News Archive

Year: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

• 06th Dec 2006Rhone Valley Tasting

  Our next evening tasting (after the Great Christmas Tasting -see below) is at 8pm on Friday Dec 15th and is on Wines and Grapes of the Rhone Valley. The wines made in the Northern Rhone Valley tend to be very different from those of the Southern Rhone and we will be looking at both and the Rhone Valley produces a lot more red wine than white so we will be tasting 5 reds and 3 whites.

• 29th Nov 2006Bird in Hand Shiraz voted Australasian Wine of the Year

  This week, the Australian wine magazine, Winestate announced a series of awards following the blind tasting of more than 10,000 wines over the past 12 months. Adelaide Hills based Bird in Hand were top in two categories - Merlot and Shiraz and then the Bird in Hand Shiraz 2005 went on to win the major prize of Australian Wine of the Year 2006 in a blind taste-off of the best rated Australian and New Zealand wines.

• 28th Nov 2006Mature Port

  We have some mature port on offer that has been stored under perfect conditions. It's the ideal present for the difficult-to-buy-for man or woman - or as a special treat for yourself!

• 21st Nov 2006Great Christmas Tasting

  We are holding our drop in Christmas tasting the evening of Friday Dec 8th and all day on Saturday Dec 9th and Sunday Dec 10th. We will have some 40 wines available for tasting - Champagne, all styles of reds, whites and rosés.

• 13th Nov 2006Next tasting - Wines of the Veneto and Fruili

  On November 24th we will be holding our second evening of the Autumn looking at wines from Northern Italy. (8pm at the Flying Corkscrew) Keith Brown will be introducing wines from the Veneto and Fruili.

• 09th Nov 2006November Tastings Update

  Our next tasting is a Producer Tasting – “The Wines of Viña Ventisquero, Chile” – presented by Americo Hernandez of Viña Ventisquero at 8pm on Friday November 10th

• 07th Nov 2006Jancis Robinson on mid priced wines

  We have reproduced an extract from an article on the Jancis Robinson website. 'The more wines I taste from all over the world, the more convinced I am that never before have mid-priced wines been such good value'

• 07th Nov 2006How much do you pay for the 'wine' in a bottle of wine and what is good value?

  The October Wine and Spirit magazine has ‘What’s Wine Really Worth’ on its front cover and an investigation into ‘Wine Promotions : behind the bogus bargains’.

• 01st Nov 2006Clos des Papes 2005

  We have a limited amount of the 2005 Clos des Papes. 2005 was an excellent vintage but with yields very low,available only in extremely small quantities. Demand is strong following the very high prices of Bordeaux 2005 - in comparison Clos du Papes is an absolute bargain.

• 24th Oct 2006Sharp's Brewery

  We are now stocking beer from this interesting, high quality brewer from Cornwall. It was founded in 1994 in the marvellously named village of Rock and has become the largest brewer of cask conditioned beer in the South West. They now have a range in bottle and are committed to producing the highest quality with no compromise.

• 12th Oct 20061997 Vintage Port Offer

  We were recently tasting in Portugal and were impressed by the development of the 1997 Vintage Ports. So we are making a partial release of some of the star wines that we have under bond. They'll make a perfect Christmas present for the man or woman who has everything!! Prices quoted are for collection from the shop or free delivery for mixed cases (can be mixed with other wines on our list) but there is a 20% discount for those buying unsplit cases of 12. These wines are as great as the top clarets but are a fraction of the price, and will age more reliably. Please call us for under bond prices. Stocks are limited.

• 12th Oct 2006Update on Tastings

  Unfortunately our next tutored tasting (The Wines of Cantena) is now fully booked but a few places are still available for 'The Wines of Viña Ventisquero, Chile” on Friday November 10th.

• 04th Oct 2006d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz

  To celebrate the 80th birthday of D'Arry Osborne (founder of d'Arenberg), d'Arenberg held a vertical tasting of some of its finest wines including the much sought after Dead Arm Shiraz.

• 29th Sep 2006Taste Seresin Wines

  A number of you couldn't make it to Wednesday’s tasting of Seresin wines from Marlborough. Seresin hand pick all their grapes and make beautifully elegant and restrained wines.

• 29th Sep 2006Tasting: Wines from South Africa

  Our next tutored tasting will be at 8pm on 6th October when Derek Smedley will be talking about South African wines. See our South African Case Offer for the wine we will be tasting.

• 15th Sep 2006Upcoming Tastings

  Our next two tastings are in September. On Wednesday 27th at 7.30pm we have the wine maker from the wonderful New Zealand producer Seresin and on Friday 22nd we will be looking at wine from the South of France and will include the Minervois Blanc that Jancis Robinson recently made her Wine of the week. See the tasting note in Latest News.

• 13th Sep 2006Jancis Robinson's Wine of the Week

  Jancis Robinson's website has made our Moulin de Nonnes Minervois Blanc her wine of the week. This is gorgeous and well worth getting a bottle or two (or even a case!). It's great value at £9 a bottle and even better at £8.10 when you buy 12!! . Come and taste it at our Wines of the Midi tasting on 22nd September

• 11th Sep 2006The Flying Corkscrew Wins 2006 Award

  Great news! At the international Wine Challenge 2006 awards ceremony we were voted Wine Merchant of the Year for East Central England for the 3rd time in 4 years and were shortlisted for the Small Independent Wine Merchant award for the UK.

• 09th Aug 2006Autumn Tastings -Dates for your Diaries.

