The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As is customary at this time of the yea, we have chosen to give you a roundup of events of the last 12 months:

January 2022 found us quoting Labour MP Diane Johnson: “When the prime minister has to spend his time trying to convince the British public that he is stupid not dishonest, isn’t it time for him to go?”  We were also reading about Liz Truss on Wikipedia.

February 2022 saw the launch of Operation Hillman which involved The Met Police sending a questionnaire to many people in Westminster regarding Partygate:  “As these questions are part of Operation Hillman, which of the following Hillman motor vehicles did you see at Downing Street? Minx, Husky, Super Minx, Imp, Hunter, Avenger or Hustler (please tick all that apply)

To help our sponsors, do you prefer Claret or Beaujolais with your Brie de Meaux?”

As it turned out not answering the questionnaire got you off the fine for insufficient evidence, regardless of any CCTV footage!

March 2022 we found ourselves mentioning Rwanda. A bat that had been missing for 40 years was rediscovered in Nyungwe Park.  After being scolded for being late for supper, the pair of Hill’s Horseshoe bats were measured and their call recorded to make it easier to identify them in future and then released.

April 2022 arrived and the fools were still in charge. Mad Nads was selling Channel Four and Chancellor Rishi Sunak discovering his wife’s ‘non-dom’ tax status whilst breaking an election manifesto pledge not to raise tax on the rest of us. ‘Replicas’ by Tubeway Army turned 43.

May 2022 found Wayne on his bike in Mallorca avoiding a high pollen count here, the Tories lose Wandsworth Council and the Negroni, the Mojito and a Pina Colada named as the UK’s top three cocktails. Also fines landed on the desks of those caught up in Operation Hillman seemingly regardless of whether they were driving an Imp or a Minx!

June 2022 arrived almost as a surprise with some sunshine and some disgruntled Peers who were distinctly unhappy with the catering. “There are only so many smoked salmon or prawn and crayfish salads one can take week after week”

“limited range of pre-packaged sandwiches”

“Could the sandwiches be presented on a plate with a bit of salad rather than in cardboard?”

Moving quickly into July 2022, we saw the Sri Lankan President flee the country, the Italian government collapse and Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss say nasty things about each other to show who was the best person to lead the Conservatives. Moeen Ali scored the fastest half century in T20, the Lionesses got through to the Euro final at Wembley, Marianne Vos in the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France Femmes and the start of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

August 2022 and most of you had fled the area. Wayne was left to contend with Truss and Sunak still knocking verbal lumps out of each other but now in a series of fancy dress costumes that most of us would call work clothes. La Vuelta a España started with a Time trial in Utrecht and Tory Peer Stuart Rose warned “you can’t grow your way out of inflation”.

September 2022 found us with a new King, Liz Truss as Prime Minister and Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor. Truss and Kwarteng decided to introduce a budget to grow us out of inflation that we now know cost the country around £70 billion. Remco Evenepoel won the Vuelta a España.

October 2022 rolled in with us wondering if No.10 would end up on Air BnB but Superman Sunak stepped in to save the day from the real crazies. Wales lost to the Cook Islands in the Rugby League Cup and the James Bond film Dr No celebrated its 60^th birthday.

November 2022 found jungle watchers witness disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock chomping on unmentionables in I’m a Celebrity. Superman Sunak turned out less than Super and performed a U-turn on his decision to skip COP27 in Egypt whilst Lady Mone became embroiled in a very unpredictable PPE and VIP lane scandal that saw her take a leave of absence from the House of Lords and flee the country.

So here we are, rapidly approaching the end of December 2022. The clowns are still in charge both here and in Westminster. The clowns in Westminster would like to remove your rights to equal pay in 2023. The clowns here would like to thank you all for your kind support in 2022 and wish you a happy New Year filled with good health, opportunity and laughter.

We’ll be open until 6pm today, noon until 6pm on Saturday and then we’ll return on Friday 6^th January at, yes, noon!

Godt nytår!!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

If you’re reading this then we think you probably know what has happened. We won’t dwell on the three Prime Ministers, four Chancellors or five gold rings.

Alex is resolutely refusing to wear red just to avoid any cases of mistaken identity by the young folk around town and we’ve very nearly completed our Christmas pilgrimage through the albums Spotify thinks we need to listen too. Clearly we have listened to too much Buena Vista Social Club and not enough Stereophonics this year.

We’re busy sorting your Christmas wine stocks but if you’re stuck for a last minute gift, might we suggest a gin from Decanter’s Top 10 for Christmas.

The Eclectic Gin Society Spice Blend (£39)

A great Christmas gift for wine lovers who are also partial to craft gin. This is blended in small batches of 140 bottles exclusively for Vindependents, a buying group for independent UK wine merchants. The quirky label design shows a collection of objects representing each different merchant. The Spice Blend is a classic London Dry style, with mellow baking spice aromas, lots of cinnamon and star anise. The punchy, super-spicy palate is balanced by rounded fruitiness, crisp apple and juniper bite, with a pink peppercorn finish. Makes a superbly spicy G&T. – Julie Sheppard, Decanter Dec 5^th, 2022.

