I hadn’t intended to pitch a new wine to you before Christmas but A) this was good and B) with winter storms finally lashing parts of the U.K., I thought perhaps a pertinent time to suggest this hearty, meaty Rhône Red. We used to stock the 2004 Vintage which was eminently popular. The 2005 should have been as good or better but for my schilling, it wasn’t and so Raspail-Ay duly dropped from our radar for the last couple of years. The 2008 which we tried last week is back where we would like it to be:
Gigondas 2008 Domaine Raspail-Ay at £ 22.00 by the Bottle
Initially, candied violets, not unlike a Côte-Rôtie but with thick mouth-filling texture, chewy, flavoursome. Lovely grainy texture.
With time and in the glass brambly, strawberry fruits in evidence and those drier Rhône flavours with spice and herbs shining through.
(In stock and £ 21.00 by the Case)
15th to the 24th of December –
OPEN each and every day…
If it helps, we will be OPEN this coming SUNDAY.
I’ll be open and QPR v Man Utd / Villa v Liverpool / Man City v Arsenal will be on. Just don’t tell the wife!
Silly season.
I won’t say I am avid reader of the Torygraph but after Private Eye it is perhaps the number one read for me. Or at least what I will admit to in public. Last week however they had a sequence of three photographs that appeared to show Petit Sarkozy has snubbed a handshake from David Cameroon. The reality is that Cameroon patted Sarkozy on the back as he was passing and snub it was not. At least not then. Are the Telegraph trying to take over the mantel from the News of the World.
It’s been a week and a half for geeks. Did anyone see Louis Walsh in some extraordinary burgundy and black outfit during the X-factor Final? Quite extraordinary. It is only excusable if you are of the David Bowie and Elvis Presley entertainment bent but for anyone else it is just hideously embarrassing. A fancy dress party maybe but on television, Walsh, what were you thinking of man?! On the subject of geeks, I couldn’t help squirm at what an over-excited little schoolboy Andrew Marr was on Sunday when he had Mick Hucknall on to warble something. By all means get excited (but don’t show it) if it’s The Beatles or Mozart or U2 or Led Zeppelin or even Cold Play but Mick Hucknall, get a grip man.
As we are fast approaching Christmas and though it still doesn’t feel like that to me I have done some of the usual seasonal offerings. Like my son’s School Carol Service; had my shins hacked in the Fathers’ v Son’s Football Match (strategic 3-1 loss); and even put my son’s Hornby train set in the shop window as a vague gesture towards a Christmas window. So I also took him to St-Luke’s in Sydney Street but alas the Carols were not the ones I knew. Don’t like it when religion tries to be trendy. Apart from a prayer book and an offering box us mere mortals can’t find too much else useful in a church these days, such as a modern convenience like heating or a loo! However St-Luke’s was a positive revelation – they have a fully fledged Café! Not just limp sandwiches but everything from a prawn cocktail and forwards for the next thirty years. So if you find yourself lolling along the King’s Road and feeling nostalgic, St-Luke’s is worth the pilgrimage.
Fashion is not exactly my bling but what on earth is going on at Dolce & Gabbana? As I slid by t’other day in my large red coloured taxi (bemused of Belgravia) I couldn’t believe how goppingly gaudy the Shop was. Real Pantomime stuff. Trouble is, I doubt they’ll grow out of it come January.
In keeping with fashion, of sorts, “Tuggy M”
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