In Bordeaux next week + wine news...

Next week:

This coming Sunday I am hauling Henry off with me to Bordeaux for his virgin attempt at trying the barrel samples of the good and the great Châteaux from the 2010 Vintage. Different in style but rumours abounding that this is pretty close to 2009 in quality. An extraordinary statement so I am eager to find how much truth there is in that! What that means is the Shop will be closed for the first two days of next week.

Monday 4^th April – CLOSED all day

Tuesday 5^th April – CLOSED all day

Wednesday 6^th April – OPEN as follows:

The shop will be manned by Mark Haisma so firstly, business as usual and secondly a great opportunity to drop in,

introduce yourself and sample some of the Burgundies that he is currently producing. They are good.

Thursday 7^th April – OPEN again as usual…

Post Bordeaux I will be raising my initial thoughts and then comprehensive notes and duly forwarding them to those regular En Primeur buyers amongst you.

Weekly indulgence

Rossj – Bass Chardonnay 2009 Angelo Gaja,

Langhe, Piedmont at £ 43.00 per Bottle

(£ 41.35 by the half-a-dozen)

Apologies, at £ 43.00 this really is an indulgence. However, Angelo Gaja is one of the most famous names in Piedmont and thus Italy. For those who like a full, fatty, mouth-filling, opulent but not over-cooked or over-oaked Chardonnay the curiously named Rossj – Bass will fit the bill. It is a good foil for any of you who liked wines such as Ridge Montebello Chardonnay…Kistler Vineyards…Borgo del Tiglio…Cervaro della Sella…and so on.

Wine & Charity News:

Back in January we offered our new exclusive import, the Jean Daneel “Signature” Chenin Blanc but herewith a pertinent update. Last Thursday I helped host a small South African Wine Tasting in a beautiful late 17^th Century Rectory House that is hemmed in, in total isolation, by textbook glass front office blocks on the edge of Cannon Street. The Tasting was in aid of “Mothers 2 Mothers” (“M2M”) which is a Charity which aims to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of H.I.V. in South Africa. It is surprising how this can be successfully achieved for the sum of £ 35.00 and not merely effecting one child, but also preventing the obvious knock-on effect to a whole family. As such we will give a £ 1.00 donation from every Jean Daneel bottle sold, on an ongoing basis, so if you are one of the few who hasn’t tried Daneel’s wines, perhaps a double reason to do so. Always on the shelf, always in the fridge.

Champagne. In a fortnight we have three Champagnes of note coming new onto our shelves. Firstly Gosset Rosé in Half-Bottles. Pink halves are very hard to come by. Then Charles Ellner 2002 from that outstanding and classic Champagne Vintage. Then another exclusive retail for us, just secured today, the R.& H. Lamotte Premier Cru. The Lamotte will likely replace the Gobillard as one of our House Champagnes. Plenty to chew on as the evenings grow lighter.

Silly-Season:

In the perennial hope of cutting costs the N.H.S. are planning to have Doctors offer placebo instead of actual targeted medication. Now I know the power of suggestion…look into my eyes, look deep into…can work and even last Thursday at this South African Tasting I lined-up three whites before the assembled crowd and the second and third wines were actually the exact same wine, just one from bottle, t’other from a decanter. Nobody corrected me that they were the same and they were happy to go along as I had hinted, suggested, alluded to these being different wines. Clearly placebo can work. Nonetheless, other than an exercise I wouldn’t be happy doing that to you again. Are you happy that your G.P. will give you a placebo for something that has sufficiently troubled you to go and see them in the first place? Cut costs yes, smoke and mirrors, no thanks.

Now I am going to be controversial here. Perhaps more than I have ever been. It doesn’t involve Australian cricketers or Arsenal Footballers or Politics or immigration or Foreign Policy or M.P.’s expenses or worse, Councillors Expenses or the Pope... So am I about to get struck-off the bulk of your Christmas card list? Now Prince and his dare I say famous song, “Purple Rain”. I just don’t get it. For those who haven’t had the dubious pleasure, the lyrics kind of go like this:

Purple rain,

Purple rain,

Purple rain;

Purple rain -

PURPLE RAIN

Purple rain;

Purple rain.

Purple rain

Purple rain…

I think you get the gist.

On the same topic and one that leaves me scratching my head, Elbow and “One Day Like This”. What a load of old tosh. Are you a pop band or an orchestra. Make a decision man!

Tuggy Meyer

Henry Palmer (who thinks Purple Rain is a great song) Oh dear.

