The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Two headlines that caught my eye this week:

Women are better tasters than men
Parents warned: don’t reward exam success with alcohol

It would seem that little development is required on either of these headlines but I will add some flesh to the bones nonetheless.

Whilst it has long been accepted that the gatekeepers of all things tasteful are female, we had thought that owing to the wide variety of flavour experience us gents have encountered over the years – ranging from curries and hot chillis through sausage rolls and pickled onions to Guinness and flaming Sambuca’s – that our tastebuds would be akin to a trained sniper, able to pick off a flavour bomb at 1,000 yards. How wrong we were. It has now been proven that, in a blind tasting we were beaten by a camel and a koala bear and we know how discerning their palates are!

Apparently it’s all down to mothering, so we are unlikely to improve our prospects. The constant tasting and testing of food and drink before feeding their offspring has given women a significant edge, so there we have it ladies, you’re in charge!

As a small aside, one of the tests was a blind tasting of different sweetened waters. Yep, sweetened water. What did I miss? When did water need artificial sweetener added? I think I’m getting old…

Parents warned: don’t reward exam success with alcohol

The Big Brother fear is that ecstatic parents will shower their offspring with booze on completion of their exams this summer and some clever boffins somewhere have calculated that this will roughly equate to a bottle of wine per child. I’m not going to take any moral stance here but merely suggest that that nice bottle of wine you just bought from me would look much nicer in your wine glass in front of the telly than with a straw sticking out of it at a teenage house party in Putney.

So frankly yes, reward yourselves with alcohol for exam success and let the kids drink water with added aspartame. Oh, and in an open letter to Big Brother, might we enquire which is preferable a glass of wine in a home environment or a hip flask of vodka bought with fake ID from the dodgy offie….

Anyway, back on track now.

I can suggest all sorts of wines as suitable rewards but am particularly excited this week about my new wines from Galicia. We like Spain, we like the regional diversity, we like the accessibility of the wines and we love the flavours. For a long time we have been trying to find some decent red wine from the northwest and have finally struck gold. In list form our new red wines are:

Alodio Joven Ribeira Sacra 2012 £11.99
Casa de Paula Tinto Ribeiro 2012 £13.99

Our new whites are:

Bioca Godello Valdeorras 2013 £12.99
Quinta de la Erre Albarino Rias Baixas 2012 £14.99

And just for fun we picked up a new Vinho Verde from just over the border in Portugal:

Leira Seca Alvarinho e Trajadura Minho 2012/13 £10.49

I’ll be opening the Bioca Godello and the Alodio Joven today should you wish to taste them. The Godello is very appealing and more-ish with hints of orange and lemon on the nose following onto a vibrant, crisp and focused palate with hints of minerals in the background. Crying out for some fish or calamares. The red chap is made from one of our favourite lesser known varieties, Mencia. Similar in style and weight to the crunchy reds of the Loire Valley, zesty with dark fruits, fine tannins and a lick of spice – one of those wines that oft leads to the exclamation – ‘bugger, I’ve finished the bottle already!’

Come and taste them both today.

Whilst I’ve got your attention, have a quick look at your diary and see if you are free on Thursday 24th July at 8pm.
We’ll be hosting another one of our deeply educational Wine & Cheese events here in the shop. It costs £20 per person, is limited to a maximum of 12 people and will be the last one until late September. Spaces tend to go quickly so if you’d like a seat at the high table give us a call on 020 8944 5224, email us on shop@parkvintners.co.uk or book a ticket whilst you’re in here tasting the Mencia!

Not seen any sport this week, did I miss anything?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

In the land of televisions, the remote controller is king….

So here’s our problem, we don’t have enough tellies. The Test match starts at 11am, during which time Wayne wants to watch the Criterium-du-Dauphine cycling, then Queens wakes up for the tennis, now without Mr Murray. At 2pm the US Open golf starts its day and then later on we have World Cup football. Oh, and did I mention the Men’s Hockey World Cup semi-finals?

Tomorrow is no better as we have to contend with most of the above plus the rugby 2nd Test against the All Blacks, Australia v France, South Africa v Wales, Canada v Scotland, Argentina v Ireland plus at some point we have a shop to run. Basically we need 5 screens, and that’s before we put any music on Spotify!

