The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I must start the email with an apology, having been taken to task for mentioning the birthday for The Rocky Horror Picture Show. How could I possibly neglect to mention one of the greatest happenings of all time? Ladies and gentleman, I prostrate myself before you, apologise profusely, and would like to wish belated birthday felicitations to Woodstock; 46 years old on 15^th August.

Meanwhile back in the present day (with apologies to the many for who Woodstock is still the present day!) the Barmy Army’s UK tour draws to a close with some good solid partying in South London as the final game of The Ashes takes place at The Oval.

Saturday is when the real fun starts though. After one of the most thrilling Tour de France races in years all the main protagonists line up on the start line of the Vuelta a España. The first stage is a short (7.4k) but rather technical Team Time Trial from Puerto Banús to Marbella, usually a strip more equated with Ferrari’s and holidaymakers. The race looks like it could be a thriller with eight new mountain top finishes (Ochos Picos!) and a time trial in week three.

Grand Prix action is in Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium this weekend. Certainly the most beautiful of circuits on the F1 calendar, yet also one of the most challenging, hilly and twisty with a long fast straight. It’s not unknown for the circuit to have rain on part, but not all, of the course. In purely unrelated information, Belgium produces 220,000 tons of chocolate a year!

Elsewhere in wine stuff, waiting patiently at the door for me on Monday morning was our first shipment of Maison des Bulliats Regnie 2014 (£10.99). Always nice to get stock of a new wine in, especially when the winemaker thinks it’s the best the estate has produced. Made from vines almost as old as Wayne, this is top quality Gamay, with crisp raspberry and blackberry fruit and a soft fresh finish. Coincidentally we tasted a bottle of 2009 recently which was delicious too, in a much more mature way!

Wine school places are filling up too, did you check the diary yet? 16^th September start.

We also now sell ice, a bit of infrastructure investment on our part and we’re all over those bags of cubes like a rash! Ice 2kg bag – £1.50

Tasting this weekend

The white corner will be represented by Hungary this week, a deliciously zippy fresh white with some spicy peach fruit in the shape of Tournai Zenit 2013 (£10.99), whilst the red corner will be amply represented by the Maison des Bulliats Regnie 2014 (£10.99) as above!

Nice weekend people!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to your Friday update.

This week finds us still rather puzzled that the football season has started so soon, the Ashes may be won, but by no stretch is the cricket season over! It’s only August 14^th surely any football games should involve only bare feet and beaches.

Talking of beaches, we were all glad to hear it wasn’t Alex who left his children at the service station earlier in the week!

Still talking of beaches, the two bobbies sent to Magaluf have been criticised for scheduling the patrols between 7am and 10pm when most revellers are sleeping or ‘chillin’. Don’t want to miss out on all the fun eh?

We were more than a little down heartened this week when we saw the IAAF had suspended 28 athletes that competed in the 2005 & 2007 World Championships after “adverse findings” on retested samples.  It does make the Sunday Times story involving 5000 athletes rather more credible despite the IAAF’s assertion that it was “sensationalist and confusing”.

I’m sure they are falling over themselves to explain it though, especially with the news that the £1.3 million the Athletics governing body spends on testing is less than a quarter of the £6 million that is spent in cyclists testing.

What about football or tennis we wondered?

Science Fiction/Double Feature

We suspect there are a lot of themed parties happening up and down the land this weekend. We’d like to wish a very happy  40^th birthday to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Difficult to believe that Brad, Janet and Frank’n’furter are that age already.

Just a jump to the left…

Is it only me, or does everyone find the Labour leadership election worthy of its own TV show?

…and a step to the right

The stars and stripes will be flown over the Malecón in Havana for the first time in a generation today, as Cuba and the US celebrate the re-opening of the US embassy.

With your hands on your hips…

It’s quiet out their people, virtually nothing in wine news but, with just a few weeks to go till harvest, it is looking like a good vintage across France at the moment. Crucial few weeks though…

Elsewhere, spam is down to a minimum in the inbox, and the nice folk that ring us every day to lower our business rates and cheapen our electricity seem to be on holiday too!

