The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Prime Minister Boris Johnson Resigns

is a headline we thought we might have read by now, if we’re honest. If he had a job at the Post Office, stacked shelves at a supermarket or drove a bus for a living he’d have been in and out of the HR department pretty sharpish. If we were to use a meme here it might be Alan Sugar with his arm extended pointing to the door.

As it stand’s though, Lord Sugar hasn’t picked up the phone to say: “Send him in now”.  Just as well really, there is nobody sat outside on the naughty chairs in the office. Possibly fearful of the cab waiting downstairs, our Prime Minister has dashed off to India. As I write this he is consulting with the sadhus at Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar. His timely visit is apparently to announce trade deals with India. Call me old fashioned, but don’t we have a Trade Minister or a Foreign Minister who should do that? I bet poor old Liz Truss is fuming at all of those missed Instagram possibilities.

You may recall a few years back we had some fun reporting Belgium running itself without a government, 652 days in the end. I’m not sure it seems such a joke anymore!

In other news, Tesla boss Elon Musk looks set to receive a $23 billion bonus as the company outperforms set targets. That’s the cost of Twitter sorted then!

We also saw that David Attenborough has been named ‘Champion of the Earth’ by the UN. We thought at first that a 95 year old man was perhaps a bit long in the tooth to be uniting the belts to become Undisputed. Then we realised it was for his commentary on nature and climate change, rather than his Rocky style prowess in the ring.

We learned today that Rudy Giuliani has been unmasked as a contestant on ‘The Masked Singer’. His song choice? George Thorogood and the Destroyers “Bad to The Bone”.

At the risk of destroying the rather nice spell of weather we’ve been having, we might just mention that Domaine Foncalieu Piquepoul Rose 2020 (£13.99) has arrived in the shop. It is crisp, dry, pale and as delicious as ever. We’re offering a six box at £72.

This weekend we’ll pay a vinous excursion to South Africa. Wearing the white polo shirt will be KloovenburgChardonnay 2019 (£13.99) a barrel fermented beauty from Swartland. The red shorts will be sported by Idun Nuit Eternelle Syrah 2019 (£19.99) a really elegant and savoury style from the Elgin Valley. Both of these are new drops to us, we tasted them in October and ordered them. Then they took forever to arrive, we had even ordered some more and were discussing a wager on which shipment would arrive first. The joys of paperwork for new imports!

Anyway I suspect that enough from us for another week and we’ll leave you with the words of Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee via Eric and Ernie:

Bring me sunshine, in your smile

Bring me laughter, all the while

In this world where we live, there should be more happiness

So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow

Make me happy, through the years,

Never bring me, any tears,

Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,

Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Time for lunch everyone and then an early finish this afternoon, followed by the fast train to the coast for the first free long weekend of the year – 22 degrees in some parts of the country, everyone get ready for pasty legs and bodies followed by sunburn and hangovers.

So, whilst I’ve just been away for a few days gentle queuing on the M20, Wayne has been propping himself up by the door in the hope that at least one of you might pop by so that he might entice you in with a cheerful grin, a witty one liner and promises of fine wine and eclectic music.  However, by all accounts this didn’t happen very often – it seems many of you have also flown the coop and are currently poolside somewhere hot/fireside somewhere snowy.

And it’s not just you that are absent – all our Parliamentarians are also on their Easter Recess.  What this means in real terms though is that between 31st March and 19th April should, for example, the PM and the Chancellor happen to get a fine for breaking the law having previously lied about it, then it’s ok because no one is there to make you resign and when the new term starts you can just pretend you went skiing like everyone else and nothing happened. 

And you still get to keep your job?  As Wayne said to me earlier, it feels as if the phrase ‘surely this time he must go?!’ has now become an ancient English proverb, it having been used so often!

Still, at least the Chancellor kept a cool head when faced with various ‘non-dom’ questions regarding both his and his wife’s activities – in truly Trump-esque style he totally ignored the significance of the accusations and showed far greater concern about who had revealed his secrets… really mate, get your coat, you’ve lost the room, time to slink off to California.