And we can say goodbye to any real news. For the next six weeks it will be all about football. It’s a bit more exciting this time around though as clown-king Sepp Blatter seeks to surpass his own low standards moaning about a lack of respeck from everyone and displaying a Berlusconi-like desire to cling to power. Cannot exactly remember what happened to the robber Baron Silvio, but I’m sure the same fate would never befall Great-Uncle Sepp.

Oh and of course as I mentioned last week, England are going to win the World Cup – FACT.

Elsewhere English born and bred not-Scot JK Rowling has caused a kerfuffle by donating her money to the ‘wrong’ side; Nigel Farage has suddenly decided to declare over £200,000 of benefits in kind dating back 10 years – feels a bit like he’s clearing out all his skeletons before he hits the big time, god help us; and DJ Casey Kasem, the voice of Shaggy in Scooby Doo, has had end-of-life measures implemented by his daughter, which basically means food and water are withheld, a terrible way to go.

What about wine though? We’ve ordered a whole load of new Spanish wines, some spirits, a couple of new Italians and some Portugeezers – they should all be here next week probably just as it starts to rain. Rosé is still charging out the door incessantly and Bordeaux seems to have ground to a halt. Must be the weather.

The A-board outside the shop this week, for those of you who haven’t passed by, has been promoting wines ‘For those who don’t like Rosé’. We reckon that since we’re both here this weekend before Wayne flits off to ‘Abroad’ for a week, that we might as well open our suggestions – Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2013 – £17.99 from Marlborough and Geoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz 2006 – £29.99 from McLaren Vale. Sauvignon and Shiraz the way they should be, say no more.

If you’re at a loose end on Sunday, Alex will be propping up a stall at the Wimbledon High School Association Summer Fair from 12 until 4pm – the theme is Around the World in 80 days and he’s guaranteed to have a few wines open there too, so please go and keep him company and also make sure he’s standing up straight and smiling at customers.

Oh and last up, it’s Father’s Day on Sunday, let’s talk Amarone shall we?

*

Rick: We NEVER clean the toilet, Neil. That’s what being a student is all about. No way, Harpic. No way, Dot. All that Blue Loo scene is for squares. One thing’s for sure, Neil. When Cliff Richard wrote “Wired for Sound”, no way was he sitting on a clean lavatory. He was living on the limit, just like me. Where the only place to put bleach is in your hair.

Vyvyan: Living on Limits? What, are you on a diet?

Rick: No, I live on The Limit, Vyvyan. The Limit. Because I’m a Rider at the Gates of Dawn and I take no prisoners.

A life well lived.

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

They’re liars, the lot of them. Spinning webs of deceit and misdirection. I can confirm that the rain in Spain does not fall mainly on the plain. It falls mainly on the second tee at La Quinta golf course which to all intents and purposes is a mountain. Not a plain. We woz mugged.

Anyway, that’s in the past now, although I did bring you all back a souvenir:

Saturday, humid with some heavy and thundery rain. Mostly dry and fresher on Sunday then perhaps some further thundery rain overnight followed by showers on Monday (BBC Weather)

No thanks necessary.

We have a packed sporting calendar this weekend, commencing with Wayne’s early Saturday morning cycle all over Box Hill. Whilst he is completing this challenge, the saner amongst us will be tucking into a bacon sandwich and a latte in front of the box watching the first rugby test as England thump the Kiwi’s in their own backyard. Well, the sarnie and the coffee are certainly a possibility…

French Open tennis will be going on all weekend, the Men’s final I suspect will not be Murray-Gulbis, but as I write, anything could still happen.
And then, once the rain has finally given way to the hail, we have the Derby. Currently the going is good, and on that basis we are tipping EBANORAN and TRUE STORY. However if the weather does what it threatens to do, we are tipping the Irish horse with the longest legs!
Looking further ahead, we are going to win the Football World Cup in Brazil – FACT.

