The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

St Patrick’s Day today, last day of the Six Nations tomorrow, Mother’s day on Sunday – it’s a busy weekend, are you ready?

But before we get into the weekend, what’s been exciting this week?  Gary Lineker went back to work without having to plead for forgiveness, perhaps having learnt that watching Leicester lose 3-1 to Chelsea on a Saturday afternoon is far more palatable when you’re getting paid to comment on it.  However, he was probably grateful that he chose to go to the King Power Stadium rather than the Twickenham one because losing to Chelsea by a couple of goals is just about bearable compared to losing to France by 43 points.  Thankfully, unlike Gary, we were at work so were, effectively, being paid to watch it (through our fingers).  Happily, as it’s been Cheltenham all week and as it’s St Patrick’s day today we’ve decided that we’re now fully Irish, so tomorrow’s rugby match holds no fear for us!

Jeremy Hunt, he of NHS infamy and certainly a man whose time running the health service wasn’t about paying the workers more money, is now in charge of the Exchequer and on Wednesday he gave us his version of a budget.  Watching a man who is clearly so very, very pleased with himself was quite difficult and, when you add weak jokes and questionable data into mix, it almost had us reaching for the Rum.  We won’t go into deep analysis of his suggestions but suffice to say, booze will get more expensive in August whether we like it or not, you have been warned.

Thursday brought Alex a couple of big wins at Cheltenham, although when you’re only betting a pound a punt, big wins aren’t really life changing.  Wayne also had some big wins and is now looking at yacht brochures and topping up his pension pot….

And now it’s Friday and we’re wearing green.  We don’t sell Guinness and we don’t sell Jameson’s but we do sell something better: JJ Corry The Gael Batch No. 2 – £73.  Here’s a bit of their story:

In 2015 we built a bonded Rackhouse on the McGuane Family Farm and resurrected the lost art of Irish Whiskey Bonding.  Whiskey Bonding is the practice of sourcing new make spirit and mature Irish Whiskey from Irish distilleries and maturing, blending and bottling unique whiskeys.  During the ‘golden age’ of Irish Whiskey (in the 19th and 20th centuries), there were hundreds of distilleries operating on the island of Ireland.  Most did not have their own brands of whiskey at that time, however.  These distilleries made their new make whiskey spirit and sold it wholesale to the Bonders to age, blend and bottle.  The Bonders were the publicans, grocers and mercantile owners.  They would travel to their local distillery with their own barrels, fill them up with new make spirit and then cart them home for ageing and then blending.  Bonders were present in every town in Ireland, giving rise to regional styles.  Sadly, the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed in the 1930s and the few remaining distilleries cut off the Bonders’ supply, leaving Irish Whiskey Bonding to die out.

The Gael Batch No.2 is a 60% Malt and 40% Grain blend comprising of

• 30% single malt bonded in 2002
• 26% single malt bonded in 2003
• 4% single malt bonded in 1991
• 40% single grain bonded in 2010

Aromas of shortbread, peaches and cream and sweet grass fill the nose, complemented by notes of lemon drizzle cake, honeycomb, rye bread and thyme throughout the palate.

Batch No.2 was of just 2800 bottles.

Tempted?  I know I am…

However, if whisky is not your thing, how about trying some of the wines we’ve got on tasting this weekend?

A propos of nothing we’ve elected to taste a Gewurztraminer from Northern Italy and a new red from Portugal – should be fun.

Cantina Tramin Gewürztraminer 2021 – £19.99.  So, a bit of background required, I think.  Cantina Tramin was founded in 1898 and has 310 member winegrowers who follow its strict directives on the cultivation of the vines.  If I were then to tell you that the sleepy village of Termeno/Tramin is thought to be the birthplace of the Traminer white grape variety, also known as Gewürztraminer, then you can probably guess why we love this wine.  Add to all this the fact that in 2011, Cantina Tramin gained the “Double Stella” award, which is only given to a winery for achieving the prestigious “3 Bicchieri” 20 times which is awarded by the Gambero Rosso then I think you’ll agree you’re getting quite a lot of wine for your £20 note!  An intense and complex nose, with aromas of tropical fruit, notes of spice and a layer of minerality, accompanied by the charismatic scent of roses.  Creamy, with a balancing acidity and a deliciously long finish – there is no doubt that Tramin make our favourite Gewürztraminer!

Caves Alianca Quatro Ventos Douro 2021 – £10.49.  We always enjoy reds from Portugal and here’s a new edition to our range.  The hand-picked grapes are sourced from selected vineyards in the Douro Valley, where old vines are planted in schist soil in the ‘patamares’ system.  The wine itself has earthy blackberry fruit with hints of warm vanilla spice on the nose, ripe plummy fruit on the palate and a characterful finish.  Delicious with veal or lamb, or perhaps a platter of firm mature cheeses.

That’s about it from us, just a reminder that your Mum would really enjoy a glass of Champagne on Sunday, so don’t forget!