Even Tooting Bec Lido only had 6 swimmers on Tuesday morning, I felt like a millionaire with all that pool space to myself.

Timewarp

It seems like only yesterday I was choosing what we’d tantalise the weekend tasters with. This week the red corner will be all silky with Southern Dawn Pinot Noir 2013 (£13.99) a tasty little number from Marlborough.

The white will be the zesty and fresh Max Ferd. Richter Riesling 2013 (£14.99) a classic, crisp and delicate summery wine from the Mosel.

That’s it from us this week, if you’re in a bar with lots of people in fancy dress look out for the toast!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

If you don’t mind, a word in your shell-like….

What an earth has been going on? I leave you all in charge of the shop for one week and all hell breaks loose. I thought it was safe to pop down to Devon to learn how to put up umbrellas in horizontal gales whilst unpacking wetsuits filled with cold children onto carparks filled with thistles but no, clearly I was mistaken. Whilst I was gaining further parenting skills and willing the downing of the sun to be earlier each day, you were all up here, egging him on:

• Alex is away for a few days, so I was thinking about buying some posh kit to put on the shelf to see if he notices, could be a nice little earner

• That sounds like a great idea Wayne, why don’t you see how many you can get in whilst he’s not here, that‘ll teach him to go on holiday so often!

• I was thinking it should be Italian and Spanish because he’s so boring – if I were to order this Aussie stuff he’s bound to have a wobbler

• Do it, just do it – nothing he can say from Plymouth and there’s no phone reception or email west of Exeter

• I’m going to place the order now…

So I arrive back in the greenhouse on Monday morning and who is here to greet me? Only Feldmarschall von Fenner zu Fennberg , the 2012 Müller Thurgau made in the Sud Tirol – Alto Adige by Tiefenbrunner (£26.99) and probably the best expression of this grape variety you’ll find anywhere. Beside him, looking slightly nervous next to such military might, was Bruno Giacosa presenting his Roero Arneis 2014 (£21.99) about whom I do remember writing a tasting note that started with the word ‘WOW!’.

Next in line, standing to attention as they all were, as if on parade, was another new boy, Le Serre Nuove dell’ Ornellaia 2012 (£44.00) a generous and smooth super-tuscan from Bolgheri. I know Ornellaia, his father, well, of course, so was pleased to see him following in the family footsteps.

And finally, standing close together, were two proud chaps from Spain who I hadn’t seen in the shop for ages. Both from La Rioja Alta, it is a pleasure to welcome back Viña Arana Reserva 2006 (£22.99) and his elder sibling Gran Reserva 904 2005 (£35.00) both good, solid, trustworthy wines.

And I hear there is talk of a Chablis Grand Cru in the offing too, I should go away more often, perhaps the New World will get some attention!

Here Terry, have a word…

It also seems that he’s been mucking about with the TV whilst I’ve not been looking; certainly something very strange seems to be going on with the cricket. If only those kind and charming gents dressed in yellow, drinking wine from the bottle, that I sat next to on that Sunday at Lord’s could be found, I’d love to remind them of a couple of suggestions they made to the England team – seems to have worked!

Oh, and Arsenal beat Chelsea in the Community Cup – surely that would never happen?

‘er indoors

We had a rare chance to pop out to dinner this week with our lovely, lovely lady wives. The intention was to visit Holy Smoke on Leopold Road, a new locale that has been well reviewed, but were sadly disappointed to discover they were fully booked, on a Tuesday night. Fabulous news for them, less so for us. Plan B arrived in the shape of Sri Lankan BYO Apollo Banana Leaf on Tooting High Street. This was delicious as ever and was helped us come to a number of crucial conclusions:

• German Riesling is delicious and, when its only 8%, extremely easy to drink
• Mas de Daumas Gassac Blanc and Frog’s Leap Zinfandel are superb matches to the spiciness of Sri Lankan cuisine
• Wayne has a capacity for mutton with a two chilli rating previously unshown but definitely worth utilising in some sort of eating competition
• My wife, in spite of months in India, still insists on drinking water when something is too spicy for her…

The world is my lobster

And it could be yours too… Wine School will give you all the skills required to do this and at £150 for 6 weeks and 60-odd wines, is a far better use of time and money than a mis-spent night down the Winchester Club. Just about half-full at the moment so don’t be backward about coming forward.