We are also feeling a trifle concerned at the lack of suitable wicket keeping cover in our Test side, considering the incumbent is just now returning from Achilles injury, but what do we know…

We know about wine, that’s what we know, so more about that now.
It may be hell and high-water tomorrow but let’s seize this sunny Friday. We haven’t opened our best-selling Rosé yet this year, so today would seem the perfect opportunity. Chateau de L’Aumerade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ Rosé Cru Classé 2013, Côtes de Provence, France – £13.99 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 1950 when the estate was designated “Cru Classé”. A lovely pale salmon colour, it is indeed cracking stuff with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral with a touch of minerality and an impressively long finish. We think it is the perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of foods, great without! Plus, as it’s sunny, we can offer you all 10% off a box of six, I know, summer madness!

We will also crack open our new red wine from the Toro region in Spain. This is another region where it shouldn’t rain very much (around 350-400 mm per annum) and the wine is made from 50 year old Tempranillo vines, known locally as Tinta de Toro. Following a 100 day recline in oak barrels the wine is sloshed into bottles, labelled up and then sent to us.

It’s called Cien Roble 2012, Toro, Spain – £9.49 and it’s darn delicious; if you don’t believe me then I’m more than happy to have your glass!

It’s International Sherry Week this week and there’s a bottle of Fernando de Castilla Oloroso – £14.99 open, just to show how international and sherry-tastic we are.

Something you may not know about Wayne is that he is a sucker for Awards Ceremonies, canapés, glad-handing and above all, small talk. The past two years we have entered the Time & Leisure Food and Drink Awards with success on both occasions – if we are still tantalising your taste buds and offering you superb customer service then please vote with your fingers at:

http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/food-and-drink-awards/2279-best-wine-retailer.html

Don’t think of it necessarily as a vote for Park Vintners, think of it as a way of getting Wayne back into his Dinner Jacket and spats…
D-Day today, blanket media coverage of events will never, ever do justice to what was achieved or how lucky we are.

Over and out.

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

What can we talk about this week? You all sent out of office replies to last week’s mail and are now hiding out in museums or have snuck off to the countryside for a few days. It’s a slow news week in the wine world as next week sees the London Wine Trade Fair so everyone saves up the press releases and gossip for that. How about a bit of sport?

The Giro d’Italia draws to a close this week with three mental climbing days including a climb up Zoncolan which at points is a leg wrecking 25% climb. A cable car for me please!

In the cricket England and Sri Lanka seem to have engaged in an “I can score less than you” competition, let’s see what happens in the test. Freddie Flintoff is un-retiring after four years of gardening, playing in the T20 Blast for Lancashire.

Scotland and Nigeria draw 2-2 after allegations of potential match fixing, I wonder if it’s that nice man whose dad stashed $20 million in a Swiss bank account for me? I really must send him that number.

We also noticed that for the years 2012 & 2013 close to 50,000 bottles House of Commons Sauvignon Blanc and 26,000 bottles of House of Commons Merlot were drunk by our esteemed leaders and their guests, not to mention 10,989 pints of Guinness. Thirsty work this politics business!

Tasting this Weekend
I’ve a suspicion that it’s high time we introduced you to our chum Bernie. He has a tower in his back garden you know! He also makes our delicious Chateau Carré Muscadet Sèvre et Maine (£10.49) which looks like a good place to start. It is crisp dry and summery (listen to me ever the optimist!) with a decent finish.
On the red front I’m going with a cracking red that’ll work a treat should the barbecue get a visit this weekend. Chakana Malbec (£11.99) is just the ticket, lush and juicy, a bit spicy and long in the finish with just enough tannin to keep it honest.

Final word this week goes to Maya Angelou: “Life loves the liver of it.”

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Students invent first hangover free alcohol The Drinks Business 21/05/14

‘Didn’t think students got up early enough to get hangovers’ harrumphed Wayne as we sat and sipped our coffees at 11am yesterday, having just opened the shop…

He might have a point regarding the reveille of our future leaders, but it seems that whether or not they suffer on the morning after, they do understand that there is a danger that they might in the future.