We’ll be here tomorrow, Christmas Eve, from 10am till 4pm but do come earlier rather than later as Alex has a bit of a drive ahead of him once we’ve locked up.

We’d like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas. If it’s not too late to move from the naughty list to the nice list, go for it – we’ll be rooting for you!

Opening Hours for the remainder of the month…

Today: Now till 7pm

Saturday 24^th:10am -4pm

Thursday 29^th – Saturday 31^st: Noon-6pm

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So that’s that then, this week we have come to the end of an era.

When he burst onto the scene as a precociously talented teenager, the world immediately paid attention as he did things that teenagers weren’t yet supposed to be able to do.  Whilst physically not as strong as many of his opponents, over time he grew and developed and very soon everyone in the world knew his name and was keen to get a glimpse of his talents.  There was always an arrogance and a swagger about him, some people found it annoying whilst others understood it to be part and parcel of being the best in the world.  Whilst famous for his speed, athleticism and his trademark diving when in the vicinity of a net, away from sport he was probably most famous for his love of money, which ultimately could be what he is remembered for most.

Boris Becker was released from prison on Thursday and was expected to be immediately deported to Germany – bye, bye Boom-Boom – never again shall we see you charging up Marryat Road on Finals Sunday, red faced from too much sun/hospitality, next stop Hemingways…. How the mighty are fallen!

(Alex, shall we keep this on file to recycle when Ronaldo moves to Saudi/USA/Newcastle?)

Now that football has come home, carrying its customary quantity of silverware, and Morocco have finished a campaign that has been a delight to us all, we can now get back to watching Harry & Meghan on Netflix.  Or we can sit in the corner and squirt lemon juice into our eyes, which would probably be more enjoyable.  Or we can start thinking about the next big event on the horizon, which is a mere 9 days away.

Yep, let’s talk Christmas and avoid politics this week.

A couple of weeks back we had our Champagne & Fizz evening, which was a lovely event – 8 bottles of bubbles and trays of smoked salmon, what’s not to like.  Anyway, of course, all the wines were very well received; the differences between Champagne and English Sparkling were duly noted; and the out and out winner on the night was an almost unanimous decision.  As often happens, it was the most expensive wine on show but everyone agreed it was well worth it, when put into context:

Pierre Moncuit Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru Millésime 2008 – £75

100% Chardonnay, from Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger, from an outstanding vintage, it was always likely to be a popular drop.  The consensus was that the 12 years on its lees had added enough brioche and breadiness to the delicious fruit and the age had given it a really nice balance and length.  Antonio Galloni put it in a more erudite manner when he gave it 94 points:

‘Moncuit’s Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Millesimé (sic) shows a different facet of its personality in this version, with lower dosage vis-à-vis the Brut version. Here the flavors are brighter and more sculpted throughout. Hints of toastiness, almond and tangerine oil add an exotic flair that makes the Extra Brut absolutely beguiling. Lower dosage seems to exalt the minerality and bright acids of the year, while pushing the fruit a bit into the background. Both Brut and Extra Brut bottlings are terrific; choosing among them comes down to personal preference. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged November 2020.’

And the context I mentioned earlier?  Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV, should you be able to find any, retails for £75 and it’s not even vintage…. IYKYK, as the kids say!

Keeping with IYKYK, we have added Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Brut Reserve (£29) to our cracking 3 for £75 fizz deal.  You can mix it with Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 if you’d like!

Tasting this weekend

It’s the last full weekend before the big one, so let’s have some fun:

Domaine Moingeon St Aubin 1er Cru ‘Les Frionnes’ 2019 – £35.99  A couple of years ago we were involved in a MW study that compared St Aubin with Puligny Montrachet and we were really struck by the quality we were getting in St Aubin.  This is a joyous wine, elegant with lime blossom, peachy fruitiness and a touch of nutty creaminess from a barrel ageing.  A perfect partner with white meats, should you encounter any in the next week or so and an impressive if perhaps surprising match with a cheeseboard.

Cantine Povero Barolo Priore DOCG 2017 – £33 ‘The king of wines and wine of kings’.   The Priore is aged for a minimum of 38 months which gives it intense garnet red colour whilst the nose and palate show notes of violet, cassis, wild rose, cinnamon, anise, leather, and perhaps too earthy character of the Langhe, such as truffles, dried mushrooms, and hazelnuts. The palate is warm, dry, earthy, and full and it should come as no surprise that it got a Gold Medal and 95 points in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2022!

La Fleur de Bouard 2012 – £30 Hailing from Lalande de Pomerol, this is owned by the same family as Chateau Angelus.  80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is very much the modern style of claret.  Really voluptuous on the palate with black cherry and berry fruits, toasted spice, mocha, and a hint of graphite.  The tannins are oh so silky and it has an impressive velvety finish.

Plus we still have the Porto Krohn 2003 – £50 in the eto and plenty of Foxdenton Estate Christmas Liqueur – £23, should you fancy tasting something sweeter.

That’s it from us, time for us all to get back to work – we’re ready, are you?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Wow, what a week  – to summarise:

England beat Senegal to get through to the Quarter Finals in Qatar – lots of goals, lots of different goal scorers in the England team, lots of pace and the prospect of putting some shots past the fading Hugo Lloris on Saturday has them licking their lips…

England beat Pakistan in the First Test, breaking many records en route – lots and lots of runs, lots of digging deep, lots of different wicket takers in the mix, bring on round two…

Eddie Jones has been given the Spanish archer – not before time for many of us. 

