curling…really? Words fail us.
The latest ‘wine is good for you’ news, suggests that drinking red wine may be good for your oral health. It’s those polyphenols again we understand, though not much was said about the acids and sugar, so we’d suggest staying with the paste and brush until more work is published!
This weekend sees the return of the Six Nations rugby. Friday evening sees France host Italy, whilst Saturday’s early game sees Ireland host Wales in what could be the game of the weekend and England travel to Murrayfield to face an unchanged Scottish team for the Calcutta Cup.
Also the weekend sees the start of the Spring Classics in cycling, with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Saturday.
Wine & Cheese Tastings
All the dates are about half filled now, so do check your diaries if you want to join the fun. All start at 8pm and cost £20 per person. Dates below:
Thursday 19th April
Thursday 17th May
Thursday 21st June
Thursday 19th July
Tasting This Weekend
We’ve mentioned a few times that we’ve been out to a tasting, it’s that time of year in the wine trade. We also know that you all imagine us swanning around in our blazers at some livery hall swirling large glasses of red liquid then turning up at the shop late with black teeth, glazed eyes and a half empty pack of tic-tac’s. Whilst some of this may be true, it is also true that some of the booty from our foraging shows up occasionally too.
With that in mind, the white corner this weekend will feature Domaine Naturaliste Discovery Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2017 (£20.99). Domaine Naturaliste are a small Margaret River winery where the wine is made in a low-intervention manner by Bruce Dukes. We thought this was cracking with a real layered complexity and fabulous balance of fruit and texture. Deliciously elegant, a great partner to a plate of sushi but, frankly, very tasty on its own too.
In the red corner, we’ll make no apologies for taking a second trip in a fortnight to Tuscany. We’ll be opening Salcheto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2014 (£23.99), a stunning wine, elegant with smoky black cherry fruit character and aa great finish. Organic and enormously keen on their sustainability, Salcheto were the first company in the world to have certified the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine (according to ISO 14064 standard, in 2011).
A song for this weekend must be Louis Jordan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens’…