The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Reading the headlines this week you could be forgiven for thinking we’ve entered some dastardly 80’s/90’s time warp. We’ve had coal mines closing, ministers expense scandals, The Masters without Tiger Woods, even Norman Tebbitt demanding resignations. Clearly there are positives (We’d rather Betty Boo than One Direction and Twin Peaks on the TV wasn’t so bad) and negatives (not sure we need the Austin Montego & Jive Bunny again?).  

A quick check at the sports pages brings us back to reality though, Mourinho is difficult to miss, the cricket seasons is about to start (Test Cricket for Ireland and Scotland, who’d have thunk it?) and Arsenal get a chance to underwhelm in their last hope of silverware for another season. Paris – Roubaix bike race this weekend too with over 5 million cobbles to ride over, I think they’ll need padded shorts and gloves!

In wine news GreenBottle, Merseyside producers of paper wine bottles, have gone into administration just 5 months after launching, after their major investor shredded plans to continue. Top Spanish producers Vega Sicilia have written off 500,000 bottles due to excessive sediment problems in their 2009 Pintia and 2010 Alion bottlings. You’d have thought at those prices they could afford a filter!

Meanwhile back in Wimbledon Park

The kids are off, the sun is shining and it’s nearly time for Wine School. 

That’s right Wednesday 23^rd April we’ll kick off at 8pm. We already have a selection of willing students keen to try the selection of wines and discover new wines, words and flavours.

We do, however, have a few places left. So throw caution to the wind, come and join them, some of you have been threatening to join in for months (you know who you are!).

Join up for our six week wine school, starting on Wednesday 23^rd April.  It costs £150 per person, takes place on consecutive Wednesday evenings (skipping one for half term) and you will taste somewhere in the region of 60 wines over the course.

Places are limited to 10 people, 5 have already been filled so drop us a line and book your place today. Don’t you want to strike fear into a sommeliers heart by demanding to know ‘which Riesling is drier the Marlborough or the Alsace?’

Full details attached, don’t delay.

This Weekend

We thought we’d give a bit of air time to a pair of tasty charmers from the French countryside. Cuvée Jean Paul Sec (£7.49) is a deliciously crisp dry white from Gascony, whilst its partner, the imaginatively named Cuvée Jean Paul Rouge (£7. 49) is a brambly glass of loveliness from the Vaucluse.

Also This Weekend

The day has finally arrived. Sunday is London Marathon day and we’ll be chasing an enormously impressive field of World record holders, Olympic medallists, and celebrities, but are hoping to beat the rhinoceros. If you’re running – good luck, have fun, and give us a wave if you see us.

We’re raising money for The Children’s Trust. Some of you have been kind enough to make a donation and some asked us to send the link again…

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WayneAlexRunLondon

Thanks for all your support and advice throughout the training.

After our exertions we will open later on Monday 14^th April at 3pm.

Best wishes,

Wayne & Alex.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Normally at this time of year we’d have a chat with you about the impending ‘En Primeur’ campaign in Bordeaux.

This year I don’t know where to start, we all know what a harsh summer 2013 was across western France, we read the hail reports, saw pictures of the damaged cars and roofs, even a pile of hailstones the size of golf balls.

We’ve spoken to various chums who spend a good couple of weeks in Bordeaux every April dashing from tasting to tasting in convoys of minibuses. This year many of them aren’t going, citing a mixture of reasons – disappointment at the last couple of year’s campaigns, the feeling that the public are fairly ambivalent to the campaign.

Robert Parker, one of the world’s most followed wine critics, announced he wouldn’t be tasting the wines till later and then Chateau Pontet-Canet really put the cat amongst the pigeons by being the first leading estate to have ever released its ‘En Primeur’ price before anybody had tasted the wine.

So for an ‘En Primeur’ campaign that was looking like a damp squib it seems to have become very interesting. For the right reasons though, I’m not so sure.