I’ve got a good idea, just you keep me near, I could be so good for you

Which is what all the wine sings to us each morning when we open up. However, we can’t keep all the wines near and we shouldn’t keep them all to ourselves, as that would no doubt not be so good for us, so as ever we’ll open a couple up this weekend, every one a go-er.

As it’s a white with the Wow factor, I think it would be appropriate to let you all enjoy the Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis(£21.99) that I mentioned earlier, whilst the red will be Quinta da Falorca 2010 (£13.99) a delicious red from the Dâo in Portugal, one that we have enjoyed immensely in the past and which has just moved onto the 2010 vintage.

That’s about it from us – for those who like to guess who writes the email each week this should be an easy one (or is it?)

Stick it on the slate, Dave!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

If I’m honest it’s been kinda slow on the news front this week, with a keen sense of loss flowing through Park Vintners after what was probably one of the most thrilling Tour de France in years, only gently brightened up by the arrival of game 3 in The Ashes.

Elsewhere we discovered the Labour leadership contest has surprised the Parliamentary party with how left wing their supporters are, regardless of your sympathies it is certainly an entertaining story to follow! We could be watching the redemption of the Lib-Dems!

We also learnt that the European Commission is to recognise Bramley apple pie filling as a delicacy! Yorkshire Puds are still waiting.

Wine Stuff

We often get asked about buying wine for investment purposes, and always suggest that wine is for drinking not investing, and that it is very easy to get sucked in and lose a lot of money in the process.

A prime example would be Chateau Lafite 2010, a great wine for sure, and should anyone wander in with a bottle we’d be happy to have a glass and chat about its merits.

The release price for this wine (at a premium over some of its peers) was £12000 per case, a price that has since fallen to around £5700 a case. This new lower price compares fairly favourably with 2005 and 2009 prices at around £6300 each and now represents a more tempting proposition. Clearly now much better value than it was, and fabulous not only in the glass but also in illustrating our point.

Wine News

We read in one of the daily’s that sparkling red wine is getting a bit of a following. This doesn’t surprise us, it has long been a bit of a lovely surprise for attendees of our Wine School, in fact we sold a few cases as the toast wine for a wedding recently.

We’re not sure it’s quite ready to push the prosecco down the purchase list yet, but if you haven’t had the pleasure, we’d suggest trying it with a barbecue. Pauletts Sparkling Red NV (£14.49). This is made in the traditional method but using a red wine base, it has a lovely richness and also the magic of bubbles!

Wine School

Summers over, the kids are back at school and you’re free on Wednesday nights so why not join us and gain some life skills! Full details attached but suffice to say… 60 wines tasted, wine faults discussed and your Wednesdays may never be the same again. Term starts Wednesday 16^th September at 8pm and costs £150 per person. Lots of leaflets going for this now so don’t be shy if you’re wondering about coming along. Wednesdays might never be the same again!

Summer Saturdays – Just for the month of August our opening hours will be 10am-7pm on Saturdays.

Back by popular demand…

Chateau Miravel Côtes de Provence Rose (£19.99) Our first tranche disappeared in a flash. Seemed churlish not to get some more really.

Le Volte dell’Ornellaia 2013 (£19.99) The new vintage is as delicious as any we can remember, real Tuscan class.

Sesti Monteleccio 2013 (£17.99) Giuseppe is still doing his fine work in Montalcino, you’ve all nagged us for running out, we listened.