A synopsis: Rage on Saturday. Up for Church on Sunday.  The three students from California have devised a formula that they claim will quell the effects of a hangover if added to every fourth alcoholic drink consumed of an evening.  Not quite sure about the flavours or quantities of powder involved, but on their crowd-funding page they promote the idea of Prime (that’s what it’s called) mixed with vodka and lemonade.   It looks like blue WKD, which doesn’t strike me as the best brand alignment, but anyway.

I appreciate it’s an idea in development, that it is focusing on the loss of electrolytes and vitamins one suffers on a ‘night out’ and that it is potentially aimed at the youth market but it still doesn’t quite work for me.

I can’t imagine being out at an important dinner, supping on fine Bordeaux and the like before requesting a break in proceedings to hustle up a vodka and lemonade from the sommelier, add some blue powder to it, drain glass and then continue with the fine wine.

Even more, I cannot imagine adding aforementioned blue powder directly to my 2001 Fourcas Dupré or Moutard Brut Grand Cuvée and certainly not to my Ardbeg Uigeadail.  I’ll take the hangover, ta.

Or perhaps I’ll work on hangover alleviation through the age old, tried and tested systems.  Drink plenty of water and have blind faith it will be alright on the morrow.

For development of this wonder formula they hope to raise, through crowd funding, $20,000 by 15^th June.

By yesterday afternoon they had raised $520.

Elsewhere…

In a sort of ‘seven-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon’ scenario

·         we’ve got the golf on at Wentworth this weekend with a newly single Rory McIlroy trying to put his split from Caroline Wozniacki behind him;

·         Wozniacki, a Liverpool fan then tweets something along the lines that she knows she’ll never walk alone;

·         Craig Bellamy, ex-Liverpool player, announces his retirement;

·         Craig Bellamy is Welsh; 

·         so is Gareth Bale;

·         Bale will be playing for Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid in the Champions league final on Saturday night, in Lisbon;

·         Lisbon is in Portugal, as is Val de Lobo;

·         Val de Lobo is where Craig Bellamy, whilst a player with Liverpool, famously attacked John Arne Riise with a golf club;

·         and so we’re back to golf, and to Wentworth….

This Weekend

It’s another one of those bank holiday thingies this weekend and if you couple this with the start of half term then there are plenty of reasons to be filling your glass either to celebrate the break or to numb the pain.

We’ve decided to go to California this week since this is allegedly where the future cure for hangovers will be coming from(!) so we might as well look at what might produce them….

Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2012, Livermore Valley, California, USA (£13.99) – Wente’s vineyards were founded in 1883 and are still owned and managed by the ame family 4 generations later. They were also one of the first to plant Chardonnay and one taste of this suggests they are doing a fine job. Crisp with fine elegant apple notes and a supporting touch of oak, bang on with fish and chips!

Jewel Old Vine Zinfandel 2012, California, USA (£12.99) – An outstanding Zinfandel from Lodi, inland from San Francisco, with rich spiced fruit aromas and a touch of vanilla.  The palate is satisfyingly rich with layers of berry fruit, a touch of blackcurrant and some spiciness leading onto some fine tannins.  We found it to be an excellent partner to some Spenwood cheese recently.

We’re closed Bank Holiday Monday as usual

Have a great weekend folks – we’re cheering for Ernie Els as he designed the course and has his own wine.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Sometimes, this world we inhabit is fantastic. It is a world full of wine and bonhomie, thirsty friends, dusty roads to vineyards, sunshine, smiles, the odd hailstorm and the occasional hangover.

Sometimes this world we inhabit is bonkers…

This week we learned of a Bodega in Murcia, Southern Spain that has been playing music to their wine once it has been bottled. The theory is loosely based on the idea that playing music to pregnant mums influences the character of baby.

The playlist, chosen by the head of Spain’s Radio 3, was designed to soften the tannins and make the wine all silky and velvety, and seems to include a chunk of Sigur Ros and other relatively chilled tunes that wouldn’t be out of place at the Café del Mar.

We can’t help but wonder if playing Led Zeppelin’s “Trampled Under Foot” would have made a difference to the outcome.

As I say, bonkers…

Elsewhere in the news football managers have been sacked, county cricket is under an uncomfortable match-fixing spotlight and Bradley Wiggins leads the Tour of California!

