PERRIN AND MUSAR AT TASTING

Well, here we are speeding through autumn headlong into winter and yes…..Christmas. As I passed through Beaconsfield last Thursday the ubiquitous reindeer were being put in place for their romp through November and December above our heads in the high street.

You will be delighted to know that at the Tasting we are showing a variety of vintages of Château Musar, which will hopefully give you an understanding on how the wine develops with age. So get there early (or later) if you want elbow room.
Also we will be showing from the Perrin family a range of red and white Rhone wines to include Château Beaucastel. An opportunity not to be missed. Experts will abound and the usual jugglers and sausages will be present.
Moving swiftly on, before you get bored we would like to draw your attention to our new venture - Hampers&Champers - that largely speaks for itself. It is specifically for creating lovely gifts of wine and food in wicker baskets for personal and corporate presents. Examples of which will you will find overleaf. To order or discuss look on the website -
www.hampersandchampers.co.uk.
or call Joanna on 01494 675545

Touching on things that have happened this year.
In May our Burgundy dinner was a great success with Katherine Richardson MW giving a very instructive tutored tasting on the wines and followed by an excellent dinner created by none other than Hampers&Champers. One or two taxis were sent around the block whilst guests
drained their glasses and polished off the cheese platter. We plan to do another in May 2008 - so watch this space or register your interest.

The 2005 “en Primeur” offer was a huge success and amazingly the wines have already increased in value; Château Lafitte, for instance, has risen from £4000 to £7000 per case. And you will still have to wait at least 10 years to drink it!. We are now offering the 2006 “en primeur”. Please ask for our list.
Clarets seem to be finding their feet again and there are some delicious soft fruity and mildly tannic examples coming from the 2001 and 2003 vintages though with the 2003 you need to be pretty selective as it was an odd year (VERY HOT!!). We are doing our best to do that selection for you. The older vintages continue to give huge pleasure and fly out the door and I spend a lot of time scouring the country in pursuit of good examples. Thanks to Katherine, our tame MW, we are well advised on Burgundy and we now have an enormous range of 1er Crus from the Côte d’Or. Despite coming from one grape variety (Pinot Noir) the complexity of the region never fails to amaze and fascinate.

In our diligent search for an inexpensive quality champagne we have found Gratien Champagne (£24.60) with a 10% Discount for 6. Gratien were founded 1864 and is still owned by the descendents of the founders. The first fermentation is in oak casks just like Champagne Krug which leads us to repeat what a customer said once “its just like Krug but at a fraction of the price”. Gratien also use a higher percentage of Pinot Meunier that gives the resulting wine a refined elegance.

Lastly we have recently started to stock a wonderful non-alcoholic Apple Juice from Athena Farm in West Sussex. It is a blend of Cox and Bramley apples and is delicious; lots of flavour and a crisp clean finish. Ideal for Boxing Day morning!!!
Happy Christmas.

('Neil Bingham',)