The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It being January, things have been a little quiet during the day here in Wimbledon Park. Wayne keyed the VAT return, whilst all the time quietly rueing the folly of letting Alex do the considerably smaller previous quarter, and Alex had his nose buried deep in some research. Reading aloud from the study, Alex stated that scientists had discovered that drinking sparkling wine gets the alcohol into your blood quicker than still wine – DUH!

They concluded that this faster action may increase the chance of a hangover.

As you can imagine we were impressed. Impressed that anybody had been persuaded to research something that for all our years in the trade we’d taken as a given. These researchers should be in sales not academia!

We further extrapolated the research and concluded that those of you detoxing this month with fizzy water might possibly be feeling worse than those slaking your thirst with still!

Sunblock Grapes

As Australia struggles through one of its hottest years on record we read, with a mixture of alarm and amusement, that winemakers in the Hunter Valley have been spraying their vineyards with sunblock! So, if in a year or two’s time you open a bottle that has a whiff of the Hawaiian Tropic about it, you’ll know what vintage it is and from what country.
Tasting tips as they happen folks, keeping you ahead of the curve!

Vote For Us, please

West London Mums have very kindly nominated our private tastings as one of the area’s top nights out. If you’d agree please do vote for us (voting closes on the 10th Jan) on the link below. We’re chuffed somebody mentioned us and always like something to brag about on a Saturday!

http://westlondonmum.co.uk/wlms-live-love-local-awards-2014/

January Sale

Our super deal for January is Six For The Price Of Five. Rest assured it is not one of those big chain fake deals, we’ve not bought a lorry load of slightly iffy toasters or tellys, and we’ve not randomly increased the prices by 15% first.

Buy six bottles and you’ll get 16.66666% off. Simple, straightforward and helping us to pay the previously mentioned VAT!

Wine School

Term starts on Wednesday 28th January at 8pm. There are no exams, plenty of practical, and let’s face it, the TV is rubbish on a Wednesday.
So if you’d like to know more about wine, want to taste around 60 wines come join us, there are, as I write, four places left and it costs just £150 per person.

Phone us on 020 8944 5224 or email shop@parkvintners.co.uk to join the throng.

Tasting This Weekend

We started with fizz and we’ll end with fizz. Having spoilt you all rotten with fine wines, spirits and sparklers throughout December, we’ve discovered a bit of a taste for the highlife.

We also like to use you as guinea pigs as much as we can when we are looking at new wines and the second Saturday in January seems like a good time to start.

A little while back, Alex met a winemaker at a tasting (imagine that) and he got chatting (ditto). Ulrich, the winemaker, explained that he had just made some English Sparkling Wine that he was rather pleased with. This was 2011, so the wine was still maturing.

Fast forward 3 ½ years and Alex bumps into Ulrich again and once more they chat. Ulrich mentions his wines had now been finished and had been released just recently. Being the gentleman and scholar that he is, Ulrich suggested it might be an idea to send us some bottles that we could try and then feedback on.

Fast forward to now. Tomorrow, we will taste three sparkling wines from the inaugural release of Hoffmann & Rathbone in West Sussex.

We have the Classic Cuvée 2010, Rosé Réserve 2010 and the Blanc de Blancs 2010.

These are rare beasts indeed, with a total production of only around 6,000 bottles so we’ll have to fight for an allocation. They look the business from a packaging point of view, so why don’t you come in and have a taste and let us know what you think?

I think that’s all for this week, one down, only three left until Feb!

