ISLAND LIFE 🍍

g'day!

How good is island life? We live on an increasingly tropical island, so I do expect an answer from everyone. 

Spend a day with me as a 30-something wine merchant writing about wines from islands...

Last summer I was fortunate enough to be invited to a bit of a piss up on Gran Canaria. Unfortunately this was not the traditional Great British jaunt that I had always dreamt of growing up, as the strip was no where to be seen. Instead, several of London's most esteemed wine personalities, and yours truly, were whisked up into the mountains for a day of tasting followed by a second day of tasting without spitting. Sometimes life is hard. This was of course the launch party for Bodegas Tameran, the project from ex-Footballer David Silva on his native island. They're back with the 2021's, the second release, kicking goals. See what I did there? We tasted these from barrel last year, and things were already looking extremely thirst quenching. Everyone is in for a treat! Fine white wine is obviously not the first drink one will think about when picturing alcohol consumption on Gran Canaria, which is totally fine. It's an added bonus. And whilst you could definitely consume these from an ice filled tumbler equipped with straw and paper umbrella I personally would recommend cracking out the "nice" glassware and skipping said ice. We have received a limited yet generous allocation of everything this time. I'm stoked. Do the right thing for yourself right here.

Over to Greece now, because why not. Last time I was in Athens with some time to kill I hit the amazing Oinoscent for a couple of bottles pre-ultra delayed flight because such is life when flying with Easyjet. G'day if you're reading. The list there is pretty hectic, but I wanted to drink Greek, and white, so they came up from the cellar with a mature bottle of Assytriko from Santorini. Now I'm already pretty keen on any white grape that toys with ripe fruit, high acid and sea spray but this was a first time trying the wines of Vassaltis. Certainly not the last. Click the link to see the detailed notes and maybe drink the wine. Also, go to Athens. What a place.

Continuing on that island theme.... We're down to the final handful of tickets for this.... It just so happens that the good folk from Envínate are coming to town in July. Not just to town, but to dan's. I feel like we've all made it now. Tickets are already shifting, and we're expecting a full house. It'll be a ripper. I'm salivating at the prosect. Hammer the link below.

Now, back to the cricket.