If you want to taste wine like a pro you will need to slurp it. This way you decant the wine in your mouth so to speak, where it mingles with oxygen and releases the optimum amount of flavour. But it is not only wine that requires slurping, both large and small life events can be slowly and slurpingly imbibed.
In our Slurp newsletter we slurp our own lives. Our tough-as-nails and buttery smooth existence, here at a wine chateau in the land of an incomprehensible people of guarded Bon Vivants. Surrounded by these Gauls we slurp moments, situations and people. And of course wine, the most beautiful drink on Earth.
Because a day you don't slurp is a day you don't live.
Surely you must be a bit slurped out, after a hundred Slurps?
Not at all. Because those mad French never cease to amaze, and neither does their incredible fairy tale country. So much so that you wish you could photograph, film and write everything down. And that is exactly what we do. Always and everywhere. A continuous slurping that never gets dull.
For the last hundred slurps we reported on our everyday adventure. We made stories, photos and movies of the comings and goings at our Château: castle chickens,hail storms and bee hives.
And what is more, we subjected ourselves personally to dozens of 'Addresses': restaurants where the food might range from delicious to dangerous.
All this and more we describe, because we love it so indescribably much...
Slurp is the lovechild of a crossbreeding between the winegrower and his lover: she takes the pictures, makes the movies and takes care of the digital side of things; he writes the texts. Inspiration for all this occurs of course, as some of you may know, only at unfavourable moments and unsuitable locations. See below for a modest sneak peek into the merciless existence of these two passionate love slurpers.
Vintage 2018: sorrow and joy in the vineyard
The French, although they are as rigid as a strongroom, are pure romantics up into their very toenails. They have given every little step in the yearly vineyard cycle a name that would delight any poet.
Bourgeons dans le coton (Buds in cotton)
This refers to the moment that, barely visible, little velvety buds appear on the apparently dead twigs. This minor miracle took place this year on the 14th of March.
Premier feuille (The first leaf)
A few weeks later, on the 10th of April, the buds opened and the first tender Merlot leaves unfolded in the rays of the spring sun.
Boutons floraux agglomérés (Conglomerate of blossoms)
A month later, on the 14th of May, the first shy Merlot blossoms could be seen.
And then it happened
On the 26th of May, at 7.22 pm a little breeze could be felt. So far no cause for concern. But within a few minutes the wind picked up to a storm with howling hurricane winds that nearly ripped the blinds clear off the castle walls.
The firmament above the vineyard darkened and terrifying black clouds gathered above our heads.
At 7.38PM a godless hailstorm ensued; an earsplitting bombardment of a million golfballs. But the storm passed us by inches and missed our vineyards by a hair's breadth.
As if by divine grace we were spared. The newborn grape blossoms who had turned their little faces toward the sun only that morning, wouldn't have stood a chance.
Our neighbours in Saint-Emilion and Bourg were rather less fortunate: their vineyards were smashed to smithereens and in some places the entire harvest was destroyed.
And now?
We are right in the middle of a golden trimmed summer, the grapes are healthy and well and it is party time among the grape leaves; butterflies, bees, rabbits, hares, squirrels, deer, badgers and wild boar are feasting on the grass and the wildflowers we sow between the rows of grapevines, and of course on the juicy grapes they partake in every once in a while (which we appreciate as it saves us work during the Vendanges Vertes- the summer thinning of excess grapes).
Of course anything can still happen in the chickens/hatching department, but if we secretly spoil our grapes a little bit, 2018 with its endless sun drenched summer could turn out to be, a very high quality vintage indeed.
Breaking news! The véraison!
On the 26th of July a couple of hundred-thousand green grapes simultaneously decided to turn purple.
New episodes of Gort's Winequarter
The stretch of summer between the 'Véraison' (the turning purple of the grapes) and the harvest is the interwar period of the wine calendar. The calm before the storm. A glorious time during which the most important activity takes place underground. The vines burrow down deeper and deeper in the dark, hunting among the fissures in the rock for the final scarce drops of water.
IDuring this period a pleasant slumber descends over the wine chateau. The only sounds that can be heard are the buzzing of the bees, the lazy chirping of crickets and the call of a lonely buzzard high up in the sky. For the winegrower there is nothing left to do than to work on a new book.
But then, suddenly this introspective incubation is brutally ripped apart...
The crew of our TV show Gort's Winequarter are at the gate! Whether we are ready to slurp a bunch of new episodes. Fortunately all of them are introverted, god fearing craftsmen who carry out their profession in modest invisibility, but still...
With true Wild Wine Tiger spirit we recorded fifteen (15!) sparkling episodes. Among which the 'Tour de France du Vin', or: where does which wine comes from and is it remotely palatable?
In a fit of boundless creativity we added a number of exceptionally hysterical topics, for example the brand-new and sensational 'Perils of The Restaurant'.
In this series of short one-act plays the winegrower and his son act out the dramas that can occur during a visit to a restaurant. With a surprising sense of theatre they demonstrate how to emerge from this battle victorious.
Everything for the ratings. The winegrower risks body, soul and sanity by personally tasting every single wine before filming. In the case of this staggeringly sour 'Château du Pisse', the winegrower's lover politely declined and opted for 'Château de la Pompe'.
Another electrifying new element of 'Gort's Winequarter' is 'Great Bordeaux Bake-off' in which the winegrower's lover shows our viewers how they can bake the best apple pies.
In the pressure cooker of the shoot a dangerous situation arose when the winegrower, in his blood-curdling enthusiasm, put not his cap but the burning hot charred apple pie on his head.
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We are proud to confirm that the fresh new company Two Thirsty Bulldogs is from now on your privileged partner for the sales & promotion of the SLURP! wine range in the UK.
Two Thirsty Bulldogs is an independent company set up by the owner of thewinedrinker.co.uk
And the recently launched company Two Thirsty Bulldogs has exclusively included in its portfolio the successful 'no nonsense' SLURP! wine range.
Two Thirsty Bulldogs is 'actively targeting innovative winemakers worldwide' and this makes SLURP! A perfect 100% fit, with the clear Two Thirsty Bulldogs' USP: 'to focus on products with a difference'.
The wine trade talks a great deal about innovation and engaging with consumers, but few products excite younger consumers, particularly millennials. SLURP has proven in many markets already to largely appeal to this group.