The Trump Organization have been found guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud – of course DT has nothing to do with any of this with his defence lawyers stating that, despite personally signing several cheques and leases, Trump was unaware of the tax fraud being committed by his closest lieutenants!  Can’t wait to see what happens next…

Baroness Mone of Mayfair might need similarly brazen lawyers as she faces various investigations into her and her husband’s use of the £200million they were given in 2020 for inappropriate PPE.  Currently the National Crime Agency, the House of Lords standards commissioners, the House of Commons public accounts committee are all very, very interested… as is typical of people blatantly in the wrong (see also Paterson, Owen) Michelle  is taking leave of absence from the Lords with immediate effect, “in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.

Rishi Sunak is reportedly a bit surprised and shocked by all this – perhaps, as Sir Keir said, he should consult immediately with whoever was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020…. perhaps the quote from Trump’s lawyers could fit here too?  Despite personally signing several cheques and leases, Sunak was unaware of the fraud being committed by his closest lieutenants!

Meanwhile, whilst we get closer to a General Strike, the rich just seem to get richer. 

Earlier this week, Bernard Arnault temporarily became the world’s richest person on Forbes’ real time billionaires list, surpassing everyone’s favourite chancer Mr Musk.  For those of  you unaware of Bernard’s monetary pursuits, he is the owner of LVMH, who have in their portfolio, amongst others: Acqua di Parma, Ardbeg, Belvedere, Birkenstock, Château Cheval Blanc, Château d’Yquem, Christian Dior, Cloudy Bay, Dom Pérignon, Fendi, Givenchy, Glenmorangie, Guerlain, Hennessy, Hublot, Krug, Loewe, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Mercier, Moët & Chandon, Ruinart, Tiffany & Co. and Veuve Clicquot – yeah, I know, can’t begin to understand how he became so wealthy!

Anyway, enough of all this nonsense, let’s talk wine and Christmas.  Two weeks to go, plenty of shopping days left but perhaps time to start thinking about it all – with this in mind, let me introduce you to the Christmas survival kits we’ve put together:

THE CHRISTMAS MIXED CASE – £100

Lété-Vautrain 204 Brut NV, Charly-Sur-Marne, Champagne, France

De Wetshof Bon Vallon Chardonnay 2021, Robertson, South Africa

Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough, New Zealand

Domaine Fournillon Pinot Noir 2019, Bourgogne Epineuil, France

Flametree Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot 2018, Margaret River, Australia

Magnifico Rosso Primitivo di Manduria 2021, Puglia, Italy

CHRISTMAS REDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD – £140

La Colombaia Amarone 2018, Veneto, Italy

Paringa Estate Peninsula Pinot Noir 2019, Victoria, Australia

Sottano Selección Blend 2019, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina

The Chocolate Block 2021, Swartland, South Africa

Valenciso Reserva 2014, Rioja, Spain

Viña Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, Pasa Robles, USA

FRENCH CLASSICS FOR CHRISTMAS – £150

Cave de Turckheim Riesling Grand Cru Brand 2018, Alsace

Domaine Moingeon St Aubin 1er Cru ‘Les Frionnes’ 2019, Burgundy

Domaine Roblin Sancerre ‘Terres Blanches’ 2021,Loire Valley

Domaine Belleville Mercurey ‘Champ Ladoy’ 2017, Burgundy

Domaine La Font de Notre Dame Gigondas 2019, Rhône

Domaine Valmengaux 2016, Bordeaux

THE CHRISTMAS CLARET CASE – £150

Château Grandis 2009, Haut-Médoc

Château La Menotte 2016, Lalande de Pomerol

Château Lucas 2015, Lussac-St-Émilion

Château Patache D’Aux 1996, Médoc

Domaine Valmengaux 2016, AC Bordeaux

Vieux Château Gaubert 2010, Graves

All the cases come with tasting notes, which we have attached for your perusal.

Tasting this weekend

Well, with two weeks to go, why not push the boat out, as they say?

Valenciso Blanco 2021, Rioja, Spain – £21.99 – This is a blend of 70% Viura and 30% Garnacha Blanca, sourced from 80 year old vines and then  fermented with wild yeasts before lazing around for 9 months in Caucasian oak barrels.  Complex aromas combining pretty, floral characters with preserved lemon, truffle and smoky notes.  The palate is broad and well integrated with nuts and stone fruit characters.  Fresh candied peel, minerality and crisp citrus acidity on the finish.  The texture in the mouth was similar to a posh Graves but believe me when I say it’s unmistakably Spanish in style which is why I often pair it with the Christmas Eve fish extravaganza!

La Colombaia Amarone Della Valpolicella 2018, Veneto, Italy – £26.99 – The grapes are hand harvested at the end of October and these late harvested grapes are dried for four months until January following the vintage. Four months fermentation followed by two years barrel ageing gives us a richly flavoured and approachable Amarone with layers of ripe plum and cherry fruit, mocha and spice. Absolutely perfect to partner with a comfy chair!

