Solstice on Scilly

As midsummer approaches, time for a short trip to the Scillies to make sure our customers are happy before the season gets into full swing. The Summer Solstice seems as good a day as any to head west.

Chaos had reigned the day before with virtually no flights because of fog and low cloud, but it looks more encouraging as I head off to Land’s End Airport (that description always makes me smile as it conjures up pictures of Gatwick and Stansted!) for the 0950 flight. Bit of a delay but very soon the sun is shining and off we go. More than a bit breezy as we arrive at St Mary’s, but after a rather windblown landing, all is well, and Michel is there with a welcome as ever.

On the way to the harbour I catch up with a few customers who are all optimistic for the season ahead, and I’m particularly pleased to find that the Grapevine, St Mary’s new Wine Store and Off-Licence, is doing really well, boosted, no doubt by the splendid wines we are supplying!!

Onto the Voyager bound for St Martins, for the main event of this visit – a session with the restaurant staff at St Martins on the Isle hotel. It’s always good to talk and taste wines with the staff that will be selling and serving them to their customers through the rest of the season and to share our enthusiasm for the wines we supply. The great thing about talking to young people with no great knowledge of the wine world is that they are completely open-minded and honest on the subject, so if they say a particular wine is really nice, you know they mean it. And they were right! The two wines we selected to taste from the main restaurant list were both very good, but could easily be missed by the less-than-unadventurous guest. The Wildekrans Caresse Marine from South Africa is just drinking so well – fresh, characterful and exciting – we all agreed it could confidently be recommended to accompany any of the splendid fish dishes on offer. On the other hand, the Valpolicella Ripasso was a revelation to my young friends, with such richness, depth and complexity that they will have no hesitation in recommending it if they are asked for a suggestion.  I expect to see sales of both these wines rocket over the next couple of months !!

This is the sort of service that we in Wine In Cornwall enjoy providing and is a major benefit of using a dedicated, local wine merchant rather than some large anonymous outfit from up-country. It is also the part of the job that I enjoy most.

After the work, a very pleasant walk along the northern shore of St Martins in the evening sun and then back for a superb dinner in the Hotel’s Tean Restaurant, with another glass or two of that cracking Caresse Marine.  There can be very few places nicer to be, nor views in the world better than that from the Tean restaurant with the setting sun.

All in all not a bad way of spending the Longest Day!



Meet the Team - Dick

Dick Waterson is the man out & about on the Scillies, keeping all of our customers happy over there.

I came to be at WIC.....because I had got to know Mike and Nigel in the early days of the Food in Cornwall Association and through some wine and food writing work I was doing at the time. I’m delighted that they thought the WIC Adventure could not be complete without me.

My normal day/week is.....rather lacking in routine but is always busy in a Retired Old Man sort of way – helping look after a 3 acre garden, maintaining the house, singing in the choir, village life, plenty of cooking and a bit of wine selling!

My favourite tipple is...... Betty Stogs when I’m in a pub.  Otherwise wine, the choice of which will be dependent on the time, place, company and food, though good White Burgundy must be close to my overall favourite wine.

I grew up.....(some would say I haven’t!) but I was brought up in Coverack, where my love of food and wine developed through helping  my parents in their Village Grocery Shop.

When I was a child I wanted to be.......taller, but now I’m happy where I am.

I drive a....hire car when I go out of the county, or a fairly ancient Clio or my wife Barbara’s Smart locally.

The last concert I went to was......singing with St Buryan Male Voice Choir, with whom I spend many happy hours in practices, performances and pubs.

The last book I read...........  was ‘Bad Science’ by Ben Goldacre, in which he joyfully debunks a lot of the pseudo-scientific rubbish that fills our newspapers and lives. For a one-time physicist it was a great read.

I’m looking forward to.....life after we manage to sell our present house, which hopefully will involve more travelling, less chores, more time to relax and a lot more time with our family and especially with the grandchildren.

Nigel goes to the Scillies

Dick Waterson, our man in the Scillies,  and I flew off to these stunning islands for a couple of days schmoozing with customers earlier last week. We stayed at the rock-solid, Bell Rock Hotel on St Mary’s where we enjoyed very comfortable accommodation in this traditional hotel.

Dinner at the Star Castle Hotel included a bottle of our Decanter Magazine 4 star award winning Cotes du Rhone Villages, Plan de Dieu from Chateau la Couranconne – still a little young but with far, far more to come. The 5 star Seguret from the same producer arrives next month with our entire allocation all but sold so we are hoping to eke a few more cases out of vigneron Gerard Meffre.

Scilly was looking freshly scrubbed and ready for a new season although some out there are a little worried that the season seems to be getting shorter rather than longer which is a disheartening. It is expensive to travel and stay there, but oh-so worth it. We took a raft of wines over and clear winners were once again the almost gloopy Rosedale Barossa Shiraz, a nicely balance Rioja Crianza 2007 from the Alavesa Covila winery and the attractive, tropically fruited Parrotfish Chenin Blanc.

We were accompanied on the trip by David Courtenay-Clack from the Tamar Ridge winery in Tasmania – this range of wines, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Botrytis Riesling were all showing really well, really fine examples of modern, cool climate wines.