Domaine Treloar Three Peaks 2011 (£12.99) “50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre. Rich aniseed and liquorice character on the nose, with a really charming violet scent. Very fine tannins, fresh acid. Chocolate and spice. 17+ Drink 2013-2023” Richard Hemming, Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages

Tasting this Weekend

Defending the crease in the red end this week is Botham Merrill Willis Shiraz 2011 (£16.99) a beefy glass of shiraz that’ll be tip top with some grilled meat, whilst bowling from the white end will be Barton Vineyards Chenin Blanc 2013 (£9.79) which is less ashes connected but still really rather tasty.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As you will have read in last week’s email, we had a very comprehensive to-do list this week, marginally complicated by the golf running over but let’s just say that was compensated for by an outstanding batting display by the England cricket team.

The Tour de France has been ticking along nicely, showing us some beautiful mountain scenery, exciting racing, a masterclass in descending from Peter Sagan and a scientist’s smorgasbord from Team Sky with Froomey’s data on stage 10.

We’ve discussed (at length) the continued sniping, accusations, and downright poor journalism from the French press and can’t help but think that, if there had been as much time, energy and column inches devoted to their own Sports Science, it might not be 30 years since there was a Frenchman winning the world’s greatest race!

At this point the to-do list got entirely sabotaged. No ordinary saboteurs either, but agents from Spectre interfered with the smooth running of your local wine shop by releasing a trailer to the new Bond movie. Compelled to watch, we find ourselves looking forward to the release in the autumn. Alex is even threatening to get his white tux out of mothballs.

Bond brings me to the subject of Bollinger. We’ve still got our fabulous offer on. Six bottles for £200 (£33.33 per btl) which will come in very handy should you unexpectedly bump in to Edina or Patsy.

In wine news we discovered this week that a group of young Spanish guys have developed the world’s first blue wine. This news brought up several questions in our minds…why?… would Naked wines distribute it?…How?

How: It seems red and white wines were blended together (surely a recipe for rose?-Ed) before adding anthocyanins and indigo pigment (dye, surely?-Ed) and then some sugar to “smooth the taste”. Now call me old-fashioned, a stick in the mud if you must, but red wine, white wine, dye and sugar does not a wine make…vermouth perhaps, alcopop maybe or just a weird chemical soup. Wine? I think not.

We saw a depressing graph this week showing sherry sales going downhill quicker than Peter Sagan. It seems the deliciously food friendly dry styles are growing slowly, but not quickly enough to balance the dying market for the ½-pint-of-Bristol-Cream-before-lunch brigade. Jerez has been a big “beneficiary” of the EU’s grubbing up programme the last few years, but we’re not entirely convinced that region is the chief culprit of EU oversupply!

Wine School

Summers over, the kids are back at school and you’re free on Wednesday nights so why not join us and gain some life skills! Full details attached but suffice to say… 60 wines tasted, wine faults discussed and your Wednesdays may never be the same again. Term starts Wednesday 16^th September at 8pm and costs £150 per person. Don’t wait till we’re full!

Weekend Wine Tasting

We’ll try and do our bit to stop the sherry descent and open Fernando de Castilla Fino en Rama (£9.99 37.5cl) to show you just how delicious it is. Meanwhile over in the red corner we’re going with something from the mountains in Piemonte. Alasia Langhe Nebbiolo (£10.79) is made from the same quality fruit as their Barolo but sadly, coming from the wrong side of the tracks, it’s not allowed the Barolo name or price tag. For us that equals bargain deliciousness so why not come and give it a taste.

There is no blue corner.

Have a great weekend one and all, if you’re travelling take care and don’t forget the passport.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Nomophobia.  No-Mobile-Phone-Phobia.  Apparently not officially a phobia but a normal anxiety – nomophoanxiety just doesn’t have the same ring to it (geddit!) –was a concept introduced into our lives earlier this week.