Meanwhile, in the eto:

Porto Krohn Vintage 2003 – £50 – Wet weather in winter and spring of 2003 was followed by a very hot August which led to the grapes showing high concentration and sweetness but relatively low acidity.  The result is this award-winning Port – rich, powerful and complex.  Retaining a deep and youthful colour, the nose has intense black fruit characters, with notes of plum, black cherry, sweet spices, liquorice and vanilla.  The palate has structure and concentration, with more of that rich, ripe plum and cherry character, more spice and firm tannins.  Drinking really well right now, this had Christmas written all over it when we tasted it in September!

Of course, we also have our usual selection of spirits open to taste, joined once again by this year’s batch of Foxdenton Estate Christmas Liqueur – £23 – made with Winslow Plums and a blend of traditional Christmas spices including Ginger, Clove, Cinnamon, and Star Anise, our Christmas Liqueur, is the ideal winter warmer.  All this needs is a mince pie and an open fire!

That should be all from us for this week, we’ve taken up too much of your time already, so have a lovely weekend and stay warm!!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How’s your week been? We’ve had a bit of a busy one – it seems some of you are having parties and getting organised. To join in, we’re having a birthday on Saturday, it’s the shop’s 12^th anniversary, I’m sure we’ll be celebrating!

Happily, Matt Hancock didn’t win I’m a Celebrity. Sadly, they did get him out of there though so he’s not left wandering the jungle for 30 years, reflecting on his shortcomings…

Happily, Emma Raducanu was awarded an MBE. Sadly, it appears the Royal Household is still having racism issues…

Happily, England’s football team qualified for the next round of the World Cup. Sadly, that’s not true for the Welsh.

Happily, some of you got last week’s message about Claret. Sadly, not enough of you have tucked into the selection yet!

Happily, Trump’s tax returns have been handed over. Sadly, we have no further news on that and he’s so slippery…

Happily, there’s been a big breakthrough with a drug to treat Alzheimer’s. Sadly, it’s not available yet.

Happily, England broke some cricket records on Thursday. Sadly, we all know that we can still lose from here.

Happily, we could go on like this for pages. Sadly, we’re not going to.

There’s stuff to be done, lunch to be eaten, cycling to be discussed and wine to be moved down to the cellar, up from the cellar, and out to that chap’s car please Wayne!

We had our end of year Spotify Wrapped round up this week; they’ve decided we are Adventurers because we have listened to 129 genres of music. Sadly, they failed to name them all as, having discussed it, we certainly couldn’t!

I think this is an ideal opportunity to mention that we’ve been in touch with the lovely Nick at Foxdenton and can confirm than not only is Foxdenton Christmas Liqueur (£23) back in stock but it is absolutely the same price as last year.  For those with short memories, we might even be able to let you have a taste!

Whilst we are on the subject of tasting, we will of course open a bottle of our house champagne on Saturday. Lété-Vautrain Brut 204 (£30 – £75 if you buy three bottles) is of course the perfect bubbly to celebrate the shop’s birthday, or indeed any other occasion that might crop up in the next few weeks.

We’ll also be wading into a bottle of Mountford Liaison Pinot Noir 2019 (£23.99). It’s a cracking Pinot Noir from Canterbury in New Zealand’s South Island. Fermented with natural yeast, low sulphur and aged in old french oak for 24 months it’s bright red with a touch of smoke, red plum fruits a hint at leather and a long supple finish. It’s also suitable for vegans if that’s a concern.

White wise we’ll stay south of the equator and head to Swartland, more specifically the Goldmine vineyard owned by Boekenhoutskloof.  Patina Chenin Blanc 2019 (£25.49) is a wine we only came across this year but we’ll let local MW Tim Atkin describe it:  “Patina comes from a 1.6-hectare parcel planted on schist soils in 1996. Partially fermented on skins, it has good grip, taut acidity and layers of pear, green apple and beeswax. Concrete eggs add some focus to the vanilla oak spice.”

I suspect that’s enough from us for this week.

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here

Christine McVie RIP

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Black Monday – famous for multiple stock market crashes, dating back to Wall Street in 1929

Black Tuesday – following straight on from Black Monday, marks the start of The Great Depression

Black Wednesday – the Sterling Crisis of 1992 – a bonkers day, according to Wayne who at that time he had a proper job, and one where George Soros made a huge profit by selling short – if things had turned out differently George would be working here and Wayne would be worth about $10 billion….

Black Thursday – the global stock market crash in March 2020 caused by your friend and mine, the Covid-19 pandemic

Black Friday – is a 1940 American horror film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi…. Also the day when, without any help from the stock markets or the bankers, people across the world attempt to bankrupt themselves faster than their neighbours in a bid to grab ‘bargains’ before they do!

As you can no doubt tell, we don’t entirely buy into the whole one day shopping frenzy, especially as nowadays with some businesses, it seems to have turned into a multi-week extravaganza of unreal prices.  Add to this the news from Which? Magazine, who analysed a selection of deals last year from 7 major players to discover that

1. less than 15% of the deals offered a genuine discount and
2. many of the promotions are cheaper or the same price in the previous six months….