Whilst sitting in the fume-filled fairyland that was the Operation Brock, I did try to catch up on a bit of stuff that was going on outside of SW1 but without much joy – it seems there is very little that we aren’t already painfully aware of, as has been the case for the last few years.  I did discover, whilst catching up on the Court & Social, the announcement that we have all been waiting for as it has been confirmed that Lady Denise van Outen of Basildon has partnered up with Lambrini, official drink of Essex, to create the much awaited ‘Bring the Brini’ campaign.  Now, we’re not sure which of the two parties is going to suffer the most reputational damage in this affair but do have to confess that we were very surprised that both Denise and Lambrini were still knocking about as we were quite sure they were both put out to pasture in the late 1990’s!

As I said, no news.

However, as mentioned previously, it’s Le Big Weekend coming up, no work until Tuesday for all the good people of Wimbledon Park… however the less saintly amongst us will be putting in a bit of hard yakka, at least in the early part of the weekend:

Today, 14th April – 12pm – 7pm

Good Friday 15th April – 12pm – 5pm

Saturday 16th April – 12pm – 6pm

Sunday 17th & Monday 18th April – CLOSED

Tuesday 19th April – back to as you were – 12pm– 7pm!

Hoping that a few of you might venture out, Wayne will once again be standing  by the door to entice you in with his cheerful grin, the same witty one liner but now with the added promise of a taste of the wines that we will have open from this evening onwards:

Flametree Embers Sauvignon Blanc – Semillon 2021 – £15.49

From Margaret River in WA, this is another fab drop from the Cliff Royle stable.  We tasted this a while back but given the snail like movement of wine from across the world at the moment, it has only just arrived with us.  We know we liked it, we suspect we can explain why but, to give full disclosure, we have forgotten what it tastes like so are very much looking forward to revisiting!

As it’s Easter and the rules state that you must eat lamb on Sunday, we thought we’d open one of our all-time favourite reds, Monemvasios Red 2013 – £20.99.

So, a quick intro.  It’s from the southern part of the Peloponnese, in the southern part of Greece, made from 90% Agiorgitiko and 10% Mavroudi but I imagine you knew this already.  It’s absolutely delicious, the fact that the wine has a nice bit of age means we have some lovely mature dark fruit and silky polished tannins – all in all a wine that gives some more famous (and more expensive) French and Italian cousins a good run for their money!  All you need now is to remember to marinate the leg of lamb overnight and then put it in the oven for five hours before you want to eat it and voilà, Kleftiko!

That’s all from us for this week – have a lovely long weekend and, if at all possible, avoid travelling anywhere on Monday…

Yamas!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Last week we started with a fabulous quote about fools in April. This week we saw video footage from South Africa of a guy in a supermarket trolley hanging on to the back of a fuel tanker driving down the highway at some speed. Now that’s definitely taking the old CB radio term ‘suicide jockey’ to another level. By all accounts Pretorian Police are unamused.

On the subject of fools it seems the Chancellor, the man charged with collecting tax and administering the country’s finances has found himself in a spot of PR bother. He has just broken a Conservative manifesto promise and inflicted an increase in taxation to most of us through a National Insurance rise so it’s awfully difficult timing to discover that his wife, the daughter of a billionaire, is a ‘non dom’ when it comes to tax.

Now even we can see that’s a bad look for a Chancellor, for a start we all know she lives at No.11 Downing Street. It might not be permanent (especially after this news) but surely that is where she is currently domiciled? Maybe the HMRC might want to have a look at that. We just don’t understand why a change wasn’t suggested by that army of advisers when he became Chancellor, or when he became an MP? Absolute school boy error, we really are governed by clowns.

On the subject of clowns, the Prime Minister announced the UK’s new energy strategy. New nuclear is definitely on the cards, but given the cost and build time that is unlikely to help much in the next five years. We will admit surprise that insulating properties didn’t feature. It seems a relatively straightforward, fast and effective fix to us but what would we know, it’s not like we spend the day in front of a draughty window!

Staying on topic with clowns, you may have noticed Wayne out and about in the trusty Volvo this week, dropping off a case here and there. Do you remember that biblical rain on Wednesday evening about 7.30? Well guess who had to pull over because the trusty windscreen wipers went every which way but loose. So Wayne utilised all his mechanical skills by phoning the kind gentlemen at Naismiths who suggested he pop in. Between you and I he was there about 30 seconds, the chaps at Naismith wielded a spanner, Wayne blushed at his own ineptitude and all was fixed. Every day’s a school day!