Increase in Wine Taxes!! (+ Cloudy Bay Sauvignon)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Yesterday’s Budget:

Little Osborne and his red box have duly lobbed us the customary hike in wine taxes. Not a massive amount but of course, always the wrong way. In the interim, any existing stock in our shop will be unchanged in price. Any new stock from next week we will assess the price individually and we will keep the old prices wherever possible and raise only those where our arms are twisted to hurting point.

Import Duty for 12 Bottles of regular wine = £ 21.71 (+vat)

Import Duty for 12 Bottles of Champagne etc = £ 27.81 (+ vat)

10 cases of:

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon-Blanc 2010 Marlborough, New Zealand at £ 17.50 per Bottle

No particular subtlety here, with Cloudy Bay, buckets of asparagus and tropical fruits. Business as usual.

In the Shop and ready to, unscrew!

“Silly-season”

Well my son went to see “Rango” without me so alas I was left with grown-up Cinema instead. Firstly “Archipelago”. More an anti film than a film. Where Cinema tends to use fast paced editing to conjure and deceive and entertain, instead we have the long unblinking shots remaining without apology on the open wounds. This will be extremely uncomfortable and dull for the masses though I believe quite significant for a tiny few. I was drawn to it as it was filmed in a house on Tresco in the Scilly Isles that I stayed at immediately after I got engaged. Also, pretty much every summer we as children spent in one cottage or another on Tresco. I had an ulterior motive for wishing to see this hideously full frontal comment upon just some of the inadequacies of being middle class. No joy here, just painful reality in a rather sobering way. If you don’t have an ulterior motive, like me, I’d advise skipping it. One worth seeing however is “Submarine”. Not a laugh out loud comedy as repeatedly billed but a highly amusing and individual look at that age old tale of a boy growing-up in his own world and falling in love for the first time. Sufficiently filled with new little quirks that I definitely recommend a peak. Long gone from the Cinema but moving down that logical chain and definitely worth dragging out of the library is “Woman of the Year” (1942) with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Witty, poignant, and giving a firm hint of their renowned chemistry. To sound as old as I am, they don’t make films like that anymore!

A wee break from Politics and History and the usual “Mr. Angry of Kensington” this week. Back with both barrels next Wednesday.

Northern Rhône - Crozes-Hermitage

Some years ago I came across the delightfully unusual and minerally White Crozes-Hermitage from the impressive Alain Graillot. It slipped off the radar but just last week we both tried the current vintage of his red from the 2008 Vintage and immediately decided to take it back into stock.

Crozes-Hermitage 2008 Alain Graillot, Northern Rhône at £ 21.75 per Bottle

Textbook Northern Rhône with the immediate hit of spice and floral qualities yet being a Crozes-Hermitage rather than a full-fledged Hermitage this manages to exhibit a real deft touch.

Gentle, pretty, elegant, yet sufficiently expressive. Great mouthfeel, dry Provençal herbs, delicate sweet fruit and just sits easily.

72 Bottles currently in stock.

Silly-season

I was surprised that Sir Fred Goodwin of RBS fame had gone to the trouble to get an injunction so that the newspapers no longer call him a Banker. Well I suppose Private Eye will just have to come out of the closet and think of another word then. Fred, you should have learnt from Jacqui Smith and Rachel Johnson, just, just, don’t!

Not so silly this week with the sobering news emerging from Japan and the effects still rippling outwards. Still, I was amazed that one of the newspapers covered just the day before a story that the close proximity of the moon might indeed trigger an earthquake of a 9.00 Richter magnitude. Quite eerie.

Making sense of the Census. Not as bad as I feared but a few curiosities. In asking if you look after incapacitated family members the tick box culture offers you 1-19 hours for the first option. I mean, truly, what use is that range? 1 hour is a gesture, 19 hours is (for someone in the Public Sector), more than half a working week. Next they ask how you travel to work but you can only tick one box (underground / bus / taxi / walk / drive / lift…). In truth I use almost all of the options so I couldn’t resist striking a line through the question and adding my notes. Conveniently there is a two page flier giving the 57 different languages that the Census is available in. That doesn’t surprise me in London other than there were languages I have simply never heard of, have you – Igbo / Lingala / Luganda / Pahari / Pashto / Shona / Sinhala / Tigrinya / Yoruba. Amazingly Henry actually had heard of two of these.

Is William Hague simply the Conservative version of Neil Kinnock? However well meaning he is, it just ain’t going to happen is it?