Having said all that, we’re always keen to help people out so can tell you all that the information we have received from  Elys in Wimbledon says that the best deals this year are in winter coats and female fashion, if you’re interested!

We’re avoiding dwelling too much on the news this week. 

The frustration evident on Alex’s face when I told him that arch-Brexiteer, Eurosceptic and disgraced lobbyist Owen Paterson was suing the British government at the European Court of Human Rights for ‘damaging his good reputation’ was enough for me to stop talking.  However, I can tell you that there is perhaps a point to be made that he damaged his own reputation by committing “an egregious case of paid advocacy”.  Nor should the irony be lost that Owen has also previously campaigned for the UK to break away from the ECHR – where would he be now if that had happened?!?  I then started to tell him about PPE and government scandal and Lady Mone and he muttered something about ‘pigs’ and ‘snouts in troughs’ so we left it there.

So let’s focus on our news instead.  We’ve had quite a few deliveries this week  and perhaps most excitingly, we think our Bordeaux offering is now ready to go – and we’re quite pleased with it… it’s a bit of a list but here you go:

LEFT BANK

MÉDOC

Château Haut Barrail 2016                                                                                       £16.99

Chapelle de Potensac 2016                                                                                       £23.99

Château La Tour de By 2014                                                                                      £27.99

Château Patache d’Aux 1996                                                                                     £35.00

Château La Grave 2016 MAGNUM                                                                         £38.00

HAUT- MÉDOC

Château Grandis 2009                                                                                              £20.99

LISTRAC- MÉDOC

Château Saransot Dupré 2016 (V)                                                                          £23.00

Château Saransot Dupré 2015 MAGNUM (V)                                                        £46.00

MARGAUX

Château De La Coste 2018                                                                                       £28.99

Le Margaux de Brane 2016                                                                                      £38.00

Brio de Cantenac Brown 2015                                                                                  £53.00

Château du Tertre 2010                                                                                            £90.00

SAINT-JULIEN

Château Lalande 2017                                                                                              £32.00

Château Haut-Beychevelle Gloria 2016                                                                 £33.00

Château Langoa Barton 2008                                                                                    £82.00

GRAVES

Vieux Château Gaubert 2010                                                                                    £28.99

RIGHT BANK

CÔTES DE BOURG

Gaia de Château Puybarbe 2018/19 (V)                                                                  £11.99

Château Relais de La Poste Cuvée Malbec 2017                                                     £19.49

POMEROL

Château Valois 2018                                                                                                  £47.00

LALANDE DE POMEROL

Château La Menotte 2016                                                                                         £26.99

Château La Fleur de Boüard 2012                                                                           £30.00

FRONSAC

Château Mayne-Viel 2018                                                                                        £14.99

SAINT-ÉMILION

Château Fleur de Lisse 2016                                                                                      £35.00

JP Moueix 2015 MAGNUM                                                                                     £46.00

Château La Serre 2005                                                                                              £70.00

LUSSAC-SAINT-ÉMILION

Château Lucas 2015                                                                                                   £21.79

MONTAGNE-SAINT-ÉMILION

Château Cardinal 2018 (V)                                                                                       £19.99

SAINT-GEORGES SAINT-ÉMILION

Clos Albertus 2018                                                                                                    £28.99

AND THE BIT IN THE MIDDLE…

AC BORDEAUX & CÔTES DE BORDEAUX

Château Gabelot 2016                                                                                               £13.99

Château Deville 2016 (V)                                                                                          £13.99

Domaine de Valmengaux 2016 (O)                                                                          £27.79

Château Le Grand Verdus 2018 MAGNUM                                                               £31.00

As I say, were quite pleased with this – if something catches your eye do let us now because some wines will certainly start to disappear over the next few weeks!

Back to now and this weekend’s tasting offering.  We shall tip our hats in acknowledgement of American Thanksgiving and open one of our perennial favourite whites – Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2020 – £17.99 and for the red we will pull the cork on the Long Barn Pinot Noir 2020 – £14.99 a richer style of Pinot from California.

And with that we must be almost done.  We know the World Cup has started in Qatar with some shock results and small crowds and certain controversy but I imagine that those of you who are interested know what is going on and those of you who are boycotting aren’t interested.  I suggest watching some rugby this weekend perhaps…

Have a lovely weekend, do come and buy some claret – we’ll be Down By The Jetty with Wilko if you can’t find us….

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Smoke and Mirrors.

Musically… a song by Gotye, the Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist better known for the song: “Somebody That I Used To Know”.

Visually… a special effects company whose work you may have seen in a broad selection of adverts ranging from Adidas to Sol via Toyota and Nissan. Be sure to have the Sol after the motors…

Internationally… a rather swish looking cocktail bar on the roof of the National Gallery in Singapore. A Kaleidoscope for me if you’re buying!

Topically… an intimate magic-themed pub in Bristol that serves a selection of real ales and hosts magicians at the weekends. We think this is where Jeremy Hunt might have been sipping on his inspiration!

Traditionally (from Cambridge Business English Dictionary) … Something that is described as smoke and mirrors is intended to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not:

The new budget isn’t smoke and mirrors; it’s an honest attempt to reduce the deficit.

