Dr Oddbins would like to welcome you to the latest issue of Oddnews. This edition is somewhere between an anatomy lesson and a medical examination. We’re going to start off in your mouth, then check the arm and finally finish up by peering into your ears. But don’t worry it’s not as scary as it sounds; it’s just what the doctor ordered…
The Palate
Open wide; let’s have a look at those taste buds. Oddbins are launching a nationwide competition to find the UK’s best amateur wine taster; The Palate. The competition will take place over five rounds, including a tasting boot camp with a celebrity wine critic. Three lucky winners will receive holidays to some of the world’s most famous wine regions, influence the wine hitting our shelves and be crowned “The UK’s Finest Palate”. To find out more and watch our video, simply click here.
To enter Round One, just pop in to any branch of Oddbins on either the weekend of 2-3 June or 9-10 June and you could find out what victory tastes like.
6 x d’Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz for £150
OK, about that arm… There are two times in life when a "dead arm" is fun. The first is when you’re six years old punching your friends in the playground. The second is when you discover d'Arenberg’s iconic Dead Arm Shiraz. It’s this second experience that we want to talk to you about as it takes fun to a whole new, and far less painful, level. The wine gets its namefrom a fungal infection (yeah, who knew that could be fun?) that kills half the vine, concentrating all the goodness and flavour into the grapes in the remaining half. The result is an enormously rich Shiraz that’s spicier and more packed with revelations than an episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show and more voluptuous and indulgent than an evening in Nigella Lawson’s kitchen. The 2008 vintage was picked before the heat wave ensuring the wine maintains crisp rhubarb, dried herbs, gamey meat, chunky cherries, big plums (ahem!) and more spices than a Moroccan Souk. Although you’ll be rewarded highly if you open it immediately, we recommend holding your horses (easier said than done with a dead arm) as this will continue to improve over the next 15 years.
If you want to try the d’Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz, it’s available in our shops at £30 a bottle. But just for you we’re offering an amazing online only offer of six bottles for £150, including delivery. That’s a whole bottle free. Stocks are limited though, so order here soon. We’ll even deliver them, so there’s no risk of any damage to your arms carrying them home.
London Wine Fair
Many of our customers reported symptoms of music and the sounds of sipping and slurping resonating in their ears. We don’t need Dr Gregory House for this; we know it wasn’t Lupus…
We’ve been waiting 64 years for the Olympic Games to return to the UK. It’s been 115 years since our last Diamond Jubilee party. But when it comes to epic returns and monumental parties, 2012 will be remembered as the year the Oddbins Wine Fair returned. Much love and respect to all those who joined us at the Oddbins Wine Fair in London at the weekend for some amazing wines, great music and a welcome cooling break from the sunshine. We had some excellent reviews from two of our favourite wine bloggers; BigPinots and Spittoon, GQ Magazine were “very impressed” (keep an eye out for a GQ and Oddbins collaboration coming soon here) and one of our attendees described it as “one of THE BEST wine fairs of the season...Oddbins is back!” If you missed out or want more of the same, the party continues in our shops, on our website and in every bottle we sell.
That’s all from us, it wasn’t so bad was it? Until next time, Dr Oddbins prescribes more sunshine, more fun and nothing but the finest wines.