The tennis fortnight brings many joys to our days, as touched upon last week, but the most recent string to our bow is our role as a mobile phone charging centre.  It would seem that overuse of apps and cameras whilst taking selfies on Mount Murray, results in severe battery drainage.  However, fear not, help is at hand.  Under the rules of modern etiquette it is now apparently accepted practice to walk into any local wine shop and request 20 minutes use of an electrical socket to charge your phone.  You back up this request with an assertion that you’ll ‘buy the whole shop’ as way of thanks and then seal the deal with a request to use the loo.

Twenty minutes later, with the phone charged and the realisation that all money has already been spent at the tennis, our happy travellers exit the shop empty handed but happy that their lifeline still has charge.  Have a nice day and thanks for using us!

Then there’s the slightly different, but equally strange, request from one couple who asked to borrow our phone to call a friend, again because their own phone was chargeless.  A strange request, given that the younger of the two proceeded to get her, seemingly fully functioning, phone out of her bag in order to read out the relevant number to the elder, whilst she was dialling.  The fact that there is a payphone directly outside the shop is neither here nor there.  Cheapskates.

So, nomophobia, a new one on us but an affliction I suspect we’ll become more aware of as years go by.  To properly put the icing on the cake though, I was talking about these events to a friend who doesn’t live in London and thus mostly communicates by beacon and pigeon and she led me to this story:

“I witnessed something tonight that I never imagined I would see in a Broadway theatre,” Chris York wrote on Facebook.

“I saw an audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the preshow music, remove the cell-phone, and make an announcement as to why you can’t do that. Has theatre etiquette – heck, common sense – really fallen that far??”

Bonkers.   The full article appears here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33295211

Witte pottekes

And my learning didn’t stop there.  Wine School wrapped up this week with a bang and a pop as we finished with the Champagne & Sparkling wine.  Many people come on Wine School to learn about wine, which makes sense.  However, I don’t think anyone had quite banked on the extra things we learnt from Wayne on Wednesday evening… when asked how much Flemish he knew he regaled us with phrase for ‘two beers please’, ‘eleven beers please’, a couple of others I cannot remember and then, as a final flourish, erupted with the phrase witte pottekes before collapsing giggling.  We had no clue what filthy language he had just used and pushed him for a translation…

I’ll give you his translation at the end but suffice to say, you learn a lot about wine at wine school and sometimes you learn a lot about Wayne too!

Next course starts Wednesday 16^th September at 8pm for 6 consecutive weeks.  £150 per person, Flemish lessons gratis.

Around the spittoon…

Ages ago, February in fact, we tasted a wine that we thought would be spot on for summer drinking.  February has now passed, summer is here and appropriate drinking needs to be addressed.

Step in Siefried Wurzer 2014 – £13.99.  Now, this wine comes from New Zealand but in fact Würzer is a scarcely planted white variety developed in Alzey, Germany, in 1932 by crossing Gewürztraminer with Müller-Thurgau.  Since the beginning of the 90’s it has experienced a steady decline in plantings to the extent that apparently now less than 70 acres (30ha) remain in its homeland.  It can be herbaceous, floral, citrus, have apple notes or even tropical and stonefruits.  It’s delicious and fun – who knew?

The red is less exotic but no less fun – Aromo Winemaker’s Selection Pinot Noir 2011 – £10.99.  This chap hails from Chile’s Bio-Bio Valley where top-notch Pinot Noir has been appearing for a while, it’s cool climate really benefitting the grapes.  However the secret is not fully out yet, so they are still good value.  Lovely strawberry aromas, a touch of spice and some caramel notes into the fresh finish.  Very summery.

Lost in translation…

I know, I’m sorry for that header.  Anyway it transpires that Wayne wasn’t referring to nefarious or smutty activities when he said witte pottekes but just really enjoyed the onomatoepaeic sounds it made.  Translation into English is little white pots and he knows how to ask for two or eleven of them – I suggest you all ask him when you come into the shop over the weekend!