Economically… it has, of course, been the modus operandi of many chancellors but I’m not sure so many of them had it so freely available in the press before they stood up and started speaking. Normally the contents would be subject to an embargo commonly known as purdah. But whilst the speaker continues to leave rule breaking unpunished, rule breaking will continue. So adios purdah, just another part of our parliamentary tradition being trashed.

Freezing the tax thresholds till 2028 sounds good till you realise it is very similar monetarily to raising the basic rate of tax by about 5p. It seems we’re about to stroll into the largest fall in our living standards since 1956, a year when Wayne’s mum was younger than Alex’s daughter is now and only two years after rationing from WWII finished.

Not removing the ‘Non Domicile’ loophole we think is rather disappointing, surely if you choose to live in a society you would want to contribute to that society?

We won’t even mention the tax cut to bank profits hidden away in the small print where the surcharge was cut from 8% to 3%.

Announcing, yet delaying most of the austerity measures till 2025 tells you everything you need to know about who they think might win the next election.

Elsewhere, it is the 70^th anniversary of the pop charts this week and the Guardian was kind enough to share their view of the 70 greatest no.2 songs. There are some surprises in there; Outkast’s Ms Jackson being 22 years old was one. Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks as number one number two (if you get my drift) is something we can definitely get on board with. How many times do you walk across the bridge and that pops into your head?

The 70 greatest No 2 singles – ranked! | Culture | The Guardian

In wine news, American wine magazine The Wine Spectator announced its top 100 wines for 2022 this week. Kevin and the team at Greywacke were chuffed to discover they were the top NZ wine at number 13 with their Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2021.

You’ll never guess what happened to arrive on Wednesday! Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (£21.99 or six for £120). We’ll be opening this at the weekend too so pop in and give it a go yourself.

Whilst we’re talking about tasting we’re going to open Famille Gras ‘Les Plans’ 2019 (£14.99). Hailing from the Vaucluse, it is a soft and pleasing blend of mostly Grenache and Syrah but with the added excitement of Cabernet and Merlot too. It’s always nice to see what one of the longest established Rhône families are up to.

We notice that Elon Musk has managed Twitter from a $44bio valuation two weeks ago into something closer to around $5bio now and couldn’t help but wonder if we shouldn’t put him in charge of the National debt?

Cheers,

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So let’s get this clear, it’s all a bit full on if I’m going to try and watch all the sport this weekend:

Saturday

6.30am Women’s World Cup Rugby Union FINAL – New Zealand vs England

2.30pm Men’s World Cup Rugby League SEMI FINAL – England vs Samoa

3.15pm Men’s Autumn International Rugby Union – England vs Japan

Sunday

8am Men’s T20 World Cup Cricket FINAL – Pakistan vs England

2.30pm Men’s Wheelchair World Cup Rugby League SEMI FINAL – England vs Wales

Monday

7.30pm Women’s World Cup Rugby League SEMI FINAL – England vs New Zealand

As you may have noticed, with the obvious exception of the men’s rugby union team who frankly still look a long way off, there are a lot of events with the word FINAL in their title, which is very exciting indeed. Wayne was pleased to work out that his accumulator of Six England World Cup wins in the next Six weeks will fulfil his retirement yacht budget requirements until I explained that, whilst the first five are very doable, the sixth would be his heartbreaker, especially since no AFC Wimbledon players have made the squad.

However, at least all the sport will be a distraction from politics which I know we tend to get a bit bogged down by. Nothing to report in the UK, all ticking along nicely just like last week; ditto in the USA, no outrageous Trump led distractions there; meanwhile, in a jungle far, far away and probably not far enough away, Matt Hancock is getting far more attention than he deserves.

In the world of wine, we have just taken delivery of the new vintage of Chocolate Block. For those of you new to this wine, it is made by Boekenhoutskloof, in Franschhoek, South Africa and the 2021 vintage is the 20th iteration of this great wine. Mark Kent, the winemaker, tells us: “We made an important decision in 2015 to shift from general appellation Western Cape to Wine of Origin Swartland. The significance is that we can directly manage the majority of the fruit being vinified for The Chocolate Block and farm the vineyards using our sustainable approach to viticulture. After more than a decade of working with these Swartland vineyards, our Porseleinberg and Goldmine farms represent about 60% of the fruit in the final blend. Notably, we can see that the wines have changed stylistically. It’s about the purity of fruit, elegance and structure.”

The 2021 is a whopping 74% Syrah blended with 10% Grenache, 8% Cinsault, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Viognier. Although somewhat riper it shows lower alcohol and good natural acidity, which should develop very well for years to come but they would say that wouldn’t they! How about we ask someone a bit more independent but nonetheless very knowledgeable:

“It takes a lot of talent – and good grapes -to make one million bottles of something this impressive. Using fruit from Goldmine, Porseleinberg and a block in Malmesbury, it’s a seamless cuv?e of Syrah with 26% Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier. Polished, scented and glossy, with blueberry and blood orange flavours, fresh acidity, good structure and nuanced oak. 2023-30” 93/100 Tim Atkin MW

The Chocolate Block 2021

” Half Bottles – £15.99

” Bottles – £25.00 (6 for £135) – we also have a few 2020 left, if anyone is keen to compare them

” Magnums – £55 (arriving mid-December we hope!)

