The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’ve sat here waiting for the phone to ring but, as yet,  not a single nation has offered us so much as a discount code for EasyJet, much less a personalised airliner. Alex was even considering having an orange rinse and a spray tan to expedite things. Possibly it is just one of those rules that’s not for us and given the parlous state of Boeing lately, he’ll have likely retired well before production starts!

Whilst we’re on the subject of luxury goods, I’m very suspicious of salesman with talk that boats are unsinkable, cars having remarkable traction control or bicycles with puncture proof tyres. Mike Lynch’s unsinkable boat had a design flaw that meant it wasn’t, I had a ride extended timewise by a bougainvillea thorn, and the amount of tyre screech that comes out of Melrose Avenue daily suggests traction control has its limits.

The Tango Tariffmeister has been on a tour of the Middle East. He’s been topping up his tan, signing deals, not drinking coffee and whingeing about Apple choosing to expand their Indian operations.

In Turkey, there are talks for peace between Russia and Ukraine but given the attendees are mostly note takers or work experience interns, we’re not holding out much hope for success. It seems a bit of a pointless exercise if nobody is taking it seriously.

As I type this on Thursday afternoon, the two Ryder Cup Captains are on the leader board at the PGA Championship; most of the peloton had a visit with the tarmac in a very chaotic stage of the Giro D’Italia which is now actually in Italy.  It would appear that not only we amateurs struggle with rain and white paint.

In football news, FIFA has received a complaint from a team of lawyers including their former anti-corruption adviser. It seems they may have broken their own rules in relation to Human Rights and awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. We’ll report back as we hear more.

I’m sure many of our regular readers will have read last week’s 990 word missive and formed their own opinions of how they felt about our prose. Our correspondent in the north asked an AI programme for a precis of it. The result made us laugh aloud: “Trump quote reflects frivolous disregard or poor understanding; Rosé sales robust; Giro D’Italia starts.”

Last week’s choice of tasting wines, whilst popular in the glass, certainly caused some amusement.  A number of tasters keenly pointing out that the Giro was not visiting Sicily this year and that perhaps our pre-race reconnoitre was not up to snuff.

With that in mind, we will be opening two wines from Greece this week. We understand that the Giro D’Italia will not be visiting and that whilst Albania was close, it is closer to Corfu than Crete.

Lyrarakis Vóila Assyrtiko 2023 – £17.99. Located in the mountainous commune of Alagni in Crete, Domaine Lyrarakis stays true to local winemaking traditions.  The domaine focuses on indigenous varieties, taking them from obscurity and driving them in a more modern direction, while still retaining a clear sense of place.  Its style focuses on pure varietal character, precision and supple texture.  The 2023 Assyrtiko is a delicious wine, grown at 580 metres’ altitude in the Voila vineyard.  There is a definite floral character, refreshing minerality and chalky texture to this delicious wine that marries well with all forms of seafood, as you might expect from a producer surrounded by sea!

Lyrarakis Kotsifali 2022 – £17.99. One of the Queens of Cretan grape varieties, Kotsifali is indisputably a classic of the island, offering spicy red fruits, an elegant mouthfeel and a piquant aftertaste which makes it a deliciously fresh drop, not too weighty and seriously good with a bit of fried saganaki. Our chum Mary suggests it as an ideal partner to some lamb skewers on the Friday night takeaway slot!

It’s Eurovision this weekend, you’ll know if you need to add a bottle of fizz for the occasion!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Courtesy of Wikipedia, our best friend:

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”, said to have been spoken in the 18th century by “a great princess” upon being told that the peasants had no bread.  The French phrase mentions brioche, a bread enriched with butter and eggs, considered a luxury food.  The quote is taken to reflect either the princess’s frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight.

Courtesy of POTUS Trump, everyone’s best friend:

“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”  This quote could be taken to reflect either the president’s frivolous disregard for the people who voted for him or his poor understanding of their plight.

Because, yes, it’s normal to have 30 dolls, Donald.  Oh, and those 5 crayons, should they all be orange?  We asked these questions but were informed that the President was wielding a red light sabre on the golf course, dressed as the Roman pontiff. 

We could go on but we all have to move on.

Another short week this week and perhaps not as hot as hoped.  However, Rosé sales are still robust, so well done everyone for pitching in.  We celebrated VE day over a number of days, a celebration of the surrender of Nazi Germany to the allies.  We also saw the spiralling decline of the Conservative Party in the local elections, losing ground to Reform UK who seem to be thriving like knotweed under a Farage.  Lib Dems did well too, without too much hullabaloo from the member for Kingston & Surbiton, the Greens did ok, Labour not so much.

In a brief scoot around the rest of the news, we have a Deal for Growth in the free-trade deal with India; we have brand new tariffs (for now) with the USA (positive) coupled with access to a lot more American beef (negative); worryingly, we also have Pakistan and India on high alert, yet again; we had white smoke pluming out of the Vatican; and finally, faced with America’s latest addiction to weight-loss injections, WeightWatchers has filed for bankruptcy.  I’m sure everything will be just fine.

Wayne, as is his habit, has been following the current Bordeaux En Primeur campaign, as mentioned last week.  It’s been a disaster this year but perhaps the most worrying fact we have read (Bordeaux wine producers slash prices as wealthy collectors stay away – FT- 03/05/25) was this:

…less interest in fine wine among the younger generation of wealthy investors and declining alcohol consumption have all hit demand.   Consultancy Bain says that 65 per cent of drinkers in the top 10 consumer markets are moderating their alcohol intake.