Though approximately one third of shops in Kensington Church Street actually own the forecourt or strip of land immediately outside of their shop our local Kensington & Chelsea Council have still made a nuisance of themselves by sending in officials and ordering and threatening with resultant fines if sandwich boards etc are not removed. Treating us like errant schoolchildren where often the patch in question is actually ours! Though Church Street is incredibly quiet as far as foot traffic is concerned the Council insists that this stance was due to obstructions with obvious health-and-safety concerns. Yesterday I e-mailed all 54 of RBK&C Borough’s Councillors to inquire as to “which idiot” therefore decided to site eight metal hooped bicycle stands right by the entrance of Notting Hill Tube station and in doing so potentially reduced the width of the pavement by a good 40-50% and where it is narrowest and the foot traffic is a considerable multiple of a quiet street like ours?! I have had one reply only thus far – from a Councillor on a skiing trip in Colorado. Mmm.

Personally I thought merely mentioning Arsenal’s exit from three Cup competitions in a matter of days would be somewhat cruel. I really do. Henry however disagrees and says you can’t be too cruel to an Arsenal supporter. A good fifty-fifty that England’s walking wounded will be on a plane home tomorrow night but I do have to congratulate the Irish on spanking the ball round the park as if it were a football.

Tuggy Meyer

Australian Cabernet & Shiraz (Yarra Yering)

Straight in perhaps with a weekly indulgence as these two beauties at £ 34.75 are not exactly everyday wines. Return to normality next week.

With Mark Haisma’s winemaking skills being dragged away from Victoria’s Yarra Yering and to cooler climates like Burgundy and indeed, Hampshire, we seem to have lost the succession of wonderful vintages of Yarra Yering (2003-2004-2005-2006) from our shelves. We have a small parcel of the 2006 Vintage. Both in the highly-rated Shiraz and also, the Cabernet-Sauvignon which if truth be known, is the wine I have thought to be even better. Parker alas doesn’t score the “No. 1” (Cabernet) but does score the “No.2” (Shiraz) at a healthy 95 points. One can look at the run up to the 2006 for the Cabernet to see 2003 @ 92 / 2004 @ 95+ / 2005 @ 93+ / and the 2007 also @ 93 points. Undeniably there or thereabouts!

48 Bottles only of:

Yarra Yering “Dry Red Number One” (Cabernet-Sauvignon) 2006

Gruyere, Victoria, Australia at £ 34.75 per Bottle

36 Bottles only of:

Yarra Yering “Dry Red Number Two” (Shiraz) 2006

Gruyere, Victoria, Australia at £ 34.75 per Bottle

Slurp are £ 39.95 a bottle and

Waitrose (Wine Direct) have just reduced their price from £ 40.95 to £ 34.95 on special offer.

Wine Advocate # 181 Feb 2009	Jay Miller	95	Drink: 2009 - 2019	$85 (85)
The 2006 Dry Red Wine #2 is composed of 96% Shiraz with 2% Viognier and 2% Marsanne. It is more opulent and layered than the Underhill cuvee with a noticeable aromatic lift from the addition of the white varietals. Elegant and exceptionally long, this beautifully rendered effort is a hedonistic turn-on for drinking over the next decade.

“Silly-season”

Hats of to the Irish for clubbing their way over the line in Cricket last week. It’s funny, not just for Ireland wanting to beat England (in any Sport) more than any other nation but in the same camp would be Scotland and Wales and France and Australia and I am sure a few others. Now if we had a chip on our shoulder offence might be taken but I think we’ll happily take that as a compliment! Form an orderly queue please.

Despite Bonking Boris’s late actions in sweeping away the extended part of the Congestion Zone, I have to ask why we are still afflicted with the paraphernalia, those tree trunks of posts supporting a plethora of cameras that the former Mayor of London installed, without planning permission?

Chianti Riserva at £ 10.95 + Austrian Blaufränkisch at £ 16.00

I have been focusing on wines at mostly the £ 20 mark of late but this is a real everyday offering for a decent Chianti around the 3 10 mark:

Chianti Riserva 20007 Terra Firma at £ 10.95 per Bottle

Classic and traditional Chianti Sangiovese with those dry, almost dusty, herby flavours. Simple.

You couldn’t expect much more at this price but accessible and truly, a “kosher” Chianti for pennies over £ 10.00.

Despite the name, some of you have already asked, nothing to do with Guy Hands.

&

Moric Blaufränkisch Burgenland 2009 Burgenland, Austria at £ 16.00 per Bottle

Blaufränkisch, like a Zinfandel, is a grape that I tread very carefully with. When they get it right however, it is different, engaging, and liable to prove a real treat.

Here is a perfect counterpoint to the dry and traditional Chianti above.

Moric, who incidentally produced the highest ranked (Robert Parker) Austrian red have created a lovely, fresh, vibrant, wonderfully silky textured Blaufränkisch with black cherries predominating.

Whether you want to be adventurous and try something different or stay safe as this in one word is good, this’ll accomplish both.

