Now Maxine, my PA is worried

It's that Rich List thing. Having been de-listed, she wonders if I'll really need her when I'm flogging 'Big Issue' outside Waitrose. I hate that wretched List. The wealth they attribute to us is purely notional in our case and varies as the Company earnings.

You invest heavily setting up shop in Australia, America, Germany, Hong Kong and the rest, so logically your earnings drop. And your 'notional wealth' goes with it. Notional. Those 58 millions Max thinks we lost, we never had in the first place.

Max, no-one should worry; Laithwaites Wine is going like a train wherever we have set up, and not just in the UK. And it's just as well we are not UK-only, given that in the last two years they've increased tax on wine here by 25% and plan lots more 'take' apparently. Wonderful!

Did you know there's no wine tax at all in Hong Kong?

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Barbara takes her wine exam tomorrow. Thank Heavens. I would like to talk about something other than grapes. And not have the aggro anymore. Last night with the grilled the fish I served up Couly Dutheil Blanc de Franc - a terrific white wine made from Cabernet Franc; a red grape.

Thanks? No, just got accused of trying to confuse her.

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So this is sunny Sicily ...

No it isn't, it's sunny Douglas. When the flights were cancelled, brisk Barbara said we shouldn't stay home and sulk but head the other way and do something we'd long talked about; catch the Heysham ferry - possibly the only ferry without long queues this week - to the Isle of Man.

But, you say, there are no vineyards on the Isle of Man. So why am I writing?

I write because I just must extol the virtue of always, if you can, packing a couple of half bottles of Champagne. It was Hugh Johnson himself who taught me this habit. I saw him unpacking them from his suitcase in a hotel room somewhere, long ago. "Lad"... (And to this day, he still calls me 'Lad'... I'm a Northerner you see. By Gum!).. "Lad, there are few situations that cannot be greatly improved by a little Champagne".

After Peel Castle, the Monument and cliff walk, I felt I'd earned that half of Laithwaite bubbly with my very fresh crab bap from the lady by the vast sunny beach occupied solely by us and the herring-gull family.

And after the 'high' of the steam train trip to Port St Mary..., the 'low' of walking, hungry, into that silent village, then the joy of finding the lads in Paddy's fish market and factory who'd not only sell us huge helpings of the Queenies they were shelling, but pan fry them - with a salad - for £4! And lend us champagne flutes! Well, the herring gulls lost out again as, alone, by the harbour... we got sunburnt. But what a memorable fizz-enhanced moment!

Thanks H.J.

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The 31st Sunday Times Wine Festival went brilliantly well last weekend, despite the Volcano.

A few of our wine producers didn't make it but most got through ... somehow. Circuitous routes and unusual transports. I really liked the story of the Hungarian winemakers Eszter and Zoltan from Campanula (great pink fizz), who got in on the last plane from Budapest but didn't know how they were to get back. A Wine Club Member then comes to their Stand and says he just got back from Budapest in a hire car and would they like the keys to take it back? Great! And it worked! They did it. 24 hrs.

Carlos and Anna Bujanda turned up on time for work today having also hired a car and driven to Logrono.

Don't quite know how all the Aussie, Kiwis, South Africans and Chileans will manage ... But they will, somehow. Anyway a few days off in sunny England might be just the ticket after all that pouring and chatting.

Our customers sure do have a lot of questions to ask. I followed one couple round who kept asking everyone "Do you sell to Tesco?"

What was that about? And no..no, no, no. Our kind of Producers have no love for supermarkets of any nationality.

I was calculating that by now that little show has had 120,000 visitors over the years. And it's still pretty much a secret just known to Wine-Clubbers and those few Laithwaites customers who somehow found out.

But the new Laithwaites Show on 19th & 20th November in and all around our Vinopolis Arch and 5 neighbours is going to be quite something, it'll be THE Party of the Year!

On Saturday morning I went there to show Yves Gellie - our star photographer - round the place and he took this shot of me standing on the Tasting Table (which is VERY solid) looking unbearably smug.

I got some quite rude comments whilst up there.

Contrast it with this 40 year old shot of me in my original Arch36 in Windsor. Time does us no favours does it? But at least I seem to have cheered up a bit!

