From my recent experience we have to defend our great NHS

 

Following my recent experience of the NHS following my fall on black ice on Tuesday morning I am full of admiration for the NHS Highland from the ambulance crew that lifted me off the grass close to where I had fallen over and took me to Raigmore, the A and E department, Ward 3C and the operating team led by Malcolm Nicol. Everyone was so professional and caring. 

On Tuesday I spent about three hours in A&E before being x-rayed and given a splint. I had spent these three hours in a corridor but this wasn't a problem as there was plenty going – much more interesting than being in a cubicle. The doctor in A&E had correctly diagnosed what I had done to myself – ruptured the connection between my quads and my left knee. I was sent back to Newtonmore to return at 7.30 am the following morning. 

We were back by 7.30 and installed in Ward 3C Room 19 Bed 6. Unfortunately it wasn't possible for me to be taken that day but I was operated on the following morning. The operating team was well led by Malcolm Nicol, a consultant orthopedic surgeon. I chose not to have a general anesthetic instead I had a local anesthetic. An injection in my spine making the lower part of my body numb from my belly button down. 

I didn't have any sedation so I was able to chat to Malcolm Nicol and his team during the operation. We discussed the operation as well as cycling Malcom says that he had once raced round the the Bay of Poole. Fortunately he told me that cycling would be very good for my injury. 

It was fascinating that once the lower part of my body was numb I was unaware that my left leg had been lifted up as my brain was telling me that it was still flat on the operating table beside by right leg. The procedure meant cutting me open above the knee, doing some scrapping and then reattaching the quads using metal 'anchors'. These are held in place with permanent sutures. Then my flesh is put back in place with sutures that will dissolve. 

I was very impressed again ny the professionalism and the care shown by the team. 

After the operation I was wheeled into the large recovery room that I thought would be reminiscent of the pit stop area during a Grand Prix or the 24 hours at Le Mans with teams of medics clustered together ready to spring into action to deal with patients as they were wheeled in. 

Then back to my ward – I had been taken down around 10 am and was back around midday. Everything was fine until the local anesthetic started to wear off when my left knee area started to become very painful. I was given a series of morphine doses orally. These took a while to have an effect. Fortunately after a dose or so the next morning the pain subsided considerably and by yesterday I took no painkillers during the day. 

This is obviously going to be a long convalescence – 12 weeks in a splint. Six of these with my leg straight – no bending of my leg knee and then splint on all the time. Then my knee will gradually be allowed to bend over the next six weeks. Only after that will I be able to get back on the bike. Could be a very good excuse to buy an e-bike. 

Unfortunately this injury means that I will be unable to make Millésime Bio, the Renaissance tastings and the Salon des Vins de Loire this year. This will be the first year that I have missed the Salon since 1990, so I am very sad and disappointed about not being able to go this year but with the injury this is just impossible.  

As I have already said I am full of praise for NHS Highland for their outstanding level of care, professionalism and friendliness despite the pressure the health service has been put under my our uncaring government reducing real funding despite an ageing population.           

My left knee out of place due to the quads 

being ruptured

 Raigmore Hospital 

Part of the splint that covers almost 

my entire left leg

This morning's view from the patient's 

abode for the next 12 weeks

The Flying Corkscrew Ltd/ The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd (Ingrid and Paul Johnson) -– warning: failure to pay for wine

Bottles of Domaine du Vieux Pressoir 

on The Flying Corkscrew site

The unpaid bill from Domaine 

du Vieux Pressoir

I was contacted last week by Virginie et François Prinsloo of Domaine du Vieux Pressoir (AC Saumur). Back on 6th April 2016 the domaine fulfilled a wine order placed by The Flying Corkscrew, Lesser Barn, Gaddesden Row, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK HP2 6HG at a cost of 2064 euros. Although the settlement date was 5th June 2016, The Flying Corkscrew Ltd has yet to pay this bill and the company has proved impossible to contact. 

The Flying Corkscrew Ltd was founded on 4th February 2016. Its sole director Ingrid Johnson (DOB: January 1963. Share capital is £1 and held by Paul Johnson.) 

Paul Johnson is the sole surviving director of The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd, which was founded on the 9th January 1995. In 2002 The Flying Corkscrew shop was opened as part of the Great Gaddesden Wine company. It won several International Wine Challenge merchant awards. 

The Prinsloos met Paul Johnson at the 2015 Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers. He placed a first order and the Prinsloos were very pleased to have found a UK importer. They were less pleased when the order wasn't paid until seven months after the due date. 

Johnson was at the Loire Salon the following year when he apologised for the delay in payment, promised that this would not happen again and asked to place a new order (see above), which was honoured but payment is now more than a year outstanding. 