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,
And so we bid a fond farewell to 2014. Some people take this is a time of reflection, a mental checklist of success and failure over the last 8760 hours if you will. However many of us, blinded by the post-Christmas haze, find it difficult to recall what happened before the 22nd December with any real clarity. For us reflection doesn’t take nearly so long and is easily measured in success levels first established by Oliver Reed, Georgie Best and Man Against Food. Oh, and the bathroom scales.
So with all this in mind, we are going to look ahead to 2015 and assess what the year may have in store…
January
• Temperatures soar in Park Vintners as we discover hidden vents in the wall between us and the dry cleaners
• Wayne & Alex both carry on running but delight in the fact that they’re not doing the marathon, so don’t have to run in the snow
• Did we mention snow? Arthur Road will experience delays similar to those in the Alps this week. Mulled Wine sales will quadruple. (Note to self – buy mulling spices…)
• Torrential rain makes Andy Murray feel very at home in the Australian Open, before exiting in the second round
• Park Vintners offer their, now world famous, 6 for 5 deal throughout the month
• Park Vintners Wine School starts its 6 week semester 28th January – spaces still available
February
• Secret admirers will express their admiration secretly on the 14th
• Also on the 14th Italy beat England for the first time ever, at HQ and dreams of a World Cup lie flaccid in the Twickenham mud. (Italy will go on to beat New Zealand in the quarter finals before losing to eventual winners Argentina in the semis)
• Cricket World Cup starts – spot betting scandals ensue
March
• Lent takes hold – abstinence is King, boredom is Queen and grumpiness is the Crown Prince
April
• April 5th is egg-stremely egg-citing
• London Marathon – watch it on telly with a glass of Champagne
• Cheltenham Festival – Guinness sales in the Cotswolds hit new highs
May
• ‘Margate hotter than Malaga’ headlines hit the newsstands as floods develop in Ottery St Mary
• Giro d’Italia helps those chubby cyclists shed a few pounds
June
• NZ are here to play some crucket whilst we nip to Holland to catch up on the Beach Volleyball World Cup
July
• Tennis and cricket – Wimbledon & The Ashes – what could go wrong here?
August
• Wimbledon Park empties as summer officially opens in Devon & Cornwall
• Wayne sweeps the shop a lot and, in a fit of boredom, goes the ‘full paleo’ and eats his wife
September
• Everybody back, tanned and lovely, ready to pile the pounds back on whilst at the pub watching the Rugby World Cup
• Wayne finally gets the chance to go on holiday now that the school holidays are over
October
• People start talking about Christmas
November
• Wayne makes bail in time for Christmas (see August) and is told to stick to Brussels Sprouts and to avoid all other Belgian dishes
• For the millionth year in a row we try to find a Red Burgundy for Christmas consumption that costs less than a house on the Grid
• We fail
December
• PV celebrates its 5th Birthday – a frenzy of bubbles and biltong ensue and much fun is had
• And now here we are at New Years Eve – I wonder what will happen next year?!
So, plenty to look forward to over the next 12 months. However if you’re looking for more immediate gratification why not pop in today and taste a couple of treats with us – we’ve opened the Neudorf Chardonnay Nelson 2011 (£24.99) from the legendary New Zealand estate and from across the ditch, another legend of a wine – Geoff Merrill McLaren Vale Shiraz 2006 (£29.99) both because we fancied finishing the year up with some nice wine!
Only a few more hours to go before Jools grinds through the gears and brings 2014 to a close – boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fellow Wine Lovers,
We’ve found ourselves wondering this week if the dramatic fall in the oil price was due to persistent rumours that Google is secretly developing a reindeer powered spacecraft. The rumours arrived in our in-box after discovering that, to visit all the children in the world tonight, Santa and his reindeer-powered sleigh will be travelling at an average speed of 4,680,000 mph. Clearly to achieve that speed with only carrots, mince pies and sherry is some feat and we can understand Googles interest.
To be honest we’re amazed Santa’s beard is so presentable in his photographs, we would have thought those kind of speeds would guarantee a more backcombed/beehive look!
We have been unable to ascertain if that speed allows for toilet stops or if there is some onboard arrangement, we do hope so!
We would also like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.
We’re here until 5pm today and then back again at 11am on the Monday 29th for the final push towards January.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Those of you with a memory profile more akin to an elephant than a goldfish may recall that at this time last year we spoke about the origins of Christmas Crackers. Well we thought this year we might cast a glance over some other Christmas traditions.

Christmas Cards were a Victorian invention, the first card was made in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole (coincidently of the British Postal Service) and depicted a picture by artist John Horsley and wording that may be familiar “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. The idea to send cards to family, friends and business associates caught on quickly, no doubt aided by the enthusiasm of the British Postal Service!

The use of Holly and Mistletoe were both fully entrenched long before we began celebrating Christmas. Druids regarded Mistletoe as sacred and dedicated it to the Goddess of Love, whilst in British folklore Holly has long been considered a protector against evil, and leaves from a female holly bush under the pillow would allow the future to be foreseen in dreams.

The Queen’s Speech was first given by George V (things were different in the ‘30’s) but was first televised in 1957 on the 25th anniversary of her Grandfathers inaugural radio speech.

Tins of Quality Street were first available in 1936, five years after the first Chocolate Orange.

Opening Hours

Sunday 21st December 11am – 3pm
Monday 22nd December 11am – 8pm
Tuesday 23rd December 11am – 8pm
Wednesday 24th December 10am – 5pm
Thursday 25th – Sunday 28th December Closed
Monday 29th December 11am – 8pm
Tuesday 30th December 11am – 8pm
Wednesday 31st December 11am – 6pm
Thursday 1st – Sunday 4th January Closed
Monday 5th January Back to Normal

It’s never too late…

You still can’t find that perfect present and time is a ticking by – fear not help is at hand. Our 6 week Wine School makes a perfect gift at £150 and it’s not just a gift but an educashun too, win double, as they say. We’ve attached details – all it takes is a phone call and a credit card and the gift is yours, how easy is that! Our number is 020 8944 5224 or of course you could pop in and enjoy some wines tomorrow such as….

