The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Any idea what day it is? Nope, nor us! It seems there’s a decent chance there might already be a glass in the hand of some of you, most of you will send us a polite note to say that you’ll attend to our email on Monday and one or two of you are still in a queue at an airport.

The bunting flew, as did the Red Arrows as well as numerous helicopters, Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster planes. Certainly one of us finds the idea of such elderly planes flying just above our heads a little scary. Her Maj. made it out onto the balcony, Cinderella’s gold coach was towed out of retirement, we’ve had street parties, scones with cream and, no doubt, some barbecue too and we’ve not even made it to the weekend yet!

Food for Thought

A German hospital questioned 628 adults with an average age of 72 about their mood and quality of life, before comparing this information with the amount of alcohol they drank.

The participants, all in for routine surgery, were monitored over six months, each answering questionnaires before their operations and again at a follow-up appointment. About a third of the people questioned were drinking “potentially unhealthy” quantities, which meant drinking at least four nights a week, or regularly drinking the equivalent of two bottles of wine in one day.

But it just so happens that this group of drinkers were slimmer, happier and more mobile than those who drank less or were teetotal.

Before we get too excited, Dr Tony Rao, a consultant old-age psychiatrist at King’s College London pointed out that the study was observational, meaning cause and effect could not be determined.

Tasting This Weekend – At the risk of rather stretching a theme, we’ll be rolling out the gold carriage along the royal road from the Palace…

Palacio del Camino Real Blanco (£10.99) a classic barrel fermented white Rioja…

Palacio del Camino Real Crianza (£11.99) we find Rioja Crianza is rather versatile food wise so why not indeed?

And that about sums it all up I think. Her Maj. has been kind enough to give everyone a few days off and that includes the authors of this newsletter.

We’ll be here till 6pm today then we’re open as normal on Saturday 12-7pm.

Enjoy your weekend peeps!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well, the Sue Gray report delivered everything we expected but appears to have changed nothing. We have a child’s swing and slide damaged in the Downing Street garden and people leaving (by the back door) after 3.oo am on the morning of Prince Philip’s funeral. Evidence not of a work event but just one of the examples of evenings where a group of people properly strapped it on leaving empty bottles scattered across desks, red wine on walls and even sick for the cleaners to deal with.

They say you can tell a lot about people by the way they treat their staff.

But it’s a work event. In our experience, leaving do’s aren’t work events held in offices, they are held after work at the pub, something that wasn’t allowed. Funerals, surely the ultimate leaving do, were restricted to less people than those attending these leaving do’s. Anyway, we’ve at least had it confirmed that the moral vacuum at the centre of government is indeed a moral vacuum at the centre of government.

I suspect it won’t be the last we hear of it but perhaps for this week it will be.

In completely unrelated news, the Treasury and Mr Sunak have announced a windfall tax on energy companies that was voted against by all Conservative MP’s, just a week ago. The money will at least be spent on easing the cost of living crisis for low income families. The distant part of me that remembers how inflation works does wonder how increased government spending will do anything to ease it.

I guess we just continue kicking cans down the road.

I don’t know about you but we’ve had dreadful trouble hiring a private jet this week. It turns out they are all in Switzerland as the great and the good are all assembled in Davos. As you’d expect, the discussion has been dominated by the war in Ukraine. Of note though, is that the OECD sponsored deal to tax multinationals has been postponed to 2024, another can kicked down the road.

Bernie Ecclestone got arrested in Brazil this week for having a gun in his bag when it was X-rayed at security before he boarded a private jet to Switzerland. He said that whilst it was his gun, he didn’t realise it was in his bag. I have a certain amount of sympathy for this explanation having lost a corkscrew under very similar circumstances.

In other news, Top Gun Maverick is at the cinema, I’m sure we’re all going aren’t we? I’m expecting Primark to be full of flying jackets and jumpsuits too.

With last week’s news of no ATP ranking points being awarded at Wimbledon this year, we find ourselves agreeing with Andy Murray. Nobody watching cares about the points. We don’t remember that the winner got awarded 2000 points; we remember that they won Wimbledon. That said,  it amused us enormously to discover the possibility that even if Djokovic plays and wins at Wimbledon this year Medvedev could still become World No1 as Djokovic loses the 2000 points awarded for winning last year!

RideLondon is this weekend, heading out on its new route through Essex.

If you’re in a car, expect some frustrating road closures and a fair amount of traffic through Parliament Square along the Embankment, out through Epping Forest to almost Chelmsford and back. If you’re on a bike, expect some awesome road closures and no traffic through Parliament Square along the Embankment, out through Epping Forest to almost Chelmsford and back!

Jubilee Week Opening Hours

Due to Her Maj. interfering with the natural fall of Bank Holidays, we are operating a bit differently next week.

