Uncorked monthly update: all good things

In the rhythm of the Uncorked year, December is bottle-in-bag madness, and sweet-talking loading bay attendants so we can drop off corporate presents. January has a different flavour: it's all about Burgundy en primeur, and filling sale orders.

Goodbye to all that

Dry January doesn't seem to be quite as much of a thing as it used to be, but we know some of you have been doing it. Don't worry, it'll soon be over - and we still love you! It's not just Dry January that's drawing to a close, there's only a week left of our January sale. Last chance to browse!

Tastings tastings tastings

On the subject of our sale, next week's free Thirsty Thursday tasting will be a sale wine swansong. Arlaud and Ceritas, anyone? Looking ahead a little, our free Thirsty Thursday tasting on 12 February will be an all-Champagne line-up in advance of Valentine's Day. And there are still tickets for February's two seated evening tastings: White Burgundy vs the world (Wednesday 11th) and Loire Valley vs the world (Wednesday 25th).

What have we been drinking?
 

The 2024 Soalheiro Alvarinho is truly excellent (it got 97 points in Decanter and a 'best in show' award, and all for not much money). But I've really been enjoying the further layer of tension and focus in the Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas (old vines) cuvée, and at £24.95 on the shelf it's still exceedingly reasonable. Jabu has gone through the latest Equipo Navazos releases and likes the Manzanilla Pasada No. 130 best. I'll catch up and let you know if I agree with him. 

For fans of Alto Piemonte (northern Nebbiolo, think Barolo with a Geordie accent), we have two consecutive vintages of Antoniotti Bramaterra on the shelf. On paper, the 2021 is the better vintage, and Ed was expecting to prefer it. He agrees it's excellent: bright, perfumed, crunchy and precise. But controversially, he says the 2020 is the better wine: more complete and satisfying, and just as much charm. Annoyingly, I'm now also going to have to buy myself a bottle of each to find out if he's right.

What's new?

Our Alsace section was looking small (though with Boxler, very refined); it's been great to widen it welcoming back a wide selection of Zind-Humbrecht wines, including no less than 6 different vintages of Pinot Gris Clos-St-Urbain. I used to moan that we didn't have enough mature wine at Uncorked, but no wine style ages as well as Bordeaux and a prodigious amount of mature Bordeaux has been arriving on our shelves. 1996 Montrose? 2000 Grand-Puy-Lacoste? 2003 Calon Segur? 2006 Cos d'Estournel? The list goes on. I fear this could get very expensive for me.

What's next?

Tomorrow sees the release of 2017 Dom Pérignon. From Burgundy en primeur we'll swing to recent releases from Vincent Paris and Dönnhoff. Watch out for a great Giuseppe Mascarello mixed case offer and the arrival of a very good and very reasonably-priced Pomerol.

 That was the year that was
 

Highlights of 2025 at Uncorked included finally seeing the scaffolding go down from in front of the shop, and re-arranging the shelves while Jabu was on holiday. But both of those pale in comparison to:
 

 Did you see Andrew on the telly?
 

Andrew can be a hard boss to read. He plays a straight bat and the jokes fall deadpan. It's not always easy to tell if he's annoyed with you (though he's not as good at hiding that as he used to be). But his poker face served him well when ITV came to interview about the dispute between Cole Palmer and Chateau Palmer. If you missed it last time round, Andrew gets the section just before José Mourinho then David Beckham. Get out your popcorn out and watch the video here.
 

Hope to see you on Copthall Avenue soon. /NT