Sláinte!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

ME: What’s another word for unlikeable? 

GOOGLE: unpleasant, obnoxious, vicious, impolite, venomous, vindictive, unlovable, nasty, spiteful, annoying, Rishi, Suella

So, it seems that it’s not just me that’s been listening to Real Dictators on Spotify.  Mr Lineker is clearly a fan whilst the Prime Minister and Home Secretary also seem to have been taking notes as they managed to plumb ever newer depths this week, with hauntingly broad smiles all round.  Arguably the least self-aware comment regarding Lineker came from the PM’s spokesperson:

“It’s obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration.”

The basic annual salary of an MP in the House of Commons, before ‘business costs’ is £84,144, also funded by hard-working British payers – have you heard some of the lazy and unhelpful rhetoric that has come from Westminster recently?

And where now for the BBC?  Al Capone was felled by the Treasury department, Boris Johnson was scuppered by Pincher’s roaming hands, will the BBC be sunk by the winner of the 1986 Golden Boot?  If they sack Gary they just look like a tool of the government, our very own Fox News-alike, a mouthpiece for Trumpian ramblings of Anderson, Braverman et al.  However, if they stand their ground and actually look beyond the guff emanating from SW1 then they can re-establish themselves as a news outlet with integrity.  I fear the former will be the preferred route but we’ll see.  If he is given the boot though, he can take succour from the Suella story – sacked by the prime minister because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules, and then re-appointed to the same role six days later, this sets a perfect precedent for him to follow!

Anyway, enough already, what else has been going on this week?  Farrell has been shifted to the bench for Saturday’s 6 Nations match against France which is a bit of a welcome surprise move from Mr Borthwick; Spurs have proved themselves to be monumentally awful in the FA cup, in the Premiership and in the Champions League, all in the space of 8 days whilst the mighty Arsenal are still top of the Premier league, just in case you were wondering.  We’ve lost the cricket twice to Bangladesh this week in different formats but young Tom Pidcock won the Strade Bianche, the first time a Brit has been victorious in this dusty old race.

Not a lot of news on the wine front, Burgundy is still expensive, South Africa and Portugal still offer great value and Chile is often overlooked – as I said, no news really.  However with these comments in mind, here’s what we’ll be opening this weekend:

Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2021 – £13.99 – this is a delicious barrel fermented Chardonnay from Swartland in South Africa.  Crisp, fresh and elegant with grapefruit and lime citrus notes, a hint of something a tad more tropical and then a lovely creamy textured finish.  It’s not Burgundy but it could be a nice alternative and certainly more wallet friendly!

Viña von Siebenthal Carmenère 2018 – £20.99 – from the Aconcagua Valley in Chile this is a rich and complex wine with aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants and damsons even, complemented by notes of cedar, tobacco and roasted hazelnuts.  A concentrated and full-bodied first impression is balanced with soft tannins and a long elegant finish – definitely a wine that gives many Bordeaux a run for their money!

That’s all from us; we’ll leave the last words to our Home Secretary, the one person who we can rely on to never ever make lazy or unhelpful remarks:

“It’s the Labour party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today.”

I rest my case.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Since Wayne has given me some time off and gone on holiday, I have been spending a lot of hours alone in the shop with just Spotify for company.  This actually is no bad thing, podcasts have bounded uninterrupted into my consciousness and my knowledge of Real Dictators has grown apace.  One of the big eye openers for me has been that there is an almost formulaic route to becoming a dictator: be a bit weird with a reputation for being not entirely trustworthy; talk well, and at length, perhaps bombastically; twist the truth; have an ego; a well-developed sense of entitlement helps; be sure to line your pockets; lie to everyone.  These characteristics used to be the preserve of the worst of men (and they are all men) but now it seems that it has become a more general job spec for too many monotone politicians.

Sorry about that, clearly my listening has gloomed my mood, I’ll stop with the podcasts now and go back to listening to music.

So, how many WhatsApp messages have you sent today? 

Yesterday I think I sent 17 but then, clearly, I’m no Matt Hancock.  We now know that 100,000 WhatsApp messages were handed to the journalist who ‘wrote’ Pandemic Diaries, The Inside Story Of Britain’s Battle Against Covid covering Mr Hancock’s period as Health Secretary.  Guessing that these messages date from March 2020 and at most go through to his resignation in June 2021, we have 15/16 months of messages which, by our conservative calculations, equate to 6,250 messages a month or about 220 each day.  Do we assume these messages include the messages to Gina Coladangelo?  Probably not, so we can fabricate that he was sending in the region of 300 messages a day, a social networking presence that a 17 year old would be hard pressed to keep up with, whilst all the while being ‘totally ******* hopeless’  in his day job, to use Boris’ words.

Anyway, suffice to say, the man whose actions during the Covid years raised too many questions, whose actions in the jungle raised too many eyebrows and who sought to provide some answers/excuses by publishing a book, now feels a ‘massive betrayal’ when 100,000 of his answers are put into the public domain.  Poor, poor chap.