More Beer – just in time for the sunshine.

Our chums at Sambrook’s have come up with a couple of delicious new beers.

Battersea Rye (£2.79) is made with Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt, Malted Rye, Crystal 400 and Chocolate Malt. Battersea Rye contains Northdown Hops for bittering and Bramling X and WGV Hops for aroma. Culminating in a bold and spicy rye ale with a well-rounded fruity flavour.

Battersea IPA (£2.79) contains the finest Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt and Caramalt, Chinook Hops for bittering and Chinook and Citra Hops for aroma. The result is a deliciously crisp, hoppy, citrusy India Pale Ale.

Cheese and Wine

The next cheese and wine tasting will be Thursday 26^th June at 8pm. Here as usual, £20 gets your place at the table. Give us a call or drop in if you fancy it.

Tasting This Weekend

There is a fair chunk of you a little disappointed to have missed our sherry tasting but, fear not, salvation is at hand! We shall open the Fernando de Castilla Fino En Rama (£9.99) that was such a hit on the night. This is very much Fino in the raw, only lightly filtered and much fresher than any of Wayne’s jokes. Who knows we might even be able to rustle up an olive or two alongside!

If you’re all sitting comfortably we’ll then zip across Spain diagonally landing in the hills behind Tarragona just south of Barcelona. In these hills lays the region of Montsant, which is home to our red choice, Sola Fred £10.99, a really winning combination of Mazuelo and Garnacha.

We’re off to change the playlist in the cellar!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

‘Just going to sit down for a minute and write the email’ I said to Wayne last Friday.  Or was it yesterday.  Or five minutes ago.  Not sure about everybody else but this constant bombardment of bank holidays is playing havoc with my sense of time and I’m fairly sure that whilst physically I am here on 9^th May, mentally I am still somewhere in late April.  Not that I’m complaining too much but it does feel like a blink of an eye since I last sat here writing the email.

Bank Holiday was spent celebrating birthdays, swimming through pools of wine, occasionally eating and playing beach cricket, English style, in our winter coats and shorts (although the wind did provide some interesting reverse swing potential).  Returning to London I discovered that Wayne had been so busy on Friday and Saturday that he had raided his bonus and gone on a sunny cycling holiday for a week!

So, on Tuesday I stood alone in the middle of a shop that resembled some sort of post-apocalyptic  supermarket sweep and said to myself ‘If he’s going to cycle up and down mountains for a week then I’m going to build some mountains of my own!’

Fighting talk that resulted in me receiving just over a tonne of wine yesterday, leading to a fabulously character building work out and repeated revision of the correct procedure for picking up boxes – straight legs and a bent back, right?

Now I’ve done my bit, it’s really over to you to start drinking the stuff.  If you’re wondering why the weather is going to be so awful this weekend it’s entirely down to the fact that I have good stocks of my three Rose wines with a fourth to arrive on Monday.  Fear not though, I have plenty of reds to keep out the chills and about 90 different whites relaxing in the fridge ready for those sunny spells we are often told to expect.  Oh, and there’s my dedicated sparkling wine fridge for those of you who believe that Friday is Fizz day.

As you can tell I haven’t seen much news this week – Sunderland surprisingly survive, Fulham frustratingly fall and the Premiership title stays up North.   Katie Price is getting a divorce (number 3) whilst expecting her 27^th child – I do wonder why she can’t find Mr Right….

We have Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris in court again sullying many childhood memories. 

And a warning to all those thinking about leaving the big smoke and seeking bucolic bliss elsewhere – according to UK census data, the top ten local authorities with highest proportion of over-65s are the following:

1. Christchurch, Dorset
2. West Somerset
3. North Norfolk
4. Rother, East Sussex
5. East Dorset
6. East Devon
7. Tendring, Essex
8. Arun, West Sussex
9. East Lindsey, Lincolnshire
10. New Forest

The future’s bleak, the future’s grey.