MONDAY 30TH MAY           CLOSED

TUESDAY 31ST MAY            NOON – 7 PM

WEDNESDAY 1ST JUNE      NOON – 7 PM

THURSDAY 2ND JUNE        NOON – 6 PM

FRIDAY 3RD JUNE              NOON – 6 PM

SATURDAY 4TH JUNE       NOON – 7 PM

SUNDAY 5TH JUNE           CLOSED

Tasting This Weekend

We’ve opened the white suitcase and found Veritable Jurancon Sec 2019 (£10.99), a crisp and dry bottle of deliciousness from the foothills of the Pyrénées. It turns out that the red arrived in a box to the back door fresh from the hills inland of Tarragona. Marco Abella Mas Mallola 2018 (£27.99) is from Porrera in Priorat, where the family has been involved in wine since the 15^th century.

Like our peers in Downing Street we’re off  now, out of the back door and will assume complete responsibility!

Cheers!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As often happens around about 5pm on a Thursday evening, flat panic engulfed us as we realised that we didn’t have a clue what to write in the email for Friday.

In the absence of further fines for Boris, in the absence of Carrie, in the absence of a verdict in the Wagatha court case and in the absence of the much anticipated Sue Gray report, what on earth were we going to write about?

The one glimmer on the horizon was the news that an ordinary couple from Gloucester won an extraordinary £184 million on a lucky dip lottery ticket – lucky them.  This windfall apparently doesn’t make them as rich as Rishi Sunak (£200 million) but richer than Adele (£153 million), Wayne Rooney (£136 million) and Jamie Vardy (£10 million) – not sure why this information is useful, perhaps another titbit for this weekend’s dinner party small talk but also a timely reminder that ‘it could be you!’

So, with the mainstream news sites failing to deliver, we had to delve into the dark world of trade publications and this week Drinks Retailing News (Championing the Off-trade since 1863) has been our champion.  An article written this week, ‘The scoop on summer drinks’, piqued our interest as the journalist instructed us on what should be in our glasses this summer and happily we concurred with many of her suggestions.

First suggestion: sour beer.  We’ve been championing the sour beers for years, particularly the lambic beers from Belgium but very few people have listened.  In fairness, we haven’t shouted too loudly because we really like them but there are often supply issues which means they regularly go out of stock.  However, currently we have two sour beers in situ, one Belgian and one from Wandsworth: Lindemans Gueuze and Belleville Spring Break Gose.  The Gueuze is a delicious drop in a wee 25cl bottle – lots of texture on the palate and an almost cider like malic character on the finish.  The Spring Break on the other hand, is all about tangy grapefruit – if you’ve ever been a fan of lager and lime then this should be your beer of choice.

Second suggestion: cloudy cider.  We’ve been selling the litre bottles of Kerisac Cidre Breton ever since Wayne was in short trousers and certainly we have seen a noticeable uplift in its popularity in the last 6 months.  A traditional French cider at the lighter end of cloudiness, this has a richer mouthfeel than some of the tarter English versions and is an excellent foil to anything pork.

Third suggestion: Vermouth and Aperitivo.  Oh my god,  another area we’ve been banging on about whilst you looked at us with a ‘yeah, right, if you like’ look on your faces.  As discussed, we all love a Negroni but if you just fancy a cheeky quick pre-dinner lift, then these are your boys.  Bodegas Martinez Lacuesta Vermouth Reserva is a white vermouth, aged in Acacia barrels and even works nicely as a digestivo – it’s made by some very good Rioja producers who Alex visited a few years ago and has been a regular on our shelves since.  Antica Distilleria Quaglia Berto Bitter Liquore Amaro is a mouthful to say and bit of a palate pleaser too.  Bitter, dry but with a tinge of sweetness and a nice stopping point between the bitterness of a Campari and the stickiness of an Aperol!  Finally, Mondino Aperitivo is Alex’s absolute #1 tipple.  The Diffords Guide describe it thus “Made to an original Italian recipe, this German organic bitter aperitif is made in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps.  Ingredients include bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and alpine spring water”.  Try it, we think you’ll like it!

Next up we have Tequila.  We’ve definitely seen a resurgence in interest in the Mexican firewater.  Casa Noble Tequila Reposado is definitely not firewater.  Made from organic blue agave grown in Jalisco, aged in french oak for 364 days, the maximum allowed for a Reposado.  This really is a fine sipping Tequila, really smooth with agave, citrus, cinnamon and almond notes and a wonderful clean finish.  Not the same thing at all, but worth mentioning, is our newly listed Amores Verde Mezcal.  Organically grown 8 year old Espadin agave is cooked over 3 different woods giving us a real complexity.  Naturally fermented with its own yeast and then double distilled this is a new favourite, the smokiness adds texture to the clean, fresh spirit.

At this point our pal at Drinks Retailing News realises she has been a little too esoteric in her suggestions for summer and, realising who her paymasters are, recommends Rosé wine and canned cocktails.  I think you already know that rosé is a summery drink and canned cocktails are not an area we have dug into too deeply – however, if one of our chaps were to come up with a posh G & T in a tin, we’d be all over it!