In a move that many find akin to cultural vandalism, Culture Secretary Mad Nads has decided that the best way forward for Channel 4 is for the government to sell it off. Founded in 1982 under Margaret Thatcher’s government to foster the British film and TV industry, the channel has always been publicly owned but funded by advertising. Any rumours that Mad Nads has made the announcement in a fit of pique after being rejected for Naked Attraction don’t bear thinking about. We suspect it’s more likely that stunts like replacing the no-show Prime Minister with an ice sculpture during a debate on climate change that have led the decision.

Still on the cultural front, ‘Replicas’ by Tubeway Army celebrated its 43^rd birthday this week. I, for one, am struggling to understand how an album that came out when I was a teenager is now older than me!

It must have been years since we mentioned it, but the race to be the next James Bond appears to have taken a turn. Idris Elba has ruled himself as too old, odds on Tom Hardy have lengthened whilst odds on both Aidan Turner and Cillian Murphy have shortened. We can’t comment on whether Alex has popped his tux into Manuel for a press, but we can say that Jane Seymour is “so fed up of hearing, should a woman be James Bond?”

What shall we wrap our taste buds around this weekend? I’ve had a look, and these two look like decent candidates…

Produttori del Gavi ‘Gavi Mille 951’ 2020 – £15.99 – is the white choice – made at their winery overlooking the historic Gavi fortress, this cooperative has been making wine for over 65 years.  Aromas of pear peach, apricot and yellow plum greet us on the nose whilst on the palate we have the same fruit characters with hints of almond in the background.  Dry, light and moreish, a perfect aperitif! It’s even organic and suitable for vegans.

Viña von Siebenthal Parcela #7 Gran Reserva 2018, Aconcagua, Chile – £20.99

It probably says something for this winery that two of their top wines have both received 95+ points from Robert Parker, no mean feat.  Their focus is on small production and high quality and they achieve this in buckets.  Whilst it is a Bordeaux blend with all the usual elegance, there is a ripeness of fruit and a sense of weight that you rarely get in claret.  Well, let me just suggest it might be really rather tasty with a slow roast shoulder of lamb.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

“Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.” – Charles Lamb

So, did someone prank you yet today?  To explain, for those of you less date obsessed, today is 1^st April, April Fool’s Day, the day on which the most irritating people you know get carte blanche to play a joke on you, tell you a tall story or perform some sort of silly stunt all of which is supposedly excused by them exclaiming ‘April Fool’ which somehow allows them immunity from retribution.  As you can tell, we’re not totally on board with all this.

For some though, it seems silly season started early.  Will Smith is the obvious example here, crossing many boundaries and in the process making the story all about him whilst Jada just rolled her eyes.  Then we have our Chancellor saying that he empathises with the Fresh Prince’s situation, something that won’t do either of them any favours.  Honestly though Rishi, people criticising Infosys continued involvement in Russia isn’t quite the same as someone deriding your physical appearance.  Plus, the claim that Akshata Murthy doesn’t have anything to do with the company’s operational decisions is undoubtedly true, however that £400 million bank balance didn’t just spring from the ground.

Rishi also referenced Joe Root in his quest to appear down with the kids, opining that he too hadn’t had the greatest weekend.  True that but it’s not just young master Root who should take the blame for the dismal England batting performance last weekend.  As they slumped to a ten wicket defeat, there was silliness from top to tail but I imagine they all said ‘April Fool’ to each other in the changing room and thus will get away with it and be picked again when New Zealand pop over in June.

Whilst on the cricket though, it is worth mentioning that England will face Australia in the Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday – if you just get the chance to admire Sophie Ecclestone’s finger spin for a few minutes you’ll be in for a treat.

And it seems the weather has decided to act the silly sausage too.  Last weekend we were getting complaints that we’d run out of a couple of our Rosés whereas right now it’s gone so bloomin’ Baltic we’d probably struggle to give them away.  Oh, and look, the fuel prices are going up today too, what timing!