The wines, the wines tell us about the wines. Well we haven’t tasted any of them yet, we have read a lot of reports and would have to say “mixed bag” is probably a good case scenario. The first growths and top performers will always make a decent wine because they can afford to use really only the very best parts of the harvest. In the words of the director of Cos d’Estournel “Normally you make wine to make money but in 2013 you needed money to make wine.”

I don’t think we’ll be dipping our toes into the Bordeaux 2013, especially after reading “variable, sometimes quite pleasant” as a description of the reds by Professor Denis Dubourdieu of Bordeaux University.

Our money might sneak into California (Napa Valley was described as having “An ideal season—dry conditions and a long, sunny summer” and Santa Barbara as having its “Second year of near-ideal growing conditions”). Or perhaps Hawkes Bay in New Zealand where winemakers are talking of “the stuff of legends” or “a vintage to remember”.

Anyway that’s enough guff from me, normal service will resume next week, but in the meantime we’ll be opening some bottles as usual on Saturday.

In the white corner… one of our new finds from Hungary is Tournai’s Zenit (£10.59) a little different and very tasty.

In the red corner we’ll try something a bit more mainstream in Marktree Cabernet/Merlot (£8.29) a crunchy easy drinker from South Eastern Australia.

Nice weekend one and all!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Two very important events to remember this weekend.

·         First up we have Mothering Sunday on well, Sunday.  Historically this has been celebrated by breakfast in bed (usually from a grumbling husband querying how this became his job when this mother clearly isn’t his mother – kids, get up!!) followed up by a big Sunday lunch out somewhere nice, bunches of flowers, hugs and kisses, an apocalyptic family row mid-afternoon, a cup of tea and then home.

According to Wayne’s close associates at Wiki there are other names for this day, names that seem strangely appropriate – Refreshment Sunday, Pudding Pie Sunday (apparently popular in Surrey), Mid-Lent Sunday (makes sense, but not a terribly imaginative naming), Simnel Sunday and Rose Sunday.  For me Refreshment Sunday has the most appeal, my son calling it Bothering Sunday made me laugh and hopefully my wife will like the perfume we’ve bought her… oh dammit, that’s that cat out of the bag!

·         The secret to a successful Mothering Sunday this year is in the timing.  No-one is going to thank you for turning up at the restaurant an hour late so do remember to put your clock forward an hour at 0100 hours on Sunday morning – you may lose an hour in bed but you can be re-juvenated by the knowledge that it is now summertime – get your shorts on, last one in the sea is a rotten egg!

Should you decide that perfume/chocolates/flowers are not enough for the other lady in your life and that a large glass of something is what she really deserves then we can heartily recommend any of our pink fizzes:

·         Billecart Salmon  Brut Rosé NV – £62.49

·         Ruinart Brut Rosé NV – £57.00

·         Moutard Prestige Brut Rosé NV – £29.99

·         Mayerling Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé NV – £14.99

·         Mimi Pink NV – £10.99

All fizz benefits from a ‘6 for 5’ discount – depends how many mothers you’re buying for I suppose!

Other things worth considering, going forward

I’m a Spurs fan, but in spite of that, for a long while I thought (and wagered) that Arsenal had a good chance of sneaking the Premiership title.  I was woefully wrong.

As summer approaches and we consider cooking outdoors, it appears that according to the Universidade do Porto and its findings published in the ACS’s Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry,  marinating your steaks in beer for a few hours can reduce levels of harmful carcinogens apparently found in meat cooked over the coals.  All beer is good, dark beer seems the most effective.  All this we read in the Drinks Business earlier this week, not the Daily Mail where, allegedly, it also appeared.

We beat Sri Lanka in the T20 with some fantastic power batting – just don’t get too used to it.

Wine School creaks back to life on Wednesday 23^rd April at 8pm.  It’s an absolute blast, come along.  We’re just short of half full as I write, so do put your name down soon if you’re hoping to join in.  Further details attached, and if you want a better sales pitch than ‘it’s a blast’, talk to Wayne, he’s got all the patter.