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Buyer's Tasting at our Arch near Borough Market

Almost all of our Buyers (you can never get them all together; there's always someone on a trip) did a big range tasting for us at our Arch near Borough Market yesterday.

It was the first chance our buying team (Thomas, Clare, Abi, Helen, Anne, Becca and Cat) have had to show our new Global Wine Director, Justin, what they can do. They all presented their current favourites.

I thought it would be interesting to pick out a dozen wines and put them in a case for anyone who wants an up-to-the-second take on the wines we'll all be ordering for ourselves. I made some notes below. None of the wines are expensive and all are worth a try.

ONE, Abi’s choice: The new Chai white Roussanne du Baron is an instant hit. Mark Hoddy's latest creation. Roussanne is possibly my favourite white grape. Not sure why. It makes big white wines, solid, chunky, masculine. Nothing too floral or flippant about a good big Roussanne, but wow, great depths of chewy flavour, that get deeper over time. It was André Roux who introduced us long ago to this lady and I've stayed faithful. And tend to bang on about her. Mark Hoddy (Chai Cellarmaster) doubtless heard me droning on and last harvest, when in the Midi overheard Arnoud de Bertier (our tame Baron) say that he or his brother - I forget - had an old vineyard of Roussanne they were going to rip up after the harvest. He grabbed the last fruit and has worked obsessively on the wine ever since. The vineyard's now gone. And the wine's so good it makes you want to cry. 

TWO, Abi again: Mark's hit from last year; the Vent de Folie Syrah from his 'home' in Maury. Its very, very good. The boy is able to make the often quite surly Syrah grape come out all smiling and singing.

THREE, Helen’s choice: Another Baron; the Baron de Barbón from Rioja 2008 is the best father and son Javier and Julian Murua have ever made. For the money, quite outstanding.

FOUR, Thomas went for this one: The Amoras Rosé from Portugal was a surprise choice but the winemaker Jose Neiva has won big awards for his pinks so perhaps not that surprising.

FIVE, Becca’s choice: The Stonewall New Zealand Riesling seduced us all. It would seduce our customers too if they can get past that word 'Riesling' which still gives too many the shudders remembering that cheap sugar-water from Germany which blighted their youth. Forget those days, folks, long gone, this is amazing. 

SIX, Becca again: The Esk Valley Sauvignon Blanc is a cracker too. Got more votes than anything else. Really crackles with crisp energy. No-brainer. 

SEVEN, Thomas: The Hunters Gewurztraminer is a wine we've bought for years, always good, if a touch niche-y. But this year, Wow, something else! Very spicy, of course, but just so drinkable. I reckon a roast chicken and this and I'd be in heaven. The wonder of wine, eh? God knows why one vintage does so well. But He doesn't tell us why.  Three Kiwi wines in a row ... hat-trick for our Thomas W. He's on form, our T.

EIGHT, Cat went for this: Tomahawk Shiraz 07. From our new RedHeads place, McLaren Vale, a wine that's turned out much better that we expected. 14.5 degrees, tastes like 13. But just such lovely refreshing flavours. Must encourage 'Hoops' - Adam Hooper - to do more of this. I've showed it at a couple of customer tastings and it’s sold v. well, so customers agree.  

NINE, Martin: Giant Steps Chardonnay 2007. Aussie Chardonnay - another 'turn-off' term for customers, bored with mass-produced, over blended, over-oaked, whack-with-an-iron-bar 'Chardy'. But here's a lovely cool-climate Chablis-rivalling wine from the most talked-about new cellar in the Yarra Valley. (Don't miss visiting if nearby, it’s my dream cellar. I want one like this - all gravity, no pumps, plus a restaurant, deli, bakery, creamery and brewery).  

TEN, Becca: Casa del Rio Verde Cabernet Reserva. Casa del Rio Verde is, despite the earthquake which destroyed many others, still an idyllic manor house on the Teno River. The name is from their great mass of vineyards, fruit and other trees reflected in the bright river.

The Reserva is predominantly Cabernet with a small percentage of both Carmenere and Syrah too; for lovely dark plum and blackberry flavours with chocolate-y and vanilla-ish hints added by the months in oak - clever, very clever; from the multi-award-winning Adolfo Hurtado, and the up-and-coming Cecilia Padilla.