Elsewhere, in cricket we fluffed our lines in New Zealand on Monday and looked like we might also do the same in Bangladesh on wednesday had it not been for a great knock by Dawid Malan.  A rugby win in Cardiff did not feel quite as triumphal as it could have done and the news that Marcus Smith has been sent home to try to learn how to play as well as Owen Farrell is currently, does not feel like a forward step…

“Drink wine, primarily for the pleasure, but at the back of your mind think ‘could I be trying different bottles or varieties that might actually be healthier for me and that I might enjoy?’ …. Diversity is also important; if you take the analogy from food, having a range of different grape varieties in your diet means you are going to be helping different gut microbes inside you and you will increase your gut health and diversity….. Don’t just stick with the same wine, get out there and try hundreds or thousands of different grape varieties that we generally don’t enjoy….. Let’s get those rare ones back on the map again because those could be helping you nourish really healthy gut microbes inside you and improve your health.”

Wise words, given perhaps greater gravitas having been uttered by Professor Tim Spector, Mr ZOE Health Study.  And of course, we agree.  There is so much choice out there, why not give your palate a bit of an adventure all in the name of positive gut health – imagine, a delicious glass of wine that might actually do you good!

So, following the Doctor’s orders, we’ll be waving the following bottles under your noses this weekend, if you fancy a taste:

Cantine Colomba Bianca Vitese Grillo 2021 – £11.99.  We’ve been enjoying our Grillo for quite a while now.  This nearly forgotten Sicilian variety (a crossing of Catarratto and Zibibbo) has lovely lifted citrus and tropical fruit character, a touch of minerality, great mouthfeel and a zesty finish.  Established in 1970, Colomba Bianca are dynamic, very quality focused and also just happen to be the biggest Italian producer of organic wine – so a winner all round then: a diverse, gut friendly organic wine that’s not Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio!

Prats & Symington Prazo de Roriz 2018 – £16.99.  Prats & Symington was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between the well-known Bordeaux winemaker, Bruno Prats and the famous Port making Symington family.  Made using port grapes (35% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 20% Tinta Roriz, 20% other varieties) the wine is characterised particularly by red fruit flavours of raspberries and cherries and the terroir provides a distinctive minerality and appealing peppery spice.  Forget your Shiraz or other such mainstream varieties – try this with your steak!

One piece of admin before we go – we will be opening later on Tuesday 7^th March because we have a big supplier tasting to attend in Camden beforehand but we should definitely be back here by 4pm – sorry for the disruption!

I think that’s it from us for now, I’m off to see if the Keir Starmer Real Dictators episode is up yet – if he is as guilty of the Machiavellian manipulations of Sue Gray that the Conservatives might have us believe, then it should be an amazing story!

Raising a glass to your good health

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Firstly, a quick reminder that we will be closing at 4.30pm today.

It is our annual pilgrimage to provide drinks for the Kings College Quiz Night. We don’t know any of the answers if you’re coming, but wish you every success.

Looks like salad days are over, with several supermarkets rationing your access to cucumber, tomatoes and peppers due to a bit of a shortage. It is of course down to chilly weather in Morocco and Almería. Nothing at all to do with the Government refusing to include farming as a key industry when handing out energy subsidies, despite warnings from the National Farmers Union that exactly this would happen when no glasshouses were planted.

Channelling her best Marie Antoinette, Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has a solution, suggesting that we embrace turnips to help alleviate the shortages. That’s the same Minister who suggested people using food banks should work a few more hours.

In the interests of science, and so that you don’t have to bother we looked at the possibility of a Greek Salad. A Greek Salad would normally consist of Cucumber, Tomato, Pepper, Onion, Oregano, Feta and Olive Oil.

Thérèse Coffey would suggest Turnip, Turnip, Turnip, Onion, Oregano, Feta and Olive Oil as a suitable replacement. Just doesn’t have the same kind of appeal for me I’m afraid.

News reaches us this week that the world’s last dedicated Meccano factory will be closing at the end of the year. Invented in 1898 by Frank Hornby and marketed as Mechanics Made Easy until its name change to Meccano in 1907. Apparently it has been in decline in popularity since the late 1950’s. I guess 3D printers are the new Meccano, eh?

We wondered if this week’s shenanigans on the Welsh Rugby front weren’t just Wales getting their excuses in early but what do we know? We know that Mr Sexton will not be fit to face Italy but suspect that Ireland will cope. England will be without Mr Tuilagi but will probably see the return of Mr Lawes.

On the cricket front, it’s turned out alright thanks to Harry Brook and Joe Root alhough we feel we should also mention Jimmy Anderson becoming World No1 bowler again at the age of 40!