Returning to the scene of Mr Smith’s Sunday night slapfest, the real reason for the great and the good (and the not so good) to be assembled was for the Oscars of course.  It would seem that not only did Agent J win a Best Actor Oscar but he also was one of the lucky few to scoop the Oscar swag bag of free goodies that redefines excess and good taste.  Having trawled the gossip columns it would seem that amongst other goodies, the most expensive item in the bag is a $50,000 three-night stay at Turin Castle in Scotland, complete with butler service and a bagpiper welcome when they arrive.  Other treats include, according to our chums at E!News:

• A $15,000 four-night stay at the Golden Door luxury resort and spa in California.
• A $12,000 “Celebrity Arms” liposuction procedure from cosmetic surgeon Dr Thomas Su.
• A small plot of land in Scotland, along with the title of “Lord” or “Lady of Glencoe.”
• $10,000 of “treatments and rejuvenation procedures” from Dr Konstantin Vasyukevich.
• A life coaching session with wellness expert Kayote Joseph, worth $1,200.
• $25,000 worth of home renovations from Maison Construction.
• A pair of TurboFlex glasses featuring a 360-degree rotating hinge.
• An assortment of “Flavor wrapped” popcorn packages from Opopop.
• A bottle of Ariti extra virgin olive oil infused with edible gold flakes.

Because, like, that’s what your average Hollywood A-lister needs, right?!

Meanwhile, back here in Blighty, Wayne & Alex have keenly tasted wines again and as a consequence have a couple of new listings worth a mention:

Amotera Vino Biologico Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2020 – £12.29 – a delicious white from Abruzzo with floral notes on the nose leading to some nice, easy orchard fruit character on the palate – a proper pre-prandial quaffer.

Another organic Italian white, this time from Sicily, is Colomba Bianca Vitese Zibibbo 2021 – £11.99.  Now, as you are all well aware, Zibibbo is more commonly known to us as Muscat of Alexandria and so has a charming nose of apricot, almonds and orange blossom.  What made us sit up and pay attention was the lovely dry finish it showed on the palate.  We’ve often been told that a dry Muscat is a great sparring partner to asparagus, which is handy as the season is just starting.  Oh, and a fun fact we just learnt,  asparagus has enzymes said to fight a hangover, which sounds like the makings of a very fancy breakfast!

In red we have Peninsula Vinicultores Vino de Montaña 2018 – £13.69.  This is a wine from high-altitude vineyards in Sierra de Gredos and other historic growing areas in the Sistema Central, the mountain chain that divides the Iberian Peninsula in its Northern and Southern halves.  This is a field blend based mostly on very old Garnacha vines but with some Rufete and Piñuela in the mix too, all grown on granite soil and in the glass we have lovely fresh red fruits and hints of white pepper – the altitude gives the wine a delicious freshness that one doesn’t always associate with Spanish reds.

And finally, an old favourite of Wayne’s, Ktima Gerovassiliou Avaton 2018 – £28.  As his tasting note states, this feels like a Bordeaux blend but with entirely the wrong grapes.  The reason for the wrong grapes is because it comes from Epanomi in Central Macedonia, Greece and the grape varieties are 60% Limnio, 20% Mavrotragano and 20% Mavroudi.  Try it, I think you’ll like it…

And that’s about it from us, we’ll be opening a couple of bottles of wine as usual this weekend with the Amotera Trebbiano doing the heavy lifting on the white front whilst the red team will be represented by Le Ciel Vide  – £13.49, from Domaine Treloar, in anticipation of Jonathan’s visit later in the month.

Over and out.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week we have been raising a quizzical eyebrow for many reasons.

Firstly, it’s our game face when we’re out tasting and we’ve been to four this week. You need a game face when tasting in order to avoid any embarrassment when a winemaker reveals the price somewhere around double what you were expecting for the wine you have just written “Meh” beside in that tasting booklet. It also helps to hide that the wine just taken on by a supplier with great fanfare is not coming anywhere near your shelf regardless of its reputation.

Then we raised an eyebrow at the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. Much was made by the press of the 5p cut in fuel duty, indeed Sunak even pretended to fill up a Kia Rio at a Sainsbury’s petrol station for a photo op.  It is, as usual, a smoke and mirrors exercise that will make no difference to the average family. If we assume the average driver gets about 10 miles for their litre of fuel, and on average drives around 10 000 miles a year then they will save a whopping £50. In the meantime their gas and electric bill has just risen by around £800.

