Tom Lewis

Professional bean-counter
Amateur hobbyist
Mostly here: mostly samples, occasionally purchases

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

Mainly on the other place now:

https://t.co/V4PPGXAAfi

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@TheWineCruUK @Menstriebhoy @WINEOMAN @MoutonIsAClaret @jimofayr @wineworldnews @talkavino @KawaiSusana @winewankers @vendemmiawine @stuartjmurray Mature Pessac-Leognan-off here:

https://t.co/6bCKA6aZwP

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell A friend is a bit of a collector and has a thing about LB.

Went round to his for a tasting of various bottles from his cellar ("tell me you have too much money without telling me you have too much money") and the LB was head-and-shoulders above everything else he opened.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@WINEOMAN @TheWineCruUK @Menstriebhoy @MoutonIsAClaret @jimofayr @wineworldnews @talkavino @KawaiSusana @winewankers @vendemmiawine @stuartjmurray Cheers - had a GCC Margaux here as well:

https://t.co/9TmFuF8Kpz

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell This is exactly why we have / had Polish builders, Baltic fruit pickers and Pakistani care workers doing the jobs Brits don't want to do at any price.

Come over here, work cheaply, send money back home.

Whisper it, but we've demonised the very people who made our economy work.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@BlindTasters Don't see it much over here. Had a not-inexpensive Louis Latour at Majestic and while technically accomplished, it didn't make my heart beat any faster:

https://t.co/d92R69w7oP

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell Saw this first-hand working at a trade body - we used to survey members on salaries and fee income.

Salaries were lower outside London (so lower cost for business), but fee-per-head plummeted.

So regional businesses were much poorer despite a lower cost base vs the capital.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell Problem for locals is that while wages fall, other costs don't - supermarket goods, fuel etc are no cheaper, so you are poorer in Manchester than in London, even though Manchester is cheaper.

London, of course, is brutal to commute into, so you take the money with the pain.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell @Deborahj_Powell Good point Andrew - there's low prices and there's sustainably low prices. Same for high prices.

Good branding is how you maintain a price premium (once the product quality is sorted).

Aim is to be high-side acceptable per Van Westendorp scale.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@Manners15 That was the one I had - £17 in a lockdown-markdown from @cambridgewine back in 2020

Rather liked it and considered buying more, but then remembered there are lots of other wines I prefer at that price point:

https://t.co/95YC7IEQDL

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell Pratfall / Streisand Effect

- Pratfall: deliberate error with the specific intention of provoking a reaction

- Streisand Effect: an attempt to hide something that backfires and draws even more attention to it

You're just making want to go there and try these wines now 😉

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@JeffPGwine Have always preferred Pinot in its Blanc and Gris versions TBH.

Did a Franco-German road trip last summer: Rhine -> Baden -> Alsace and picked up various bottles along the way.

Latest review here:

https://t.co/xqRrirVWob

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@NickAnt12345 Maybe someone who just likes to follow and read?

Had one of those - turned out to be a former colleague in PR under a pseudonym. Suspect she just needed to know what was going on for professional purposes.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@jamiegoode @ADHalliwell It’s more politics - at the lower end, at least.

UK chooses to put high duties on alcohol, so a €5 wine there is £12 here.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@BlindTasters Nice - had that at @GeorgianwineUK event with @GroupSwirl and @SarahAbbottMW

https://t.co/BpO48ya3Xb

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell @jamiegoode All wine in Europe is better and cheaper than what you can buy in UK.

This is why we holiday there pretty much every year; a fortnight of food, wine, history, rivers, hills etc and we are ready to head back to Brexitlandia for another 50 weeks with a bootful of local stuff.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@AdrianJMcManus @ADHalliwell So much to unpack in your question Adrian.

Is the underlying wine good?
Is the list just badly presented?
Does good list presentation = better wines?

I've never run a bar in Spain, so no idea what I would do here.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@ADHalliwell Fair points Andrew - I typically ask the somm (if there is one) what they like or failing that, what's popular.

A wine list where I knew all the wines is somewhere I'd probably avoid; I like the serendipity of trying something new and seeing what's interesting.

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@rr_pirate @_drazzari @boozychef @magee333 @cccjoe 👍

Mature Bordeaux here:

https://t.co/HcsNIjZKGn

[Tom Lewis @CambWineBlogger]

@joukesp Lamb and St Chinian sounds like a great combination - enjoy.