Anyway, enough rambling.  I’ll be out doing a delivery between 2pm and 4pm today (Friday) and after all that exertion I’ll probably need a glass of wine.  For white I’ll be trying Mezzogiorno Fiano 2012, Puglia, Italy – £8.69 a really tasty drop, indigenous to the south and frankly a bit of a well-kept secret.  On the red side I’m opening CentoPassi Rosso 2012, Sicily, Italy – £12.99.  My tasting notes say it’s organic with spiced black fruits, hints of cloves and decently full bodied.  Apparently the wine is part of a project involved in rebuilding communities and honouring Mafia victims using land seized from Mafiosi.  Nice story, nice wine.

So come and see me tonight or tomorrow and help me diminish this wine mountain I have built before his lordship tries to cycle up it!

Oh and I just received a text from the man stating he was just about to have some Paella for lunch, did I have any wine recommendations!  Not sure what to say really…

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Some headlines that caught or attention this week

·         Ban on Indian mango imports to EU comes into force (BBC)

Where does this leave Mango chutney?

·         Chelsea 1 Atletico Madrid 3 match report: John Terry and Jose Mourinho suffer Champions League semi-final heartbreak (The Independent)

No comment

·         Men fear ridicule over ordering wine (The Drinks Business)

British men enjoy drinking wine at home but avoid ordering it in a pub in case their friends make fun of them, a recent survey has claimed.  Man up.

·         Beer giant Lion buys NZ wine estate (The Drinks Business)

Lion New Zealand has purchased the Morton Estate wine brand, including its Stone Creek vineyard, strengthening its expanding wine portfolio.  Bugger – there goes another independent winery down the supermarket route.

And on a happier note:

·         Protester hits Nigel Farage with egg (BBC)

Anyway, back on track.  After the wonderful warm weather that helped us clamber through the last few days of April we welcome May with galoshes and an umbrella.  However we didn’t allow this climate change to dampen our spirits last night.  12 of us donned our sombreros, put Gipsy Kings on repeat, flipped the doorsign over to say ‘Siesta’ and settled in to some serious Sherry tasting. 

We were guided on our journey by the very talented Bea, a native of Cadiz who now lives over here and who was on hand primarily to pronounce all the names in a convincingly appropriate accent and also to give us the lowdown on all things Jerez.  Last year Bea received her Diploma as a certified Sherry Educator from the Consejo Regulador de la D.O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry – and as she also managed full marks in both parts of the exam, she was presented with a Venencia for coming top of the class!  Aha, an expert in our midst, not before time.

It was pointed out to us early on that it was a nice change for people to not be  forced to listen to us massacring our Spanish pronunciation but to actually learn from a professional at the top of her game.  So we sat at the back and tucked into tortilla español, habas fritas, almendras, aceitunas, chorizo ibérico de bellota, jamón ibérico de Extremadura curada 24 meses,  pan y chocolate de verde y negros.  Oh, and some sherries from Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla too.

Whilst skulking at the back we took the opportunity to make some notes which we have taken the liberty of repeating here:

Classic Manzanilla 15% – £7.99

Not to be confused with camomile tea (same name be warned!) this has spent 3 years under flor. Fresh and tangy with fresh apple and floral notes and a touch briny into the finish, Wayne’s having this with tonight’s fish and chips.

Fino En Rama 15% – £9.99

This is raw fino, no clarification just a very gentle filtering, it has spent 6 years ageing under the flor. Richer and fresher than the Manzanilla with an almost honeyed note to it, Alex suggests “gambas al pil pil” but then he would wouldn’t he?

Antique Amontillado 19% – £30.99

Oh my! This little number has been ageing in a barrel for 20 years, having started life under flor before additional alcohol added to kill the flor allowing oxidative ageing. Nutty, caramel notes in the nose but the palate is bone dry and deliciously complex. Jamón Jamón!

Classic Oloroso 18% – £14.99

No flor involved here, just oxidation over the course of 12 years. More viscous in the mouth, yet still dry it presents spicy, rich dark fruit notes and a long pleasantly warming finish. We like the idea of mature cheeses with this, but if more serious sustenance is what you’re after game and braised oxtail are good ideas.

Antique Palo Cortado 20% – £34.99

A real treat. This rarity starts life as a fino until the flor goes wrong. Luckily for us when the flor went wrong here it didn’t turn into sherry vinegar but into this rare beast that has hung out in a barrel for 30 years just becoming awesome. It has a lovely umami character that’d be mighty fine with some foie gras. If that’s not your bag then why not give wild boar a go!