Dates are from Wednesday 23^rd April through to Wednesday 4^th June – with a week off on Wednesday 28^th May for half term.  £150 gets you a seat at the table, wine and crackers and more besides.

And now some wine

I think, since we’ve mentioned it more than once recently, we should open the Mimi Pink (£10.99) from New Zealand as a starter and then as we mentioned barbecue, move on to Hacienda del Plata ‘Zagal’ Malbec (£14.49) which is a fabulous drop we listed almost a year ago now.  It really reminds me of some of the wines I used to sell in the mid to late 90’s when Malbec was more about cherries, a dry well, structured palate with no artificial sweetness that sometimes winemakers use nowadays to disguise other shortcomings…  We like it, so are very happy to have it open all day!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

‘I would have no objection to eating badgers. I have no objection to eating anything very much, really…’

This week a famous television cook died.  I realise this is news that you have all heard but if, like me, her television appearances passed you by and you only knew her as one of the Two Fat Ladies then might I suggest you go to www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/10702886/Clarissa-Dickson-Wright-obituary.htmland discover what one needs to do to become ‘a character’.

As ever, when one chapter finishes a new one begins and it is with much excitement that we hear promising young talent Vera Lynn is to release a new album on 2^nd June.  They don’t make them like they used to.

So what else has been going on?  Summer showed its face briefly last Sunday, the Irish continued their drinking spree from Cheltenham, via Paris on Saturday and then everywhere on Monday, St Patrick’s Day.  Wayne went running.  Over and over and over again.

Oh, and the budget.  Just to clarify duty did go up, it just didn’t go up by as much as it was programmed to.  A reprieve of sorts, but still an increase.

Our most recent Wine School wrapped up on Wednesday evening – everyone passed with flying colours and we sent them off into the cool night air filled with Champagne, broad ranging knowledge and an ability to hit a spittoon at 20 feet.  Congratulations on all your achievements.

Our monthly Wine and Cheese tasting last night just went further to prove that the more you study something the more complicated it becomes!  When we started these evenings 3 years ago we thought we had a pretty good idea about what went well with what, and why so – now we realise that in fact we know nothing. The silver lining to this cheese-cloud is that we will be continuing to present these evenings for a long time to come – the next one on 24th April is already sold out, but we have plenty of space on the following one on Thursday 22^nd May at 8pm, here in the shop.  £20 per person, usual first come, first served rules apply, cash is king.

Wayne went shopping this week and bought some new things and some old favourites.  Our Biltong display now looks more mountain than molehill but hopefully this will now last us more than just the weekend.  Not content to settle for the dozen or so new wines we listed two weeks back, he has now bought a new sparkling rose from New Zealand – MIMI ROSE £10.99 – which he tells me is going to be this summer’s top tipple. 

Plus he has fiddled around with our Loire range a bit and bought two new wines – a Chardonnay from Domaine Herbauges who are based just west of Nantes in the heart of Muscadet country.  I know, a Chardonnay from there, who knew?  Anyway they age it ‘sur lie’ like they do with Muscadet, it is produced from old vines and sees no oak, which results in a deliciously fresh and lively wine with a tang of lemon acidity. Beautifully balanced and a delight in the glass.  Domaine Herbauges Moulin d’Argent Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay 2012 – £10.99 in fact let’s open it for tasting and we can all have a slurp.  He also bought a light red (Gamay) whilst he was floating around, which will certainly be a treat when the sun shines – L’Abbaye 2012 – £10.99.

Whilst we’re talking tasting, we have been meaning to open the Motus from Domaine Treloar – £16.99 for a couple of weeks now and then we read this:

Treloar, Motus 2011 Côtes du Roussillon 17.5 Drink 2014-2016

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. (RH)

Written by Richard Hemming on www.jancisrobinson.com we realised we had to get it open ASAP.  5pm this evening, see you then.

