Combine a good, honest Bordeaux wine, the romance of the sea and the history of Anglo-French trade and you have the making of something that rises above public relations hype to become a genuinely fascinating adventure.
This week, I spoke for the first time to a man whose work has been known to me for decades: Tony Laithwaite.
I knew him to be a wine trader who had started off his business driving backwards and forwards between south-western France and Britain in a van. He called his firm Bordeaux Direct and, as it grew bigger, took impressive full-page ads in the colour supplements. I bought the occasional case, especially when he was offering the output of lesser-known, and therefore less expensive, wine-producing areas.
The title of the business has changed and these days carries Tony's own name.
Today, at Le Chai au Quay, his Bordeaux winery, he saw off the 103ft restored sail boat, The Irene, on a voyage to recreate the centuries-old trade route and due to end at Tower Bridge 14 days from now.
On board were Tony's winemaker, a Channel Islander by the name of Mark Hoddy, the wine buff Hugh Johnson's son, armed with a camera to capture footage of the crossing and, as you might have guessed, a lot of wine.
A total of 9,072 bottles of a limited edition Bordeaux red - he calls it Le Chai Voyage and says it will sell at £12.99 - had been loaded on to the ketch and, without casting the least doubt in the direction of the crew, it will be illuminating to know how many arrive in London on May 19. I called it "good, honest Bordeaux" but that required a little licence as I have naturally not tasted any; Tony himself says it is a wine "so delicious we felt we had, once more, to risk storm and sea and bring our great Castillon '09 in triumph up the Thames to London the proper way".
The journey should be a doddle since The Irene first carried cargos of wine on this route after her launch in 1907.
Tony has made a similar crossing in the past but ducked out of accompanying his wine all the way on this one. He will, however, join his son Will in boarding The Irene in Cowes for the final leg of her journey. On arrival, they will see Tower Bridge raised enabling her to pass beneath and moor at Butler’s Wharf.
* The cargo will be transferred to Tony's store, The Arch, at Vinopolis, by London Bridge where there is also to be a private fine wine auction in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
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