February 2021 - Share Some Love!

Hi There!

Welcome to the first of our Monthly Blogs! We’ll let you know what’s going on in our shop and community, what our customers and friends are getting up to, and offer some suggestions for things to enjoy and get up to yourself.

This month, our theme is ‘Share Some Love’. Every day in February, we’ll be doing something nice, be it bigging up a local business, or highlighting a cause we care about, or even a series of prize giveaways! We’ll summarise these in our regular emails (join our mailing list here to get those), but to keep 100% up to speed, check our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds every day this month (very useful for entering the prize draws!).

We got a head-start this year, by sending out New Year gifts to all our subscribed Wine Club members. As you can see, it raised a few smiles, which was nice! Not a member yet? Check here and sign up today!

And lest we forget, - in the spirit of all things love (and the sharing thereof), we have just launched a brand new Valentine's themed Gift Hamper - aptly named: 'A Very Marchtown Valentine'.

Click here to check it out!

Wine of the Month:
La Vis Riesling, Trentino, Italy, 2018 (£17)

A stunning, fresh and dry expression from the Alpine foothills, just south of the Austrian border. Bursting with lime, and candied fruit, made complex by a satisfyingly dry acidity.

Thomas' Recipe Match:Thai Peanut Noodle Salad

Some spicy, creamy, and zippy flavours in this crunchy feast go really nicely with the gentle sweetness and citric touch of this Riesling. Cook your vermicelli noodles for just a few minutes, then drain and run under cold water before tossing them in sesame oil. Turn carrots, cucumber, spring onions, or whatever veg you fancy into shoelace strings using a peeler. Add chillies to adjust to your desired spice level. Whip up a sauce using peanut butter, lime juice, grated ginger, soy sauce, a touch of honey and some more sesame oil. Mix up your veg and noodles, top it with the dressing and some coriander and pour yourself a generous glass! You’re in for a treat. Oh! An addition of prawns to this salad adds some sweet protein.

Bruce’s Album Pairing: Cloth (Cloth, 2019)

Glasgow band Cloth’s self-titled debut album is incredibly moreish, much like the La Vis Reisling. Crisp and delicate with a beguiling complexity, this intense aural(/oral) experience makes perfect sense both on warm summer evenings, and in cosy living rooms during the winter months.
Cloth’s music is richly textured and meticulously well-structured. One of those rare instances where an album represents truly great feats of musicianship, production and engineering in equal measure. Stunning.

Anthony’s Movie Match: Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)

Dry, fruity and much more complex than it first appears. The film - not just the wine! Coming hot off the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, this searing comedy is not only a loving homage to all things American, but a powerful symbol of how joy, laughter and irreverence can overpower hate and division. And don’t worry if you hate Westerns - it basically rips them a new one.

What we've been up to: Thomas

There aren’t many far-flung places we get to visit these days, with government guidelines and all, but when allowed, I have been getting exercise by cycling up to the Whitelee Windfarm. If you catch it on a clear day, the views are stunning. I can recommend a journey around 4 o’clock when you can watch the sun setting from the top of Eaglesham Moor. Just don’t pause for too long, as the wind chill is a real factor. Apparently the wind farm tourist spot is still open if you’d like to get up close to one of the turbines and get a feel for the scale of the machinery. It doesn’t quite do it justice from the side of the road.

Something new I’ve learned: Thomas

There's always something weird coming into the shop designed to catch the eye and pique interest, especially in beer. With a wide variety of hops, infusions and beer of all different colours, the market can sometimes feel oversaturated. However, something recently caught my attention that got me excited to try something different: ‘Nectar IPA’ from Up Front Brewing. Brewed using a unique strain of yeast Metschnikowia Reukaufii. Isolated in Berkeley California, it evolved to aid in the pollination of flowers it inhabits. By consuming otherwise unscented sugars existing in nectar, it turns them into tasty, odorous, attractive esters that pollinators and beer drinkers go crazy for. It’s delicious!

Most interesting customer question: Anthony

Probably the most frequently asked question, too: ‘Why is it called Marchtown?’. This is the name of the wee village that sat in our Glasgow suburb (currently Strathbungo) on the earliest maps that name it, c. 1750. There’s debate as to whether the current (Gaelic) name might have been the original, kept alive by folk memory. Regardless, Marchtown refers to the meeting point between old parish boundaries - or marches - that converged here. The stories say that jurisdiction ended at the march, so there were lots of dodgy characters cutting about. In that case, little has changed!

Dog of the month - Marla, Border Terrier, 4 Years Old

This wee scamp is the pride & joy of two of our regular customers and old pals, Andy & Amanda, and a longtime veteran of out Instagram feed. She first came to us as a teensy puppy back in March 2017. A bit of a tearaway, she frequently breaks the three-bark rule - however her cuteness has prevented us from barring her. Fun fact; as a feisty pup, she chewed into a leg on our big window-booth table - we can proudly say those marks remain as a happy reminder of Marchtown’s early days!