If you read about the wine course finishing and thought ‘Darn, I can’t believe I missed that again, I wonder when the next one is as I’m sick and tired of being laughed at when I miss the spittoon’ have no fear, it will be returning on Wednesday 23^rd April.  As ever it is a six week course, interrupted by a week off over half term and finishes up on Wednesday 4^th June.  8pm start every Wednesday, 60-odd wines over the course, £150 per person.  Forget about the beach-body-beautiful for your summer hols and focus on the knowing what to have as a sundowner!  See the flier attached for more info or pop in and have a chat with us about it – we have a maximum of ten spaces so don’t be backward about coming forward!

35km this Sunday, Richmond Park, 10am – who’s with me……..??

Alex & Wayne

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well I have to say Alex called it well last week with England beating Wales in a very exciting match on Sunday. The Six nations looks too complicated to call for me, but if I understand it correctly, we need a baby to be born to a prop, an early sunrise in Rome, croissants for breakfast and then if all these stars align, there is an outside chance England may just win the Six Nations. I can’t believe I might have to cheer the French!

Alex’s tip for the Gold Cup cheated and ran in a different race, so that kind of blew our Cheltenham tip out of the water.

Elsewhere in the news the Bank of England’s very own George Clooney suggested that if Scotland gains independence then RBS will have to move to England – Royal Bank of Sunderland anybody? George Soros has warned that Europe could face 25 years of stagnating; having seen what stagnating can do to a pond I think we should try and stop that or else everything will be slimy and smell of eggs.

Wine News

Following on from the impressive list of new additions last week I’d just like to mention that Meerlust Red 2011 (£12.99) is back in stock.  The famed Stellenbosch estate didn’t make any Rubicon for this vintage so it is even tastier than ever! Also welcomed back to SW19 is the Aromo Viognier 2012 (£8.49) from Luis and the team in Maule Valley.

Marathon News (A calendar month to go!)

Mo Farah who, like Wayne, is making his full London Marathon debut in a month’s time, has returned from his altitude training in Iten, Kenya. He tweeted far too many pictures of sunshine whilst we were running in the rain. (Jose Mourinho style mindgames?)

Meanwhile our intrepid heroes are continuing their training plans apace. Both clocked up 30km runs last week, getting a bit of altitude in Richmond Park in Alex’s case, and over Herne Hill in Wayne’s. We’re a bit amazed at how hungry we get on occasion, and can both say with hand on heart that cold baths are an unpleasant experience.

The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, multiple disabilities and complex health needs.

Wayne is running for these guys and spent a great day there recently seeing what fantastic work they are doing. There are about 70 children resident and they have great facilities, including a fabulous tree house with wheelchair ramp (the longest in Europe!) and tracking under the corridor that allows the children to program their wheelchairs to take them between classes.

If you’d like to know more about The Children’s Trust there is a programme on BBC1 this Sunday 16^th at 4.35pm, presented by Richard Hammond.

If you would be able to make a donation, and become a whisper of encouragement in our ears for 26.2 miles please go to

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WayneAlexRunLondon

We, and more importantly the children, will be eternally grateful.

Tasting This Weekend

We’ll give air to a couple of those new arrivals from last week. How about Marktree Semillon/Sauvignon (£8.29) from Western Australia in the white department, and Three Peaks (£12.99) a delicious Côtes de Roussillon from Domaine Treloar, owned by  Jonathan and Rachel Hesford, our newest best chums in South West France.

And lastly…

From Drinks Business “Wine scientists in Australia are recreating the conditions of a bushfire to help determine the effects of smoke on wine production.”

Firstly, surely a clue is in the word smoke.

Secondly, given that at least 4 million hectares of land have been affected by bushfires since 2000 is there a need to recreate them!

A nice weekend everyone!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Going to cheat a bit this week by reviewing last week’s email and assessing the impact.

Weather

The weather seems to have listened to our demands, at least in the short term, and has voted to continue with sunshine over the weekend by all accounts.  No need to thank me.