We raised an eyebrow at news that David Cameron volunteers at his local foodbank a day or two every week. In 2004 the Trussell trust ran only two foodbanks, indeed many of us had never heard of them. According to the House of Commons Library, in February 2021 there were over 2200 food banks with the Trussell Trust running 1300 of them. David Cameron was elected in 2005.

We raised an eyebrow (we’re in danger of cramping any minute!) at the Volta a Catalunya as Mattias Skjelmose crashed on a descent, falling 10 metres down a ravine, climbed back up shouting “ I’m OK just give me a bike” got on that new bike to ride the last 58km and finished the stage in the top 10. Adrenaline is a powerful force eh?

An eyebrow was raised as we sat enjoying the sunshine in the garden sipping our morning coffee, we’ve not even put the clocks forward yet and we were basking in 18˚C. Muesli tastes so much better in the sunshine, doesn’t it? We’ll take this while we can, even at the risk of Wayne’s shorts arriving earlier than usual.

An eyebrow was raised as the head was shaken witnessing Joe Root go for a duck as the Final Test starts with an England collapse in Grenada. Being rescued by the biggest number 10 and 11 10^th wicket stand since 1885 is probably not the look they were going for.

Whilst we massage our foreheads and relax our eyebrows into a less alarming position we thought we should open some wine for tasting.

We’ll stroll down a road less travelled for the white, Adobe Gewurztraminer 2020(£10.49) is an organic example hailing Rapel Valley in Chile. We think it’s just the ticket for this spring weather we’re enjoying.

Red wise we’ll visit Puglia for a glass of Verso Salento Rosso 2020 (£14.99). It is a rather winning blend of Negroamaro, Primitivo, Malvasia Nera with notes of plums and raisins nicely balanced with a hint of mocha in the finish. We are assured by the winemaker it is a great meditation wine, so here we are looking after your wellbeing.

Don’t forget the clocks go forward Saturday night so that late one may be later than you think!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Welcome to another Friday in Wimbledon Park.  This week we’ve noticed the sun getting out of bed earlier and hanging around for longer.  The Sahara was nice enough to send some greetings sprinkled all over the car and there is a reasonable risk that the keenest of us might light the barbecue this weekend.

We finally found something we could all smile about in Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe finally making it home after many false starts over the last six years. Like many, we suspect her ordeal may have been considerably shorter if Johnson had been on top of his brief as Foreign Secretary.

He was again in full diplomatic mode this week as he visited Saudi Arabia hoping to strike a deal on some cheap oil.  Disappointed to find the champagne was less free flowing than when he’s normally at work, he came away empty handed without even a cake ambush.  Stories that the Saudis raised worries about the state of democracy in the UK and the loss of the right to protest could be wide of the mark.

Meanwhile, in Rwanda, a bat that has been missing for 40 years was rediscovered in Nyungwe Park.  After being scolded for being late for supper, the pair of Hill’s Horseshoe bats were measured and their call recorded to make it easier to identify them in future and then released. We’re glad to see they were shy rather than extinct and hope that the experts are able to keep them that way.

At the bottom of a quarry in Midlothian, Skyrora, an Edinburgh based rocket company, open the UK’s largest rocket engine testing facility.  It seems the space race is alive and well in the UK with spaceports now being developed in Wales and Cornwall as well as Scotland.  Call me old fashioned but wouldn’t pooling the resources into one site have been a good idea?

This week wouldn’t be complete without a cultural section mentioning that the Rolling Stones will be playing Hyde Park this summer celebrating their 60^th Anniversary.  They are often a feature of our musical algorithm and tickets are on sale now.  Talking of tickets, Sigur Ros are coming to Brixton for a couple of nights in November and the tickets went on sale this morning.

On the sports front, we’ve had a mixed bag at the Cheltenham Festival this week; Alex is a tiny bit up and Wayne about flat, which is weird when it’s over hurdles!  Wayne’s had a farthing each way on Protekorat in the Gold Cup and also for Peter Sagan to win Milan-San Remo on Saturday.  It’s also Super Saturday for the Six Nations with Wales v Italy at 14.15, Ireland v Scotland at 16.45 and then France v England at 20.00.  We’re not sure how we’re going to fit all that in but will certainly be giving it a go and we haven’t even considered the cricket!