So, as I draw towards the end of an email focused on summer drinking and the rain continues to teem down, our focus moves more towards what we’re going to taste tonight and tomorrow.

Wayne has made the selections this week and suggests Dog Point Chardonnay 2018 – £27.99 as our white option.  From Marlborough, New Zealand this is a classic rich style with stonefruits, citrus character and a nutty touch of oak.  The palate is crisp, with layers of orchard and citrus fruits balanced with the oak notes providing a great mouthfeel.  Really quite long in the finish and really quite delicious.

His red option comes from closer to home, northern Spain to be precise.  Celler de Capçanes Mas Collet 2019 – £16.49 is the wine we have in mind.  Once you’ve crossed the French Border, skirted around Barcelona and hit the outskirts of Tarragona, take a hard right into the hills and you will hit the region of Montsant after about 20 minutes.  Its relative proximity to the French border means that Syrah and Grenache are still very much in charge here but not without a fine showing from Cabernet Sauvignon.  Aged for 9 months in barrique this is deliciously rich, smooth, balanced, polished and frankly, totally moreish.

So do come and join us for a taste, perhaps treat yourselves to an aperitivo or at least borrow an umbrella! 

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Firstly, an apology.  Having predicted a lovely weekend in our last missive I was aghast to see rain drops descending gently at 11.30 on Saturday morning.  Thankfully the rain stopped falling but the clouds remained and made for a rather drab Saturday afternoon, so sorry.  We’ll stick to predicting the horses that definitely won’t win their races and avoid dabbling with meteorology in future.

So, we’re now up to 100 fines issued by the Met to those fine folk in Downing Street and its environs.  Plenty has been said about all this already but blimey, that’s a whole bucket load of socialising going on during lockdown whilst you were all stuck at home with fractious husbands/children/dogs and goldfish – bonkers.  All we need now is for Keir and Angela to get a ticket and the wheels may well come off completely.

However, the question on everyone’s lips should be whilst Boris was doing cheese, wine and the occasional cake and Keir was doing beer and curry what was Ed Davey up to?  Pork pie and a pint?  Pina colada and a poke bowl?  Prosecco and twiglets?  I think we should be told…

Whilst we’re on the subject of cocktails, apparently the Pina Colada is now the third most popular cocktail in the UK after Negroni and Mojito.  We learnt this having read the latest Waitrose Drinks Report 2022 which says that classic retro cocktails such as Blue Lagoon, Tequila Sunrise and Mai Tai are back in fashion, with Sangria holding the spot of the most searched for cocktail recipe last summer.  Having read this we further researched and discovered the Pina Colada news in an article in the Guardian from 2 days ago, so it must be true.  Not sure where this leaves us intellectually and as we don’t sell white rum, pineapples or coconut cream it certainly doesn’t help us much commercially either but at least you all now have a conversation starter for this weekend’s dinner party!

Back to the Waitrose report though.  They also revealed their 10 most popular drinks choices currently and as ever the findings don’t create many ripples.  Their most popular drink was their own brand Pinot Grigio, followed by some beers, Prosecco, a cider, then a 10% Sauvignon Blanc from South Australia followed by more beers.  No red wine in the top ten and no rosé either, for the moment!

Mind you, a report published in October last year by these jokers also stated that milk derived from potatoes would be one of 2022’s biggest food trends.  “Low in sugar and saturated fat, it’s set to dominate coffee shop menus in the coming months” the report said.  So there you go, 10% Aussie Sauvignon and potato milk on your next Waitrose order please.

With the world going to hell in a handcart under the combined influences of pandemic and Putin, it’s good to see the worlds of film and football still manage to inhabit that realm between reality and outer space.  The Amber Heard/Johnny Depp court case has been going on for a while and neither party is looking terribly innocent or indeed terribly happy.  Not to be bested, the Vardy/Rooney court case kicked off this week in the High Court, where Rebekah Vardy is suing Coleen Rooney for libel.  Now these two ladies are famous WAGS, I think we all know of the story dubbed Wagatha Christie but what we hadn’t realised the costs involved.  It’s estimated that each side has spent over £1 million on legal costs and that the potential payout would most likely not exceed £40,000.  Oh, and even the winner will have to pay a chunk of her legal costs so actually the only winners are the lawyers!  It’s a car crash but it gives a huge glimpse of what life is like in the bubble that is Premiership Football and once again goes to show that being uber-rich doesn’t necessarily make you are a terribly nice person!

Anyway, we shouldn’t go off at the deep end about all this, we should just be thankful for what we’ve got.  In this instance we’ve got a shop full of wine and some lovely customers who seem to enjoy buying it from us, even if they have to put up with our ranty Friday emails.  So, with a view to emptying our shelves a bit further, we’ll crack open a couple of bottles this evening and pretend we’re hosting a housing committee meeting in Whitehall!

