News from Down at the Shop

There's always lots to do in the shop at this time of year - everyone is starting to get geared up for Christmas, and we're no exception. New stock is arriving in to the shop daily, and Ally and I have been busy putting our Christmas displays and gift selections together so that we can offer our customers the best deals. Whether you are looking for a gift that is a little different, or you want to purchase all your Christmas wine and spirits for the festive season, we have some fabulous offers on right now. Here are a few to whet your appetite:

Wine of the Week - Biscardo

Biscardo Lugana 2011 was £11.99 NOW ONLY £9.99 per bottle

Biscardo Soave Lorenzo 2010 was £10.99 NOW ONLY £8.99 per bottle

Biscardo Valpolicella Ripasso 2009 was £13.99 NOW ONLY £11.99 per bottle

Purchase any two bottles of our Wine of the Week during November and receive a free Rainbow Organic Chocolate gift (subject to availability*)

Ale of the Fortnight - Innis & Gunn

Innis & Gunn  Blonde Oak Aged now £2.15 per bottle

Innis & Gunn Canadian Cherrywood Finish now £2.80 per bottle

Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask now £2.35 per bottle

Innis & Gunn Original Oak Aged now £1.89 per bottle

Innis & Gunn Rum Finish Oak Aged now £1.89 per bottle 

Sparklers - Rocland Estates 

The Chocolate Box Sparkling Moscato (White Chocolate) was £14.99 NOW £12.99 per bottle 

Champagne - Denis Robert

Denis Robert Cuvee Brut Tradition just £18.49 per bottle

Our Malt of the Month features some brand new releases from Bruichladdich, including Bruichladdich Black Art 4, Bruichladdich Islay Barley Rockside Farm 2007, Bruichladdich Octomore 6.1 Scottish Barley, Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Heavily Peated and Bruichladdich Scottish Barley. So, if you're looking for that special gift for a special someone then these would be hard to beat.

We also have some incredible mixed case offers on right now to suit every budget so why not pop in and see us!

This week I'ave been mostly drinking...

Susan Ross, Logistics Manager

We all had a fabulous tasting with the brand ambassador for Innis & Gunn on Thursday evening in our retail shop.  However, rather than go home with an armful of beer for the weekend, which I think I’ll leave until nearer Christmas and stock up for some gifts and guests, I decided to try a couple of wines I haven’t yet managed to – we are in the enviable predicament that we are so spoilt for choice, it is a bit of a headache choosing which wine to take home for the weekend, never mind the potential headache once its drunk!

So the choice for Sunday dinner was Camillo De Lellis Biferno Rosso Riserva Doc.  All of our shop customers rave about this wine, and now I know why.  It is a great wine without the great price ticket.  It’s Italian, from the area of Molise which is one of Italy’s smallest and least developed wine regions, and this wine oozes rustic charm. Jammy on the nose and smooth and deep in flavour – a perfect pairing for Sunday Roast.

My other choice, and again, one I’ve chosen to bring in to sell in our shop but hadn't actually got round to tasting it yet was Miopasso Fiano and I definitely needed to try this one - I’m a great lover of Italian and Spanish wines, to me they offer something a little different from the norm and Fiano is no exception to this.  I wasn’t disappointed!  Fairly deep in colour, quite golden, so I was expecting it to be perhaps a bit heavy, however, no, it was quite light in texture with loads of fruit: peachy and pear flavours, with a nice crispy and refreshing finish.  

Clive Holroyd, Database Manager

We're having a cracking Autumn in this part of the world. Although a handful of trees are bare there are many nearly in full leaf and a few of those are even still showing some greenery, so a stroll round the Perthshire hills will reveal a glorious panoply of greens, browns, reds, oranges and golds. Then there's the air - crisp, cold and clear; breathing it makes you feel extra alive and the clarity highlighted by the low sun means you can literally see for miles. Amazing. Now where was I? Oh yes, wine. I start craving hearty chunky soups and stews at this time of year- we had a delicious butternut squash and paprika soup at the week-end and I think that venison haunch in the freezer will work really well with some freshly picked hedgerow fruits which are in abundance at the moment. Something full and fruity is called for on the drinking front and as luck would have it, Russell's just put a full and fruity mixed case on our website.  I chose a bottle of the VinaApaltagua Huaquen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva Chile 2010 from said case. I've already tried and enjoyed the Carmenere from the same producer so expectations where high, and I wasn't disappointed. Most tasting notes mention strawberries but I got more black and redcurrant in a full and generous but not overpowering drink from an all too small bottle. Maybe I should have bought the whole case after all.

