Matt's Blog

18 November 2006

Oh dear, I can’t believe it’s been well over a month since I contributed to this again.  What with Christmas starting to breathe down our necks, all sense of time has been truly lost.  This is a slightly worrying time of year for the independent wine Merchant, surrounded as we are by half of France - liquidised, with very little sign of a dramatic increase in sales.  Having been a member of the wine trade for Christmas for the last 10 years, however, I’m well aware of the Christmas locust effect whereby your shelves can be effectively eradicated in less than a day.  Hopefully, blog readers have had a chance to have a look at our news page and are well aware of the promotions we’re putting out there this year.  In a remarkable display of efficiency we have already put these deals on and acquired stocks, so we’re surprisingly organised.  Technically, this is our first Christmas, although Mark and I have successfully survived the last 6 working together as managers in our former guise, so we’re very well adhered to the workings of the trade over Christmas and have a bottle of Scotch on standby to make the hot drinks more friendly (Ardbeg tea – nothing better to help you survive a hectic Winter’s slog).

On the subject of Christmas I feel I must recommend some of the wines we’ve specifically shipped with the festive season in mind.  Being forever the traditionalist, Bordeaux is a favourite region of mine and a place that everyone should visit at least once.  Over Christmas a bottle of decent Claret to me is as necessary as Turkey or Christmas pud and we have now upped our range of Bordeaux to a modest 21.  My first suggestion is our house claret, which is a wine that I’ve actually checked the price of several times since it still surprises me that a Claret this good can be so well-priced.  Weighing in at £4.99, this Merlot led gem is a joy to drink without requiring a re-mortgage; soft, juicy strawberry fruit with perfectly balanced structure.  Stepping it up a notch to £8.99 and crossing to the Medoc will get you a bottle of our stunning Chateau Moulin de Cassy (£8.99), a Cabernet Sauvignon dominated star of a wine.  More weight and power but still beautifully fruit-forward.  A Cru Bourgeois that we’re particularly proud of is Chateau Pontoise Cabarrus, classic West Bank Bordeaux with grippy tannins and dark cassis fruit (£11.99).  For those who prefer their Claret a little more modern, we also ship their second wine (Cote Pontoise, £9.99), a softer, more forward, fruit-driven wine, more approachable when young.

Finally, for those of you who prefer your Claret to be classed, two wines that would be difficult to pass by, are the stunning Chateau Pontet-Canet from Pauillac 1997 (Fifth Growth, £29.99) and the famed Chateau Langoa-Barton 1996 (Third Growth, £39.99), both classic wines from the West bank that couldn’t fail to give immense pleasure over the festive period.

I hereby promise to blog more frequently.

Slainte,

Matt.