Jubilee Weekend at home

Tearing myself away from the cricket … loving it twofold, when Strauss cracks another boundary into a board that says 'Laithwaites Wine'! I must tell you that for us, this weekend combines the Jubilee with our village's 'Peppard Revels'; an ancient sports and jollity bash that – we like to boast – pre-dates any modern-day sports-fest.

For centuries, the rougher elements of all the Thames villages in the Henley to Goring loop would congregate every midsummer up on the wild and – importantly – completely lawless central commons at Peppard.

There would be 50-a side football, tugs o' war, and greasy pole. Cudgel fighting was the big one. Not only a sporting spectacle, but an inexpensive way for the thugs and footpads of the day to improve society by wiping each other out.

With Health and Safety being unreasonable about us re-introducing cudgels, we have running, jumping  and such next Saturday, with that great sporting film 'Cool Runnings' later in the marquee. I'm popping corn, apparently.  Sunday is 'Big Lunch' and the River Pageant is on the Big Screen on our Green. The tickets for the Monday Evening Beacon-lit Revels sold out in minutes but there's fireworks for all.

I'll be sustained by my boy Will's Abingdon Bridge Ale … (did anyone spot Inspector Lewis knocking back a bottle of this on last week's episode? How'd Will swing that then?) …  whilst flipping burgers for my wife's food stall during the day. In the evening I'll enjoy comparing a glass of cool Laithwaites Champagne with one of our own English Sparklers. 

(An aside: Yesterday we picnicked in our Royal Farms Vineyard in Windsor Great Park. For the first time; it was perfect. Under the great oak at the bottom of the slope by the lake. A piece of heaven. 'We' were Hugh and Judy Johnson, Old Ted; the Great Park's guardian of the ancient oaks – some over 1000 years old – John and Sue from the Woodland Trust – successfully re-foresting much of Britain for the Jubilee – and Beverly and David Aspinall (she famous for having run and 'turned-round' Fortnum and Mason, now resting before going to sort out someone else). We showed them our wonderful new vineyard, they showed us their wonderful ancient trees.)

But to get back to next weekend:

At the Jubilee Revels dinner I'll be drinking the gorgeous 'Gunboat' Pinot Noir from the Greenings of Central Otago, NZ, which will bring fond memories of our recent stay at Felton Road. It will be perfect with the Crooked Billet's menu of 'very slow cooked lamb' – which is exactly what Nigel Greening cooked for us at Felton Road. You cook it – cling-filmed – in a small bath! Weird. But it worked.

Many villagers put in a huge effort for the 'Revels' not least my dear wife. I see her now, working on her Revels preparations, her garden, her vineyard, cakes for Joan's garden day and the Company Budgets for next year.  I do feel a bit guilty here watching the cricket but, well, it's kind of 'work'; someone has to check they've put our boards in the right places.  

Have a Great Weekend. Revel till you drop. I certainly will.

Award success for the buyers

"Retail Buying Team of the Year; Laithwaites Wine". It’s nice to have it confirmed at last … by Drinks Business; (the Wine Magazine of every Year for me).

Our success over the years was often put down to a) our customer service – which indeed has won a stack of awards – and b) my silver tongue, or some sort of voodoo magic we perform with that thing called 'Mail Order'. 

Well, no, keen wine customers are one of the smartest customer groups of all. You don't get anywhere without giving them delightful wines that nobody else can give them. And how do you do that? You work at your research all the hours God sends and you travel till you begin to think airports are where you live.

 

I don't drive my buyers to do this. They just drive themselves on. And have for many years.

My buyers truly do get themselves to places where no-one has ever been before. And do it all the time.  I'm very grateful to them, I love 'em all, and I promise we will always have the most travelled and the smartest buyers in wine.

So … well done Drinks Business for letting our secret out.  

And spare a thought for Dan and Steve based out in Oz. They might not like it, being true Aussies, but they are on the winning British team too. And also for poor Thomas over in the US, who laboured long towards today's award. He was just recently told to 'Go west, young man', and join Michael buying for our American chums. You're both on the team, really, chaps. And, well, California isn't too bad a place to be is it?

