Introducing "In Good Spirits"
Georgie has been THE RAKE's Libation Correspondent for almost four years. With just one page every two months but a liver that regenerates in two days, there was no way we could keep up with the real life of libation that Georgie leads. So was born the idea of “In Good Spirits”, so you’ll never miss out on the booze news again.
I should have been arriving back from Chablis on Monday, but alas, the horses had their own plans. On Thursday, October 23rd, I was to host my first ever wine event at my farm. It was to be a Hungarian-Ruin-Bar-wine-lunch (I still haven’t decided if I’m offended that they thought the farm was the perfect place for a Ruin Bar) and on the morning of the event, the ex-racehorse, Nuhza, decided she’d somehow cut a perfect square on her belly with the accuracy of a surgeon, using the nails from a fence post she did us the pleasure of dismantling. The vet did an excellent job stitching her back up and after a quick sweep up, you’d never have known just how many pints of claret had been spilled in the yard that morning.
When it comes to Hungarian wine, it is tricky to look past the delicious nectar that is Tokaji. However, the very grape that rots so well to make the glorious sweet wine, Furmint, happens to mature very well when treated like a regular grape. We tried several versions of dry Furmint including wines that had been aged in Hungarian oak. As someone who loves a rich white wine to see out the winter months, it was an exciting new discovery for me. Not many of the wines were imported to the UK, but there are still plenty of options.
If you like an oak influence in your wine:
Available from The Wine Society, £13.95
If you prefer no oak:
Furmint, Sauska, Tokaj 2024
Available from The Great Wine Co., £17.75
Moving swiftly on to what arrived in the post, let’s have a look at Folc. This English wine company has been on my radar for a while. They were one of the first producers of English rosé and are keeping things pink and sparkly with a traditional method for the wine. It’s the same as champagne with the same grapes, like Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, but it’s made over ‘ere, like, so it’s “English Sparkling”. Folc was the recipient of a stern letter from none other than Bollinger for using the word ‘Bollie’ in an advert. I still haven’t the foggiest idea what Folc were on about with the poster in question – it said something along the lines of, “None of the same old Bollie”, followed by, “It’s not Champagne, it's pink Champers”. Maybe I’ve been indoctrinated by the wine world, but there is a lot wrong with it as a statement. However, you should never let the truth get in the way of a good marketing story, and I heard sales were up 4.7k% after The Times got wind of the classic France v. England story and ran with it.
Folc don’t own a vineyard, instead bringing grapes in, like many of the houses in Champagne do. The sparkling rosé resides in a misleadingly dark bottle, reminiscent of Ribena, but is, in fact, as pale and pretty as their standard rosé, with a beautiful nose of mint-infused strawberries and a hint of honeysuckle. The palate is delightfully English, with that zippy acidity and refreshing red apple crispness that sustains one during the darker months.
English Sparkling Rosé, NV
Keeping with the theme of postal deliveries, how do we feel about premium gin? As someone who is rather into a Monday martini to start the week off properly, I have to say I like my premium gins, but where does one draw the line? I’ve had exceptional gin martinis made from Gordon’s, but my current favourite is with Renais' gin, Alex and Emma Watson’s successful venture into the house of spirits. I don’t know why, but it would just feel wrong putting tonic in Renais.
Some gin arrived in the post along with a little book called Story of Θ (not the pornographic one). This story of Θ (a theta, for all the Hellenists out there) was the story of Aureus Vita: gin reinvented. I think, if I wasn’t into the gin martini, perhaps “gin reinvented” would make me groan. However, as I do enjoy the botanically infused alcohol so much, I’m up for all kinds of reinvention. Aureus Vita, what have you got for me? The small book goes on to proclaim this is the first gin discovery for over 60 years, all because of one distiller, John Hall, from the award winning Trevethan distillery in Saltash, Cornwall.
“It is a Fibonacci Dry Gin, made to the unique Fibonacci-Hall method. It represents an evolution of the classic London Dry style and a wholly new product, born of an obsession with finding an ideal balance between gin’s constituent parts.”
It is a whopping 61.8% which they describe as “the Golden Ratio of alcohol-to-water” and “comfortably the strongest premium gin on the market”. It’s rocket fuel, if you don’t know what you’re doing. Trusting “the ideal balance” descriptor, I made myself a gin martini. With my usual levels of dilution, it blew my socks to the neighbouring village. This feels like a gin for professionals. I’ve met many a bartender in my time and they will tell you that dilution is key and they create extraordinary flavours using the simple measure of patience and ice. I suppose the book is really an instruction manual, and I’m excited to experiment further with this mathematical gin.
Aureus Vita Gin
I did actually make it into London on Wednesday evening for an event on Jermyn Street. I was early, and what a wonderful place to be early in. I tried the tweed caps in Laird, and I have to say they fitted my large skull very well. I perused the shirts in Emmett's, and thought what a joy it is to be back in layering season. As it reached 6pm, my final destination was Sunspel – which has been on my radar for a while – for a tasting of their new partnership with The Isle of Harris Distillery.
Nicholas Brooke, the Executive Chairman at Sunspel, has created some beautiful items from Harris Tweed for their Autumn/Winter collection, embracing the culture and heritage of the Isle of Harris itself. The distillery is very young in the grand scheme of things, founded by Anderson “Burr” Bakewell just ten years ago. Their success was so instant, I get the impression it’s a job in itself limiting the releases to give them enough stock to age. I could have stayed all night talking to Burr and Distillery Blender, Shona Macleod. This duo, in addition to Ryan Morrison, the Regional Business Manager of the distillery, were enough to practically convince me uproot to the wee island. A wholesome and enjoyable evening, I’ll just say this: “You must visit, and you must try their spirits.”
The Hearach, named after the traditional Scottish-Gaelic word for a native of Harris, is the first legal dram originating on this Outer Hebridean island. This is a single cask whisky chosen by Brooke, and while only boasting seven years to its name, it does not hold it back at all. It was bottled at 58.2%, and had been in an American Oak cask that was previously used for Buffalo Trace Bourbon. The nose is reminiscent of a Scottish Isle: heather, honey, a slight smokiness, an urge to go fishing, empty roads, and a day battered by the elements that concludes by a roaring fire. It tastes like the feeling of a rough-handed Scottish gamekeeper, telling you you’ve shot well. It tastes of something to be proud of, a heritage, a moment in time, and its smoky, honied and subtle herbaceousness lingers on the palate long enough for you to become sentimental. It provides a moment to reflect on alcohol being more than something we drink to enjoy. Sometimes the spirit is all about the place it comes from, and the people who made it.
The Hearach X Sunspel Single Cask Whisky Cask #1152
Only 243 bottles produced and exclusive to Sunspel shops, £95