(Stock in on Friday)

Weekly indulgence:

Hennessy Cognac 150^th Anniversary blend, special edition at £ 390.00

Own glass decanter and presentation case.

A one-off Anniversary Bottle. No current listings in the World as far as I can see.

Silly-season:

In a European Union Project they are proposing to commit £ 7,600,000 to a five year study as to “why we feel full when we have eaten?” I feel confident that I could save this project £ 7,500,00 and 4 years and 364 days and suggest, we are full, perhaps because having just eaten we are. After five years, I hazard to guess, no conclusion, or something that took a few mates in a Pub one evening to determine.

            Your T.V. License: “Across the B.B.C. the Delivering Quality First workstreams are sizing up their tasks… The working groups are already seeking synergies across divisions, for example the T.V. and Radio teams are considering everything from distribution to production. Jessica Cecil, director of the D.Q.F. Project explains, “we’re considering it in the round. We can look at it as an integrated story for audiences and the B.B.C.” Silly old me, there I was thinking this was merely about a producer; a director; a scriptwriter; a cameraman; and one or two actors.

In London they say you are rarely more than six feet from a rat. Pretty close to the truth I surmise. But by the same token, for any man (or woman) in a given Metropolis you could probably say that you are never more than six feet from an invention by a Scotsman. Think about it. At ground level, tarmac. On any other floor, television, in every damn room these days. Telephone. Are you ever, except in Norfolk, more than six feet from an invention by a canny Scot? I think not. The bagpipes however was not one of their greatest contributions. Hats off to the Jocks.

            The remake of “True Grit” alas missed out in the Oscars but I have to say that Jeff Bridges voice was or I am sure will be, a real classic. Made Jimmy Stewart seem as normal as can be. His voice was like he had a mouthful of Bourbon littered with drowning wasps. Masterful but at times you really do need subtitles! On to an actual Oscar winner, “Inside Job”, best Documentary. Most of my customers are City bods so really don’t need to see this as they know what credit default swaps are and who the B.S.D’s are. One screenwriter told me this was shoe-in for an Oscar as it so effectively got people to “hang themselves”. Alas the big hitters like Hank Paulson, Richard Fuld, Ben Bernanke and many other top names simply “declined to be interviewed”. The only major player was the French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde. Those 3-4 that did hugely embarrass themselves may well have been key Government advisors but were mostly the brittle academic College Professors and not the steely cogs in that great wheel. I think the subject of course was momentous but am not convinced that as an out-and-out documentary this was Oscar class. I’ll see next week “Waste Land” to see if this better deserved last Sunday’s Oscar. It does still amaze me, that if I owned say a £ 1,000,000 House outright, no debt, that I would attempt to borrow some £ 30 to £ 35 Million against that. Would my Bank facilitate a leverage of 30-35 times?!! For anyone who does not waer a pinstripe suit to work, this is a must-see. For those who do, you pretty much know the script already.

Formula mark-ups, as you might already know, really annoy me. Here are a few short-cuts:

B.Y.O. (Bring-your-own) or more accurately, corkage –

My local Indian & Fish ‘n Chips charge £5 but for some more famous local names:

Bibendum - £ 20 (If a dining room can exude plutocracy…)

Le Café Anglais – £ 15 (Again, a sense of Art Deco theatrics about this imposing room)

Chez Bruce - £ 20 (Rarely bettered south of the river)

Sally Clarke’s - £ 10 (Oh so safe)

The Glasshouse - £ 18 (Surely a result?)

Hakkassan - £ 25 (Pure theatre for Euro Trash and anyone who values life style over life)

Hereford Road - £ 15 (Far better in the evenings)

Kitchen W8 - £ 15 (Will be trying this on Sunday week with a Canadian customer…)

The Ledbury - £ 45 (Terrific reputation but not really in the spirit of things mate!)

Locanda Locatelli - £ 25 (Lessens the blow on a Super Tuscan for sure)

Nobu - £ 25 (Does anyone still go there?)

Osteria Basilico - £ 10 (For Trustafarians on a budget)

The Ritz - £ 46  (The best kitsch dining room, not the best dining room but you can always redress the balance after on the roulette wheel in the even more kitsch basement)

Rules - £ 20 – (For a taste of the Empire)

The River Café - £ 30 (If you don’t get mugged on the nearby Peabody Estate, is this the most over-rated?)

St-John - £ 15 (School dinners meets French Butcher)

Wheeler’s – £ 15 (For any Politicians with taste left, this has to be the relative bargain)

Zafferano – £ 30 (With a decent bottle in mind you’ll still save a packet amidst the faux Mafioso)

Tuggy & Henry