De la Unay

Yesterday the name 'Delaunay' came up again, as previously noticed, for example at reference 1. This in the context of a bottle of 2023 Fleurie 'Les Grappillages' which we had picked up from the Morrisons in Newport, on the Isle of Wight.

BH had the bright idea that it might be a contraction of 'De la Unay', where Unay was a place in France. Rather as 'Delarue' was a contraction of the 19th century Parisian slang for a street walker, as in 'Lili de la rue', where Lili was the street name of the young lady in question.

Sadly, gmaps suggests that while 'Launay' is indeed a place in France, a small place in Normandy, probably more into cider than wine, 'Unay' is not. Bottom line, 'Delaunay' is a reasonably common name in France. The name, for example, of the governor of the Bastille who was lynched when the fortress fell to the mob at the start of the French Revolution.

The wine was fine and Bing eventually tracked Delaunay down to reference 4, via references 2 and 3. With the snap above being a promotional poster for the brand 'La Belle Angèle'. As BH observes, very much in the spirit of the restaurant in the Aldwych.

However, while search of the site offers various Fleuries it does not offer any 'Les Grappillages'. But what I do get suggests that it is the name of a brand rather than the name of a place. Probably assembled in some factory rather than on some farm. While the label on the back of the bottle has been customised, at least slightly, for Morrisons.

PS 1: the telephone seems to have been more interested yesterday in the cherries than in the bottle, despite my tapping it. It does rather better this (Tuesday) morning. Maybe leaving out the cherries (eaten) did the trick.

PS 2: it occurs to me that the French ruling classes must have been a bit careless about maintenance of the Bastille. A mob should not be able to storm a castle in decent condition, properly garrisoned and victualled. A redeeming feature of ruling classes: they get lazy.

PS 3: not forgetting the people at references 5 and 6. Originally from Guernsey, hence the Frenchified name, but long domiciled in London. A specialist printer, once big in railway tickets. Then stamps. Then banknotes. Maybe the move to cashless is starting to hit their bottom line. Not sure that they would be a good buy just presently, although their price does seem to be holding up.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-aldwych.html.

Reference 2: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2022/01/laurent-delaunay-a-new-old-face-in-burgundy/.

Reference 3: https://harpers.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/33853/Laurent_Delaunay_92s_new_range_aims_to_disrupt_Burgundy_category.html.

Reference 4: https://www.delaunay.vin/.

Reference 5: https://www.delarue.com/.

Reference 6: https://www.delarue.com/about/our-history.