Tasting This Weekend

All sorts of fun to be had with us this weekend: we’ll be splashing the bubbly as a livener with newbie from New Zealand Leveret IQ3 (£19.99), followed by Kevin Judd’s Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (£17.99) also from NZ and firmly in the white corner. On the red front, Alex is threatening a guzzle on Henri Prudhon’s St Aubin 1er Cr ‘Les Frionnes’ 2009 (£23.99) a bit of a bobby dazzler from the Cotes De Beaune, which he thinks is bang on with his turkey. Wayne meantime, a bit of a Port monster truth be known, has been wittering on all week about the Krohn LBV 2007 (£17.99) which he thinks is a bit of a snip for a traditional styled LBV. We might even have a mince pie handy to go with that!

Christmas Jumpers

You know how it is, you’re in the pub, talk is cheap, anything and everything is possible. Last week Wayne’s wife very, very, very kindly gave us both a seasonal sweater to wear. Awesome, thank you very much, we chorused in unison. As we were in the pub and also in our cups, we boldly proclaimed that Saturday 20th December would be a great day to wear them. So we will be sporting our Christmas attire all day tomorrow – come and join in, just for a laugh!

If we don’t see you, do have yourselves a Joyeux Noel and a Bonne Année!

Fellow Wine Lovers,
This week has been a bit hectic if we’re honest, it took us ages to find the bulb that wasn’t working in the lights, Wayne was a bit wobbly on the ladder with the tinsel, and we haven’t even stuck the star together yet.
Elsewhere we saw Yodel wave the white flag really early (10th Dec is surely some record), Fidel Castro won a peace award, and Heineken has been struck off of the JD Wetherspoon’s Christmas Card list.
In wine news we discovered that Jose Mourinho’s price per play is a “nice bottle of red” if you’re a rookie, and two ladies in Abruzzo have been fined, and imprisoned, for stealing two bottles of wine from a church.
Tastings done
All our closed shop evening tastings for this year are now done, rest assured we’ll be back with some more in the New Year.
We finished on a bit of a high though with some stunning wines on Wednesday night, the Bollinger Grand Année 2004 (£70) was particularly fine, and, with a slice or two of smoked salmon, might just make the perfect Christmas morning breakfast.
Presents Wrapped
We have a perfectly shaped gift that keeps on giving. £150 will buy a place at the table on our six week wine course. We’ll talk about sniffing, slurping, swirling and of course wine. Wine is the entire point really, you’ll taste around 60 different ones including sweet and bubbly styles. It’s very easy to wrap up and full details are attached…
Stories Told
Those of you with a better memory than Wayne will recall us mentioning our new English bubbly Hambledon Classic Cuvée (£29.99). What we never got round to talking about was the history behind the wine. It seems that Hambledon was in fact the old name for Wimbledon which for many centuries was known as Hambledon on the Hill. It was only when Elisabeth Beresford wrote her thesis on a rare pointy nosed beast that inhabited the common at the top of the hill, that the area was re-named. So there you go folks, a fizz from Hampshire with a name uncannily like the ancient name for our area.
One for the Road
This week we will be pulling a cork, shooting the breeze and with a bit of luck selling a bottle of wine or two. To help us get through the day we will open…
Lunetta Prosecco Brut NV, Veneto £10.49 to help Alex celebrate a new grey hair in his beard (Italian at Uni blah blah)
Pulenta Chardonnay 2013, Mendoza £12.99 a lovely creamy Chardonnay from Argentina
Chateau Durandeau 2006, Bordeaux £9.99 absolutely delicious mature Bordeaux for a tenner!
Domaine de la Pointe 2010, Pomerol £34.99 because it’s Pomerol and our friend Mark used to go dancing with the lady who does the winemaking!
Taxi!
I would just mention our deal on Bollinger a six box for £198 makes it just £33 a bottle, at some point we will run out, you’ve been warned!
Ding dong
Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Nine quintillion, two hundred and twenty-three quadrillion, three hundred and seventy-two trillion, thirty-six billion, eight hundred and fifty-four million, seven hundred and seventy-five thousand, eight hundred and eight – 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.

That’s a mighty big number and is in no way linked to the fact that it was Wayne’s birthday earlier this week as that would just be a cheap joke.
Nor is it the scientifically predicted age that Madonna will stop making boobs to attract attention.

And it isn’t even the odds of Mario Balotelli re-reading and vetting a tweet before he sends it.

