Simon Hoggart

I love Stone, Vine & Sun of Winchester. They keep winning awards for best independent wine merchant; they have a knack for finding delicious wines at excellent prices from places you haven’t heard about yet but very soon will. I love Stone, Vine & Sun of Winchester. They keep winning awards for best independent wine merchant; they have a knack for finding delicious wines at excellent prices from places you haven’t heard about yet but very soon will. They’ve always been terrific on unknown France, but they’ve branched out into the New World, especially Chile and Argentina where, with the low US dollar, they managed to secure some gorgeous wines at great prices.

I love Stone, Vine & Sun of Winchester. They keep winning awards for best independent wine merchant; they have a knack for finding delicious wines at excellent prices from places you haven’t heard about yet but very soon will. They’ve always been terrific on unknown France, but they’ve branched out into the New World, especially Chile and Argentina where, with the low US dollar, they managed to secure some gorgeous wines at great prices. None are particularly cheap, but I’d hazard that if you bought these varietals from the classic areas of France you would pay twice as much for the same quality. South America makes much good, gluggable wine, but these are quite outstanding. And Simon Taylor of Stone Vine has knocked 15 per cent off the list price of them all!

Years ago, during what had become an intolerably hot summer, we found ourselves in a pub garden in a village near the Thames. We were all dressed in minimal clothing — shorts, T-shirts and sandals. Even so we felt suffocatingly hot. At a table nearby a group were waiting for guests, who turned out to be Roy and Jennifer Jenkins. He was wearing the full country fig — cavalry twill trousers, a tweed sports jacket, and of course a necktie. I thought we might watch him melt before our eyes, though he seemed perfectly comfortable. His host then disappeared into the pub and returned clanking three bottles of Berry Bros’ Good Ordinary Claret. A risky choice, I thought. Roy would like the ‘good’ bit, but would be dubious about the ‘ordinary’ tag.

I cannot imagine anyone who looks less like Father Christmas than Adam Brett-Smith, the managing director of Corney & Barrow. Adam is slender instead of fat, his face clean-shaven rather than covered in a fluffy white beard, and he would no more wear a red fur-lined suit and a silly hat than you or I would go to work dressed as Ronald McDonald. On the other hand, he can be every bit as generous as Saint Nicholas, combining in this Yuletide offer not only some lavish discounts, but also applying the celebrated Brett-Smith Indulgence, whereby you can knock £6 off every case if you buy two or more inside the M25 (C&B’s van delivery area) or three cases outside. The plan behind this offer is to provide classy and appropriate drinking throughout the festive period.

This is our last mini-bar before we start to get ready for Christmas. I have chosen four medium-priced but excellent wines to see you through to the serious festive season. They come from another of our favourite merchants, Tanners of Shrewsbury. One of the attractive features of the wine trade is the way that people who work for different companies usually get on terrifically well. In fact, six of the leading companies co-operate as The Bunch, and together hold a couple of serious tastings in London every year. These are unmissable events, and the most recent is where I tasted some of the wines in this, I hope engaging, offer. First is a lovely white Burgundy, the Mâcon-Vergisson 2006 (1), which is made by Nadine and Maurice Guerrin.

This is a cellar that looks like a cellar, with stacks of wine in wooden cases, some of it covered in dust and cobwebs, the finest stored in a locked cage with a creaking door. In spite of that, they have a modern approach to pricing. The business has an enormous turnover, and the inevitable consequence is that they overstock on some wines, which have to be priced to clear. These are absolutely first-rate bottles, but some are a little unfamiliar and won’t sell off the page; others are so good that Averys’ people bought them in vast quantities. The result is that once again we are offering some terrific bargains this month.

For some reason I like to have a theme for our mini-bar offers, concentrating on a particular country, region or grower. I couldn’t think of one this time, but I did want to bring back Private Cellar, one of my favourite merchants, whose small team seems to have pretty unerring palates and who can nose out excellent wines at good prices. I suppose, faute de mieux, I could call this offer Old and New Classics. The first new classic is Dr Ernst Loosen’s Villa Wolf Pinot Gris 2006 (1) from the Pfalz area of Germany. This is unlike any German wine you have tried. For one thing it is not a Riesling. And it is stratospherically better than the thin, anaemic fluids sometimes made from Pinot Grigio (the grape’s Italian name). Instead it is rich and full and creamy.

Southwold has just been voted the finest seaside resort in Britain, and it’s easy to see why.  Southwold has just been voted the finest seaside resort in Britain, and it’s easy to see why. Even in the rain last month people looked cheerful, and in the bustling dining-room of the Crown you’d imagine that the drizzle outside was a splendid excuse for more hearty trenchering. I was on my annual visit to Adnams, best known as a brewer but also one of our most adventurous wine merchants. If you find yourself in Southwold, you should drop in to their wine cellar and kitchen store; the kitchen gadgets actually work, and the wine is beguilingly displayed.