Talking of  travels… This week, with my old school mates, I have been re-tracing a geography field trip over Clee Hill and the Long Mynd from 50 years ago. I've emailed some pictures to a Mr Brian Roberts, retired teacher. 

Thank you, Mr Roberts, Sir, for somehow knocking into a dense 16-year old the delights of wandering around in a geographical sort of way. OK so I only got a 3rd. But I've never stopped using what geography I did learn. Thanks. Keep taking the wine.

PS I recommend Bishops Castle as a gem of a little town in unspoilt country. With two breweries and a nice hotel.

The future

I saw the future of Laithwaites, yesterday. Not my granddaughter but the new online software called Laithwaites Recommends.

We have been doing Wine Plans for customers for thirty years. I'm sure every customer would be on a Plan (regular, scheduled, automatic deliveries at a big discount) if it weren't for the worries. Worries to do with lack of choice and flexibility. And "won't that Tony Laithwaite bully me into drinking stuff I don't want?" (Never! But my writing partner might. He's called Bully!)

But now these worries have all been addressed after years of work on this software programme called Laithwaites Recommends. Yesterday I saw how it works.

We send you an invitation to join and if you like the offer you sign in. Then you can start to play on the Laithwaites Recommends webpages.

The first screen shows a picture of your case but with the cardboard removed so you see every bottle. You can click on a bottle or bottles or, well, everything and remove it or them. Then you can look at alternative bottles. You'll see the Customer Favourites first but there are over a thousand wines available. As you 'virtually' pop your replacement bottles in the case the screen shows you the new case price and savings. (Usually 10% or more off normal list).

You can switch to a completely different wine plan if you want. With a click. You can vary the frequency of your case, bring forward the delivery or put it back. You can book a time and day for delivery. You can skip a delivery or cancel altogether.

Clicking on bottles gives you enough information to be able to make much better choices. Enough, actually, to make you sound like a Master of Wine. Better still, included with the case are neat little Information Cards on every wine. When your order is being packed these cards are printed out by the computer and placed in your box.

There's much more to tell and show. We are going to get someone to do a demo film on You Tube. Not me I think. But a quick witted youth. But have a look now. If you are a customer of mine you're bright enough to figure it out yourself.

Anyway I send my congratulations to the team of programmers who have produced this. It’s unique. And VERY impressive. Thanks.

Dairy … no, Diary: A Day at Lords

When I was a lad my idea of the ideal life was watching a lot of sport. I had read every single PG Wodehouse book and thought Bertie Wooster, really, was no fool. Drones Club, Racing, Test Matches, the Open Tourer and someone to sort everything out. Nice life if you can afford it. Then I got a job in wine and that was that. Not complaining. The Wine Life was more fun than The Sporting Life.

And took over completely.

But yesterday was special; we had BOTH Lives.

I can't remember when I was last at Lord's. But yesterday it looked stunning. I saw England play rather well, in front of a backdrop that said "Laithwaite's WINE".Oh Boy! Paradise is here.

There's a lovely picture of a mid-air Stuart Broad in front of the word 'Laithwaite's.' Or 'waites....Laith' to be precise. If the photographer had just moved a bit. But no matter.

Keen readers will note that Laithwaite's Wine is not in the typeface we've used for the last five years or so. Because we've changed it again. Over the summer the look of our whole offering will also change. Not the wines, just the look and sound and feel.

We will of course be very keenly interested to see how you all react. That's somewhat important.

It’s all to do with the re-energising of my Company by this Young Crowd we now have. Barbara and I are just about the only members of the Old Crowd left. Apart from Ade. But we sent him to sort out the USA for us. He is one who REALLY misses his cricket. We send him Wisden for Xmas.

During Tea I introduced myself to Sir Ian Botham and said I was a wine merchant. He said he knew that. Which was kind. But he's a big wine guy. Spends time with Geoff Merrill in McLaren Vale just near Red Heads so perhaps surprising we haven't met before.