To continue with our exploration of things more esoteric, the white this week will be Lyrarakis Voila Assyrtiko 2021 – £15.99.  Located in the mountainous commune of Alagni in Crete, Domaine Lyrarakis stays true to local winemaking traditions.  The domaine focuses on indigenous varieties, taking them from obscurity and driving them in a more modern direction, while still retaining a clear sense of place.  Its style focuses on pure varietal character, precision and supple texture. Grown at 580 metres’ altitude in the Voila vineyard there is a definite floral character, refreshing minerality and chalky texture to this delicious wine.

The red is less esoteric but no less delicious – a bit of a staple in our wine racks at home in fact.  Barton Rouge 2015/16 – £9.99 isfrom Walker Bay in South Africa and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot.  Dark ruby in the glass this is a rich and fruit driven wine with dark brambly fruits and a touch of spice, yet without too much tannin to get in the way of the fun.  Works well with everything from pizza to steak so it should probably be in your rack too!

And that’s it from us – do come and say hello as the North London Derby last night has led to a bit of a frosty atmosphere chez PV!!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to a sunny Friday and, with potential for a rain free weekend ahead of us, I thought I’d jinx it all by opening some rosé this evening on the tasting table… so, when you’re standing under a brolly tomorrow afternoon watching under 13 cricket whilst wearing wellies with shorts (a very British nod to high fashion), you’ll know who to blame!

Anyway, before we get tucked in to all things pink, what’s news?   

Well, it’s been a good week for:

Wayne – as he is finally off on a well-earned cycle extravaganza in the Balearics, apparently a key part of his training for challenges later in the season.  Not sure if he means cycling, dancing or drinking beer challenges but I am sure he is working hard on all three.

Boris Johnson – yeah, who’d have thunk it.  Whilst here in the UK many feel he has outstayed his welcome it would appear that in Ukraine they can’t get enough of him.  Fresh from having a street named after him in Fontanka, near Odesa last month, it was announced yesterday by the mayor of the city of Vasylkiv, that their “new embankment on the Stugna River … will now have the name of a great friend of Ukraine: Prime Minister Boris Johnson.”

Shareholders in Shell and BP as both companies post record profits

Real Madrid – showing us all how important it is to play the full 90+ minutes and to not start easing up when the clock starts ticking down

However, someone’s good week is always someone else’s bad one:

Will Smith – the ongoing fallout from his Oscars performance leads to Dave Chappelle receiving an uninvited armed guest on stage during his act

Boris – Mr Becker this time.  Not only given a prison sentence but now facing the distinct possibility of deportation – not how we thought Boom Boom’s fairytale would end

Golf – as Lee Westwood (estimated net worth £40 million) becomes another golfer keen to play for Saudi money and thus becoming an apologist for them.  Lee, I get that other sports have taken their cash too and I get that playing golf is your job but really, no one is making you do this

Manchester City – showing us all how important it is to play the full 90+ minutes and to not start easing up when the clock starts ticking down

Wandsworth Tories – not sure they saw that coming

Hay fever sufferers – high pollen count for the next few days, you can almost see it in the air – Wayne, stay away!

For the rest of us, I imagine it has been a reasonably decent week, shorter than some thanks to the Bank Holiday and finishing off with a bit of sunshine, what’s not to like!

Anyway, at the top I suggested opening some rosé, who’s with me?  I am going to start the season with our perennial best seller and a wine many of you know and love but not all of you have tasted, Château de L’Aumérade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ Côtes de Provence Cru Classé – £15.99.  The Chateau is a 400 year old vineyard in the heart of Provence.  Its red soils are rich in minerals, giving it an edge on the quality stakes amongst its neighbours.  This edge was recognised in 1955 when the estate was designated “Cru Classé”.  A lovely pale salmon colour, it is indeed cracking stuff with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral and an impressively long finish.  We think it is the perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the Sunday papers and a deck chair!

Oh, and did I mention we also offer 6 bottles for £80….

Whilst lots of people like rosé, it doesn’t rock everybody’s world.  For those of you who rock to a different beat, I’m going to open Juliénas-Chaintré Beaujolais Villages ‘Cuvée Six’ – £10.99.  There’s been a quiet revolution going on in Beaujolais, some of the smartest burgundy winemakers have been buying up parcels of land, Co-operatives have been merging and there has been a quality revamp too.  This wine is from the villages of Jullié and Emeringes, and grown on the sandy granitic soils that produce the best Gamay.  Tender, round and fruity as you’d expect from a pure expression of the grape variety and very tasty lightly chilled at lunchtime!

