Paprika Store Green Lanes, London

 

On a visit to The Dusty Knuckle's wonderful Green Lanes Bakery/Cafe/Pizza restaurant, we spied this shop opposite. Always a succer for Hungarian produce we took a look and found...

masses of Hungarian wine, We can't think of anywhere else you can buy such a range: Bock, Gere, Thummerer, Torley, Varga - you name it. Even better, Paprika is part of a chain with branches in Bristol, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Twickenham and even Dublin.

and wine is not the only thing

Such a large selection and so little time. Our table at The Dusty Knuckle was waiting.

So the easiest and for our taste best choice was to get Portugiesers from Bock and Gere at wonderfully affordable prices.

Some time ago we worked out that Portugieser may have been the grape of the Voslau which was where Vienna got its red wine from in his day. 

Nothing better than to think of the great man when quaffing this Portugieser even if what he really wanted to drink was Rhein Riesling from his native Bonn.

Adieu L'Etiquette

Our traditional shot of the Pont Neuf on the way to L'etiquette

Paying our required visit to Paris's best Natural Wine shop, 'L'Etiquette' we received the tragic news that Herve Lethielleux, mercurial owner and manager would be closing his doors for good in three weeks' time.

Herve

On the one hand we were happy to have caught him just in time to buy one last bottle of interest (we never left without one) we were sad we would be without him in the future.

L'Etiquette became a popular for taking a drink and a snack

He said he had decided to retire and travel the world with his wife after years and years of hard work at the coalface. Herve didn't just sell natural wine, he knew every single producer of the bottles he bought and dispensed information to customers sometimes in a trenchant mode but always backed by kindness and humour.

Slotovino hopes M. and Mme. Lethielleux will join us for a meal when they visit London on their travels. How many caveistes have had an invitation of that sort? None, which goes to show the affection and admiration we have always had for Herve and L'Etiquette.

So what did we buy as our last bottle there? This intriguing Bordeaux made from the rare Castets and 'Merlots' whatever that means. We have heard mention of Castets before in the context of possible new varieties to be allowed in the Bordeaux AOC. It is a variety with good resistance to Downy Mildew and has its origens in the Western Pyrenees. Notes attest to its deep colour, high alcohol and aging potential but only moderate acidity. In 2008 there was barely a hectare remaining in France but it has been spotted in California amazingly enough.

Seen on the Ile on the way home for us as well as the doggies.