The Vieux Pressoir are not only Loire producer to experience problems with the Johnsons and their companies. 

Philippe Gilbert (Domaine Philippe Gilbert in Menetou-Salon) told me: 'Cette boître est bizarre et c'est un vraie problème (this is a bizarre company and a real problem). Already a year ago I was contacted by colleagues in Muscadet who asked whether I was having difficulty getting paid. I am very happy to say that I haven't worked with them for some time. It took them a year to pay their last bill.'

Looking at the accounts for The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd you would think that Johnson would have been aware that it might well be a problem paying for the wine he ordered from Le Vieux Pressoir in early 2016. From the invoice the order was placed with The Flying Corkscrew, the trading name of The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd. 

The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd

accounts to 30.6.2015: loss of £1.153 million 

The accounts to 30th June 2015 are the last set from The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd to be filed with Companies House. They show a loss of £1.15 million lowered to £845,484 when set against the share capital (£307,800). 

As the figures for 2014 indicate, this is not a sudden financial deterioration as the adjusted loss then was £707,860. Indeed The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd's financial position has been getting steadily worse since the year to 31st March 2008 when the adjusted loss was £131,304. The loss has increased steadily ever since with the loss (excluding share capital) hitting £802,109 (£494,309 adjusted loss) for the 31st March 2012 and just over £1 million (£606,533 adjusted) for the year to 30th June 2013. 

The accounts to 30th June 2016 have been overdue since 31st March 2017, which triggered the first Gazette notice of a compulsory strike off for non-compliance on 30th May 2017. The compulsory strike off has now been suspended due to an objection being lodged.  This was filed on 8th July 2017. 

Normally a company can stop a striking off action by filing the overdue set accounts or confirmation statement (previously the annual return). If the action is suspended this is usually at the request of a creditor.    

Anyone considering trading with Ingrid Johnson and/or Paul Johnson or their companies – The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd and The Flying Corkscrew Ltd – should be aware that they may not get paid. 

(Anyone wishing to check on a UK limited company or plc should use Companies House Beta Service, which provides all filed information for free.)

Update 12th July 2017 
Payment problems with Paul and Ingrid Johnson's companies – The Great Gaddesden Wine Company Ltd and the Flying Corkscrew Ltd – go back further than I had realised – clearly back to 2008 – as a comment posted on Les 5 du Vin blog shows: 

Thierry Rodriguez, a producer in the Languedoc 
'I have had the same problem with this company in 2008. The invoice dated November 2008 was finally paid in July 2010 after the intervention of the Comercial Mission at the French Embassy.' 

Thierry Rodriguez (Prieuré de Saint Sever) is a producer (the 20-ha Mas Gabinele established in 1998) and négociant based in Laurens in the Languedoc. Details here. 

Update 16th July 2017

Accounts to 30th June 2016

The overdue accounts to 30th June 2016 were filed at Companies House on 14th July 2017. The strike-off action has now been discontinued.  

VinoVision: new wine fair for the producers of Central and Northern France

Sancerre heads to Paris again 

– a cross to bear for the Salon des Vins de Loire? 

The first edition of VinoVision (Burgundy, Champagne Loire) has just been announced for 2017 – to be held in Paris running from Sunday 12th to Tuesday 14th February. For the first time there will be a wine fair in Paris for professionals incorporating wines from Burgundy, Champagne and the Loire.

It will be very interesting to see how successful VinoVision will be and what the implications will be for the Salon des Vins de Loire. 

Benoît Roumet (Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins du Centre Loire): "The problem for the Salon des Vins de Loire is that by itself the Loire just isn't big enough to attract enough foreign importers. Combining Burgundy, Champagne and the Loire and holding the Salon in Paris it should attract importers from all around the world. Alsace might want to be included in future editions of VinoVision"

Press release:

Salon professionnel des Vins Septentrionaux

'VinoVision Paris:

Le Nouveau Salon International des Vins Septentrionaux à Paris du 12 au 14 février 2017.

Paris aura enfin son grand Salon du Vin professionnel pour prendre le temps de découvrir la richesse et le potentiel des vignobles septentrionaux. C’est également la première fois que des organisations professionnelles viticoles s’associent pour créer un grand Salon du Vin à Paris.

Les Interprofessions des Vins du Val de Loire, du Centre-Loire, de Bourgogne et le Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne s'associent à Comexposium pour créer VinoVision Paris, le premier Salon professionnel des Vins Septentrionaux, qui s'inscrira dans l'agenda international des Grands Salons du Vin. Les acteurs des autres régions septentrionales sont invités à rejoindre cette initiative.

