DAVID PERRY

Irregular Thoughts

It’s

It is getting proper cold now and that’s always a dilemma. How can I keep myself from freezing without warming the whole shop?

I have a little heater behind the counter and a collection of heavy-duty thermals. I sometimes hear, “It’s OK for you, but what about us customers?” I have to explain that, to be honest, I’m more concerned about the wine, especially the top-end white Burgundy. And anyway the little heater does no more than prevent serious frostbite. With decent boots and thermal socks, I haven’t had frostbite for a few years now.

In a previous life I worked for a Midlands Co-op society before the central buying group formed. Sometimes I’d have a run around the smaller shops in Birmingham. They had the odd bottle of Chablis and because it was relatively expensive it was on the top shelf.

Now here’s the issue. When it was cold they would have heaters on and a pillow of hot air would settle on the ceiling. They’d turn the heaters off at night and the shop would plunge to near zero. Anyone who understands the estufagem process in Madeira will guess the consequences.

I would take the brown wine off the shelf and explain that it was not saleable. I’d return a while later and find it back on sale because, I learned, reduced waste was a Key Performance Indicator. I started taking a big black marker pen with me and became quite unpopular.

I was reminded of this a while back when

I saw a newspaper article on a reasonably new but sufficiently distant indie wine shop. It was coming up to Christmas and they had a picture of their roaring wood burner surrounded by wooden boxes of top-end wines. The caption read something like “come and warm yourself by our fire while browsing our range”. I have to confess I was envious of the nice, toasty working conditions but decided to maintain the cellar-like chill in my shop.

We stock Flor de Vetus Verdejo (Liberty Wines) which has a clever label. It is white with a white butterfly. The butterfly is thermo-chromatic and goes blue when it is cool enough to drink. In the shop it is generally blue from September through until the following April. That’s quite handy when someone inevitably asks if we have anything chilled: everything is chilled, including me! And I can prove it. That particular wine also alerted me to the fact that our fridge at home was not working properly.

One particularity harsh winter, I remember a lady customer looking at the Champagne and asking if we had any in a chiller. She had just stepped around a small snow drift to get to the cleared pavement outside the shop. I explained it was probably as cold as anyone would want it. “Well I don’t know,” she replied. “I’m wearing gloves.”

I get that most wines bought in our shops are for immediate consumption, but just how cold do you need it to be? In the good old days white would be served at cellar temperature, not half frozen, and red at room temperature – that’s the temperature of a big room with no central heating or double glazing, so not warm at all. Here’s a confession, though: when it gets really cold and I need to plunge myself into a steaming hot bath when I get home, I take the red wine with me.

Because we are on the shady side of the street we never get direct sunshine on the front window. The south-facing back wall is baked outside but the two feet of stone prevents any warming of the store room. This means that even in the height of the summer the shop remains fairly cool. It also means I can justify not having a chiller. I don’t want to have a chiller either because it takes up a lot of space, it is expensive to run and it pumps out a lot of heat which I would need to get rid of with air conditioning. So I don’t have a chiller. My electricity bill this month? £18.53.

In the words of Elsa, the Ice Queen: “Cold never bothered me anyway.”

Pflüger Cuvée Biodynamite Riesling/Gewürztraminer 2021

Alexander Pflüger’s biodynamic Pfalz Rieslings are noted for their purity and elegance so you might wonder what a 20% Gewürz component would bring to the party. The answer is a subtle but definitely discernible richness, rounding off some of the Riesling’s angles and adding an exotic note to a great wine.

RRP: £20 ABV: 12%

Winetraders (01993 882440) winetradersuk.co.uk

Bedoba Saperavi 2019

The vinification process here is complex, with grapes from Georgia’s eastern border with Azerbaijan journeying through qvevri, stainless steel, barrels and vats before regrouping in bottle for a year. There’s a slightly Syrah-like sweetness, and no-nonsense tannins, but the overriding impression is of a fresh, juicy and fruity wine with its own Caucasus character.

RRP: £17.99 ABV: 13%

Liberty Wines (020 7720 5350) libertywines.co.uk

Chateau Brgozone Via Istrum Esperanto 2020

Delibo is reporting a warm reception for this Bulgarian blend of Cabernet, Syrah and Gamza. It’s easy to see why it’s such a crowd pleaser. It seems like a much more expensive wine on first sip, with its rich cherry and spice flavours, but it’s actually far more medium-bodied and gluggable than it first appears.

RRP: £15 ABV: 14.5%

Delibo Wine Agencies (01993 886644) delibo.co.uk

Sigalas Santorini Barrel Assyrtiko 2021

Oak in Santorini Assyrtiko is a divisive subject but it’s hard to imagine anyone taking issue with it here. Far from dumbing down, the gentle vanilla works in harmony with the steely and citrus components and the more honeyed and peachy notes seem to shine brightly too. Prices have shot up, but this is worth the outlay.

RRP: £44 ABV: 14.5%

Enotria&Coe (020 8961 5161) enotriacoe.com

Vallisto Blanco de Pieles 2021

Vallisto’s wines never seem to disappoint and this orange Torrontes from Salta is another winner. The nose is bursting with blossom and tropical fruit, maybe even a faint hint of fresh linen. The acidity is precise but not piercing, moderated by a distant creaminess. A wine to celebrate the first days of spring, ideally in the company of seafood and birdsong.

RRP: £18 ABV: 13%

Ucopia World Wines (01435 517080) ucopiawines.co.uk

Jesus Madrazo Ermita de San Gregorio Reserva Blanco 2020

Only 1,500 bottles were made of this Rioja blend of Viura and Malvasia, crafted by Jesus Madrazo, who ran the famous Contino estate until 2017. It’s light years away from the drab white Riojas of yesteryear: elegant but with a lovely viscosity, a leesy depth and just a hint of apple-pip bitterness. Accomplished stuff.

RRP: £30-£35

ABV: 14%

Frederick’s Wine Co (07823 344173) frederickswine.com

Far Mountain Myrna Chardonnay 2020

The fruit comes from a dry-farmed vineyard in California’s Mayacamas mountains, dating back to 1972. It’s clearly the right environment for Chardonnay, which in this case emerges sappy and sinewy, with ripples of brioche and butterscotch and a rocky mineral undercurrent.

RRP: £52.99

ABV: 14%

Liberty Wines (020 7720 5350) libertywines.co.uk

Creu Celta Priorat 2018

Belfast merchant Direct Wine Shipments established this business as recently as 2003 but the vines, planted in one of Priorat’s cooler sites, are much older. Garnacha dominates the blend, which is as firey and dusky as you’d hope it to be. It doesn’t go down without a fight, but there are some silky edges too, and some pleasing dark chocolate and spice flavours.

RRP: £24.99

ABV: 15.5%

Winetraders (01993 882440) winetradersuk.co.uk