Think that’s about it from us for now – I just want to leave you with some further fruits of my meanderings into the worldwide web.  Whilst googling Messrs Johnson and Becker I kept on being offered details of a Japanese band named BORIS, who by all accounts have been active since the earlier 90’s and have a varied genre of musical influences, to wit:

experimental music, experimental rock, noise music, noise rock, experimental/avant-garde metal, doom metal, post-metal, drone metal, sludge metal, psychedelic music, psychedelic rock, psychedelic metal,  stoner rock, sludge metal, drone music, old-school industrial music, ambient music, acid rock, garage rock, shoegazing, dream pop, J-pop, crust punk

Now, I’m sure that all you people who are far funnier than me could come up with some amazing jokes about The Johnson and The Becker using the tools provided above, so over to you, Hugh!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It seems our democracy continues to be torn apart quicker than a parcel at a five year olds birthday party. According to the Parliament website there are 764 Lords in the house eligible to scrutinise bills, investigate government activity and ask oral and written questions as well as debate.

This week the House of Lords passed the government’s Election Bill which abolishes the independence of the Electoral Commission. Of those 764 eligible to vote only 383 of them bothered. We don’t know about you but we think that putting the body designed to ensure free and fair elections under Government control is surely not the work of a functioning democracy, is it? You didn’t read about it in the papers because they were busily distracted by the crossing of legs and the arching of eyebrows.

In other news, peaceful protest has been criminalised, a DJ has resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct but three cabinet ministers and two shadow cabinet ministers haven’t. That’s our MP’s upholding standards in public life.

There are elections on the 5^th May so do go and vote, it’s us the government is supposed to work for and the continued destruction of democracy relies on continued voter apathy.

Seems our valuation of Twitter was a bit off, the inimitable Ego Musk has maxed out his Amex with an apparent $44billion bid. Surely with that much money you could go to space or something, maybe even set up Thunderbirds in real life. From a secret island in the South Pacific…Tesla Island anyone?

Omid Djalili pointed out some good news though; we used to be able to get about £65 of fuel into the Volvo, now we can get £90 in! Taking a win where we can…

Growing up towards the tail end of the Cold War and witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall, we naively believed that the world was heading in the right direction – that the time of missile crises, repression, persecution, invasions, right wing dictators and the like was over, and while there were still a few rogue bogeymen clinging on in places like Libya, Iraq and North Africa the spread of democracy was inevitable and would reach them in time…Unfortunately it seems our optimism was misplaced and the bogeymen are as present now as they ever were.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affects all of us in a myriad of ways and in the wine industry we can point to availability issue of screwcaps and bottles that are no longer being produced in Ukraine, and the severe price hike of gas and fuel affecting all transport and production as the most obvious examples. And, while Ukraine is clearly taking the brunt of the physical aggression, they are not the only ones struggling as a result of Putin’s empire building efforts.

Georgia, for example, is also suffering – and let’s not forget that the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were annexed by Putin in 2008, citing unnamed threats to ethnic Russians in the region. All of which sounds remarkably familiar but there was less international outrage.

For Georgian winery Teliani Valley, their biggest export market last year was Ukraine, to the tune of 2 million bottles. That market has disappeared in a heartbeat. Second biggest? Russia. Third? Belarus. Fourth? Kazakhstan.

We wanted to do something to help, and the best way we thought we could do that was to get some Georgian wine in your glass. So we’ll be opening Teliani Valley Kakhuri No.8 2020 (£15.99) a blend of Rkatsiteli, Kakhuri, Mitsvane, Khikvi and Kisi grapes. This is a white wine made using skin contact more usually the preserve of red wine making. It gives the wine an amber hue and a wonderfully rich texture. But do come and taste for yourselves it’s actually quite difficult to convey in words.

For those not aware, Georgia is often considered the cradle of wine, with archaeologists tracing the world’s first wine production back to 6000BC with the people of the South Caucasus.

On the red front, we’ll head over to a rather less war torn Sardegna for a drop of San Costentino Cannonau di Sardegna 2020 (£17.99) a medium bodied drop of loveliness. Cannonau is of course the name Grenache goes by when it resides in Sardegna.

Thunderbirds are go…

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Prime Minister Boris Johnson Resigns

is a headline we thought we might have read by now, if we’re honest. If he had a job at the Post Office, stacked shelves at a supermarket or drove a bus for a living he’d have been in and out of the HR department pretty sharpish. If we were to use a meme here it might be Alan Sugar with his arm extended pointing to the door.

As it stand’s though, Lord Sugar hasn’t picked up the phone to say: “Send him in now”.  Just as well really, there is nobody sat outside on the naughty chairs in the office. Possibly fearful of the cab waiting downstairs, our Prime Minister has dashed off to India. As I write this he is consulting with the sadhus at Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar. His timely visit is apparently to announce trade deals with India. Call me old fashioned, but don’t we have a Trade Minister or a Foreign Minister who should do that? I bet poor old Liz Truss is fuming at all of those missed Instagram possibilities.

You may recall a few years back we had some fun reporting Belgium running itself without a government, 652 days in the end. I’m not sure it seems such a joke anymore!

In other news, Tesla boss Elon Musk looks set to receive a $23 billion bonus as the company outperforms set targets. That’s the cost of Twitter sorted then!