No, it’s a number invented by You Tube as a maximum for viewings of a single clip. They had to do this because a certain clip had exceeded their previous limit and so it had to be re-pegged. Any ideas on the clip in question? Kim Kardashian and her attempt to break the internet? Cats being cute? The naked man climbing through a baler and emerging as a hay bale with arms and legs? No, none of these I’m afraid. It was in fact Gangnam Style. Yep, a song with a strange fetish dance involving galloping. Are we really in a better place now than we were pre-world wide web?

Gone in 60 Seconds
Can’t stop the Block, you can’t stop the Block, Can’t stop the Block, you can’t stop the Block, Can’t stop the Block, you can’t stop the Block, Can’t stop the Block, you can’t stop…

By skilfully remixing cheeky, ambient-techno-rock beat combo, Apollo 440’s well known 1999 #10 hit Stop the Rock, I hope to have come up with a good enough strapline to remind you that you really can’t stop the Block. It may go out of commission for a while as stocks run low and vintages finish but it has its own potent life force that overcomes all adversity and allows it to return harder, better, faster and stronger than before. I am of course referring to the South African legend in its own lunchtime, THE CHOCOLATE BLOCK. (Cue applause)

Now the cheering has subsided I can confirm that we have indeed lassoed ourselves a reasonable chunk of the 2013 vintage. For those of you as yet unversed in this wine, here are a few bullet points:

• Produced by Boekenhoutskloof which, in their own words, ‘is the magical little wine farm where we raise the bar (and some of our more conventional neighbour’s eyebrows) when it comes to creating some of the country’s finest wines.’
• They are based in Franschhoek, South Africa, a wine travellers dream destination.
• It’s a blend, perhaps not for the faint-hearted, this vintage is 71% Syrah, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Grenache, 5% Cinsault, 1% Viognier. Wumf!
• Not only does it come in normal bottle size but we also have a limited quantity of magnums should there be requirement to share.
• It’s £23.99 per bottle and £50 for the oh-so-sexy magnum.
• We also offer 6 bottles for £120, which is the same deal we have done for the last two years and is still set up on the till so we might as well stick with it!
• There is no chocolate in it because that would be just weird.
• And wrong.

It won’t all be gone in 60 seconds but it is a popular wine, so don’t be backward in coming forward!

It’s a Wonderful Life
As it’s now December and we are all gearing up for the frenzy of festivities, we like to do our bit to oil the ‘wheels’ and ensure they are all kept well oiled – so it’s a great excuse for us to open a few more wines over the weekend to help this.
So what are we going to open?

M B Talmard Macon Uchizy 2013, Burgundy, France (£14.99)
Mallory and Benjamin produce just one cuvée of Macon each year from their 20 hectares just north of the Macon hills. Richer and riper than many, it has a generous weight, subtle, almost tropical fruit with aromas of melon, ripe pear, lemon oil and almonds and rich, bready character on the palate from extended lees aging and a long fresh, finish with hints of apple. A good all-rounder, from start to finish.

Mentoste Rioja Reserva 2004, Rioja, Spain (£17.49)
We first came across this wine in its 2001 incarnation and were smitten. This follow on vintage we loved too. Partly for only making it again in another stonkingly good vintage, but also because it was so delicious again. The plummy, cherry fruits are nicely accented by the wood spicing, and the tannins fruit and acidity are all really well integrated. A glassful of joy!

Pauletts Trillians Sparkling Red NV, Clare Valley (£14.49)
76% Shiraz, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon. Pauletts have been known for producing wines of finesse and elegance since their first vintage in 1983 (Neil had spent 10 odd years at Penfold’s before buying this property) This extraordinary speciality red sparkling wine is a cool climate blend from vines situated on the Trillians Hills in Clare Valley. It is a deep ruby colour with a lively mousse yet the savoury and plum aromas and subtle tannins give a lasting impression of elegance and well balanced restraint.

Soave Capitel Tenda Tedeschi 2013, Veneto, Italy (£12.99)
Ricardo Tedeschi is a man who takes his wines very seriously. His vineyards are all on slopes, aiding the ripeness of his grapes. He even leaves a few bunches to be a little overripe – adding them to the main blend improves the texture and complexity, he tells me. Whatever he does, it works for me – this is richer than many, with some orchard fruit notes and a creamy touch of almond alongside the minerality one expects from a decent example.

High School Musical
If you’re still struggling to find the perfect gift for your perfect person then perhaps we might be able to help. We’ve all been there with this marvellous person who is witty, engaging, caring and considerate but frankly useless when it comes to the wine list. ‘I’m sure the house white will be fine’ is a well used mantra but it does somewhat limit the excitement your tastebuds get.

So, solve the problem – send them to our wine school! After six weeks they will emerge blearily, having tasted about 60 wines and exercised their palate to its extremes. Rush them to the nearest restaurant and they will now confidently order the Gruner Veltiner or the Nebbiolo and know why they’re doing it. Everyone wins.