Sport

We all lost our pound on Sunderland last weekend in the League Cup but for the first half it looked like we could be millionaires.  We have however invested another pound on Vino Griego at 100-1 in the Cheltenham Gold Cup next week – as you can imagine this selection wasn’t made looking at a form card.  Elsewhere we have beaten the great Danes at football, blown away the Windies in the cricket and look forward to harpooning some Wales on Sunday…

Music

Now That’s What I Call Music seems to have tweaked some interest amongst you last week.  One customer was disappointed to find us listening to the rugby on Saturday – he was keen to catch up on some Kajagoogoo – whilst Belinda Carlisle found herself quickly dumped into Room 101.  This week Cat Stevens seems to have gone down well on Tuesday and Astrud Gilberto made us all smile in the sunshine today.  Expression of the week: Wayne’s face when my daughter asked him to put on some One Direction, which was swiftly followed by mutterings of ‘we’re not running a democracy here, luv!’

Currently playing Bryter Layter by Nick Drake, in the hope that we might be…

International News

The Sherry tasting in May has now completely SOLD OUT.  This is as far as I’m going with international news, the situation in Ukraine not being something to be flippant about.

This week in brief

We have had an absolutely brilliant week this week.  Having been to all sorts of tastings over the last month or so, we have finally managed to get some of the wines we tried on the shelves and very excited about it we are too.  Now, I’m not going to write descriptions about each wine here but I will give you a list of all the new wines to whet your appetites:

Castanzu Vermentino 2012, Sardegna, Italy                £8.49

Centopassi Rosso 2012, Sicily, Italy  £12.99

Domaine Singla ‘La Crinyane’ 2009, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, France             £23.99

False Bay Shiraz 2012, Western Cape, South Africa                £8.49

Gran Passione Rosso 2012, Veneto, Italy       £12.99

Johanneshof Reinisch St. Laurent 2011, Thermenregion, Austria                  £17.99

Le Ciel Vide 2011, Côtes du Roussillon, France          £10.49

Le Maudit 2011, Côtes du Roussillon, France              £15.99

Marktree Semillon/Sauvignon 2012, Western Australia       £8.29

Marktree Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, South Eastern Australia           £8.29

Motus 2011, Côtes du Roussillon, France       £16.99

Muscat de Rivesaltes 2011, France     £11.99

One Block Grenache 2011, Côtes Catalanes, France £11.99

Rio Cassero Brunello di Montalcino 2008, Tuscany, Italy  £29.49

Salcheto Chianti Colli Senese 2012, Tuscany, Italy   £11.49

Tamboerskloof Viognier 2013, Stellenbosch, South Africa £17.99

Three Peaks 2010, Côtes du Roussillon, France         £12.99

Tornai Zenit 2012, Somlo, Hungary  £10.59

Valenciso Blanco 2012, Rioja, Spain                £19.99

So there you have it, the fruits of our labours – our tongues went black and our teeth fell out but we were more than happy to do so to get these top drops in the shop!

As a consequence we will have a couple of bottles open today and tomorrow – I think we will carry on with our Italian theme from last week and try the Castanzu Vermentino 2012 and the Gran Passione Rosso 2012.  If all goes according to plan we might also have a bottle of the new vintage (2009) of the Tamboerskloof Syrah open, should anyone be interested.

Sunshine this weekend, rosé’s in the fridge ready, form an orderly queue…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Can you remember where you were when you first saw it?

I was standing in the Old Deer Park last Sunday when I first glimpsed it; Wayne reckons he saw it outside the shop last Friday; Chris from down the road reckons he saw it in America last week but he can’t be sure; my wife claims that her mother saw it in Dorset about 12 days ago…

And it was beautiful; a giant orb of bright gold surrounded by miles and miles of deep blue sky – not something any of us have had much of recently and very welcome.  Daffodils have leapt out of their beds and are busy straightening themselves out for parade on Saturday and my sales of rosé wines have gone through the roof.