Antique Pedro Ximenez 15% – £30.99

When the grapes we on the vine for this Alex hadn’t started shaving! Thirty years in barrels has made this soft, rounded and properly sweet with more sugar than is mentionable in polite company. This is unctuous and delicious and most of us enjoyed it with some 70% Green & Blacks. Chocolate dodger Alex loved it with salted almonds, and there was talking of marinating raisins in it, for a naughty apple strudel!

Solera Gran Reserva Brandy 38% – £50

One of the smoothest brandies that we’ve had the pleasure of. Drier than most Spaniards, a bit richer than cognacs and with such a long finish we’ve forgotten where we started!

Brilliant. 

It was a fabulous evening, the flamenco singers arrived at 1am, Wayne re-introduced us to Gin y Tonica (50/50), we danced until dawn and then went for a swim in the sea… yo no soy marinero, soy capitan, baile la Bamba…..

We’ve still got the Brandy here to taste and joining it this weekend will be…

Bank holiday on Monday so we’ll be shut, business as usual Tuesday onwards.  We have a delivery into town on Tuesday though, so we’ll be here from about 4pm onwards.

Avoid the tube strike and drink wine in Wimbledon Park I say…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Whew! What can we say?  The whispering Scot has been given the old heave-ho just before the end of the season and the gobby one from the class of ’92 steps up to the plate for the last few games.  Will he be any good or are all his skills in sniping.  We watch and wait!

Elsewhere the BBC has been fielding complaints about the mumbling in their recent Jamaica Inn, I have to say we gave up after 20 minutes on episode 1.

Whilst we’re shooting the breeze about Cornwall we notice the Cornish are over the moon at being granted “minority status for their culture, language, and identity” which puts them on a par with Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.  Ideal.  It’s only a question of time before Mr Clarkson upsets them I’m sure!

In wine news, an app has been developed that will help root out the growing problems of wine counterfeiting that is happening in China.  Talking of which, some of you may remember us reporting the sale of a 1787 bottle of Chateau d’Yquem as the world’s most expensive white wine some time back.  Well it seems the chap who paid the $100,000 is now suing the seller alleging the wine to be counterfeit.  We’ll keep you informed!  As Jancis Robinson wrote today in her Purple Pages email: ‘if I have one piece of advice from this unsavoury episode, and indeed in general, it is this: do not on any account pay a four-figure sum (much less the five-figure one asked for the Yquem) for a bottle of wine.  Why would you, when there are so many absolutely delicious bottles available for two-digit sums?’

Case closed.

Cheese and Wine

Thanks to all who attended our Cheese and Wine tasting last night, great fun was had by all. The next one is Thursday 22^nd May at 8pm.

£20 per person as usual, give us a bell if you’d like to join the fun: 020 8944 5224.

A Certain Age?

If you’re having a 40^th birthday (or know someone who is) we have just the thing for you.

Kopke 1974 Colheita Port – £90 

Colheita is an aged tawny style of port from a single year.  By law they must be aged for a minimum of 7 years but in practice often for much longer.  This beauty we tasted in February just a couple of weeks after it was bottled.  Talk about liquid loveliness…it had it all going on with subtle cherry fruits, caramel, a touch of almond and honey maybe even a gentle roast coffee bean thing… wowsers, a glass that really commanded our attention.

Anyway, we think it’d be a lovely way to celebrate being 40, it’s had a great life, hanging around in a barrel (known here as a pipe!) for 40 years, getting more complex and softer with age before bottling in January.

If you’d like a bottle let us know, otherwise we’re quite happy to keep it for ourselves!