ELEVEN, Anne chose this: Masseria Cavallo Negramaro 08. Big staff favourite ... joint first (tie with a Rioja worth £23 a bottle) in our last 500 tasting ... subsequently won the 'Premio Nazionale Leone d’Oro' in Italy!! So now has big credentials ... A smoothly irresistible Italian seducer. 

TWELVE, Helen again: Domaine de Dionysos Cotes du Rhone 2007. A fantastic example of why the 2007 vintage in the Rhone was so highly sought after. This delicious red comes from the family estate of Domaine Dionysos in the southern Rhone Valley, near to Orange. This is the first outing from skilled wine maker Andre Farjon and we are proud to see a debut wine becoming such an instant hit. A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Carignan, this is a juicy red with ripe tannins and a long spicy finish. Parker thought the 2007 Rhone vintage was the greatest he’d tasted in thirty years. Helen told me she’d found this wine at the Decouvertes wine fair and had ‘spent two days tasting nothing but CDR wines and this was only one of two wines that we now list. I must have tasted 250 wines to select this!’

So, twelve wines that the buyers (and me!) are drinking right now. The case has been put together. Not sure how it will sell, but these are all worth trying. See what you think…

After work today I went to help Henry plant his windbreak trees.

He has bought a lovely south facing sloping field just north of Marlow near the Rebellion brewery (where Tim and Mark will sell you Laithwaites wines alongside their peerless Ales).

Henry's field is at around the 50 metres level and it's solid chalk under a very thin soil, so should be perfect for producing a really good fizz. However it's a bit windy so in go the Alder trees. Three hundred of them. So far! A lot of digging, filling and watering. So the call goes out to family! Mum, Dad.....

The thousands of baby vines arrive next month... I've arranged to be away that week!

But out there on the hillside with views to Marlow and Cookham Dean, the warm late afternoon sun, the larks singing high above, I feel I, like French Alfie the dog could madly run, scamper and jump for joy ... were I only Alfie's age.

As I'm not I'll just sit and soak it all in. God, it's good to be out of the office.

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Diary of a Worried Wine Man

My wife has started studying wine. Its a bit worrying because she's a good student and I'm not. I'm a terrible student.

She puts in two hours a day, everyday, swot, swot, swot, then makes me test her. She may only be on WSET Level 2 Certificate but where's it all going to end is what I want to know? Once she gets going on studying something she never stops.

This is the wife who for thirty-odd years has always preferred a G&T to almost any wine. This is also the wife/Managing Director always happy to leave wine matters to me and get on with the general management stuff.

Retired and bored, she went and planted that vineyard down the road with that Cherry Postlethwaite.
That started it.

You'd think the long hours of vineyard work would be enough. But no; now she wants to be a total wine expert now. Which I find threatening. I blame Cherry for this.

I have only ever done a smattering of wine (or for that matter, any...) study in my life; pick it up on the job is my way. I've spent a lifetime finding out what's now all laid out in her textbook and can be learnt in hours by a hoover-brain. Soon she will know more than me!

That's not fair, and it’s threatening my lifetime's role. Next thing you know she'll be asking for the Wine List in restaurants. What's left for me then?

As far as I'm concerned, now EVERYONE might as well become a wine expert. Why not? Make me totally redundant. Get on to that Ian Harris - all his fault - at The Wine and Spirit Education Trust. Get on a course. They do them round the world, everywhere. For anyone!

Mind you, their book; "Looking Behind the Wine Label" is very good. But then all the wine labels they show are ours. That's some reassurance for me, at least.

Last month customers helped us raise £39,437 and 22p! for the Chilean Embassy Relief Fund

Last month customers helped us raise £39,437 and 22p! for the Chilean Embassy Relief Fund. And all our Chilean producers have said how much it has meant to them to know they have such good friends on the other side of the world.

Me, I think its beautiful to be able to help solve a problem by just drinking more good wine! If everything was that simple!

We will round up the final figure to £40,000 and send it in tomorrow.
Soon we will have Becca, and the folks from Cono Sur, Vina Falernia, Vina Tarapaca and Vina la Rosa over here for The London Vintage Festival and be able to learn more first hand.

In the meantime let's remember not to forget plucky little Chile! They just get better and better at winemaking every year. Amazing evolution; "Don't ask which is our best vintage..its always the last one!"