As my freezing hands try to type this whilst in our cellars, please forgive if there are any spelling mistakes (the only reason… honest!) and the warmth of the few days last week are long gone, so we do seem to be back in the grip of winter once more.

Thankfully though, the day light hours are getting longer. Indeed our cockerel ‘Sunshine’ has found his voice (he’s a freebie we inherited from our neighbours, and I now know why!). Indeed as have the other wonderful birds and wildlife – the signs are all around in the hedgerows and fields that Spring is not far off. It goes without saying, but I think we are all looking forward to it this year more than ever!

We are continuing to operate the shop on restricted opening hours (9.30am-4pm) but it’s subject to review in the coming weeks, as it’s predicted that non-essential shops will open up next month. As ever, please do give us a call or place an order online and we can organise the delivery, free of charge for 6 bottles or more, if within a 15 mile radius of the shop.

Whilst we would have attended numerous trade tastings these last few months and tasting ‘tank samples’ of last years vintage; what has been a wonderful revelation is our zoom masterclass tastings where we have had an early morning 9 am tastings with premium wines from Australia focusing on their amazing Chardonnay’s (Cullen, Giants Step, Shaw & Smith) to name but a few. Tastings with the winemaker from Domaine Lyarakis in Crete, Massaya in Lebanon, Crittenden Estate in Mornington Peninsula has not only been great fun but hugely informative.

We have a number of new and exciting wines to showcase as well and some old favourites returning. With the sad demise of one of our key trade partners last year, we thought we would lose several of our key listings (Rolly Gassmann, Dog Point, Domaine Deux Roches, Chateau des Antonins) but thankfully we have managed to secure the vast majority through other likeminded importers.

Austria has been making some cracking wines for some time now and I feel the UK is slowly but surely waking up to this notion, that they are not sweet or oxidised wines but offer wonderful freshness and quality; as can be highlighted in our recent virtual tasting where we showed Austria’s neighbour, Nimrod Kovac Winery Kefrankos from Hungary.

Spring and Summer is ideal for the white grape variety, Gruner Veltliner and their crunchy red berried fruit red wines, from Blauerfrankos (Kefrankos), Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, St. Laurent. So do look at producers such as Sepp Moser wines, Pfaffl, Huber, Johanneshof Reinisch & Weszeli wines.

Best wishes & Stay safe.

James.