We also saw that David Attenborough has been named ‘Champion of the Earth’ by the UN. We thought at first that a 95 year old man was perhaps a bit long in the tooth to be uniting the belts to become Undisputed. Then we realised it was for his commentary on nature and climate change, rather than his Rocky style prowess in the ring.

We learned today that Rudy Giuliani has been unmasked as a contestant on ‘The Masked Singer’. His song choice? George Thorogood and the Destroyers “Bad to The Bone”.

At the risk of destroying the rather nice spell of weather we’ve been having, we might just mention that Domaine Foncalieu Piquepoul Rose 2020 (£13.99) has arrived in the shop. It is crisp, dry, pale and as delicious as ever. We’re offering a six box at £72.

This weekend we’ll pay a vinous excursion to South Africa. Wearing the white polo shirt will be KloovenburgChardonnay 2019 (£13.99) a barrel fermented beauty from Swartland. The red shorts will be sported by Idun Nuit Eternelle Syrah 2019 (£19.99) a really elegant and savoury style from the Elgin Valley. Both of these are new drops to us, we tasted them in October and ordered them. Then they took forever to arrive, we had even ordered some more and were discussing a wager on which shipment would arrive first. The joys of paperwork for new imports!

Anyway I suspect that enough from us for another week and we’ll leave you with the words of Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee via Eric and Ernie:

Bring me sunshine, in your smile

Bring me laughter, all the while

In this world where we live, there should be more happiness

So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow

Make me happy, through the years,

Never bring me, any tears,

Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,

Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Time for lunch everyone and then an early finish this afternoon, followed by the fast train to the coast for the first free long weekend of the year – 22 degrees in some parts of the country, everyone get ready for pasty legs and bodies followed by sunburn and hangovers.

So, whilst I’ve just been away for a few days gentle queuing on the M20, Wayne has been propping himself up by the door in the hope that at least one of you might pop by so that he might entice you in with a cheerful grin, a witty one liner and promises of fine wine and eclectic music.  However, by all accounts this didn’t happen very often – it seems many of you have also flown the coop and are currently poolside somewhere hot/fireside somewhere snowy.

And it’s not just you that are absent – all our Parliamentarians are also on their Easter Recess.  What this means in real terms though is that between 31st March and 19th April should, for example, the PM and the Chancellor happen to get a fine for breaking the law having previously lied about it, then it’s ok because no one is there to make you resign and when the new term starts you can just pretend you went skiing like everyone else and nothing happened. 

And you still get to keep your job?  As Wayne said to me earlier, it feels as if the phrase ‘surely this time he must go?!’ has now become an ancient English proverb, it having been used so often!

Still, at least the Chancellor kept a cool head when faced with various ‘non-dom’ questions regarding both his and his wife’s activities – in truly Trump-esque style he totally ignored the significance of the accusations and showed far greater concern about who had revealed his secrets… really mate, get your coat, you’ve lost the room, time to slink off to California.

Whilst sitting in the fume-filled fairyland that was the Operation Brock, I did try to catch up on a bit of stuff that was going on outside of SW1 but without much joy – it seems there is very little that we aren’t already painfully aware of, as has been the case for the last few years.  I did discover, whilst catching up on the Court & Social, the announcement that we have all been waiting for as it has been confirmed that Lady Denise van Outen of Basildon has partnered up with Lambrini, official drink of Essex, to create the much awaited ‘Bring the Brini’ campaign.  Now, we’re not sure which of the two parties is going to suffer the most reputational damage in this affair but do have to confess that we were very surprised that both Denise and Lambrini were still knocking about as we were quite sure they were both put out to pasture in the late 1990’s!

As I said, no news.

However, as mentioned previously, it’s Le Big Weekend coming up, no work until Tuesday for all the good people of Wimbledon Park… however the less saintly amongst us will be putting in a bit of hard yakka, at least in the early part of the weekend:

Today, 14th April – 12pm – 7pm

Good Friday 15th April – 12pm – 5pm

Saturday 16th April – 12pm – 6pm

Sunday 17th & Monday 18th April – CLOSED

Tuesday 19th April – back to as you were – 12pm– 7pm!

Hoping that a few of you might venture out, Wayne will once again be standing  by the door to entice you in with his cheerful grin, the same witty one liner but now with the added promise of a taste of the wines that we will have open from this evening onwards:

Flametree Embers Sauvignon Blanc – Semillon 2021 – £15.49

From Margaret River in WA, this is another fab drop from the Cliff Royle stable.  We tasted this a while back but given the snail like movement of wine from across the world at the moment, it has only just arrived with us.  We know we liked it, we suspect we can explain why but, to give full disclosure, we have forgotten what it tastes like so are very much looking forward to revisiting!

As it’s Easter and the rules state that you must eat lamb on Sunday, we thought we’d open one of our all-time favourite reds, Monemvasios Red 2013 – £20.99.