In real sports, it is opening weekend for the road racing season. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the traditional season opener is on Saturday. Both the races start in Ghent, the Men’s at 11.15 and the Women’s at 13.30. We’ve no idea who will win the Men’s race but one bit of sage advice we heard was to keep an eye on Arnaud De Lie in the Lotto Dstny team. In the Women’s race it’s difficult not to talk about Annemiek Van Vleuten defending last year’s win but think there’s a decent chance of seeing Zoe Backstedt on the podium. As always staying upright will be key!

On the wine front, in the red corner we’re going to open Domaine des Mailloches Bourgeuil 2019 (£13.49) Located in Restigné, in the heart of the Bourgueil appellation, Domaine des Mailloches is an old vineyard dating back over 100 years. Family owned for 8 generations , today it is Samuel Demont who farms the 16 hectares of Cabernet Franc. We think it’s fresh red and black fruits and rich but supple palate would be perfect to partner with Pan Hegarty!

The white (orange) corner will be the Cramele Recas Solara Orange 2021 (£13.99). We tasted this Romanian beauty again this week and were reminded how delicious it is, why not come and discover if you agree with us?

So, as mentioned earlier, we’ll be off to the quiz night at 4.30pm – find out tomorrow if the Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club!

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How are those ski slopes?  Have you been elegantly swishing to the left and to the right making gentle soundwave patterns down the mountain? Or do you tackle the slope head on whizz straight down the mountain in a more ‘Spy Who Loved Me’ sort of fashion?  Here in Wimbledon Park we’ve had some lovely sunny days, the doors been open and the sweater stayed off till late afternoon. Skiing? Not so much.

Whilst we’re on the subject of spies,  a large number of police forces, the Ministry of Defence, The National Crime Agency and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have all been taken to task for using video cameras made by Chinese firms despite flagged security and ethical concerns. Just imagine, the UK could be one great Truman Show, or we could all be Candid Camera stars on Chinese Central TV and not even know it.  At least we won’t have to worry about all those pesky balloons!

Whilst we’re talking Canada it’s capital, Ottawa, is home to the world’s largest naturally frozen ice rink. The Rideau Canal Skateway is 4.8 miles long and normally welcomes around a million skaters between January and March. None at all this year though as Ottawa is experiencing one of its mildest winters ever and the temperature has not been cold enough to freeze the ice to a safe depth.

In Margate, a new work of art by Banksy appeared. Entitled Valentine’s Day Mascara, the comment on domestic violence features a 1950’s style women with a blackeye and Marigolds pushing her husband into a freezer. The only trouble with it is that the freezer has been removed so our hero housewife is left on the wall with just her husband’s legs which seems a bit more sinister than perhaps intended!

Now often when I get to this part of the Weekly Wine I begin to notice that I have completely forgotten where I was heading when I started out. This week is certainly one of those, the swishing left and right was key, but key to what exactly? I think I might have to abandon that idea as one of those known unknown items in the weekly briefing!

We could mention Kier Starmer announcing that Jeremy Corbyn won’t be a Labour candidate at the next election, we’ll see how that plays out, I can’t see him going quietly. Meanwhile, Starmer has headed off to Kyiv to assure Mr Zelenskiy that nothing would change under Labour. After Wednesday’s flag laden press conference I’m beginning to wonder if plans aren’t afoot to make him appear rather statesman-like!

Not much noise on the Conservative front, 30p Lee-anderthal is spouting all sorts of nonsense that’s best ignored. The blond scarecrow, still not in Uxbridge and West Ruislip, has been ranting about the expansion of ULEZ, conveniently forgetting it was originally his idea!

On the wine front, anyone with $35 million down the back of the sofa might want to cast an eye over Juslyn Vineyards in St Helena, Napa Valley. Lord and Lady Butler who own the estate on Spring Mountain are selling up, wanting to downsize. Seems a great opportunity for the area, they even have a well which is increasingly important in parched California.

This segues nicely into a glass of wine. After the flooding and landslides experienced in New Zealand this week we thought we’d show some solidarity with them.

White-wise we shall open Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2022 (£21.99). This probably needs little introduction now, but safe to say we still think it’s the best NZ sauvignon we’re being offered. More restrained than many from this region, with a lovely zesty complexity.

Running around in the red corner will be Clos Henri Petit Clos Pinot Noir 2019(£20.99). The Bourgeois family behind 10 generations of Sancerre growing in the Loire were so excited about the Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc arriving from Marlborough in the early 1990’s they headed out and bought some land. Planting was finished in 2003 and the estate is now farmed organically. We think it rather ace, come and tell us what you think.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome aboard this week’s musings from the coldest ship on Arthur Road.  We can’t be the coolest because obviously Saucer & Cup and Whisk will always take that, so we’ll stick to what we’re good at, whilst keeping our fuel bills down low-low.

The news is not the place for us to find our entertainment this week – the greed of our politicians firmly put into the shade by Mother Nature reminding us all that there are greater powers at work, that the real world outside of SW1 can be a truly cruel place and that life is more precious and valuable than any pot of cash.