My super idea of following this month's – sorry, NEXT month's – Oz Clarke's Lords Taverners Wine Selection with a Great Cricketers Selection (to be tasted and chosen live at a table just next to the wicket during Tea at the Oval by him and other cricket-and-wine types like Willis, Atherton, Gower, Ian Chappell, Allan Lamb, etc) caused him to move quickly away but it was nice to have met the Great Man. 

You meet a lot of very nice people at Lords. But you just can't remember a lot is the problem. Possibly wine was involved here. I just remember it was great. All of it. And someone got me home.

Picnic in wet Bordeaux

After the wine-tasting marathon week, Barbara and I flew to Bordeaux to recover. Mmm, yes. Doesn't sound sensible, does it? But there were no big tastings. The trip was more vineyards than cellars.

Very wet; Bordeaux. Vineyards seriously underwater in what I like to call the Dordogne-side swamplands of Saint Emilion; Vignonet, St. Sulphice  etc which should never in a million years have been included in an AOC of limestone hills.

Rain stops work in vineyards here. It’s the clay. Very adhesive clay. Your tractor sinks up to the axles and your wellies get sucked off as you try to escape. But my Scottish Presbyterian wife will have no truck with this. Where she comes from if you stopped when the ground got boggy you'd never start. She maintains that here it’s just an excuse to stay home and eat lots. There is some truth in that.

We wander the deserted vineyards. And the sun comes out. Little clusters of translucent leaves seem to sit on top of each gnarly old vine. As the evening sun approaches the horizon its rays shine through the new growth and give the impression the place is decorated with millions of little green lamps. 

I love this time of year. There's a riot of wild flowers in the vineyard. More than ever these days. There's been a big campaign of dishing out free seeds and our neighbour, the ever-energetic Jean-Marie has been a particularly enthusiastic scatterer. It'll be good for the insects and some of them will help us keep our vines healthy.

We just acquired a new château - well, two, really - a BOGOF? - we bought the pretty little Château du Bois only to find it bundled in with the Basque-style Château Colombe next door. Both sit smack in the middle of our bedroom vista. We've gazed upon them both for years.

This purchase has extended our vineyard boundary walk considerably. Another 22 hectares. So we take a picnic and at halfway, stop for a rest. Open up the dusty old du Bois house. No-one's lived here for years. They've left plenty furniture. So we sit on some by the open doors and discuss what we might do with the place.

We have some cold magret but didn't bring any red wine. Just a celebratory half of fizz. But I remember seeing some old bottles in the Caveau Privé. So find the key, fumble in the dark and … sure enough – and I'm not making this up – there's a couple dozen bottles been left behind. (They were a lovely family we bought from. This must be a farewell gift).

Gingerly I take the cobweb-encrusted label-less bottle back to Barbara and sloooowly raise it vertical. Very careful with the corkscrew – never be without one – and … it breaks. But not unrecoverably. The date on the cork is 1975. The year we were married. And the wine – in two little old glasses we found – is … Lovely! It reminds me with its flavours of old leather, mushroom and wood smoke of the old bottles Monsieur Cassin would open for special occasions. That was in the Sixties. And he would open bottles from the Twenties. Seemed SO old! Liquid history. 

Now, in the 'Tens', a bottle from the Seventies is just as old!  And what we are tasting is not the skill of a clever Jean-Marc or Hoddy, but the plain unvarnished taste of the patch of earth – limestone and clay – that is our dear village of Ste Colombe.  

I love it so.

We only really wanted the du Bois vineyards – a lovely south-west facing slope, terraced in parts but overgrown and a bit unloved since the old man died about ten years ago. The lower vineyards; judged 'saveable' have now been pruned hard by Henry's team, given some manure and are looking OK. The vineyards at the top are halfway through being grubbed-up. Rain has stopped play though.

Just in time, I hope to save a mysterious clump of brambles in the middle of the southern vineyard. The bulldozer would very likely have flattened it. But peering in we see cast iron railings, a carved headstone? and reflections from water about a metre down. It’s probably a tomb. Vignerons used to like being buried in their vines. And many were. So, of course, this reduced the vineyard area and complicated things. So 'they' banned the practice. However, looks like we've got one. Will have to do some research.