DotW, Father's Day, Shipston Beer Festival, Shipston Proms, New Ins and Car's the Star

This week’s edition of Sheldon’s Times is mostly dedicated to our home town of Shipston on Stour. We are ‘en fete’ – with the start the Proms tonight and the beer festival tomorrow. Two weeks of celebration, fun and music. Take a close look at the Proms schedule, if you haven’t committed some time to enjoy an event or two, do so. Many of the activities are free to attend, throw yourself in. Also in tonight’s missive we have a familiar DotW, an even more familiar Car’s the Star, some interesting New Ins including some more wines from the Italian tasting and Jude has been up to her old tricks with the display shelf near the till. Press on.

Dog of the Week

The moment this dog walked in the shop I thought “I know that breed. It’s a Portuguese Sheepdog!” He looks very much like Hamilton, our friendly pub dog at The Royal Oak, Whatcote. But I was wrong. This is Brinkley and he’s a Korthals Griffon. The breed name comes from Eduard Korthals, a Dutchman thought to be responsible for creating this magnificent beast.

A big thank you to Lindsey for bringing Brinkley in to see us. A real pleasure. And so well behaved for rather a large hound. Anytime.

Jude’s Father’s Day Fancies

No sooner had the Jubilee weekend finished, Jude was out packing away the flags and dismantling Jude’s Jubilee Jumble. What next? Father’s Day of course. The special shelf has been stocked with Whisky, Rum, Cognac and Armagnac. All blues and blacks and oranges, not a pink bottle in sight. We also have many other Daddy Goodies in the shop, some might say we have nothing else other than Daddy Goodies. I beg to differ. We have Whispering Angel too.

No excuses – get your Father’s Day gifts now and beat the rush. There’s a chance we may run out of bottles, such is the enthusiasm for these commercially invented celebratory days. Don’t dither.

Robert and Yoko’s beautiful garden in Whichford

While we are on the topic of Father’s Day, a quick reminder that the local village of Whichford holds it’s National Gardens Scheme Open Day on Father’s Day each year. Seven gardens across Whichford and Ascott will be open for the afternoon, starting at 1.30pm. Admission is £6, refreshments will be available (in support of St Michaels Church) and it will make for a smashing afternoon out. More details can be found by clicking the button below:

Whichford & Ascott NGS Open Day

Shipston Beer Festival – Saturday 11th (tomorrow), 2pm-late

Tomorrow is the day of the Shipston Beer Festival. The festival is taking place at the Shipston Rugby Club, starting at 2pm

Our friend Mr Easton has been telling us what a fun afternoon it is going to be. Live music, kids activities, lots of beer and Prosecco and perhaps even some Champagne. A birdie told me there will be Phat Pasties there too – a must if you haven’t tried them, from our pals Paul and Laura just up the road. A free Shipston Beer Festival glass with each entry ticket, you will be encouraged to have it refilled on a regular basis. I’ll try to head down after shop closing, hopefully I will see some of you there.

Shipston Proms – Friday 10th to Saturday 25th June

Our second Shipston shout-out this evening is for the Proms. This eclectic music festival is kicking off tonight with Uncle Funk’s Disco Inferno at the Townsend Hall (tickets available on the door so if you are reading this thinking “What shall I do tonight?” you now have your answer) through to Saturday 25th June. The packed schedule includes something for everyone with events stretching over the town and into the local surrounding villages.

More details can be found by clicking the button below:

Click here for Shipston Proms website

We are lucky to have these events taking place here in the town. A big thank you to all of the people who give up their time and energy to make these things happen. It is these events, with the myriad of other activities throughout the year that makes Shipston the place to be.

New Ins

Just a handful of tasty New Ins this week:

Hawkstone Pils and Premium lager (£2.25 per 330ml bottle)
We announced the rebranding of Cotswold Brew Co to Hawkstone a couple of weeks ago. We sold through all of the first batch of 3.8% Pils and have restocked with both 3.8% Pils and 4.8% Premium lager. Come and get it while you can.

White:
2019 Tasca Nozze d’Oro (£29, Inzolia/Sauvignon Blanc blend) – an interesting combination of flavours from two distinct grape varieties from Sicily
2020 Picque Caillou Blanc (£35) – nice to have a little more white Bordeaux in the shop

2021 Tormaresca Furia di Calafuria Rosato (£41, Puglia, Italy) – an amazing rose that we had at the recent Italian tasting. Negroamaro, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. A very funky bottle too and anyone who buys 6 gets a lovely box thrown in.

Red:
2014 Tormaresco Bocca di Lupo Aglianico (£77, Puglia, Italy) – another star of the recent tasting but we sold out of the first batch with orders on the day. Now back in the shop in limited quantity.

2004 La Rioja Alta ‘904’ magnums (£145) – 2004 was a favourite vintage of this wine for many of you and we’ve just picked up another 6 mags
2008 Vega Sicilia Pintia (£79) – we have younger bottles so I thought it would be nice to try one with a little age on it.

2018 Picque Caillou magnums (£55)
2009 Phelan Segur (£75)
2005 Leoville Barton (£145)

And finally (for Will):
1990 Gruaud Larose double magnum

Car’s the Star

Okay, I know we have had a car similar to this before. In fact we have had exactly this car as a previous Car’s the Star. So rare is it’s appearance at the shop that I couldn’t resist taking another picture and including it in tonight’s Sheldon’s Times. You’ve had all the blurb on it previously, so all I need to say is “Hello Ferrari 330 America” – one of only 50 made in 1963.

A huge thank you to Brian for dropping in just after closing and catching us before we packed up for the day. He arrived with us having come from a 330 reunion party. “But there aren’t many left!” I hear you cry. You’d be surprised.

What do you call a Saturday afternoon gathering of 330s? An exuberance of Ferraris? A great way to finish the week.

That will do for this evening. The weather looks pretty settled over the next few days, do enjoy it. Here at the shop Amanda, Trish and I will be here to look after you tomorrow. Hopefully we will see a fair few of you in the shop here to make some super wine purchases to enjoy over the weekend.

Shane, Amanda, Jude, Esther, Nigel, Trish & Carol

Your Korthals-Griffon-loving, beer-festival-drinking, 330-America-admiring wine team at Sheldon’s Wines.

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DotW, Father’s Day, Shipston Beer Festival, Shipston Proms, New Ins and Car’s the Star