So, we looked for our distractions elsewhere.  In sport, where we often find succour, it was a mixed weekend for the PV staff. 

The Everton match on Saturday did not make Wayne smile as much as he usually does and the Scotland Rugby team’s visit to Twickenham was successful once again, the second time in 3 years that they have bested England at HQ and the third time in 50 years – good start, Mr Borthwick.  A key moment in the match was when Scottie ‘Duhan’ van der Merwe (born Edinburgh, May 2017) showed the world what can happen if six of your opposition haven’t quite got the hang of the new tackling rules yet.  A great, great try, without a doubt.  We’ll be waving our green passports this weekend though, when the World’s #1 team goes up against the World’s #2 at the Aviva….

Meanwhile, we imagine many of you will be waving your passports at us as you ski-daddle off to foreign climes for half term fun and games.  Whilst you are packing and deciding what to take out of the already overflowing bags, remember that next Tuesday is 14^th February – Valentine’s Day.  So, take out that extra sweater and replace it with a card and a half bottle of Champagne – we recommend Lété-Vautrain – £17.99 – and that way you will be well prepared for that moment on Tuesday when ‘oh, I don’t think we should really bother with Valentine’s day’ turns into a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates!

On a separate, and completely unrelated, note – should you need some conversation starters for those awkward chairlift silences – the Number 1 songs today in 1983 and 1993 were Down Under by Men At Work and No Limit by 2 Unlimited – proper one hit wonders that should get you all singing!

Anyway, back to Valentine’s Day.  According to BBC Good Food, these were the four most popular Valentine meals, based on what people searched for last year:

1. Steak with peppercorn sauce
2. Dauphinoise potatoes
3. Spaghetti carbonara
4. Beef Wellington

So, what have we learnt?  I imagine steak is probably one of their most searched food items anyway; everyone likes Dauphinoise and if you’re in the French Alps, it’s local; carbonara is quick and easy whilst Beef Wellington feels more suited to the polygamists/polyandrists amongst us!

However, that’s not going to stop us tasting some wines this weekend that might be suitable for Tuesday…

Domaine Treloar ‘La Terre Promise’ 2019 – £19.49 – This is a lovely rich blend of Grenache Gris, Macabeu and Carignan Blanc from our chums Jonathan and Rachel at Domaine Treloar down in the south of France.  From 35-60 year old vines, it has a lovely quince and buttered toast character and is made with natural yeasts and minimal sulphur.  Named after the Bruce Springsteen song ‘Promised Land’, this is a wine that we don’t put on tasting nearly as much as we would like to and frankly it would be an absolute joy with a plate of cheesy taytos.

Sottano Selección Blend 2019 – £18.99 – This is a blend of Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Franc; dark in the glass as you’d expect and with lovely aromatic berry aromas with a hint of violets and wood smoke. The palate is rich and layered with cassis and berry fruit notes, coffee and wood spice with a touch of black pepper to end on. It worked well with a rib-eye, and we’re lining it up for some ox-cheeks, which apparently is the secret ingredient for a Beef Wellington for two!

That’s about it for us, a kind gentleman from Brussels has just passed me a Vegemite sandwich – there are no limits – although sadly it seems Burt Bacharach has reached his limit – mind you, six Grammys, three Oscars, 73 Top Forty hits in the US and 52 in the UK wasn’t a bad life’s work!

The blues they send to meet me won’t defeat me, it won’t be long till happiness steps up to greet me…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, at the risk of bringing rain to anyone’s parade, it’s been rather Spring-like this week, hasn’t it?

Stood here in Arthur Road we see a lot of life passing our window. Sons and daughters who seemed to be in buggies just last week walking from school on their own in smart new blazers, football crowds on the way to Plough Lane and grumpy traffic tooting with impatience at that oversized lorry trying to reverse around the corner to go back the way they came. Why don’t they update their SatNav?

Boris Johnson, the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, could be that oversized lorry. His constituency office, about 19 miles up the A40 from Westminster, really should update his SatNav. In the last fortnight he’s taken more than one serious wrong turn. Firstly, he pitched up in Kyiv, some 1500 miles to the east of Uxbridge, possibly in the belief that he was James Cleverly. Returning from Kyiv he seems to have overshot by some 3650 miles and ended up in Washington DC having a chat with the Speaker of the House. Perhaps he’s pretending he is still Prime Minister. Maybe, all along, he has been Mr Benn?

It could, of course, just be a distraction from the fact that the National Audit Office is investigating the state funding, to the tune of £220,000, of his legal defence against the “Partygate” investigation by the House of Commons Privileges Committee. This will, of course, determine whether he committed contempt of Parliament – an allegation he denies. Personally, I think a man who made £1 million last month by after dinner speaking can afford to pay for his own defence!  Dominic Raab may have shouted at his last civil servant, it looks like we’ll hear sooner rather than later. Finally, in a sign the world really is still slightly crazy, there is talk of a comeback from Lettuce Liz Truss. Talk is that she’ll try and position herself as an “intellectual visionary” who was misunderstood at the time.