So, a quick intro.  It’s from the southern part of the Peloponnese, in the southern part of Greece, made from 90% Agiorgitiko and 10% Mavroudi but I imagine you knew this already.  It’s absolutely delicious, the fact that the wine has a nice bit of age means we have some lovely mature dark fruit and silky polished tannins – all in all a wine that gives some more famous (and more expensive) French and Italian cousins a good run for their money!  All you need now is to remember to marinate the leg of lamb overnight and then put it in the oven for five hours before you want to eat it and voilà, Kleftiko!

That’s all from us for this week – have a lovely long weekend and, if at all possible, avoid travelling anywhere on Monday…

Yamas!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Last week we started with a fabulous quote about fools in April. This week we saw video footage from South Africa of a guy in a supermarket trolley hanging on to the back of a fuel tanker driving down the highway at some speed. Now that’s definitely taking the old CB radio term ‘suicide jockey’ to another level. By all accounts Pretorian Police are unamused.

On the subject of fools it seems the Chancellor, the man charged with collecting tax and administering the country’s finances has found himself in a spot of PR bother. He has just broken a Conservative manifesto promise and inflicted an increase in taxation to most of us through a National Insurance rise so it’s awfully difficult timing to discover that his wife, the daughter of a billionaire, is a ‘non dom’ when it comes to tax.

Now even we can see that’s a bad look for a Chancellor, for a start we all know she lives at No.11 Downing Street. It might not be permanent (especially after this news) but surely that is where she is currently domiciled? Maybe the HMRC might want to have a look at that. We just don’t understand why a change wasn’t suggested by that army of advisers when he became Chancellor, or when he became an MP? Absolute school boy error, we really are governed by clowns.

On the subject of clowns, the Prime Minister announced the UK’s new energy strategy. New nuclear is definitely on the cards, but given the cost and build time that is unlikely to help much in the next five years. We will admit surprise that insulating properties didn’t feature. It seems a relatively straightforward, fast and effective fix to us but what would we know, it’s not like we spend the day in front of a draughty window!

Staying on topic with clowns, you may have noticed Wayne out and about in the trusty Volvo this week, dropping off a case here and there. Do you remember that biblical rain on Wednesday evening about 7.30? Well guess who had to pull over because the trusty windscreen wipers went every which way but loose. So Wayne utilised all his mechanical skills by phoning the kind gentlemen at Naismiths who suggested he pop in. Between you and I he was there about 30 seconds, the chaps at Naismith wielded a spanner, Wayne blushed at his own ineptitude and all was fixed. Every day’s a school day!

In a move that many find akin to cultural vandalism, Culture Secretary Mad Nads has decided that the best way forward for Channel 4 is for the government to sell it off. Founded in 1982 under Margaret Thatcher’s government to foster the British film and TV industry, the channel has always been publicly owned but funded by advertising. Any rumours that Mad Nads has made the announcement in a fit of pique after being rejected for Naked Attraction don’t bear thinking about. We suspect it’s more likely that stunts like replacing the no-show Prime Minister with an ice sculpture during a debate on climate change that have led the decision.

Still on the cultural front, ‘Replicas’ by Tubeway Army celebrated its 43^rd birthday this week. I, for one, am struggling to understand how an album that came out when I was a teenager is now older than me!

It must have been years since we mentioned it, but the race to be the next James Bond appears to have taken a turn. Idris Elba has ruled himself as too old, odds on Tom Hardy have lengthened whilst odds on both Aidan Turner and Cillian Murphy have shortened. We can’t comment on whether Alex has popped his tux into Manuel for a press, but we can say that Jane Seymour is “so fed up of hearing, should a woman be James Bond?”

What shall we wrap our taste buds around this weekend? I’ve had a look, and these two look like decent candidates…

Produttori del Gavi ‘Gavi Mille 951’ 2020 – £15.99 – is the white choice – made at their winery overlooking the historic Gavi fortress, this cooperative has been making wine for over 65 years.  Aromas of pear peach, apricot and yellow plum greet us on the nose whilst on the palate we have the same fruit characters with hints of almond in the background.  Dry, light and moreish, a perfect aperitif! It’s even organic and suitable for vegans.

Viña von Siebenthal Parcela #7 Gran Reserva 2018, Aconcagua, Chile – £20.99

It probably says something for this winery that two of their top wines have both received 95+ points from Robert Parker, no mean feat.  Their focus is on small production and high quality and they achieve this in buckets.  Whilst it is a Bordeaux blend with all the usual elegance, there is a ripeness of fruit and a sense of weight that you rarely get in claret.  Well, let me just suggest it might be really rather tasty with a slow roast shoulder of lamb.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

“Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.” – Charles Lamb

So, did someone prank you yet today?  To explain, for those of you less date obsessed, today is 1^st April, April Fool’s Day, the day on which the most irritating people you know get carte blanche to play a joke on you, tell you a tall story or perform some sort of silly stunt all of which is supposedly excused by them exclaiming ‘April Fool’ which somehow allows them immunity from retribution.  As you can tell, we’re not totally on board with all this.