Weather

It’s March tomorrow, the first month of spring, the month where the clocks change to summer time, the month where we all come back to life – before we know it the cricket season will have started.  Well done chaps, we’ve made it.

Sport

Meanwhile from the sidelines this week we watched Man Utd romp to defeat in Europe on Tuesday proving that even with a player you consider to be worth £300,000 a week, goals don’t create themselves.  Saturday saw a fantastic game of rugby at Twickenham and this week we look forward to Sunderland trouncing Man City 3-0 in the League Cup.  Current odds on this are 150-1 whereas a city 3-0 win is only 7-1…. I prefer the idea of £150 pounds, so I know where my money is going!

Music

And in music news,  I have discovered that playing Now That’s What I Call Music 2 (26 March 1984 if you’re interested) on Spotify has a positive effect on my customers mood – who knew that (Feels like) Heaven by Fiction Factory would get so many feet tapping?  I will continue my experiments further this evening….

Regional headlines

So it’s the annual celebration of the death of pious Dave from the Valleys tomorrow and in the absence of Penderyn whisky or Brains beer, we are recommending consumption of either of our Cambria wines from California – it’s the closest we have to Welsh wine I’m afraid.  Cambria Chardonnay £22.99 – Cambria Pinot Noir £24.99.

International news

Wayne announced last week the fabulous Sherry evening we are having on the 1^st May.  Interest has been huge, so if you’re still humming and hawing now is the time to commit.  £20 per person, bring your own spaghetti western accent.

And finally…

For the first time in ages it seems, we are both in situ tomorrow.  Service will be fabulous, jokes will be free flowing, as will wine.  Not sure what I’m going to do whilst Wayne is doing all this, join in the wine tasting perhaps, maybe lean against the wall for a bit and then have a wander outside to see why there’s so much congestion….

Anyway the wines we are going to open up will be the new, 2012 vintage of the Morton Estate Chardonnay (£10.99) which seems a bit leaner and crisper than previous versions.  On the red side we have just listed Ripa delle Mandorle 2012 (£13.99) which is a delicious Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blend made by Tenuta Vicchiomaggio in Tuscany.  We loved it when we tried it a couple of weeks back and reckon it’ll be ripper with some steak (sorry)!

Back to work now, see you over the weekend for a glass of something tasty.

Over and out.

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As the sun sets on Curling’s place on national television for another four years, I’d like to congratulate Team GB on equalling our greatest haul of winter medals.

Returning to proper sports, it’s a sure sign that spring and sunshine must be on the way as the cycling season has started in earnest. Mark Cavendish is competing down in Portugal at the Volta ao Algarve, whilst Sir Bradley Wiggins is spinning his legs just across the border in Ruta Del Sol. Chris Froome meanwhile? Tour of Oman – these boys do like a spot of winter sun don’t they?

This evening we have Wales hosting the French in Cardiff with lots to prove after their pasting in Dublin, whilst tomorrow England will host Ireland hoping to avoid a similar fate.

David Bowie’s success at the Brits shows there’s life in the old Diamond Dog yet, and I think that his invitation for Scotland to stay with us probably just about rounded Alex Salmond’s week off!

The UK has become Ferrari’s biggest market in Europe with 677 cars sold. We’re looking in to the policy on a Saturday morning test drive; let’s see how many cases of wine we can get in one!

Wine News

Following on from our mention of Brangelina’s Provençal wine, news reaches us this week that Terminator & Avatar film director James Cameron has bought a wine estate in Canada’s Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Also, according to the D&D restaurant group, restaurants in Leeds sell more champagne than restaurants in London. Who says its grim up north?

Sherry Tasting

We’ve talked about Sherry with quite a number of you, discussed its rising popularity, the enormous number of Spanish bars and restaurants that have opened recently, and what lovely value for money it can be just for the sheer complexity of flavour you get.

You asked us if we’d do a tasting, we said “Um”, and then you begged us and we said “we’ll ask our chum Bea”. So that’s what we did.