If you’d like to know more we have attached details or pop in and have a chat with us and we can show you how it works.

The Old Curiosity Shop
This Saturday is small business Saturday where small businesses around the country will be doing something special to attract your custom (Alex has even had a haircut!).
So please do shop at your local small shops, you’ll find them welcoming and friendly.

Devils Playground
Last up, it’s the Wimbledon Park Primary School Christmas shindig on Sunday from 12 until 3pm.
Alex will be performing his civic duty and serving mulled wine again but he is also threatening to bring some spirits down with him to sample. So if anyone wants to find out why we’re making such a fuss about our new Amaretto then Sunday might be just the time.

What colour’s the King, Alex? The King’s Ginger, Wayne…

Out.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Yesterday, whilst Alex was out picking up his daughter from school, he left his Amazon Wish list page open:

Fruit or Flowers
Linen, Silk or Nylon
Appliances
Blue Topaz

It’s fascinating what can be learnt about one’s business partner or is it perhaps worrying. Aware that it’s our Christmas Party coming up, I hadn’t expected to make a costume quite as elaborate as that which he seemed to be planning; maybe I hadn’t read the invitation closely enough?

On his return, I decided to confront him, or ‘out’ him, as I believe the vernacular goes…

Once his spluttering indignation had subsided and I had reminded him that if he is going to leave his computer open in a shop then people might well read it, he took great pleasure in reminding me that next Wednesday is our 4th Birthday as Park Vintners and that whilst trying to find an appropriate gift for the occasion, a website in the US had made these suggestions for fourth wedding anniversary gifts, which is kind of like a birthday but not really.

We did agree that we still need an explanation as to why anyone would give, or want to receive Nylon as a present?

Anyway, the point of this entire preamble is that we are about to be FOUR! We’ve come a long way baby since those frozen, snowy days in 2010. We’ve seen Yummy Lounge, Wine Rack and Bunting come and go; we await eagerly the arrival of Saucer & Cup (which is currently trading at the same level as Estella); we are still wowed on a daily basis by the range in the Co-op; and we are, as yet, unclear as to what the formula is for hairdresser super-saturation. Best coffee on the street – Cake Parlour. Best Source of local gossip – George from Strands. Best Wine Merchant – we do hope so!

So I told Alex, ‘the only way to celebrate such milestones is not with topaz, nylon or appliances but with bubbles and Bollinger bubbles to be precise’ and I continued ‘they’re turning on the Christmas lights and doing carols at the church on Saturday so, in essence, this is what we should do: have Bollinger open for tasting all day and also open some of the delicious wines from Domaine Treloar that were showing so fabulously on Wednesday evening. You choose a white to sample and we’ll be on for a good, fun day. Now shut your computer down and starting stocking my shelves please.’

He chose to follow my advice, put his laptop away and selected Tamboerskloof Viognier 2013 – £17.99 from Stellenbosch and a wine that really floats both our boats. If we add the Bollinger NV – £45 (or £33 per bottle if you buy six) we have whites covered.

The reds from Domaine Treloar that we will be opening are as follows:

Le Ciel Vide 2011, Côtes du Roussillon – £10.49 an unoaked red made from Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Carignan. It is the most approachable of their red wines with crunchy forest fruits and an earthy, smoky character that’d be great with a sausage casserole.

One Block Grenache 2011, Côtes Catalanes – £11.99. Since we listed this it has rapidly become a firm favourite. Mostly Grenache but with a small splash of Lledoner Pelut (not permitted in the AOC hence the Côtes Catalanes tag) this has lovely dark brambly fruit. Wayne loved it with some Merguez sausages and it would appear the team at jancisrobinson.com are regular guzzlers too; Richard Hemming certainly seemed to like it: “Dark chocolate – much blacker fruit than expected. Furry tannin, really aromatic and scented. Much more nuance than the typical voluminous Grenaches.”

Three Peaks 2011, Côtes du Roussillon – £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. Dry tannins that would support ten years of bottle ageing easily.”
Richard Hemming, JancisRobinson.com 17+ Drink 2013-2023

Motus 2011, Côtes du Roussillon – £16.99
“Based on Mourvèdre. Wow – creamy and sweet and soft, with gorgeous fruit purity. American oak aged (preferred to French to give a sweeter element and preserve the fruit). Long and fine. Smooth and succulent texture. Lovely tension between the tannin and acid.”
Richard Hemming, JancisRobinson.com 17.5 Drink 2014-2016

Definitely worth giving us a visit this weekend!