We’ve known about the changes in investment focus amongst the high-net-worth’s but hadn’t previously encountered the stats that Bain offered up.  We cannot find the original document to draw our own conclusions but, blimey, that doesn’t sound good for business!  However, could it also mean that 35% of drinkers in the top 10 consumer markets are upping their dose?  As I said earlier, Wimbledon Park Rosé sales are still robust…

Arsenal left Europe competition on Wednesday having not managed to really get a handle on PSG but I imagine even the most loyal gooner would concede that the Barca-Inter double-header was the pick of the semis.  Tottenham, Man U and Chelsea all progressed to their respective finals, all at a canter.  Meanwhile, in rugby, Andy Farrell did the right thing by choosing not to select his son for the Lions, whilst also adding another chapter to the Henry Pollock fairytale! 

In real sport, Wayne has cycled up and down a variety of hills (mountains?) in Mallorca this week and is currently in possession of all the available jerseys except the Blanco – chapeau!  Oh, and second to that, he’d want you to know that the Giro D’Italia starts today and would probably say some clever things about Juan Ayuso, Richard Carapaz and Primož Roglič.  He would perhaps go on to make passing reference to the Yates brothers, questioning whether they are still up to it.  He then might suggest that an each way bet on young Antonio Tiberi could be worthwhile but we’ll never know because he didn’t leave me his notes!

Therefore, in honour of the Giro, I thought I’d open some wine this weekend, as you do.  However, whilst the first two stages are actually taking place in Albania, having scoured the shelves it seems we don’t have any wine from there, not even a bottle of Raki, so we’ll have to go Italian, apologies.

Sibiliana Sensale Bio Grillo DOC 2024 – £11.99 is a reasonably new arrival on our shelves.  Alex tasted this last year in Sicily and bought it immediately we had run out of the previous incumbent.  Grillo is native to Sicily, is used in Marsala production and is believed by some to have Muscat of Alexandria and Catarratto as its parents – this might explain the delicate straw-yellow colour with white peach, yellow melon and light citrus aromas that persist onto the palate.  It comes highly recommended with a platter of smoked fish in the sunshine!

The red is going to be Nicosia Nerello Mascalese 2023 – £15.99 from the opposite side of Sicily, based at the foot of Etna.  This wine is from organically farmed vineyards on Etna’s lava terraces around 550-650m above sea level.  The volcanic soils are rich in minerals and give us a delicious wine with delicate, complex aromas of wild strawberry and redcurrant with lightly floral notes.  Fresh cherry and red berry fruit on the palate, with fresh acidity, earthy notes and a lovely savoury finish.

In other news, no stages of the Giro will take place in Sicily this year…. Doh!

One last thing, how long before Mr Trump tries to take all the credit for the new Pope being American?!

Ave!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Here we are barely into May and we’ve all broken out the suntan lotion, Ray-bans and found Wayne in his shorts! The BBC reports it is the hottest start to May on record with temperatures hitting 28˚C here in London. We’ve been dosing up on the hay fever meds, salads and rosé wine.

We’ve now had 100 days of the Tango Tariffmeister who insists the negative US economic numbers this week are nothing to do with tariffs. Meanwhile, his chief economic adviser, Stephen Miran, had a meeting with bankers and hedge fund managers who found him to be “incoherent” and “out of his depth”.  I don’t know about you but I think the US will come to rue its loss of ‘reserve currency’ economic status.

It also appears that the IMF has bailed out Argentina. Again. At least that should keep the supply of Malbec nice and steady!

Tesla have denied reports in some quarters that they have been talking to head hunters in a bid to replace Musk. For information purposes Tesla’s share price opened at 432.64 on January 21^st and closed at 282.16 on April 30^th.

Here in the UK, Marks and Spencer, Co-op and Harrods have had their business disrupted by cyber-attacks.

Outside of London some folk will have been voting in their local elections, which I’m sure will find us a photo of  Nigel Farage with a pint of bitter in his hand. Maybe he’ll switch to a milkshake IPA!

As Tate Modern hits 25 years old, I still remember the giant spider in the Turbine Hall when I first visited. I also remember less fondly not being able to get tickets to see Kraftwerk play there. I still can’t think of a more apt venue for them. Anyway, do pop along and have a mooch around. Something that’s free that makes you richer.

In international news, Japan’s busiest bullet train line screeched to a halt on Wednesday after a snake wrapped itself around the power line and shorted the supply. Not the best start to Golden Week!

Spain and Portugal also suffered power issues this week and investigations as to the cause are ongoing. Apparently unplugging the long extension lead has been ruled out!

In wine news the Bordeaux 2024 en primeur campaign is slipping down nicely, if relatively ignored. The quality isn’t all that and the prices have come down to 2013/2014 release prices without generating much interest.

Today is International Sauvignon Blanc Day so we shall open a bottle of Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2024 (£22.99). This is the 15^th vintage we have stocked, having started with Kevin’s inaugural vintage in 2009. We rather like his phrase “Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with the volume turned down a notch!”

We were lucky enough to have a brief chat with roving winemaker Matt Thompson (Blank Canvas and others) in January. He told us he thought 2024 Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough was the best quality fruit he’d encountered in his 32 vintages there!

On the red front we’ll be sampling Famiglia Bianchi Gran Corte 2020 (£19.99). This appealing blend of Malbec (37%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%), Merlot (26%) Cabernet Franc (7%) from the Uco Valley won a trophy at the International Wine and Spirits Competition. Why not come and see if you like it as much as the judges? We’re suggesting it might be tasty with some Barbecue!

That’s it from us for this week; we’re Waltzing out of the door!