A REMEDY FOR A SORE HEAD
by Daniel Long
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Source note: This post is adapted from Parched's July 16, 2026 newsletter
G’day,
Writing this before the game, and assuming everyone has sent it. Fingers crossed!
Supposedly global wine consumption is down, with stories abound of booze sitting in sheds going off and vineyards being ripped up. A generational reset if you will. Fortunately everyone here seems thirsty enough for us to continue doing Gods work, please keep it up.
I’ve been doing a real deep dive recently into the work of producers operating in hot areas but producing wines that are both nimble in the mouth yet full of flavour and complexity. It’s been a super hot and dry vintage so far pretty much everywhere, so I have one eye on trying to avoid producing a 15%, inky monster over in Italy this year as I kick off my winemaking journey in earnest in a coupla weeks. Basically I have been cyber stalking Tom Lubbe of Matassa (hi!), equally drawn by his communication style (irreverent) as the resultant wines and farming. Things over his way are hands off yet hands on. The purity of fruit in the bottle the result of graft in the vineyard, picking decisions counter to pretty much everyone else and a deep connection with the place. Admirable stuff. Hopefully I have learnt something, daunting as it seems.
Most of you will be familiar with the wines, we have sold them for a while now, and just last week we received an allocation of slightly mature gear that’s been sitting in a cellar somewhere slowly transforming. I took a 21 Rouge home and it was finished in one sitting, a rare occurrence these days, but everyone has to play their part. Coming in at 11% alcohol and with a tingling core of VA keeping things moving it wasn’t exactly hard work. So there’s a mix of 21’s of all colours and shapes, as well as a flood of new releases. I can’t recommend these enough, and for those who want to dabble in top tier natural wine - you could start in worse places.
Giving similar levels of satisfaction but in a different way are the wines of Vini Sassara. We’re lucky enough to work with them directly from Bardolino to London, so the price:quality here is off chops. Their soils are all alluvial pebbles giving a real wet stone texture. It’ll sound far less wank and make tonnes of sense if you have a glass and imagine what the bottom of an alpine river must be like. I went hard on the macerations, both light and heavy, it being summer and all that, as well as a top up of their Blanc de Noirs fizzer, made from Corvina, it’s breathtaking. Here for a good time, not a long time if last time is anything to go by.
Let’s finish as we aim to go on, at the very top.
It’s been a little spell without the wines of Jessica Litaud on our virtual shelves, a miss for which I am eternally sorry. Never fear, we’re both back in a big way. We just took a juicy allocation of 2024, 2023 and 2022 whites from one of the bright young things in Burgundy. In a land of hype and over-hype, here’s a young producer with some actual pedigree and a few vintages behind her to back it all up. The 24’s are racy, 23’s more generous and the 22’s are primed.
Ex-Ganevat, access to prime plots in the Macon, biodynamic farming methods and astute management of ferments. It’s like a bingo card for all things liquid gold. I know I said juicy, but by the time I split the alloc between Tempo, Dan’s and Parched as well as my gullet there isn’t actually loads so if you like this kind of thing, do the thing quickly.
That’s it from me, we have to move house, again… I guess at least it isn’t the warehouse, for now…
xoxo
Dan
A handful of tickets remain for this tasting meal feat. Moorak
It could be the wine coursing through my veins but it seems last nights first VVIP dinner went down pretty well. Side Piece was full, the Jura was flowing and everyone left satiated and stoked. Win Win. I could be wrong but it feels appropriate to launch the next one immediately.
This week I received the long awaited email notification my friends at Hillebrand that a container has arrived in London from Adelaide - happy days. There’s unfortunately no West End Draught in this one, but there are the wines of Jordan Hein and his singular project, Moorak, based down in the Vale.
One of the best things about the industry is that it is full of good people, hard working, chilled out, happy go lucky people who base their livelihoods on the whims of the weather and market but generally seem to be at peace with having zero control of things. Truly admirable.
He’s just ventured down the sparkling wine spiral, perhaps one too many life affirming bottles from Selosse et al are to blame, but we are the beneficiaries. We received a small allocation from his new range, as well as a couple of new still wines (tis’ rose and textural white season after all), which we’ll be pouring on the night.
The special menu will lean Australia - think Women’s Weekly from the 70’s but with less Pineapple w Chicken Mayo on the menu. Should be a vibe. Spaces limited to 12. Do your thing.