Other news

A number of you have signed up for, or signed up other people for our Wine School in January. We have attached details to this email but suffice to say if you want to learn how to survive the wine list/supermarket aisle/dinner with your boss scenario then this is the course for you. Six weeks of sniffing, swirling, supping and possibly even spitting 60 different wines will give you a fantastic grounding in all things vinous. It costs £150 per person and will definitely make the opening months of the New Year far more palatable!

It’s the time of year when we are welcoming new wines into the shop on a fairly regular basis – recent arrivals from Burgundy include whites from Domaine Jacques Prieur Meursault ‘Clos de Mazeray’ 2010 – £49.00, Etienne Sauzet Chassagne Montrachet ‘Les Encégnières 2011 – £52.00 and a red from Domaine J. Cacheux & Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Au Bas de Combe’ 2009 – £36.99.

Oh, and another we received, just in time for Thanksgiving, is Wente Southern Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 – £13.99 from Livermore, California a fabulous stablemate to the ever popular Morning Fog Chardonnay.

Finally

Regular readers will be used to us trawling through the newspapers looking for quirky items at which to point our derision. This week we refrained – there is so much sadness, death, murder and unpleasantness in the news, and even in sport right now, that I don’t think any of us need further reminders.

Hope to see you tomorrow for a glass of bubbles and a discussion of the gifting merits of Nylon!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s been a long week already and, according to Alex, it’s still only Friday morning.

It began slowly on Monday as we cleared away all the tickertape, bunting and crushed flags left by the ecstatic England Rugby and Football fans after Saturdays International Double Header. Fans young and old had thronged the streets until the early hours, singing and dancing good naturedly whilst celebrating our nations sporting prowess – not a bad thing was said about either team, not a single word of advice or criticism and certainly no one had an opinion on the innovative use of the up-and-under that goes backwards….

Tuesday saw Alex turning his teeth into tannin strainers as he put his palate on the line helping to judge at the International Wine Challenge. If you buy a wine at Christmas that has a Gold Medal on it and you don’t like it, he’s the one to blame! Apparently he tasted and wrote notes on 106 wines over the day and still managed to hop on the bus home without losing his footing, so perhaps he is the one deserving a medal.

Wednesday saw us split up, unable to confer but both able to use quality material from Wayne’s Joke Book as we ran tastings on opposite sides of Wimbledon. Hopefully the good people at Wimbledon High School were as happy with their evening as the fine folk from Wimbledon Park Primary School. Were they laughing with us or at us?

Thursday, perhaps as a result of Wednesday, saw sore heads in a number of school playgrounds and the first proper cold day in the shop. Brilliant. It did help to ensure that the Christmas Cheese and Wine tasting we held here last night was suitably festive and that everybody left with a nose like Rudolph’s! Can thoroughly recommend the Krohn’s Colheita 1995 – keeps the cold out and matched all the cheeses beautifully.

And now we bump into Friday and recognise him for what he is – the end of the week. Write an email, sell some wine, look forward to another barnstorming performance at Twickenham on Saturday and perhaps more excitingly, anticipate the Women’s football at Wembley on Sunday, England v Germany , should be a stonker! Shame there’s no public transport working…

Oh and we’re off to the Sloaney Pony tonight to taste the launch of a new Sambrook’s beer – how cool are we?!

So tell me, what did you get up to??

Tastings

As mentioned before, these are all sold out until Christmas. In the New Year we take a few weeks off before we jump back in at the end of January with our six week wine course. If you have someone in your household who keeps on saying

‘you know what, I wish I knew more about wine because every time I go out to dinner I find myself ordering the same thing and I’m getting REALLY BORED of it!!!!!’

Then stick our flier under their nose and riposte:

‘look, here’s your chance to swim with the big fish, to explore your potential, expand your horizons and also learn the difference between Shiraz and Syrah! Plus you get the chance to go out on a Wednesday night, have a couple of glasses of wine and mark it down as education – who ever thought you could do lessons in drinking like an expert! If you don’t do it, I will and you can look after the kids….’

So toss a coin, have an arm wrestle, run a race – do whatever it is you do in your household to win arguments and then sign up for the course. Alternatively hire a babysitter and both come.

Flier is attached with more substance and detail; suffice to say it is quite a popular Christmas gift…

Introducing Wasmund’s

Whilst we are talking of Christmas presents, these are awesome:

Wasmund’s Barrel Kit™ provides a uniquely creative opportunity for the casual or professional mixologist, the creative aspiring chef, or the true whisky connoisseur. Read more…
The kits include: Two-liter charred American White Oak mini-barrel and two 700ml bottles of Wasmund’s Single Malt Spirit.

These lines are lifted from their website but to put it in our words, how do you fancy making your own Whisky? You get a little wooden barrel to age it in and the raw spirit to make it and the rest is up to you. You probably might want to season the barrel first, I know Wayne is muttering about buying some Pedro Ximenez sherry to give it some character and then you stick the spirit in and age away.