This week we are proud to announce that we have managed to sync diaries and put a date in the calendar. Bea is very much our local expert, hailing from the heart of Sherry land, she also graduated top of the class in her Sherry Educator’s Course run by El Consejo Regulador in Jerez.

THURSDAY 1^st MAY at 8pm. Sherry Tasting here at the shop. Limited numbers as usual, you all know the drill. £20 per person, give us a call to book your place on 020 8944 5224

We’ll open some sherry, have Bea talk us through what’s in the glass, through in some tapas snacks and generally have a good time. Who knows, Alex might even show us his Flamenco dancing.

Wine School

Full details attached, but suffice to say starts on 23^rd April at 8pm sharp. Full details attached.

Tasting this weekend

This week we’re feeling all a bit Italian.

We’ll start off in the Veneto with Tedeschi Soave Classico (£12.49) because it seems we haven’t had it in ages, and then to make a winning pair, how about a spot of Telero Negroamaro del Salento (£9.99) from the warm sunny south?

And lastly…Marathon Training

So far so good, we managed to actually run together last Sunday taking a trip from here up through Chelsea and round Kensington Gardens. Nice and sunny, the right speed and a nice change of scenery.

This week we’re both running the Richmond Deer Park Half Marathon on Sunday so give us a wave if you’re there, and don’t gloat too much if you zip past!

Have a great weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As we all open cards, buy double priced roses, and wonder if heart shape chocolates were really the best idea; I would just mention that, along with Ambrose of Milan, St Valentine is the Patron Saint of Beekeepers. Does that mean a jar of honey may have been better than those chocs? For any late adopters we’re here till 8 and have some cold fizz in the fridge!

On the subject of cold, the Winter Olympics are progressing over in Sochi, Team GB are currently lying 23^rd in the medal table but have high hopes in both curling and tin tray skeleton with Lizzy Yarnold in the lead for the ladies and set to launch herself down the mountain at 90 mph later today. I remember having a go at that as a kid. Fearless, then mostly tired and wet, I was in so much trouble when I got home. The tray was never much good for teacups after that!

Elsewhere the Olympic legacy is alive and well with a large increase in both canoeing and windsurfing since Christmas.

 Wine News

The folks at Gusbourne Estate in Kent (we sell their delicious Gusbourne Estate Blanc de Blancs 2009 – £31.99) are featured in today’s Independent (page 47 I’m told) but I read it on their website.

Go and have a look.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/pick-of-the-bunch-sparkling-wines-from-kents-gusbourne-estates-are-winning-top-awards-9127110.html

What we did this week…

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed we have opened the shop a little tardily this week.  For this we can only apologise, due to a failure of competing suppliers to co-ordinate their diaries we have spent 3 consecutive days off at wine tastings, only making it back here at around 3 o’clock.

I can’t say it hasn’t been fun, or indeed difficult, in places, we’ve bumped into some friends, sniffed, slurped and spat all sorts of wines, a 1974 Colheita port was very tasty at one tasting, an Argentinian Pinot Noir pretty horrid at another, and it’s always a nice change to have a Pret sandwich instead of a Co-op one.

Keep your eyes peeled then folks new wines on the way.

Otherwise we did a couple of menu matching/tastings for people organising large events. So if you’re planning a ball, big party or wedding come and have a chat with us, we’ve done it before.

Wine & Cheese Tasting

When we announced the March date you all went a bit gaga and we sold out as quickly as Glastonbury. With that in mind the April date will be Thursday 24^th April, 8pm here at the shop bring your taste buds and we’ll sort out the Cheese n Wine. £20 per person.

Sherry Tasting

We’ve been asked repeatedly about organising one of these, so watch this space we’re talking to our chum Bea trying to co-ordinate a diary date for this.

Taste this Weekend

Alex has a hankering for some Chateau Paillas Cahors 2002 (£12.59) which is a fab vintage for Cahors so we’ll not deny him, and it’ll be offset by Vetiver Blanco 2011 (£10.79) our delicious white Rioja.