That’s it for now, tennis, cricket, cycling, all continue apace and all are great to watch with a glass in hand – Enjoy!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

One look around us and we can see it is that time of the year. We have become experts in giving directions to car parks 6 & 8, the quickest direction to go to find a queue, and a glance in most windows find’s them full of tennis balls. All this excitement, anecdotal stories (Djokovic playing tennis in the street at 8.30pm with the local kids was my favourite last year), and lorry loads of strawberries weaving their way through SW19 can mean only one thing….

The Tour de France starts this Saturday with the Grand Départ being hosted by Utrecht in the Netherlands. It could be a real nail biter of a race with this year’s route beginning like a mini selection of classics before we finally have a look at some mountains on stage 10. I’ve pencilled Mark Cavendish in for the stage wins on 2 and 6 (assuming he survives the cobbles) but overall winner is too close to call for me with Nibali, Contador, Froome and Quintana all looking good. There’s even talk of Frenchmen in contention too, with a strong chance that Romain Bardet will win the young rider prize.

Whilst we’re talking about sport, we absolutely have to mention The Lionesses, who put in a stellar performance in The World Cup.  Let’s hope some of that stardust and team spirit falls near the men’s team.

The procession that is this year’s Formula 1 season lands at Silverstone for the weekend, let’s hope for some racing, we think the season so far has been rubbish.

Sometimes this email writes itself…

Essex Police have covered themselves with glory calling death by bullet wound to the chest ‘natural causes’. A full six days later somebody went to Specsavers  spotted the error at the post-mortem.

In Bedfordshire police report a very strange crime wave. It appears there are teams of Vauxhall Cannibals wandering the streets at night. Victims wake up to find large parts of their Vauxhall car have been stripped and stolen with one lady losing the bonnet, bumper headlights and radiator overnight!  Apparently 5-10 incidents happen each week .

Wine Stuff

We managed to snap up a couple of bin-end bargains this week with a couple of Amarone della Valpolicella.

Starting with some single vineyard awesomeness that makes me wish there was more available.

Capitel Monte Olmi  Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Tedeschi 2008 – £52

“Notes of wild herb, spice box and pekoe tea mark this aromatic red, while grippy tannins frame the tightly knit flavors of dried currant, iron, rhubarb and wood smoke. This traditional style needs air, so enjoy alongside food to get the full effect. Best from 2016 through 2026.” 92 points — Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator.

Following up with a cheeky half bottle that we can just put down as a Thursday night treat when nobody is looking:

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Tedeschi 2009 37.5cl – £16.50

“The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella opens to a dark, midnight color and spicy aromas of old spice, Middle Eastern bazaar, waxed furniture, honey-roasted ham, cured meat, caramelized sugar and dark road pavement… the wine will surely appeal to die-hard Amarone enthusiasts. 2015-2025.” 93 points — The Wine Advocate

Wine School – Autumn Term

As we mentioned last week we are now taking bookings for our six week course that starts on Wednesday 16^th September.  Full details are attached and give us a call or drop a line if you’d like to come along – 020 8944 5224.

Tasting This Weekend

We’ve checked the forecast and warn you we’ll have shorts on. It seems to us that a fresh summery white and something to drink alongside some barbecue might not be a bad idea.

So to toast ‘natural causes’ and because Essex are hosting the Aussies, we’ll start with New Hall Vineyards Bacchus – £12.99, a fine summery drop from a 67 hectare vineyard in Purleigh (near Chelmsford) that was planted in 1969. That said, there was a vineyard planted there in 1120 that was taken over by the Crown in 1163 to supply wines in London.

In the red corner, sporting Raybans and a sharp suit, is one of our favourite Sicilians, Tareni del Duca Nero d’Avola – £11.99 which is just the ticket with a butterflied leg of lamb cooked over the coals.

There’s tennis on too in case you were wondering, Murray to beat Djokovic in the final perhaps?

Lovely weekend folks, here’s to a long hot summer!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As news reaches us that Queen are releasing a beer brewed in the Czech Republic to commemorate the 40th anniversary of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Fleetwood Mac play an epic run at the O2 whilst The Who fill Hyde Park, we can’t help but think that we should be developing things a bit newer, a bit more “here and now”.