In other news, Shell has announced the biggest profits in its 189 year history, clearly switching from seashells to oil in the 1880’s has paid off! Centrica has admitted that contractors working for British Gas broke into vulnerable people’s homes to fit prepayment meters, something that thankfully Ofgen has banned this morning! The Bank of England raised interest rates as did the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy has ordered an investigation after allegations that broken bolts on HMS Vanguard were fixed with glue. The terrifying part is that HMS Vanguard is a nuclear submarine and as far as we can see on our tube of No More Nails it doesn’t seem to mention nuclear coolant pipe insulation!

The transfer window slammed shut on Tuesday with Chelsea the big spenders, spending £288 million, which is more than all the transfers in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 added together. How big is their team bus now? No pressure Mr Potter!

Meanwhile, 2^nd division Portuguese side, Oliveirense, have signed 55 year old Japanese player King Kazu on loan from Japanese club Yokohama. He has previously played in Brazil, Italy, Croatia and Australia and has plans to play till he’s 60!

Saturday sees the return of the Six Nations with a returning Gatland-inspired Wales hosting favourites Ireland in the early game (14.15) at Cardiff whilst Twickenham will be filled to the rafters as England host Scotland (16.45). I still have Italy’s name for the wooden spoon despite them beating the Wallabies in November and they play France on Sunday (15.00)

As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film Groundhog Day (yes really), I would just mention that Phil saw his shadow this year so, according to folklore, Pennsylvania will have six more weeks of winter!

Tasting this Weekend

We thought we’d take a trip to Chile. Representing the white corner will be a family favourite at Wayne’s house…

Aromo Viognier 2021 – £9.99 – from the Maule Valley, one of Chile’s traditional wine growing areas, just about 250km south of Santiago.  There’s not a great deal of Viognier planted there but when you taste this you’ll wonder why.  We really rate this wine and have been selling it for over 10 years now, one way or another as it is consistently great value, great quality with lovely peachy-apricot fruit characters and a nice crisp finish. 

Whilst sneaking into the interesting red category will be…

A Los Viñateros Bravos Volcánico País 2021, Itata, Chile – £17.49 – over the years we have tried our fair share of wines from the grape variety País.  Most of them, to be fair, have been a bit ordinary and we could easily understand why it was, for the most part, distilled into Pisco.  You can imagine the eyes rolling when this was poured into the glass.  It is not like any of the others.  Really lifted aromatic fruit on the nose, fresh and juicy, almost spritzy even in the mouth and with really fine tannins.  A proper vin de soif that’d be perfect with some slow cooked pork.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was released in 1998, to much critical acclaim but also much collateral damage caused by mosquito brained Vinnie Jones breaking into Hollywood.  Anyway, as I’m sure most of you are aware of the subject matter of the movie, it might lead you to wonder what a southeast London gangster caper has to do with a southwest London wine shop and at this point I can assure you, they have very little to do with each other.

However, there is a quote that I often recall, made by Tom as he makes a deal with Nick the Greek:

Well, this seems to be a waste of my time.  That is 900 nicker in any shop you’re lucky enough to find one in.  And you’re complaining about 200?  What school of finance did you study?  It’s a deal, it’s a steal, it’s the sale of the …. century!  In fact, Nick, I think I’ll keep it!

Brilliant, you should all watch the movie again.

In other news, the Park Vintners annual 6 for 5 January offer comes to a close next Tuesday – that’s a 16.666% off six bottles for the more mathematically inclined and, frankly, it’s a deal….

Elsewhere, life in the Wild Westminster continues apace for our parliamentary outlaws – pick your favourite rogue frontiersman, there are plenty to choose from currently – Jonathan Gullis probably the worst after managing to plumb new depths on Wednesday.

Meanwhile on Arthur Road, Alex went to Cavan Bakery and got some sausage rolls and left without paying,  He then went to Saucer & Cup and took away a couple of coffees, again without paying.  The Coop was his next stop as he came away with some soup and apples, once more his wallet stayed in his pocket.  On his return to the shop, having been informed of his activities, I thought that rather than ask him directly whether he had knowingly not paid these bills, I would actually ask my newly appointed ethics advisor what I thought with a view to getting a reply in about six months’ time.  Obviously, Alex still has his job and will just brazen out this minor bump in the road but, in the meantime, if anyone could lend him £800,000 unsecured that would be great as he has some bills to pay….

