Wednesday 6th October
Thinking ahead:
Enough new wines pitched at you lately so just a general update of revisiting some classics and a couple of soon arriving newbies:
I am informed (as I have been for the last 4 months!) that the Jean Daneel “Signature” Chenin Blanc 2006 will be shipped to us before Christmas. The bad news is that it is due to go up by 13% in cost to us. The good news is that it is in my view worth it. The Adi Badenhorst Family White is a success at £ 21.00 so the brilliant Daneel at the same sort of price should be grasped without hesitation!
From individual and brilliant to obvious and commercial (but undeniably successful) the Planeta Chardonnay from Sicily has moved on to the 2008 Vintage. But for the next 120 Bottles we will hold our price at £ 16.50 (Wine Direct £ 19.95; Majestic £ 25.00…).
Also, we have just secured a U.K. Exclusive on a fabulous quality Swiss wine, Histoire D’Enfer. More to follow in November.
Another forthcoming little beauty is the Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Fourrier. Now Fourrier is really turning heads for Red Burgundy and I first happened across Jean Marie’s Bourgogne Blanc as the absurdly cheap House White at Andrew Edmunds in Soho. I took my son there for Sunday and even cheaper he has the opulent and entertaining 2007 Vintage at £ 17.50 a Bottle. We will be about £ 15 a Bottle for the forthcoming 2008 Vintage, so to get the 2007, a straight Bourgogne Blanc granted, but a wine of this quality at what works out at less than £ 3 a glass must rank as one of the best value wine buys in a London Restaurant. Corkage in London Restaurants will feature heavily, with its own page, on our soon to be –released new Web-site but Andrew Edmunds is one London Restaurant that corkage truly isn’t necessary. Booking however might be!
Weekly Indulgence:
The Jacquesson “Cuvée 732” has now moved onto the “Cuvée 733” and though we will try this today to determine how good it is, it is alas still going from £ 30.00 a Bottle to £ 33.00-34.00 a Bottle. It needs to be seriously, seriously good for that sort of price increase in these climes so I am not guaranteeing to stock this unless it proves its worth + 10%! That opens the door for the tiniest of comparative bargains as we have just 3 Magnums left of the “Cuvée 732” and they are of course at the old price of £ 65.00. Once they have gone and if we take on the “Cuvée 733” they will of course be that much more expensive.
Last 3 Magnums only of:
Jacquesson “Cuvée 732” at £ 65.00 per Magnum
(Base Vintage 2004 and all from Premier and Grand Cru sites)
“Silly-Season”
Like Mark Twain I tend to view Golf as a good walk spoilt. I also decline an offer for a round of Golf as in all honesty my dress sense is bad enough as it is without having to dress-up like Rupert The Bear. Anyway, I did per chance find myself watching the final moments of the Ryder Cup on Monday and have to confess that I was left utterly speechless by what I saw. I really couldn’t believe what was going on, it was Wales and it was sunny. Quite remarkable scenes. Probably never to be seen again in my life time.
Well, you now all know (or soon will do) what it is like working for Deutsche Bank. German humour is no laughing matter. A few customers and friends vork for zis Bank and they confide that they have to wait until Friday 6.00 p.m. on zee dot before they can indulge in any hilarity. Rarely has a headline of a British Newspaper sent such a shudder down my spine and probably a first for The Daily Mail: last week I spotted “Death of the Office Joke…” thinking of course that it was a joke. Apparently not. Until it is no longer there, we simply take such things for granted in life. As if we hadn’t had enough utter tosh from people like Caroline Flint we now have Harriet Harman and Theresa May to thank for this latest introduction. An employee can now sue their employer if they find anything offensive. The potential is staggering, just think of 99% of the Treasury, they could put Gordon Brown in the dock. I never met the man but found him deeply offensive, imagine those who actually worked with him. Well, if this really comes to fruition and pervades the giant partitioned offices across our sodden land then me thinks Banks et all should better alter their bonus structure. I think rewarding Staff with vouchers or tickets for The Comedy Store and Edinburgh Festival will be essential element to maintain any assemblance of sanity. You must remember it was not just the Russians, nor the Americans a little later that saved us from Hitler’s Germany, it was Tommy’s sense of humour. Don’t under-estimate Gallows’ humour. Self-effacing; simple observation; timing; witty responses – something we would surely merit a Gold and our Australian Cousins a distant Bronze. Where do we go from here? Cutting ourselves off at the knees (but not in the Monty Python sense) and soon everyone else will catch us up. Except the Germans of course. And the…
Talking of skin crawling I watched Piers Morgan “interview” Sir Alan Sugar. Yes, the one who made all that rubbish hi-fi you and I bought back in the ‘70’s when orange and brown was fashionable. What makes a good interviewer? Piers possesses, if that is the right word, an innocuous, non-descript little voice so that’s not it. Or is he just a throwback to the past when of course the interviewer was far less interesting and famous than the an actual celebrity? Unlike the fashion for Jonathan Woss etc. He begins with that appalling media trait of “Lord Sugar’s multi-million pound pad…” He eyes Sugar and his goppingly decorated Florida pad with a tinge of envy but with his forthcoming American Chat Show one can only envisage he will fast immerse himself in this same sort of tacky glamour. Me thinks taste would come to him as an even greater shock. It takes a full twenty minutes before anything of real interest evolves and that was not from Morgan probing but simply Sugar revealing about his parents. The art of a good interviewer is to let some interesting talk. Twenty minutes is too long and if they ain’t interesting Sir Alan, then Piersy mate, you have to learn to fill in the gaps. Or better still give your job to someone who would make a proper fist of it.
This will all mean a slight change in direction for my weekly rants, my silly season. Ed’s replacement is Henry Palmer so I will now have to gauge and test and seek out his views on humour and “correct” topics. Will he vet my weekly, will he contribute, will he add, will he take away? Work in progress.
I went to Cambio de Tercio in Sud Kensington last week. Why do restaurants put a dinner plate on the table yet the second you sit down take it away? Practical; affectation; window-dressing; stupidity…?
“Henry Palmer did not find anything offensive in this e-mail”...
…though I am not sure he found it that amusing either.
Tuggy Meyer
CC Mishcon de Reya.
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