Dianne Barrie, Company Administrator 

This week I ‘ave been mostly drinking…whisky. Yes, that’s right, whisky! Since tasting the Old Perth some months back when it was re-launched at a tasting in our retail shop, I have started to “get in to” whisky. I am, of course, far from what could be described as a very ‘educated’ whisky drinker, but I am starting to become a little more familiar with the differences in whisky styles produced in different regions of Scotland. I have to admit that I do have a preference for the softer, sweeter, fruitier whiskies – I find that I haven’t quite developed a palate for the heavier smoky, peaty styles…yet. Anyway down to this week’s choice, which I learned was actually named after a long lost distillery that once produced whisky just up the road from here between Milnathort and Forgandenny! That distillery was Stronachie. Established in 1890, the distillery finally closed its doors in 1928 when, like so many others, was forced to close following a slump in the whisky industry after the First World War.  Only four bottles of the original Stronachie from the actual distillery existed, and the story of the name's revival started in 2002 when Dewar Rattray (now A.D. Rattray) bought a bottle of Stronachie from 1904 at auction. They decided to try and recreate a whisky from this lost distillery and distribute it once again. A sample was taken from the 1904 bottle which A.D. Rattray tried to link to characteristics of a distillery still in operation - Benrinnes Distillery in Speyside, which now supplies the whisky that goes in to Stronachie. I tried the 12 year old, which I found to be lovely and rich with a very enticing honey nut flavours. There is also a slight touch of smoke on the palate from this whisky, but for me this seemed to bring out the fullness of the endnote flavours of toffee, which were almost Muscovado sugar-like in quality. A very enjoyable dram.  

This week I'ave been mostly drinking...

Russell Wallace, General Manager

This Week I ‘ave been mostly drinking… Running Duck Pinotage.  

This is one of those low price, Organic no added Sulphur wines that despite my colleagues assurance I have been rather sceptical about and thus have avoided.  Most of my reluctance I would imagine comes from insider knowledge, just in the same way as having ran many restaurants and seen the reality behind the curtain, I now really struggle to enjoy a meal out like I used to!  Being part of the wine trade I am all to familiar with how much of a bottle of wine goes into the Government pockets and other things that I cannot actually pour in my glass.  So with that in mind I always struggle to grasp just how any budget wines can really deliver a level of quality for the incredibly low return a vineyard owner will get, never mind when they go for Organic certification and more difficult low-sulphur type techniques.  So this week I got my act together and gave this one a bash to see just what a South African Vineyard can actually do with a couple of Rand and I was really quite pleasantly surprised.  The producer Stellar Organics produces this great Q& A on http://stellarorganics.com/media/general/No-sulphur-added_wines_QandA.pdf.  The wine itself is great, nice and rich for these darker colder nights but not heavily tannic so it gets my thumbs up.  This is more refined than your average Pinotage with rounder edges and generally a less harsh feel to it.  It also has just a tiny touch of the same quality that made me fall in love with the Welgegund Pinotage, an unusual lemongrass type feel.  All in all for under a tenner you do get well more than £10 worth of wine in my humble opinion.  Grab a bottle today and give it a bash!

Susan Ross, Logistics manager

Get into the Christmas way of thinking with Rocland Estates The Chocolate Box SparklingMoscato

Moscato is normally sweet but delicate and a great tipple for day-time drinking or pre-dinner.  Not too high in alcohol, so it won’t spoil the rest of the evening, or put too many inches round the waistline (always my concern)!  The wine is very pale in colour, but the aromas are anything but understated, zooming out in full floral, orangey Muscat character.  It is soft and sweet, balanced a bit by citrusy acids on the finish.  A great drink for Christmas morning while you’re opening all these pressies, or if that’s too much to think about at the moment, a very pleasant early evening tipple just before dinner on Saturday while you’re tapping your toes to Strictly Come Dancing.

Dianne Barrie, Company Administrator

I can’t say that I know a great deal about one of my wine choices this week…in fact I have to admit that, to my knowledge, I have never tried this grape variety before! Well, there’s a first time for everything, and so it was with some intrigue that I decided to give Crossroads Winery Milestone Series Gewurztraminer from New Zealand a try. It’s fair to say that this style of wine is not my usual choice, however I found myself really enjoying this wine. While it does have a soft lemony fruitiness to it with slight hints of ginger, it was the beautiful floral rose notes that really grabbed my attention in the glass. Wonderfully balanced, it’s not a heavy wine, though I would say that this is one of those wines you would want to enjoy with food. As it happens, we were having plaice for supper that evening and this wine complemented the subtle sweetness of the fish perfectly. If, like me, you haven’t explored this grape variety before either, then I urge you to give this one a try…you won’t be disappointed.