New Forest Wines

As this is a wine blog, it should really have some wine content……..so a quick highlight of a handful of wines not to be missed:

Menetou-Salon Nicolas Girard 2007 - An elegant Loire Sauvignon Blanc, from a much underrated village for only £7.99. Wade in, it won’t last for long!

Chamonix Reserve Pinot Noir 2008 £12.99 - one of the best Pinot’s I have had in a while, plump and delicious now. Although having 16 months in mainly new oak, it has integrated extremely well. Only a 3 case allocation so be really quick.

Calbuco Merlot 2008 £6.99 - one of those wines that are usually in stock, happily sold to a band of regulars, but need a higher profile as they are great value. Maybe this vintage is in its’ ’sweet-spot’, or is it always this good??

Something strange is going on. Be afraid! Very afraid!!

No, not another horror flick for Halloween, but an unusual amount of activity from some of my suppliers in the run up to Christmas. Champagne seems to be getting cheaper!! This is an almost unheard of scenario, but with the current strength of the euro and impending VAT rise must have something to do with the current economic climate.

Cristal and Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc are freely available at reasonable prices, Roederer and LP Rose going for a song, and most reasonable House Champagne and Veuve pricing.

Make the most of it - I for one will be loading up and will pass the savings onto my loyal customers.

May your Christmas be bubbly!!

Just back from a most pleasant visit to Sicily, Puglia and Campania, courtesy of Liberty Wines, as part of a group of 15 Independent Merchants and Sommeliers. It’s always good to know more about the wines I stock, and so great to meet the people behind Villa Tonino, Donnafugata, Vesevo, Gran Sasso and A.Mano. Tasting their full ranges at the winery brings the whole experience together - I will just have to be disciplined not to spend too much on adding to my already large range!!

The EC has at last made an attempt to sort out the (outdated??) wine laws with a whole raft of changes which came in on August 1st. Briefly the main and most interesting moves are:
1) Table wines will be allowed to state the vintage and grape varieties used, which should boost the sales.
2) The phasing out of subsidies given for distilling (not very good!) wine into industrial alcohol, which should address issues of overproduction of dilute wines.
3) Growers producing wine in the above category to be offerred subsidies to grub up the vines.
4) The lifting of planting restrictions in the future, which will allow the freedom to innovate.

Hopefully this will help to alleviate the current cycle of overproduction, allowing growers to focus on quality.

The Summer seems to be upon us in a very unusual way, in that is it really is glorious outside. From this I have learnt to always have a north facing shop (nice and cool throughout the day), keep the fridge full and order even more Rose wines. The drier, lighter coloured ‘Provence-style’ wines seem to be selling out almost as they arrive (note to self - have to do better!!). My top selling wines currently are:
Valancay Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire @ £6.49
Massamier Mignarde Rose £5.99
Cava Jaume Serra Brut £5.99

I know it’s not really the weather for it, but I have some fantastic Argentinian reds coming in next Tuesday, from reasonable to stupidly expensive (but all great value).

Well, how exhausting!! Visiting thousands of suppliers packed into a kilometer long building for 3 days in mid May is not the best of fun, but an opportunity not to be missed for me. Since opening up almost a year ago, my range has developed organically, but I needed to look at new products to fill in any gaps (mainly from my current suppliers) and also a range of wines that I could wholesale to my growing number of trade customers.

Lots of new wines on the retail side. I was especially pleased with the Hope ‘Cracker’ Cabernet Merlot from Western Australia at £9.99, Los Espinos Chilean Merlot at £5.99 and Martin Codax Albarino at £9.99.

Plenty of bin-end bargains at the moment from several suppliers. The trade is tough for importers at the moment, with a combination of increasing duty, pretty poor exchange rates and the on-trade restaurant sector generally not doing so well. With stock to clear smaller independants like myself can nip in and out, picking up plenty of bargains. Check out the bin end section on the wine page for current stock.

Monday 27th April 2009
Wine blog now up and running. Check here for what’s been going on with New Forest Wines, and the world of wine generally.