” Jeroboam – £130

And if you really fancy pushing the boat out, we also have the single vineyard wine, Porseleinberg Syrah 2019 – £65 which again Mr Tim Atkin MW has thoughts about:

“This remarkable site has established itself as one of the world’s great Syrah vineyards in less than a decade. Sourced from four blocks totally 4.5 hectares, Callie Louw’s stunning red is just short of perfection this year, but is still brilliant, confirming the evolution in style of the Jamet-inspired 2018. Leafy, spicy, rose petal aromas are supported by pure red berry fruit, detailed tannins and the faintest hint of oak. 2022-32.” 99 points

Nice.

However, if you’re not in the mood for iconic South Africans this weekend perhaps the two wines we’ve got on tasting might be more up your street?

We’ll start off with a trip to Epanomi, which is about a twenty minute drive south from Thessaloniki airport. Lurking in this vicinity, we find Ktima Gerovassiliou who are entirely responsible for this week’s choice white: Ktima Gerovassiliou White 2021 – £19.49. In 1981, Vangelis Gerovassiliou started reinvigorating the 2.5 hectare family vineyard approximately 25km south-east of Thessaloniki. The vineyards are about 3 km from the sea, which borders the vineyards on three sides, tempering the warm summer days. This wine, a blend of Malagoussia and Assyrtiko, is a deliciously crisp citrus and peach flavoured drop with a splendid seam of minerality. Ktima Gerovassiliou is internationally recognised too – US publication Wine and Spirits Magazine has named them ‘Winery of the Year’ four times.

The red this week is from the Mas Blanch I Jove winery in Costers del Segre, which is just west of Priorat. We’ve spoken about them before but just to recap, most (99%) of the energy they use is solar, the vineyard has been certified as organic since 2015 and they have a great arrangement with artists and sculptors in the vineyard too – they have more than a dozen masterpieces scattered over the property, which look awesome.

Mas Blanche I Jove Sao Abrivat 2019 – £18.99 is a blend of 40% Tempranillo, 35% Grenache and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon matured in a mixture of French and American oak barrels for around 12 months. The wine is soft with a lovely dark red fruit character and a melange of vanilla, cinnamon and black pepper spice notes before the long balanced finish. A regular visitor to both our dining tables?.

And now that we think we’ve kept you away from your work for far too long, we will wish you well and look forward to seeing you soon!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

The craziness just goes on and on doesn’t it? It’s so exhausting trying to keep up that we thought we’d try and keep a diary.

Monday found us wondering what Elon Musk would do with Twitter. Clearly he didn’t want too many of the staff and they’ve been exiting stage left with a cardboard box and a coffee mug all week. So far we’ve only heard that he may charge those with a blue tick around $8 for the privilege. We think we’d rather have a pint or a Spotify subscription if we’re honest. Also Guy Fawkes set off again for Parliament, it’s a long way when your legs are made of old tights and newspaper!

Tuesday greeted us with the news that Matt Hancock will be in the Jungle for I’m a Celebrity… Like Mad Nads before him, he has lost the Tory whip for going. It seems a bit strange that he loses the whip for a few days away, yet the blond scarecrow has kept his despite spending most of the year on holiday, before heading to Cop27 and then Singapore as a keynote speaker at a conference on blockchain. What service is he providing to the overly tolerant people of Uxbridge? Does he even know where it is?

We might have to watch I’m a Celebrity though, just to see the Honourable Member from Suffolk gets to be in the Bush Tucker Trials, his constituents seem keen on him eating grubs.

Tuesday was also marked by giant silver balls the size of a transit van blowing down Tottenham Court Road after they were separated from an installation! It looked like an update to The Prisoner!

Wednesday was a veritable treasure trove. We learnt that the government has been ‘wargaming’ a plan in case of seven day blackouts this winter. We also learned from the National Grid that wind has generated 51% of GB electricity for the first time, that’s over 20 Giga Watts!

We learnt that Rishi Sunak is as keen on U-turns as everyone that went before him. He has changed his mind about COP27, quite possibly shamed into it when the blond scarecrow said he would be attending and that King Charles was having a reception for 200 NGO’s beforehand. Also Rishi has said he’ll ditch key leadership campaign pledges. So, if we remember correctly, he resigned because he had fundamental economic differences with Johnson, then he set out his own pledges during the leadership campaign, then becoming PM he said he’ll deliver the 2019 manifesto and now he says that its ‘not the right time’ for any of this. Did we miss anything?

We also learned, and this is the exciting one, that true north, magnetic north and grid north will all combine at a single point in Great Britain this week for the first time in history. The village of Langton Matravers west of Swanage is preparing itself! The three norths will travel together slowly up the country (Poole for Christmas!) for around three and a half years, eventually leaving our landmass at Fraserburgh around July 2026. More details over at the Ordnance Survey website.

Rolling into Thursday we learned the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England would be increasing interest rates to 3%. We also learned that the same monetary policy committee thinks that the UK is already in recession and they expect it to be the longest in history, without taking account of the coming austerity in the 17^th November budget. Which kind of makes the rate rise a bit questionable in my view.

