Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
A special hello to all of you who are still at your desks \u2013 we salute you!\u00a0 If you\u2019re pulling a late one or working tomorrow, then we not only salute you but we also play you a short fanfare.\u00a0 If you\u2019re working on Sunday, then you\u2019re perhaps a footballer or a cabbie (but definitely not a train or tube driver), or an emergency worker or a publican \u2013 either way, a crucial cog in the Christmas wheel and, for this, we salute you, play a fanfare and raise a toast!<\/p>\n
Wherever you are and whatever you\u2019re doing, you will be fully aware that we\u2019re almost there, Christmas is upon us and that this is the penultimate email of 2016.\u00a0 Next week we\u2019ll give a round-up of the year but right now we will try, probably unsuccessfully, to be succinct in our prose…<\/p>\n
Don’t panic!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Lance Corporal Jones had it in nutshell.\u00a0 There\u2019s still time.\u00a0 The shops are still open.\u00a0 A great number of them will be open on Monday.\u00a0 We are open now until 8pm today and then tomorrow from 10am until 5pm.\u00a0 7 hours of opening on Christmas Eve, 8 hours left today \u2013 15 hours.\u00a0 Masses of time, masses.<\/p>\n You stupid boy!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Having said that, as we get closer to ground zero, to 5pm tomorrow, there will be less and less stock in the shop as boots get filled and wish-lists get ticked off.\u00a0 Just because we had 12 bottles of Krohn\u2019s 2007 LBV<\/strong> on Monday doesn\u2019t mean we have any left today (we don\u2019t, the last bottle left yesterday) but we have plenty of Krohn\u2019s 2011 LBV – \u00a318.99<\/strong> to replace it \u2013 another stellar vintage.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss out \u2013 if you know you want it, don\u2019t get caught out!<\/p>\n However, if you\u2019ve been fruitless in your search for the right gift for that special person, don\u2019t forget that we still have spaces left on our Wine School<\/strong> that starts on Wednesday 25th<\/sup> January <\/strong>and takes place for 6 of the next 7 weeks, with a week off for half term.\u00a0 6 weeks, 60 wines, \u00a3150 per person \u2013 a gift that keeps on giving!<\/strong>\u00a0 Full details attached.<\/p>\n They don’t like it up ’em!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Taking time off from being bossy and impertinent, something that has caught our eye, and subsequently made it water uncontrollably, has been Burgundy.\u00a0 This time of year we sell a lot of red and white from this delightful region, their wines being almost perfect foils for much of the favoured festive foods.\u00a0 At this time of year we also get invitations to early January tastings of newly released vintages \u2013 this time it\u2019ll be 2015 release.\u00a0 Wayne had a scoot through the various offerings earlier in the week and unearthed some scary, to us at least, facts.<\/p>\n Firstly, the drinking windows seemed remarkably short for the majority of the wines on offer, which means these are not wines for investment.\u00a0 Secondly, the prices.\u00a0 Now, Burgundy hasn\u2019t had a great time of late with some atrocious weather conditions and lower yielding vintages.\u00a0 Triumphing over such adversity hasn\u2019t been easy, but thanks to a combination of smaller production and higher pricing,\u00a0 \u2018drinking\u2019 Burgundy has gone through the stratosphere whilst \u2018collecting\u2019 Burgundy is somewhere near Mars.<\/p>\n On our shelf currently \u2013 Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir 2012 (Tremblay) is \u00a335.99<\/strong> \u2013 the next release of Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir 2015 (Billaud) will be circling around \u00a360.\u00a0 Puligny Montrachet 2013 (Miolane) is on our shelves for \u00a335.99<\/strong> \u2013 whilst the next release – Puligny Montrachet 2015 (Chavy) is a nice round \u00a350.\u00a0 On the collecting side, Domaine Leflaive is releasing the debut vintage for their Saint-V\u00e9ran under the Domaine\u2019s label \u2013 this will be about \u00a335 on the shelf \u2013 gulp!<\/p>\n We could go on but it\u2019s not going to cheer anyone up \u2013 might be time to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n Don’t tell him, Pike!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ll be opening wine as usual today and tomorrow.\u00a0 As it\u2019s Christmas, it\u2019s a bit of a lottery really \u2013 we\u2019ve been asked for wine matches for Carp, Pike and Herring from those customers who celebrate on Christmas Eve and Turkey, Reindeer and Rib of Beef for the Christmas day celebrators.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to choose just one wine for such a smorgasbord, so we often sit on the fence.\u00a0 This week, having visited France and Italy over the last few weeks, we\u2019ve decided from our safe position, legs astride the barrier, to look at the new world a bit more closely.<\/p>\n But not before we open some English Fizz.\u00a0 \u2018We never list new wines in December\u2019 <\/em>is our stock response to any of our reps who try it on in late November.\u00a0 But then Louisa emailed us to let us know that the Hambledon Classic Cuv\u00e9e Ros\u00e9 Brut NV (\u00a336.99) <\/strong>had just been awarded a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge, the place Alex slopes off to every six months for some intensive, blind-judging.\u00a0 Anyway, we used to sell the Brut from these chaps, so asked for a sample, which we proceeded to taste with a group of willing tipplers at our Wine & Cheese tasting.\u00a0 It was gorgeous, so we listed it, and thus broke our \u2018no new wines in December\u2019<\/em> rule.\u00a0 Come and try it, I think you\u2019ll understand why!<\/p>\n And then we\u2019re off to New Zealand and the USA.\u00a0 Neudorf Chardonnay 2014 (\u00a326.99)<\/strong> coming from Nelson in the South Island, this is really quite stunning \u2013 elegant, concentrated and rich, much like Wayne.<\/p>\n From the USA, we have Domaine Drouhin Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2013 (\u00a333.99) <\/strong>which is smooth, fruity, spicy with a little sultry smokiness, again, much like Wayne.\u00a0 When we put on our Pinot Around The World And I Can\u2019t Find My Favourite<\/em> tasting earlier this year, this was the outright winner \u2013 no fence sitting there.<\/p>\n Port?\u00a0 Why not.\u00a0 Krohn\u2019s 2011 LBV (\u00a318.99)<\/strong> as mentioned above, will be opened and awaiting your glass, form an orderly queue.<\/p>\n Put that light out!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Not much more to add.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be here right up to the last knockings tomorrow \u2013 5pm is our estimated turfing out time, although over the last six Christmas\u2019 we have still had browsers in at 5.01… and then we\u2019ll turn the lights back on next Thursday 29th <\/sup>December, just in time to write the next email!<\/p>\n So swing by, have a mince pie, some wine and port and let us wish you all a very Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, A special hello to all of you who are still at your desks \u2013 we salute you!\u00a0 If you\u2019re pulling a late one or working tomorrow, then we not only salute you but we also play you a short fanfare.\u00a0 If you\u2019re working on Sunday, then you\u2019re perhaps a footballer or a 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