£120 buys you the kit and sets you well on the way to becoming the next Glen Morangie!

Other Spirits

If life is too short for DIY then we do of course have pre-made Whisky too, nestled between the Amaretto, Gin and Vodka, just above the Kummel.

Black Ship 5 year Old £22.49 – distilled, blended and bottled in Scotland this is delicious. A blend of sweeter grain whisky and heavier pungent malts gives it some proper gravitas. The Malts hail from the Highlands and the Islands and are all a bit older than stated, giving it a really satisfying rounded character.
Actually we’re sure it’s the booty from a sunken ghost ship that washed ashore in Ullapool but surprisingly have no supporting evidence.

Old Reserve Finlaggan Islay Single Malt £29.99 – the best sales tool we have for this is the quote from Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2007:
‘BRILLIANT,…. this is simply awesome. If you don’t get a bottle of this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!’

Ardbeg ‘Uigeadail’ £60 – Smoky, brooding and unique. Silky and complex with smoked winter spices, coffee, warm cake and a touch of Montecristo Cigar. Christmas afternoon, bottled. The name is specifically formulated combination of letters designed to make English people feel stupid when they try to pronounce it and is in fact the local term for bampot.
Or perhaps it’s named after the Loch that provides the peaty water that brings the classic Ardbeg character but that sounds completely outlandish to me.

The Coopers Choice Glenrothes 1997 £69.69– bottled in 2014, 16 years old, from Speyside and from a batch of just 300 bottles, this is all a bit special. Lovely dollops of cream on the nose, an appealing smooth sweetness and some delicious dark fruits on the palate. When things got quiet for the Eagles and Van Halen in the 90’s, Glenn Frey and Dave Lee Roth decided that whisky could perhaps provide the financial security they were seeking and this beauty was born.

The Coopers Choice Port Charlotte 2002 £62.49 – bottled in 2014, 9 years old, from Islay and from a batch of just 330 bottles. A heavy peated Bruichladdich with tones of butterscotch, cream and violets in the background, some medicinal TCP, a really nice mouthfeel with some sweetness in there that makes it really, really attractive – clean, rounded edges and a lingering finish. You can thank the warbling, Welsh wonder-woman, Charlotte Church, for this one!

So, that’s about it from us this week except to mention that this evening Alex will be opening the Reyneke Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2013 £13.89 a tasty organic blend from South Africa chased up by Moulin des Chenes 2012 £13.99 from Lirac which is just to the west of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a classic Rhone blend which in essence means it’s delicious.

A number of people are starting their Thanksgiving celebrations this weekend so stock up on Californian Pinot Noir I say, and give thanks that Prohibition is over!

Slàinte mhor a h-uile là a chi ‘s nach fhaic!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new, occasional feature under the working title
‘Things we didn’t know we needed until someone far cooler than us told us!’

This feature struggled to life when we came across Moet Ice in the summer and has since been followed up by Guinness flavoured coffee from Starbucks and now we have a new contender for the ‘But why would you?’ Cup – 2014.

Let me introduce you to Olives Et Al, a specialist in things that kids tend to scrape off and leave on the side of their plates, based in Sturminster Newton in Dorset. Now, I have friends that used to live the life down in Stur and they always spoke highly of the local food opportunities and I am sure I have eaten more than one olive from Et Al.

But now they’ve blown it with the introduction of the ‘world’s first’ Alcoholic Olives. Because for me that is the one thing that has always been missing. When I have a bowl of olives in front of me the first thing that springs to mind is ‘wow, these look great but how much better it would be if they tasted of vodka.’

End of rant.

Another tail (you’ll see what I did here in a minute) that I read, once I had recovered from my olive induced hangover, was of a German Shepherd dog in Folkestone that had to be rushed to the vet having drunk a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. The story could have been tragic since the dog was found slumped unconscious, having chewed off the lid and consumed the sickly sweet contents leading to it having to be put under anaesthetic to prevent seizures.

The dog is very lucky to be alive and the vet warned pet owners to be extremely vigilant at this time of year.
We would like to add our own message to keep everyone safe – Bailey’s is awful for all breeds of dogs, cats, and quite probably hamsters too!

Forty one

Fab number this, very important in many ways, not least because it’s the age of a number of our friends.

It’s also a prime number, the atomic number of the element Niobium and also the lowest ground temperature, in Fahrenheit, at which snow will not form. Colder than that and we’ve got snow, kids.

Most importantly though, it’s the number of days left until Christmas. To celebrate this milestone we have been busy shopping this week. In typical festive fashion we have been chasing this season’s must haves, spending more money than we’ve got and waiting for courier deliveries that never turn up when they’re supposed to.