A quick scan through the booze news doesn’t give us much to talk about unless you have shares in Diageo.  One article did catch our eye though and it was the classic January page filler telling us what the ‘key trends’ will be this year; here’s the list, in no particular order, but focus on these and you’ll be the hepist of cats:

• low/no alcohol drinks (water?)
• tequila rather than Gin (last year it was Rum that would breakthrough, we’ll see)
• light-bodied wines
• off-the-beaten track styles and regions (because have you seen how Burgundy now costs)
• sustainability including organic, vegan or carbon neutral wines
• packaging – tin of wine anyone?
• drink less but better (this fits nicely with our business model)
• at-home drinking rather than going out out (alsofits nicely with our business model)
• and finally make sure that as much as possible you only buy on-trend drinks in creative packaging formats and presentation vessels, such as single serve, pouches and cans, to show that you are fully in tune with today’s evolving lifestyles and drinking occasions (what does this even mean?)

So there you go, this year’s trends, we’ll check in December to see how you’ve all got on!

Back to the here and now, it was Australia Day on Thursday, so to bring a little sunshine into our lives this weekend we thought we’d open a couple of wines from Margaret River

Flametree Chardonnay 2020 – £18.99.  Showing no compromise in quality since the 2019 version was proclaimed Decanter White Wine of the Year, this is stunning.  Citrus, floral and grapefruit notes on the nose lead to a tad richer palate with the same fruit characters, light creamy oak notes and a dry, savoury finish.  A wonderfully elegant wine.

Flametree Embers Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 – £15.99.  Wines from Margaret River always seem to exude a little more elegance than the slighter beefier versions from the other side of the country and this wine only emphasises this.  A cracking drop, this displays aromas of violets, ripe black fruits and just a hint of chocolate and coffee too; lovely and juicy in the mouth, with fabulously forward fruit, it comes as no surprise that Langton’s Master of Wine, Andrew Caillard, once opined that “Winemaker Cliff Royle is regarded by critics as one of the most gifted winemakers of his generation.”

Come and have a taste.

That’s it from us for now, come and buy some wine, 6 bottles we suggest, and if you know anyone who’s birthday is on Sunday, wish them well and let them know that they share their day with such greats as Tom Selleck, Oprah Winfrey, Clare Balding and Mikey Nyren!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s the World Economic Forum at Davos again and the airport is, as usual, awash with private jets whilst the great and good gather to discuss “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”. According to PwC’s annual CEO report, a majority of global CEO’s expect some degree of impact from climate change in the next 12 months—primarily in their cost profiles (where approximately 50% expect a moderate, large or very large impact) and their supply chains (42%).

Not enough of them to fly on a scheduled flight though, eh? Similarly, Rishi Sunak has taken three internal jet flights in 10 days. We wonder, if they were all made to travel by train, might we get a better service?

January 18^th 2022:  On Newsnight, Nadhim Zahawi made a statement that his tax affairs “were and are fully up to date”.

January 15^th 2023: The Sun on Sunday leads with a story that Nadhim Zahawi has agreed to pay several million in tax to settle a dispute with HMRC.

January 18^th 2023: A spokesperson for Zahawi said on Wednesday: “Mr Zahawi’s tax affairs were and are fully up to date and paid in the UK.”

Take them at their word; they are elected to serve us!

Jacinda Ardern has resigned as Prime Minister in New Zealand saying: “with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not”.  There are grown-ups somewhere at least!

At the other end of self-awareness, and indeed the world, a woman in Canada is suing a bar for serving her drinks. The woman was at a Marilyn Manson gig at Budweiser Gardens in 2019 before choosing to drive home intoxicated. She went the wrong way up a street before crashing into a house, severing its gas line and causing an explosion that damaged four houses, injured seven people inflicting damage valued at somewhere in the region of C$15 million. Of course it was the bars fault…

On the sports front the transfer window is in full effect, it seems West Ham, Wolves and Nottingham Forest have all got the check books out, and many others are still on the zoom calls negotiating. Bizarrely Adam Clayton has moved from Doncaster to Bradford on a free transfer and we didn’t even realise he’d left U2!

Tasting This Weekend

With Burns Night appearing on the calendar next Wednesday we thought we’d taste a couple of wines that might be suitable.

Now, clearly you’ll have to use your imagination a little as we won’t have an army of Gordon Ramsay’s downstairs at the microwave knocking out portions but…

We’ll start with the Cock-a-leekie soup and our suggestion for partnering that will be Martin and Anna Arndorfer’s Handcrafted Grüner Veltliner 2021 (£16.99). We think it’s gently spiced pear and apple fruit character will be spot on.

To go with the wee beastie itself we might go as far as suggesting Domaine La Font de Notre Dame Gigondas 2019 (£22.99). Silky dark fruits, herby garrigue notes and a fresh long finish should set of the wee beastie’s peppery character rather splendidly.

Finally, it seems that the Heavenly Supergroup is swelling in numbers at a quite alarming rate as we nod farewell to David Crosby – Long Time Gone seems like an appropriate listen, on many levels….

Travel well.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, it’s already week two of 2023 and summer is just around the corner. 

Whilst we wait for those long evening shadows and early morning swims in the dappled dawn light, we might as well amuse ourselves in other ways and what better way than through the top of a wine glass.  To help matters, we’ve dusted down our annual offering for January (codename: VAT bill crowdfunder) which is the good old BUY SIX, PAY FOR FIVE mechanic. 