I think that’ll do from us this week, if you’re going out and about don’t forget your Pac-a-mac!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

You get the feeling that some of the headlines this week are not going to disappear in a hurry.

Paul Downton’s removal of Kevin Pieterson from the England setup could well define his time as managing director of England Cricket – not sure anyone has ever made quite such a bold move on their first day in the job and it makes you wonder what he got up to on days two, three and four…

The weather, the sea, railways losing their footing, trees toppling, Somerset sinking – none of that’s changing in a hurry…

Winter Olympics has started, coverage is laughable compared to the Summer version, and if you’re very lucky you might just catch some snippets on the BBC…

Michael Laudrup gets his P45 and doesn’t really know why – I’m sure if he goes onto twitter there are plenty of trolls who could tell him…

From The Drinks Business: The first tranche of the 200,000-bottle production of Château Miraval 2013 is expected to go on sale at 9am (French time) Friday morning via the estate’s website, where those signed up to the waiting list will be given access to a six-bottle case.  For those of you who don’t know, this is a Rosé wine, sold on allocation – just happens to be owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie…

So anyway, yesterday we had a right treat – we went off to The London Distillery Company for a tour and an immersion in the world of small-production Gin and Whisky.  It’s located in an old dairy behind Ransome’s Dock near to Battersea Park.  I think we mentioned them before Christmas when we first listed the Gin but for anyone who missed it, here’s a reminder:

It is a little known fact that the inception of TLDC started long before Darren and Nick Taylor met in 2011, or when Andrew joined the Team in 2012. Really, the history of the company stretches all the way back to 1807, when a serial entrepreneur by the name of Ralph Dodd sent a prospectus to potential investors outlining his plans for a new distillery. Having grown tired of the pernicious quality of spirits being retailed at the time, establishing such a company, in his mind, was a necessity, a virtue and “a national good”.

The London Distillery Company as Ralph Dodd dreamt it over two hundred years ago was never fully realised. But his vision, to provide the British public with Genuine British Spirits of the best quality and without any adulteration, is a noble one that we at TLDC continue to champion today.

Yes indeed, here in south west London, on the wrong side of the river for many, we have our very own distillery.  The Whisky is still very much in its infancy but the Gin is definitely fully grown up.  Andrew MacLeod Smith, the head distiller gave us an hour and a half of his time, talked us through the botanicals (and why they chose particular ones), the process, the problems and pitfalls, and of course the success.  It was a fascinating experience, he is a superb advocate of his product and the location of the distillery is the stuff of fairytales (to my mind at least) – it’s a distillery, next door to a pub, next door to a pop-up ‘Street Kitchen’ and then across the courtyard (via the Table Tennis tables) you have McGuigan’s Gym – owned by Shane son of Barry, who was in attendance.  Brilliant, when can I move in!

All good things come to an end and we returned to Wimbledon Park, the whiff of juniper still strong in our noses, thoroughly enthused by what three people can achieve through dollops of hard work and buckets of self belief (and a helpful splash of crowd funding!)

The Gin is open here on our spirits tray, so if you want to taste what all the fuss is about then just say the word.  Dodd’s Gin (49.9%) – £37.50.

Don’t fret though, I haven’t forgotten, we are a wine shop and thus, of wine we must talk!  Everybody should be back on the wine boat now but if you feel unsure about where to recommence your wine odyssey then why not come and taste what we have open this weekend:

Reichsrat Von Buhl Riesling Trocken 2012 £13.99 – this is a rip-roaring world class Riesling.  Dry, with peachy aromas, a hint of flinty minerality yet still fleshy on the palate.  Really long, vibrant finish with a mere hint of grapefruit – brilliant.

Maison des Bulliats Regnie 2012 – £10.99 – We’ve been buying this wine for a few years now and it just seems to get better and better!  Soft fruit tannins, great structure and a great length.  Fred and Helen, who own the vineyard, live in Southfields so we’re keeping it local, sort of!