Thursday also brought us a step too far in cancel culture. It seems that Mars will be removing Bounty from packs of Celebrations this year. Whilst it could, of course, be just a ruse to get us all talking about their product, it could also be turning a selection of us into Bounty Hunters. Perhaps like grown up Milky Bar kids!

In wine news, we heard that Spanish police are looking for masked thieves who stole 132 bottles of wine worth £172,000 from Coque, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Madrid. They broke into the upmarket Coque restaurant in the early hours of Sunday morning via a chemist’s next door, which closed last month. Detectives believe the collection, said to be ‘one of the best in Spain’, was stolen by criminals who could have posed as customers in recent days.

Which brings us to today and given the current ubiquity of U-Turns (even Vlad the Invader with grain shipments) we wished we’d trademarked it!

Time for a glass of something suitable…

The white will be Dog Point Chardonnay 2018 (£27.99) from Marlborough in New Zealand. Doug and Ivan were part of the pioneering team along with Kevin Judd of Greywacke who set up Cloudy Bay in 1984. This is a wonderful white and it’s far too long since we opened one.

Red we’ll stay down under and open Flametree Shiraz 2017 (£18.99) from Margaret River in Western Australia this seems just the ticket for bonfire night.

That’s it from us, we’ll be hopping in the Chinook to Balham later!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

And so it finally came to pass, Alex parted company with Park Vintners last Friday. 

It would seem that he had been sharing top secret tasting notes with a number of parties at Regal Wine Cellars via his googlemail account.  In fact, as he wrote in his letter of resignation:

‘Earlier today, l sent some Bordeaux tasting notes and a beer recommendation from my personal email to a trusted former colleague with the aim of garnering support for a visit to the pub next week.  This constitutes a technical infringement of the rules.  As you know, the tasting notes were also written by you and were due to be written on little pieces of card and attached to bottles imminently.  Much of them had already been seen by customers, their dogs and various delivery drivers.  Nevertheless it is right for me to go.’

He then yattered on a bit about high standards, business, responsibility and mistakes.  It was sometimes unclear whether he was referring to himself or was in fact using a not so clever allegorical device to make a point – it was all a bit laboured though.  The fact that he then decided to reiterate ‘l have made a mistake; l accept responsibility; l resign’ had me starting to believe that in actual fact he didn’t really think he had made a mistake and that actually he was resigning because he’d received a better offer from Regal but just didn’t want me to know about it just yet.

Either way he’s gone, thank goodness.

As a result I have been running the shop for the first part of this week on my own and it has felt quite liberating.  This has also given me the opportunity to put together a whole fresh new team in time for the weekend and one that I hope will take us through to Christmas.

So, let me introduce you to my newest recruit – Alex. 

I was very fortunate to be able to hire Alex at such short notice due to him finishing rather abruptly with his previous employer last week, perhaps under a cloud.  However, Alex recognises that he made an error of judgment and has accepted his mistake which is why I was delighted to welcome him back into wine retail particularly considering the experience and stability he brings to the heart of Park Vintners.

You couldn’t make it up!

Meanwhile, whilst Alex was on his gardening leave he decided to ‘do a Dominic’ and drive all the way up to the northeast, via Barnard Castle and Hadrian’s Wall, to visit with the happy folk of Hepple.  As you are all hopefully aware, Hepple is our un-official house Gin.  We call it un-official because we don’t like to put pressure on our products but, if pushed, this would be the house tipple and is certainly our best seller.  So, when confronted with some unexpected days off, it came as no surprise that Alex would flee to the land of heather, juniper and very large Negronis – wouldn’t you? 

By all accounts he had an absolute ball, brought back the latest news from Walter the Cultivator and Chris the Distiller and, more excitingly for me, came back with more stock for our shelves.  Alongside the usual, he also brought some rather fun little 5cl bottles of Hepple Gin which, as we all know, is a double shot.  These retail at £5 per bottle, add a bottle of Fever Tree and you’ve got a delicious G’n’T for a lot less than the pub – perfect for quiet nights in, perfect for little gifts, perfect for big events.

For the first time in a while we haven’t listed any new products this week so will be tasting some old favourites instead and, as I’m told that it’s Halloween soon, perhaps something with that in mind.

Vina Robles Viognier 2019 – £19.99. When Hans Nef, a civil engineer from Zurich, came to Paso Robles in the mid-1990s a new generation of California winemakers was turning it into one of the world’s most dynamic winegrowing regions.  This Viognier is planted in the highest part of the Huerhuero Vineyard benefitting from the cooling afternoon pacific breeze.  Crisp and medium-bodied with peach and mandarin fruit with a long lively finish – really rather fabulous and by all accounts one of the best matches for pumpkin!

Finca Bacara ‘Time Waits For No One’ 2020 – £13.99.  This is a delicious drop of Monastrell from Jumilla in Spain where, in spite of its latitude, the wines are well managed largely due to the vineyards being at reasonable altitude.  A juicy and opulent red with attractive floral aromas, ripe fruit and balsamic notes in the background leading onto a nicely balanced fresh palate that lifts the vibrant fruit through to a smooth and persistent finish…. and then on to another glass.  Oh, it’s got a skull on the label too!

That’s it from us for now, back to a full team in time for the weekend and hopefully well into next week!

Spring forward, fall back….