It’s as simple as it sounds – buy 6 bottles and we’ll then promise to give you a 16.666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666% discount off the purchase – not too shabby?  There are a few exceptions to this offer – spirits and top shelf Champagnes for the most part but that still leaves plenty for the discerning shopper.  Some of you have already taken full advantage of this deal and will likely return for round two but many of you are yet to dip you toes into this wine lake.  We suggest you don’t tarry too long, we’ve got 76 empty cardboard boxes waiting to be filled (I counted) we have more stock now than we’ll likely have on the 31^st and then we’ll be back to the standard 5.00000000% discount so, in this instance, he who laughs last won’t be laughing very much….

Sales pitch done, what else do we have to say?

Well, it seems once more it’s about winners and losers this week:

Winners

• We’ve got to start with Harry really – 1.4 million copies sold of a book none of us want to read PLUS achieving global front page coverage in the newspapers PLUS sending many pro-monarchy commentators into apoplexy
• Elon Musk – now a Guinness World Record Holder for losing the most personal fortune – perhaps $200 billion in just 14 months – and unlikely to be broken too soon as the current world’s richest person only has $203 billion…
• Prince Andrew – the previous incumbent of the Spare role has a few days off
• Kevin McCarthy, who absolutely nailed it by winning the 15^th ballot mainly thanks to 6 people abstaining and him giving away some fairly hefty concessions to far right election deniers – you go, Kev
• Ray & Dave Davies/Emilio Estevez & Charlie Sheen/Noel & Liam Gallagher – siblings who properly know how to have a proper family spat and would consider tripping over a dog bowl and having their necklace broken as happy times
• Gareth Bale – finally managed to shed the pesky day job and can now fully focus on his golf swing
• Wayne’s toothache is finally subsiding so drinks on the veranda this weekend are back on!

Losers  

• Elon Musk, for reasons that are quite apparent
• Prince Andrew, as above
• Rishi Sunak, because he’s PM right now
• Suella had her ‘is the Bear Catholic?’ moment when she conceded that a ‘small minority’ of the super-rich arriving on very big boats and  being given golden visas between 2008 and 2015 ‘were potentially at high risk of having obtained wealth through corruption or other illicit financial activity, and/or being engaged in serious and organised crime.’  And we just thought they were here for the weather and high taxes, not trying to wash up
• Us – according to INRIX, London has the Highest Traffic Delay Times in the world, with a last mile speed of 10mph and, to add to the chaos, the most congested road is the A219 from Fulham to Morden, through Putney – time to put on the Lycra perhaps?
• Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when responding to the fact that 150 officers are under investigation, said “We’ve got some officers who we sacked, but other legal bodies, who have a power to reinstate them, did. So I’ve got officers who we determined shouldn’t be police officers and yet I have to keep them. It sounds bizarre – I’m the commissioner, yet I can’t decide who my own workforce is.”
• The NHS, for having Steve Barclay
• Andrew Bridgen
• Democracy in Brazil

Gosh, I hadn’t realised there would be so many losers, so, moving swiftly on, what shall we taste this weekend?

Well, given you’ll all be coming in to buy 6 bottles, why not put a couple of new experiences for the new year in there?  To help with this we’ll open a bottle of white from The Republic of North Macedonia and a red from Georgia…

Tikveš Smederevka 2020 – £10.69.  The Tikveš winery is in the central part of Macedonia, a paradise of mountains, lakes and, of course, vineyards.  The wine is a real crowd pleasing style from a less trodden path, crisp fruit here from the Smederevka which is softened by a dollop of Riesling in the blend – a rival to Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps?

Vachnadziani Saperavi 2019 – £11.49.  Saperavi is a truly ancient grape variety with the Georgians discovering examples 8,000 years old stored in clay amphorae.  However, this example is a tad younger, juicy in the glass with lots of light, bright fruit, a hint of spice and a decent length finish – definitely a danger that you might find yourself onto the second glass sooner than you thought!

If, however, you’re taking a bit of a break from the beautiful bottle then we have just listed a couple of low-low alcohol wines that we tasted before Christmas.  Wednesday’s Domaine is their name and they produce the Piquant White (0.04%) that is based on the Airén grape variety and the Sanguine Red (0.18%) based on Tempranillo.  Obviously we’ll always be more about the booze but it has to be said these two are the best we have tasted ever – chill the red a little and you could imagine yourself on a barge in the Loire in those long evening shadows….

Wednesday’s Domaine – £15 per bottle.

That’s it from us, just a quick mention that, as happens every year, we will be CLOSED ON TUESDAY 17^th JANUARY as it seems every man and his dog is having a portfolio tasting that day – apologies for this.

And it’s hi, ho silver lining – and away you go now Jeff – I see your sun is shining

RIP to another music legend….