  We will be starting this Autumn's Friday evening wines tasting sessions on September 22nd. This year we will be looking at some wine regions in more detail with two evenings on the South of France (Rhone Valley and the Midi) and two on North Italy. Also we are pleased that Derek Smedley MW has agreed to come on October 6th to talk about South Africa wine.

• 07th Aug 2006Wine: Less punch, more pleasure

  Interesting piece by Anthony Rose in The Independent on Saturday Aug 5th about the trend that has taken average alcohol levels in wine from around 12% in the 1970s to around 14% today.

• 07th Aug 2006Tim Atkin on Sparkling Reds

  Writing in the Observer Magazine on Sunday August 6th, Tim Aktin admits that many people think sparkling red is an oxymoron but points out that Champagne production is dominated by red grapes and suggests readers try "real" Lambrusco and Aussie sparkling Shiraz.

• 04th Aug 2006Great Affordable Summer Drinking

  We have just been appointed UK agents for Henry Marionnet, the Touraine's finest producer. He has won accolades from the world's top wine writers but has not had his whole range available in the UK before. We will be shipping the majority of the wines this autumn, but to kick off we have his flagship range of a sauvignon blanc, rose and red (gamay) which are all fantastic summer drinking.

• 18th Jul 2006Matthew Jukes recommends Italian Whites

  Writing in the Mail on Sunday Matthew Jukes recommends some "summery,crisp,Italian white wines" and says his "choices include some of the most amazing wines in the UK" His "WOW" (Wine of the Week) is a Gavi di Gavi from Piemonte but he also picks out wines from Lugana (near lake Guarda ) and from the Trento-Alto Adige.

• 07th Jul 2006Next Tasting : Wines From Iberia

  Our next tasting will be at 8pm on July 21st at the Flying Corkscrew Leighton Buzzard Rd -near Water End. The focus will be on the exciting range of local Spanish and Portuguese grapes.

• 22nd Jun 2006Summer Drinking - Zesty Whites and Chilled Reds

  We have put together a case of interesting wines that make great drinking at this time of the year.

• 03rd Jun 2006World Cup Challenge

  Do countries with the best football teams produce the best beer? When England aren't involved why not try matching beers produced by the two countries playing and see which beer you prefer.

• 31st May 2006Next Tasting: Viva Italia

  Our next educational tasting will be at 8pm at the Flying Corkscrew on June 23rd. We will be tasting an exciting selection of wines from some of Italy's many wine regions.

• 25th May 2006Special Offers

  We are offering three great wines at reduced prices. A fruity Spanish red from just south of Rioja and two elegant wines from Western Australia.

• 09th May 2006Reminder: Tour de France - 26th May 2006

  Our next educational tasting will be at 8pm at the Flying Corkscrew on May 26th. We will be tasting wines characteristic of the major French wine regions.

• 08th May 2006New Releases from Vega Sicilia

  We have a limited amount of the 2006 releases from Vega Scilia -indisputably the top wine producer in Spain and one of the finest in the world. We were lucky enough taste the range a couple of weeks ago and they are wonderful.

• 03rd May 2006Great News for lovers of good food and wine

  If you are in Buckinghamshire (or Hertfordshire) - there is another opportunity to taste wonderfully imaginative food and try some of our wines.

• 24th Apr 2006Matthew Jukes on Pink Champagne

  Matthew Jukes (wine columnist for the Daily Mail and author of the annual Wine List and many other books) writes on Rose Champagne in a recent newsletter from his website www.expertwine.com

• 21st Apr 2006Sassiciaia 2003 and Ornellaia 2003

  We have a very limited amount of Sassiciaia 2003 and Ornellaia 2003 available - but if you are interested we need to know very quickly.

• 19th Apr 2006Reminder -

  Our next tasting is this Friday 21st April at 8pm - we will be tasting wines from exciting grapes including Carmenere, Marsanne and Gruner Veltliner.

• 10th Apr 2006World's Best value Reds

  The May edition of Decanter magazine lists the World's 50 Best Value Reds chosen by a distinguished panel of experts led by Stephen Spurrier. We agree and stock many of these wines and offer a mixed case selection in this months Special Offers. But we thought this left out so many great value wines that also made our own selection of less well know wines that we think rival the Decanter list. Try them both and let us know what you think.

• 09th Apr 2006Tim Atkin and Anthony Rose on Vintage Champagne

  Tim Atkin writes in the Observer that Margaine 1998 Vintage Champagne was the best value wine from the "80 or so" wines at the Annual London Champagne Tasting.

• 02nd Apr 2006Pre Easter Wine Tasting - Weekend

  We will have a wide selection of our wines available for tasting at the Flying Corkscrew on April 7th 8th and 9th. All day - drop in and free of charge. We will be showing interesting wines from 9 countries and covering all styles and price ranges.

• 21st Mar 2006Tasting Wines of Languedoc and Roussillon

  Derek Smedley MW will host a tutored tasting on Thursday 30th March at 8pm.

• 03rd Mar 2006Book early for our sell-out events

  The Department of Education (Corkscrew division) presents a series of extremely informative evenings for those who want to take their wine knowledge that little bit further.

• 27th Feb 2006We did it again!

  International Wine Magazine's Regional Wine Merchant of the Year 2005.

• 20th Feb 2006Superb claret cases in stock

  A small parcel of excellent clarets from a private cellar is available now - first-come, first-serve.

Your basket

Choose from a wide selection of cases put together to show the range and quality of our wines – everyday drinking to wines to lay down. View our list of cases >>