So we will. Well, after a bit of pre-amble, we will.

Many of you have stood by our tasting table, sampling some of our delicious wines, ruminating on what fun it would be if Wimbledon Park had a nice bar to have a drink at. Not that place down the road where the Invisible Man and his mates drink, not a cab journey away to the village, just somewhere local where one could enjoy a glass of wine. Well, we had that self-same chat with a new customer who’s recently moved to the area and, being far more dynamic than these two fossils, has done something about it.

Tonight sees Wimbledon Park’s very first neighbourhood pop up bar with Saucer & Cup Lates.

From 7.30pm at the Saucer & Cup, just across the road from us, Daniela will be hosting with locally sourced craft beer, wine and gin. There will be small plates of food too and we understand that 10% of profits will go to Foodcycle. So, no excuses folks, pop in and have a glass or two since it’d be a shame to let an evening like this slip through our fingers (and the more you drink the less we have to take back!)

Rosé Tasting – SOLD OUT
If you’ve meaning to book but haven’t…well you were warned!

Wine School – Autumn Term
As we mentioned last week we are now taking bookings for our six week course that starts on Wednesday 16th September. Full details are attached and give us a call or drop a line if you’d like to come along – 020 8944 5224.

Tasting This Weekend
Light and summery would seem sensible. With this in mind we will open a bottle of Domaine Clos des Eglantiers Rivaner 2014 – £12.89 which continues to be our best-selling white wine from Luxembourg; mooching around, keeping itself to itself, we have a delicious red from Australia – Innocent Bystander Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2013 – £15.99. Both fab, both light and summery, both open – come and join!

If you can’t make it in this weekend but miss seeing Alex…
… then all is not lost! He’ll be propping up a table at the annual Wimbledon Park Primary School Summer Fair this Sunday, between 12pm and 3pm. He’ll be bound to have something fun to taste whilst watching his daughter get high on candyfloss and trying to keep his son away from the beer stall. Give him a wave, if nothing else….

¡Hasta la vista, mister!

