Hi Winos! 

Hope you’ve had a good couple of weeks? Sorry there was no newsletter last week – a bit busy and all that trying to get things moving with the wine bar. That’s the problem with solicitors you see; they work on a very different time structure to the rest of us… I can’t think why! Anyway, to keep you all up to date we are expecting the first draft of the lease by the end of the week and hope to have it signed next week sometime; I can’t wait because then I can give you all the location details… but until then, it’s back onto Solicitor-Time.

Tick.                Tock.               Tick.                Tock.

To keep you going’ here’s your weekly dose of wine information, nonsense and some really poor jokes. Have a great weekend!

New posts

The #newwinethisweek alphabet is getting into full flow right now; A and B are done it’s time to choose what will represent C:

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/2015/02/04/what-will-represent-c-in-the-newwinethisweek-alphabet/

Blanc de Blancs was a worthy representative for B in the alphabet:

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/2015/01/27/newwinethisweek-b-is-for-blanc-de-blancs/

It went down very well in The Shire:

http://confessionsofawinegeek.com/2015/01/31/fish-chips-blanc-de-blancs-english-fizz/

Supermarket wine

It’s February winos! Whether you were one of the dry January brigade or not, why not head down to Waitrose to discover a few new drops for 2015?

Casa Carmela Monastrell 2013, Yecla, Spain (Waitrose £5.32 was £7.99)

Monastrell is what the Spanish call Mouvedre and this one comes from the little known Yecla DO, which is adjacent to the slightly more well know Jumilla DO in Southeast Spain. A smooth red with intense and jammy red fruit.

Louis Jadot Macon Village Chapelle aux Loups 2013, Burgundy (Waitrose £8.99 was £11.99)

I love white Burgundy but it doesn’t come cheap… well not very often. Louis Jadot is one of the largest negiotiants in Burgundy but they also have a great track record for quality and value. The Chardonnay grapes for this wine all come from the village of Chapelle aux Loups and you can expect a classy buttery white Burgundy with those Macon hints of tropical fruit.

Cardeto Orvieto 2013, Umbria, Italy (Waitrose £5.99 was £8.99)

Forget everything you think you know about Orvieto; that pap you get in a box for a tenner is not what this wine is all about. Orvieto is a village in the Umbria region of Italy and the wines are usually a blend of indigenous Grechetto and Trebbiano. Ripe and refreshing with subtle acidity and great with roast chicken or grilled fish.

Charte d’Assemblage 2013, Côtes de Gascogne, France (Waitrose £6.36 was £8.49)

You don’t find many wines from Gascony on the supermarket shelves, which is a shame as this one’s a cracker. Made with Colombard and Ugni Blanc the fruit just explodes across the palate and will have you wondering why its taken you so long to discover this little beauty. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon as you’re getting distressed about going back to work the next day and only 11.5% alcohol too.

The Hedonist Shiraz 2013, McLaren Vale, Australia (Waitrose £10.99 was £13.99)

If you think 11.5% is a bit wimpy then why not get a rare rib of beef on the table and crack open this 14% Shiraz. I haven’t tasted the 2013 but if the previous vintages are anything to go by you can expect an inky black wine with aromas of chocolate, black pepper and smoke; the flavours are blackberries, black cherry and damsons. Concentrated and intense with nicely integrated oak.

 

Wine in the news 

The top 10 wine makers in Oz – so glad to see Larry Cherubino in that list (there will be plenty on the menu at The Grape Escape!):

http://schiller-wine.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/australias-10-best-winemakers-2014.html

What is the most important question to ask a winemaker?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhuyghe/2015/02/04/the-most-important-question-to-ask-a-winemaker/

An evening of Riesling, courtesy of Jamie Goode:

http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/riesling/my-life-in-riesling-with-hugh-johnson-jancis-robinson-david-motion-and-stuart-pigott

Early bud break in California means more work in the vineyard

http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=145614

Check out this great review of Jinjuu by the fabulous Sybaricious:

http://sybaricious.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/jinjuu.html

 

Light relief

Well they just had to be about solicitors this week didn’t they??

A man walks into the village post office one day to see a local man, middle-aged and balding standing at the counter methodically placing “Love-heart” stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts and kisses all over them. He then takes out a perfume bottle and starts spraying scent all over them.

His curiosity getting the better of him, he goes up to the balding man and asks him what he is doing. The man says, “I’m sending out one thousand Valentine cards signed, ‘Guess who?'”

“But why?” asks the man.

“I’m the local divorce solicitor,” the man replies.

 

A solicitor died and arrived at the pearly gates. To his dismay, there were thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. To his surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where the solicitor was, and greeted him warmly. Then St. Peter and one of his assistants took the solicitor by the hands and guided him up to the front of the line, and into a comfortable chair by his desk. The solicitor said, “I don’t mind all this attention, but what makes me so special?” St. Peter replied, “Well, I’ve added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 193 years old!”

 

An independent woman started her own business. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in. Pretty soon she realised that she needed to employ a full-time solicitor and so she began interviewing young solicitors.

“As I’m sure you can understand,” she started off with one of the first applicants, “in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question.” She leaned forward. “Mr. Peterson, are you an ‘honest’ solicitor?”

“Honest?” replied the job prospect. “Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I’m so honest that my dad lent me £15,000 for my education and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case.”

“Impressive. And what sort of case was that?”

“My dad sued me for the money.”

The boring stuff

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Cheers and have a great weekend!

Wine Geek

confessionsofawinegeek.com

[email protected]

@winegeekconfess