New Vin on the Block 🍷🍾

Just in time for the end of Dry January (whether you lasted the month or simply thought about the idea of participating), photo’d above are Mads and Cathryn doing an all important wine tasting with Saison Wines at ONHQ.

Founded last year by Daphne Teremetz, Saison Wines works directly with certified organic growers to bring delicious, well-priced wines to the indie market. We can certainly raise a glass to that!

Mads’ fave: Domaine de L’Accent Accent du Sud Rosé – fresh, fruity and pale pink, with aromas of red berries and citrus.

Cathryn’s fave: Famille Héraud Mellarium – a light-bodied, dry white with notes of lemon, lime, green apple and pear.

Good afternoon Organic Northerners,

In grace with the lengthening of the days and the returning of the light, this week’s Tuesday morning scribble is one full of return and new beginnings. We have the fruit juices from Ekolo returning alongside Cocofina’s coconut water, and if you’re already needing to take the edge off, Little Valley’s Python IPA also returns too this week- a punchy ale this is this one.

More important to us this end though is the return of two old faces back to the fold at ONHQ in Ian and Mostyn. Ian was a lovely presence in our warehouse during his uni studies about six years ago and we’re delighted to welcome him back. Mostyn returns tomorrow too and we’re chuffed to welcome this lad back also. Mo was integral to the running of our place for many years and never took a backwards step when it came to any of the work. We’ll certainly feel the benefit of having these two grafters alongside us this spring.

On the veg front, I’m glad to report this week that with the help of some of our Spanish pals, our Cathryn has managed to wangle us a new Spanish supplier called Terra Rica. The weather in Spain has been all over the place of late and Bioandalusi confirmed as much to our Maddy in the office this morning. Harvests are being affected and the prices are being pushed high as a result. As we’re growing in scale, we can look to source from suppliers like Terra Rica who mostly sell direct to local customers in Spain and only export in whole pallets. This will ensure we have some competitively-priced peppers available for those lucky enough to bag them…as ever, we’ll try our best to share them out amongst you guys. For the record, these guys are Demeter certified and they have achieved various certifications for their standards and social practices on the farm like GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice for example.

We’ve also a second new Spanish supplier on this week, Solagora. We picked up a few bits from them last week when we were in a bit of a pinch due to delays on some European pallets – and, as Flor de Donana have recently sold their business, we’ve had some challenges sourcing berries so far this year and these guys can help fill that gap. We’ll be trialling Solagora for a while to see how we get on.

Last up before the general veg updates, we’ve also a new wine supplier for you guys to enjoy this week, namely Saison Wines. A lass called Daphne overheard me chatting on at the Soil Association’s trade conference back in the autumn and was kind enough to introduce herself and what she does. Fast forward to last Thursday and as shown up top, Daphne hosted an in-house tasting with our resident wine aficionados, Mads and Cathryn. They were both VERY impressed with what Daphne brought along with her and the decision was made immediately to list her wines. The wines are all from Daphne’s native France, and with ten years experience, Daphne sources exclusively for the indie market. Some real quality tipples these.

Saison Wines, an exciting new UK importer of organic French wine – wineanorak.com

This week’s veg updates:

• Starting in the UK, Royal Oak has some baby celeriac, Caledonian rose spuds and Desiree spuds while SKEA adds some Colleen spuds.

• Elsewhere, Roddy’s returns with cavolo Nero, kale, spinach and spring greens in both bagged and loose.

• On the UK fruit front, Mole End add some Natyra apples to their listing.

• From Spain, Cal Valls has some butternut squash for us to go at and Biovergel adds some ortanique clems and sanguinelli blood oranges and from Solagora we have both strawberries and raspberries in kilos or punnets.

• Unfortunately, Geima won’t be on the list this week due to the storms in Italy and the haulage not being reliable.

• From Portugal, Vasco has some short cucs, New Zealand spinach, butternut squash and tomato vines.

• From Holland, Zann has some violet pointed cabbages, black garlic in punnets and black pearl mushrooms which are a gourmet hybrid of a pearl and king oyster mushroom and are perfect for sautéing and grilling.

• From France, Uni-Vert has some baby leaf spinach and grapefruits, while Bio & Bio has some romanesco caulis and rainbow chard.

• Our top picks out from Dynamis this week are the chicory di Catalonia, smoked garlic braids, salsify, mangiatutto spring onions, watercress and cara Cara oranges.

• And to line your pantry’s, we’ve got some more CocoFina coconut water, coconut milk and coconut milk light available as well as lots of delicious juices from Ekolo and some staple teas both loose and bagged from Nemi.

Looking into the future, our Mads is currently chatting to a potential Palestinian date supplier and if the weather’s less soggy on the east coast of Spain next week, we’re hoping to be able to list some of those fab Calcots for you all.

Here’s to hitting the ground running in 2026!
Sean, Mads, Alph, Cathryn, Ell and Team ON x

Jammy and in love this Valentine’s? ❤️

Spread the love with a box of berry tasty jams. Our lovely pal Kerry at Hembridge has put together a Valentine’s selection that does exactly what it says on the jar.

Each box includes three flavours – I Think You’re Jamtastic, I Think You’re Jamazing and I Think You’re Jampion – so if romance isn’t your strong suit, jam might be.

Pictured alongside are some new smaller jam sizes. We’re currently gauging interest, so they’re not on the list just yet, but if you fancy getting your hands on some, get in touch and we’ll happily make them available.

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