Fellow Wine Lovers,
Is it just me or do we all think some kind of Groundhog Day should be instigated so that all one day cricket could be like the last few games? After the World Cup performance I certainly didn’t imagine that this series would be so exciting and be sat at 2 each going in to the final game.
We saw a report this week (on the BBC, no less!) that suggested “Fixing Parliament ‘could cost £5.7 billion’”. We couldn’t help but wonder if our man Sepp couldn’t fix it for less than that!
Mo, Mo say it ain’t so!
In wine news we saw that Gary Lineker has had his wine collection stolen, with the exception of one, unnamed, case. We were reminded of a friend who was burgled a few years ago with the thieves stealing his entire CD collection with the exception of the Billy Joel discs. Toe-rags the lot of ‘em!
Our hearts sank with the ‘Fruit flavoured wines are the drinks of the future’ headline. Apparently young adults will prefer to have perfectly good wine adulterated with sugar and fruit juices. Doesn’t appeal to me and if that’s the future I’m off…
Wine School
We’re halfway through Summer term and we’ve had a few people asking so…
Term Starts on Wednesday 16th September at 8pm sharp. Over 6 Wednesday evenings you’ll taste around 60 different wines discover new favourites and who knows, maybe make some friends too. Cost is £150 and full details are attached.
New Wines
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the odd new wine appear here and there on the shelves. We’ve managed to track down some delicious Domaine Coche-Bizouard Monthelie 1er Cru ‘Les Duresses’ 2009 (£28.99); we’ve dipped our toe in the posh Italian end with a small amount of Sassicaia 2012 (£125); and whilst on the subject of Italy we also have Monte Del Fra Soave Classico 2013 (£12.99) a deliciously crisp summery drop.
Tasting this Weekend
Another of our newbies and something we’re very excited about is Chinon ‘Les Picasses’ 2006 Olga Raffault (£18.99). We love Cabernet Franc with a little age so were dead chuffed when we came across this. It’ll be parking itself in the red corner on the tasting table this weekend, so do come and have a sample.
We’re staying in the Loire, so those of you more persuaded by wines of the white variety might like to wrap your taste buds around Langenlois Chateau Saumur Blanc Vieilles Vignes 2008 (£19.99) a splendidly rounded Chenin Blanc that could give some of the top burgundies a run for the money in the style stakes!
Chin chin,
Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,
So, I sent him off into the big city yesterday, with a bag full of corporate gifts, an oyster card and his mobile phone, which we had cross checked as being on and unusually, not critical for battery. It was a lovely day, as you all know, so he had his shorts on and I really didn’t expect him back in a hurry.
But what did happen next was definitely not what anyone expected. Facebook was the first to see it, then Twitter and then finally his wife rang to ask me, quite sternly in fact, where he was.
Apparently, so the story goes, he got distracted on the Central Line and got off at St Pauls instead of Bank. He had then gone for a bit of a stroll in the sunshine and ending up in the cool sanctuary of the Cathedral. Before he knew it, he was ascending the many steps into the Golden Gallery for a birds-eye view.
And then it happened.
As any good, modern traveller knows, the best and only way to properly appreciate an iconic tourist destination is to strip down to your socks with nothing else, and pose for a selfie, ideally with some Dutch people. And it was a hot day after all.
I think he’s closed his Facebook page and the Twitter shots were blurred but, frankly, what on earth possessed him to do it???
It’s like going to the Vatican and pulling a mooney, or climbing Mount Kinabalu and taking… oh, you get the drift!
Sports News
We’ll be brief here. A substitute England team played cricket on Tuesday, by substitute one means certain personnel were replaced by people who can bat and bowl, or even do both. However, for all true England fans we can certainly regard this as a blip and expect normal service to resume at The Oval today.
Also in cricket, the sweatiest cap ever to play cricket retired yesterday. Matt Prior is 33.
In racing we had varying success last weekend at Epsom but are saving ourselves for Ascot next week.
Lastly, and I realise you all know about this already, the European Games open this evening in Baku. What do you mean you’ve never heard of them?
Gin News
It’s World Gin Day tomorrow. So far as we’re concerned everyday is Gin day as we have Gin open every day and man cannot live on Latte’s and Salt & Vinegar Squares alone. We have Dodd’s Gin from Battersea (£37.50), we have Zuidam from Holland (£34.99), we have Fever Tree (4 for £3). Full speed ahead.
Rosé News
Confirmed acts for our first ever Rosé focused tasting:
In the ‘Fizz tent’ we have Billecart Salmon Brut Rosé NV, Hoffmann & Rathbone Rosé Réserve Brut 2011 and Mimi Pink Brut NV.
The ‘I’m the #1 Rosé in France’ tent is featuring Chateau L’Aumerade Cuvée Marie Christine Cru Classé 2014 from Provence, from Sancerre we have Pascal Jolivet’s Rosé 2014 and from Gascony, a young pretender in the guise of Cuvée Jean-Paul 2014.
Finally, in the ‘I’m not French or Fizzy but I am Pink’ tent we have the Borsao Rosado 2014 from Campo de Borja in Spain and Alasia Brachetto D’Acqui from Piemonte in Italy.
It’s going to be a brilliant evening, no doubt. £20 reserves you a ticket for all three tents, and the event takes place at 8pm, Thursday 9th July. To reserve, and you do need to reserve, call us on 020 8944 5224, or reply to this email or pop into the shop and see us.
Weekend News
When you come in to buy your Rosé tickets how about a drop of wine to tantalise you tastebuds – we will have the new vintage of our very popular Vinho Verde Leira Seca 2014 – £10.49 – open for white drinkers and for the redder hued, we are opening Chakana Malbec 2014 – £11.99 – just in case anyone is thinking barbecue.
That’s all from us for now, keep your clothes on, and if that’s becoming difficult, just don’t take a photo…
Down the hatch,