Magnums of Guigal at £ 19 to £ 22!

For many years we have followed Guigal’s stunning value everyday Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge. With any half-decent or better vintage we have always advised shrewd customers to squirrel away 5 cases, as though simply put a Côtes-du-Rhône, it still has the gifted ability of aging gracefully in the cellar for about a decade. In Magnums, potentially longer. 2007 is a terrific Rhône Vintage, a real classic. To get a Magnum of something drinkable at £ 22.00 is sound enough. In quantity, to get a Magnum under £ 20.00 and with 10+ years cellaring potential is, how do I say, recession busting?!

Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge 2007 É.Guigal at £ 22.00 per Magnum

£ 22.00 per Magnum…

£ 21.00 each for 6 Magnums (1 case)

£ 20.50 each of 12 Magnums (2 cases)

£ 19.50 each for 18 Magnums (3 cases)

£ 19.00 each for 30 Magnums (5 cases)

In stock.

Notables recently back in stock:

Château Beaumont 2005 – our best selling red.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon-Blanc – for you label hunters.

Henriot 2002 Vintage Champagne - for the discerning set.

Weekly indulgence:

A little sweetie…

Château Doisy-Védrines 1988 Barsac

2ème Grand Cru Classé at £ 25.00 per Half-Bottle

1988 was the first, and purest, in a trio of exceptional Sauternes & Barsac Vintages.

Nearly a quarter of a Century on and at this price, it shows that not all Bordeaux is expensive!

We have just 18 halves left in the Shop.

Wine Journal May 2009	Neal Martin	91	Drink -	$80-$105
Tasted at the Doisy-Védrines vertical at the chateau. This has a very Barsac nose with notes of marmalade, barley sugar and a touch of quince, all with excellent definition, although it probably lacks the vigour of the 1989 or 1990. The palate is very smooth and harmonious on the entry, a little low in acidity, but remains cohesive to the finish with a certain degree of elegance to it. Touch of dried apricot, fig and marmalade, although just lacking the complexity and precision of the 1989 on the finish. Tangy, orange cut marmalade on the aftertaste. Moderate length. Still a very fine 1988 Barsac. Tasted September 2008.

Silly Season:

Impossible to say from the relative comfort of my Viking swivel chair but on Saturday night I drove past the annual Guy Fawkes Fireworks display at nearby Ladbroke Square. One side was clear as a bell but on the south side it was an absolute “pea souper”. Very eerie, very Dickensian, and I was even, having, to be cautious at 15 m.p.h. It was fog by another name. What happened on the M5 last Friday is guesswork for most of us but what I drove through in a little corner of London last weekend was best described as, fog. Don’t want to be a killjoy but every year we get deaths and maiming from the fireworks and it’s not as if like the Chinese or Sydney Harbour Bridge we do it particularly well. Perhaps Guy Fawkes attempt, sacrifice, whatever, would be better served by simply popping a Champagne cork.

I have to confess that I have perhaps only traipsed into a Boardroom three or four times in my life so negotiations are not my greatest skill. Nonetheless I seriously doubt that I would have traded 1,027 convicted Palestinian prisoners for the solitary Gilad Shalit. However nice he might be. Those are pretty impressive odds. Maybe Goldman Sachs should look to recruit a few top negotiators from Hamas.

We have many mutual customers with nearby Sally Clarke’s so just a brief mention for one of their longest serving staff, Barry Deady. Now moustaches might be out of place for most, unless you still fly a Spitfire, yet our Barry is putting himself through some daily ridicule by growing a ‘tash. For the month of November he is growing a moustache. More Ronald Colman than Adolph Hitler, thankfully, but all in a good cause which concerns’ Prostate Cancer. www.Movember.com

Tuggy