Ces vignobles se sont imposés mondialement avec le Champagne, leurs effervescents, leurs vins blancs de référence, leurs rosés et leurs rouges de plaisir et de gastronomie. Leurs cépages, le sauvignon, le chardonnay, le chenin, les pinots, les cabernets et tant d’autres…connaissent un rayonnement international.

Paris méritait ce grand Salon des Vins. Historiquement, les vignobles de la Loire, de la Champagne et de la Bourgogne, et plus généralement des régions septentrionales, sont les vignobles de la capitale, par leur proximité géographique, par la force de l’histoire et par leur présence à la table du Roi puis dans les restaurants parisiens.

Ce sera un salon annuel, à taille humaine, dans le hall 4 de la Porte de Versailles. 650 exposants sont attendus sur 15 000m² pour la première édition, qui se tiendra du 12 au 14 Février 2017.

Ce Salon propose une nouvelle vision du vin : s’inspirer des attentes des acheteurs français et internationaux, à la recherche de vins accessibles dans des appellations prestigieuses, et apporter une réponse à ces nouveaux modes de consommation, de la gastronomie aux plaisirs quotidiens.

L’attractivité de Paris, son accessibilité et son rayonnement mondial faciliteront l’accès des acheteurs. Près de 10,000 spécialistes français et internationaux des différents circuits de distribution de la filière Vin sont attendus (import/export, CHR, cavistes et magasins spécialisés, GMS et e-commerce), faisant de VinoVision Paris un outil essentiel de développement en France et à l’export. 

VinoVision Paris pourrait accueillir ultérieurement des vignobles étrangers et comparables dans la perspective de devenir une vitrine mondiale.

Ce projet entre désormais dans sa phase opérationnelle. Les principales filières viticoles septentrionales de la France ont créé une association chargée de piloter, avec Comexposium, la mise en œuvre de ce projet ambitieux.

 

Contacts Interprofessions/Syndicats :

InterLoire

Claire Duchêne – c.duchene@vinsvaldeloire.fr – 06.03.82.35.63

Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins du Centre Loire

Benoit Roumet – benoit.roumet@vins-centre-loire.com – 06.08.03.74.54

Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne

Tetiana Poleva – tpoleva@sgv-champagne.fr – 06.03.31.47.22

Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne

Pascal Loridon – pascal-loridon@bivb.com – 03.80.25.04.91'

Pouilly-Fumé – the Reddes quarry a new wine

Romain Redde with the 2014 Barre à Mine, 

Pouilly-Fumé, Michel Redde

 at the 2016 Salon des Vins de Loire

Romain Redde – more often out in the 

vineyard than indoors at wine fairs 

Having visited the vineyard on a couple of occasions it was good to taste the first vintage of Michel Redde's latest wine – 2014 Barre à Mine – at the Salon des Vins de Loire. 

As the name suggests the new wine comes from a quarry – an old disused stone quarry. In order to create the vineyard – on flint – the Reddes had to remove many huge blocks of rock. These are now piled up around the eastern edge of the vineyard, which is at La Roche on the right of the D4 road heading towards Sancerre and close to the Tracy-Sancerre railway station.

Although recently bottled the 2014 Barre à Mine is attractive textured, with good mouthfeel and balance of rich fruit with mineral acidity in the finish.   

Entrance to the La Mine vineyard 

with some of the massive rocks 

 Autumnal view of the vineyard, which faces west, 

with hill of Sancerre in distance 

Understandably, planting this vineyard has taken several years

  

Completely stoned!

 Sébastien well wrapped up against the cold wind that 

blew across the vineyard when 

we were there in late October 2015

 Sébastien is tall but he is dwarfed here by the rocks

The 42-hectare domaine is now run by Sébastien and Romain Redde with their father Thierry taking a back seat. Sébastien looks after the winery, while much of Romain's time is spent out in the vines.        

Sébastien Redde with the gaffer – Thierry 

 

2016 Salon des Vins de Loire: some photos from Tuesday 2nd February

 

Annie Sauvat and Michel Blot, Boudes

Côtes d'Auvergne + IPG

It was very good to see Annie Sauvat and Michel Blot again. I visited them in Boudes away back in August 2009. They continue to make good wine and I was pleased to see that Michel is still as Feisty as ever!

 Annie Sauvat 

 Michel Blot

 

 Romain Redde, Domaine Michel Redde 

with their new cuvée:  2014 Barre à Mine: from their vineyard 

in an old quarry 

New président of the Savennières Syndicat 

Lydia Musset, Domaine Musset-Rouiller

Anjou Coteaux de la Loire  

Angelique Gabrielle, Châteaumeillant

Juli Roumet: iPhotographer 

Fabrice Deterne, Domaine Nairaud, Châteaumeillant