However the good news is that we are slowly building stock for the big day and some new wines are strolling into the limelight.

Hambledon Classic Cuvee £29.99 – the fizz we tasted last week and very much enjoyed. Significantly it has its own character and poise rather than trying to be a Champagne, which is refreshing.

From Burgundy, we have a small parcel of Remoissenet Chambolle-Musigny 2010 – £34.99, a brand new Meursault – ‘Les Chevalières’ 2010 from Domaine Coche-Bizoud – £31.99 and a wine that we sold for ages when we were plying our trade up the hill in Clapham – Rully ‘La Chaume’ 2012, Domaine Jacques Dury – £16.99.

South Africa sees the arrival of Klein Constantia Estate Red 2012 – £19.99 which we forgot to buy when we bought their white and their Vin de Constance!

11 bottles of Monte Real Gran Reserva Rioja 2004 – £26.99, an extremely tasty St Emilion from Chateau Jacques Noir 2010 – £20.99, and hopefully by the time you read this we’ll have some new whiskies on the shelf too.

This is just a snapshot of what is in stock, so how about we invite you over and you can see for yourself? This weekend we’ll taste a splash of Champagne – the Beaumet 2004 has now become Beaumet 2006 so we thought we should open it up. It would seem sensible, as the rugby is on, to taste the Klein Constantia Red but if you fancy some white, we’ll open up the Rully from Dury and then, to finish you off, we still have a load of sherries open from Fernando de Castilla.

Oh, and there’s always some spirits to try too…

Up ‘n’ at ‘em, I say,

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

A quick trawl around this week finds Tower Hamlets council so firmly on the naughty step that Eric Pickles has taken over.
Police in Sussex clearly have no work to do as reports come in they are investigating after ONE complaint that an effigy of Alex Salmond replaced Guy Fawkes on a bonfire in Lewes. Can nobody laugh at themselves anymore?

Whilst more locally, police probably should be investigating former transport minister Sadiq Khan, who was allegedly photographed talking on his phone whilst driving. Apparently, said mobile phone has been persistently going to voicemail ever since.

In wine news, the wine trade is abuzz with furious reports of outrage as Majestic Wine is charging its suppliers 4p per bottle sold from now until April to fund moving to a new warehouse. I may be a bit naïve but is it not the owners of the business who should invest in the infrastructure for growth?

Whilst we’re on the subject of wine news we’ll take this opportunity for a quick fanfare on our own trumpet. We were runners up (for the third time) in the Wines of Chile Independent Wine Merchant Awards. Sadly no wine-buying trip to Chile but it’s very nice to be in the top 10!

End of an Era 1
A lot of you have been sharing the binend delight that is Chateau Durandeau 2006 (£9.99) but now it is sadly nearly at an end. We think there should be enough to get us to Santa O’clock but we’re making no promises. We have just taken delivery of 20 boxes and there is one more lot to come, so if it is your favourite you have been warned!

End of an Era 2
Chateau Paillas 2002 (£12.59) is also coming to an end as the vintage has finally run out and we have just a few bottles left. But fear not, this is no Cahors calamity, as it will be moving on to 2005 later this month.

Tastings update
Just to keep everyone up to speed.

We have four spaces left on the Christmas Wine & Cheese Evening – Thursday 20th November – £20 per person.

We have two spaces left on the Fabulous Festive Fine Wines Tasting – Wednesday 10th December – £25 per person.
All the other tastings are sold out I’m afraid.

If however you fancy learning more about wine in the New Year then our wine school restarts on Wednesday 28th January – full details attached. Makes a fab Christmas present for those ‘impossible to buy for’ family members!

What’s in the Glass this Weekend?

We thought we’d take you all on a virtual trip to the Loire Valley. So picture if you will the two tone turrets of Angers, the beauty of Chateau Chenonceau spanning the river Cher, and perhaps the chalk caves where they grow mushrooms. Ok, so now you’re with us we’ll open with Val de Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2013(£9.99) a delicious Sauvignon Blanc from Valencay.

We’ll follow up with Terra Ligeria Gamay (£10.99) a crunchy red fruited little number that we’re hoping is going to tantalise those taste buds!

Friday, it’s the Fizz of the Week

In our quest to fill your glasses with deliciousness we taste lots of wines, discard the nasties and list the tasty ones as new wines. We thought you might like to join in the fun. So, as a Brucie bonus on a Friday evening, we thought we’d steal a feature from our friends in the north. We’re going to taste a new fizz Hambledon Vineyard Classic Cuvée which will be £29.99 (assuming we like it). It’s from near Waterlooville in Hampshire, which according to Uncle Google is 186 miles from Norwich.

Pop in for a drop of English!