Time to Exercise Democracy – Time & Leisure Food and Drink Awards

For the last two years you’ve all been kind enough to vote for us in the “Best Wine Retailer” Category which resulted in us winning.  We’d love to win for the 3^rd year running so please vote for us on the link below and tell all your friends too.

http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/food-and-drink-awards/2279-best-wine-retailer.html

There’s also the European elections coming up but we’re not running in those…

Tasting this Weekend

We’ll taste Domaine Treloar’s One Block Grenache 2011 (£11.99) as our red wine which, as the name suggests, is 70% Grenache with a large splash of Lledoner Pelut (30%) which we are told is related to Grenache and apparently has hairy leaves.  Pronunciation competition to follow.  Meanwhile, white wine wise, Alex is pulling corks on our Côtes du Rhône Blanc ‘La Fleur Solitaire’ 2012 (£10.79) which is a blend of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne.  We think they’re both delicious, they think we’re fab, come and see what you think!

Yeghes da!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Whilst we wait for Wayne to finish his Reverse Warrior Pose and I calmly rise from my Salutation Seal, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support and sponsorship you showered on us for the London Marathon.  We are truly grateful and can happily report that we both made it round, we both got a medal which must mean we won something, and we both waddled into work on Monday afternoon at 3pm, having ‘worked from home’ in the morning, without the aid of sticks or zimmers.  Wayne was back on his bike yesterday, I went for a swim last night, both of our wineglasses were filled to the brim on Sunday night, so life has now returned to as close to normal as it ever gets.

For the stat minded amongst you, Wayne completed it in 4.27, I did it in 4.40, we raised over £3,000 for The Children’s Trust and each expended over 5000 calories.  According to my watch I ran 28 miles which would imply I was weaving around a bit and I stood in a queue for the loo just before Tower Bridge for 7 minutes.  There you go, you wanted stats.

When I say life has returned to normal, I lie a little.  Shop life in Arthur Road is never normal in school holidays, even less so in the week before the 4 day weekend, so I fully expect to see a mountain of ‘I am out of the office until Tuesday 22^nd April’ messages in response to this email.

For those of you who are still around, here is everything you need to know for the coming weekend.

OPENING HOURS

We are open today (Thursday) until 8pm as usual. 

Tomorrow being Good Friday, we are only open from 11am until 3pm to cover the lunchtime quaffing. 

Saturday we’ll be here beaming with bonhomie from 10am until 6pm.

Sunday and Monday we will be closed whilst we embark on a Marathon (or should it be Snickers) of chocolate consumption followed up by a spot of DIY with perhaps a splash of car-washing.  Living the dream my friends, living the dream.

WINE SCHOOL – Wednesday 23^rd April – Wednesday 4^th June

So, don’t tell all the folks who are out of office, but we still have a few seats at the table for our next wine course which starts next Wednesday.  It will change your life, your confidence when confronted with winelists will be boosted and, as recent participants have testified, it will change your Wednesday evenings and perhaps your Thursday mornings too!

TIME & LEISURE

It’s that time again when we beg for your votes.  We are still awaiting the complete details and once we know we’ll let you know and hopefully you will vote for us again!

TASTING THIS WEEKEND

Just because they’re all on hols that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves.  I lied earlier when I said I would be filling up with chocolate on Sunday because in fact I hate the stuff.  What I love however is The Chocolate Block 2012 made by Boekenhoutskloof (£22.99).  70% Syrah, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Grenache, 6% Cinsault, 1% Viognier.  I repeat: 70% Syrah, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Grenache, 6% Cinsault, 1% Viognier.  That’s one hell of a wine – it will be rubbish with chocolate but do come and help us decide what it would be great with.  Oh, and if you opt to buy six, we can definitely make it worth your while!

We’ll also taste a white and since we seem to be in a South Africa mood, let’s try the Reyneke Organic White 2012 (£13.89).  A blend of 40% Chenin Blanc, 35% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Chardonnay (don’t worry, I won’t repeat them this time) we were really quite taken with it when we tried it a month or so back.  We were looking for something red from Austria and ended up buying this as well – a win double, as Wayne would say.

GOOD LUCK, BABY

A couple of our very good, if recently lapsed, customers are due to give birth over the weekend – hope everything goes well, you know who you are.  The prospect of labour probably makes my 7 minute loo queue on Sunday seem like a stroll in the park!

So, your to do list: swing by tomorrow or Saturday, taste some fine wines and sign up for Wine School.

Done.

Happy Easter y’all,