For some though, it seems silly season started early.  Will Smith is the obvious example here, crossing many boundaries and in the process making the story all about him whilst Jada just rolled her eyes.  Then we have our Chancellor saying that he empathises with the Fresh Prince’s situation, something that won’t do either of them any favours.  Honestly though Rishi, people criticising Infosys continued involvement in Russia isn’t quite the same as someone deriding your physical appearance.  Plus, the claim that Akshata Murthy doesn’t have anything to do with the company’s operational decisions is undoubtedly true, however that £400 million bank balance didn’t just spring from the ground.

Rishi also referenced Joe Root in his quest to appear down with the kids, opining that he too hadn’t had the greatest weekend.  True that but it’s not just young master Root who should take the blame for the dismal England batting performance last weekend.  As they slumped to a ten wicket defeat, there was silliness from top to tail but I imagine they all said ‘April Fool’ to each other in the changing room and thus will get away with it and be picked again when New Zealand pop over in June.

Whilst on the cricket though, it is worth mentioning that England will face Australia in the Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday – if you just get the chance to admire Sophie Ecclestone’s finger spin for a few minutes you’ll be in for a treat.

And it seems the weather has decided to act the silly sausage too.  Last weekend we were getting complaints that we’d run out of a couple of our Rosés whereas right now it’s gone so bloomin’ Baltic we’d probably struggle to give them away.  Oh, and look, the fuel prices are going up today too, what timing!

Returning to the scene of Mr Smith’s Sunday night slapfest, the real reason for the great and the good (and the not so good) to be assembled was for the Oscars of course.  It would seem that not only did Agent J win a Best Actor Oscar but he also was one of the lucky few to scoop the Oscar swag bag of free goodies that redefines excess and good taste.  Having trawled the gossip columns it would seem that amongst other goodies, the most expensive item in the bag is a $50,000 three-night stay at Turin Castle in Scotland, complete with butler service and a bagpiper welcome when they arrive.  Other treats include, according to our chums at E!News:

• A $15,000 four-night stay at the Golden Door luxury resort and spa in California.
• A $12,000 “Celebrity Arms” liposuction procedure from cosmetic surgeon Dr Thomas Su.
• A small plot of land in Scotland, along with the title of “Lord” or “Lady of Glencoe.”
• $10,000 of “treatments and rejuvenation procedures” from Dr Konstantin Vasyukevich.
• A life coaching session with wellness expert Kayote Joseph, worth $1,200.
• $25,000 worth of home renovations from Maison Construction.
• A pair of TurboFlex glasses featuring a 360-degree rotating hinge.
• An assortment of “Flavor wrapped” popcorn packages from Opopop.
• A bottle of Ariti extra virgin olive oil infused with edible gold flakes.

Because, like, that’s what your average Hollywood A-lister needs, right?!

Meanwhile, back here in Blighty, Wayne & Alex have keenly tasted wines again and as a consequence have a couple of new listings worth a mention:

Amotera Vino Biologico Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2020 – £12.29 – a delicious white from Abruzzo with floral notes on the nose leading to some nice, easy orchard fruit character on the palate – a proper pre-prandial quaffer.

Another organic Italian white, this time from Sicily, is Colomba Bianca Vitese Zibibbo 2021 – £11.99.  Now, as you are all well aware, Zibibbo is more commonly known to us as Muscat of Alexandria and so has a charming nose of apricot, almonds and orange blossom.  What made us sit up and pay attention was the lovely dry finish it showed on the palate.  We’ve often been told that a dry Muscat is a great sparring partner to asparagus, which is handy as the season is just starting.  Oh, and a fun fact we just learnt,  asparagus has enzymes said to fight a hangover, which sounds like the makings of a very fancy breakfast!

In red we have Peninsula Vinicultores Vino de Montaña 2018 – £13.69.  This is a wine from high-altitude vineyards in Sierra de Gredos and other historic growing areas in the Sistema Central, the mountain chain that divides the Iberian Peninsula in its Northern and Southern halves.  This is a field blend based mostly on very old Garnacha vines but with some Rufete and Piñuela in the mix too, all grown on granite soil and in the glass we have lovely fresh red fruits and hints of white pepper – the altitude gives the wine a delicious freshness that one doesn’t always associate with Spanish reds.

And finally, an old favourite of Wayne’s, Ktima Gerovassiliou Avaton 2018 – £28.  As his tasting note states, this feels like a Bordeaux blend but with entirely the wrong grapes.  The reason for the wrong grapes is because it comes from Epanomi in Central Macedonia, Greece and the grape varieties are 60% Limnio, 20% Mavrotragano and 20% Mavroudi.  Try it, I think you’ll like it…

And that’s about it from us, we’ll be opening a couple of bottles of wine as usual this weekend with the Amotera Trebbiano doing the heavy lifting on the white front whilst the red team will be represented by Le Ciel Vide  – £13.49, from Domaine Treloar, in anticipation of Jonathan’s visit later in the month.

Over and out.