On the table this weekend we’ll be visiting our chums down under in Western Australia.

Flametree Wines have consistently maintained a five star rating from James Halliday since 2011 and we’ve long been fans of Cliff Royle’s winemaking (we’ve even had him pop in the shop!) we think he makes really tasty wines. We’ll have their 2020 Estate Chardonnay (£18.99) and the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot (£19.99), so why not come down and sample their tastiness.

Cheers,

Wayne & Alex

PS  Monday 21st March we will be closed as we have several tastings to attend – many apologies for any inconvenience, perhaps grab an extra bottle on Saturday between games!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Oooh, doesn’t life just get jollier with every week that passes!

Since last we met we have seen more lives lost in Ukraine, more people being driven out of their homes, more oligarchs sanctioned and still Russia attacks whilst days have turned into weeks in the ‘special military operation’ that should never have happened.

Further to our contemplations regarding the status of Mr Abramovich last week, it seems our words didn’t fall on deaf ears and he too now faces a bit of a squeeze – probably this won’t be quite as effective as it might have been a week ago but then what do we know…

We’ve also managed to lose not one but two famous Australian cricketers, the younger of whom could have been at school with us – just goes to show it can happen to anyone of us at any time, so seize the day everyone.

Wayne returned from his abortive search for the pet detective on Fuerteventura to the happy news that the ship he mislaid in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica 107 years ago has been found in pretty good nick.  However, he has decided to leave it there, since nowadays he is less about the boat and more about the bike, which is helpful when you live in a two bed flat and I’m not sure Mrs Wayne would be that pleased with a Bay Class Tugboat in the front garden considering her usual choice of Icebreaker is the trifecta of gin, tonic and lime…

What has come to our notice is that whilst the headlines have rightly been focused on the developing situation in eastern Europe, there is now a lot less about Covid that we can see and, more worryingly, the whole Partygate thing seems to have disappeared into the inside pages – we do hope Boris isn’t going to get away with this purely because of a change in media focus.

Sport can be a great distraction at times like these and we have an array of distractions on the horizon.  The England Cricket Team, post Broad and Anderson seem to be toiling towards a draw at the moment, although we can never underestimate our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Twickenham this weekend sees the Irish in town, with a team that now sees Jonny Sexton back at the helm.  Bizarrely, they have dropped Mack Hansen out of the squad but the good news for England fans is that they have brought James Lowe instead, plus his leaky defence.  England had a couple of Covid cases earlier in the week but the backing of Harry Randall at scrum half and the removal of Eliot Daly to the bench certainly pleased Wayne.

Then we have the Cheltenham Festival starting again next week, Wayne’s tips so far are limited to drinking Guinness and betting on an Irish horse – seems like a decent each-wayer to me!

We’ve teamed up with the lovely folks @posta_hug on Instagram and have a drop box here if anyone would like to send a message or letter of solidarity to a child, adult or parent in Ukraine. Check out their page for full details.

And now wine, because that’s really what we’re here for, and the tasting of it.

Today we’ll be opening Domaine de Morin-Langaran ‘Cuvée Caroline’ Picpoul de Pinet 2021 (£13.99) perennially popular around here and frankly we’re glad to see it back after the winery ran out before this was ready. We find it crisp and dry, with nice fruit and a touch of minerality, but why not come and taste for yourself?

For the red we’ll zip over to Marche in Italy, Belisario Lacrima di Morro d’Alba 2020 (£15.99) is a medium bodied red from the town of Morro d’Alba. Flavour wise we’re looking at fresh dark fruits, a touch of floral character and maybe even a hint of cinnamon at the end. It’s weight and freshness make an awesome partner to salami and cold cuts.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I have to admit, my heart’s not in it this week, certainly there is no humour to be found.

At least with Covid there was/is a sense that we are all in it together, irrespective of nationality, geographical location or belief.  We are all fighting against a disease that has touched all corners of the earth, all age groups and we all miss someone who is no longer with us as a result.  We have suffered the frustrations and restrictions to life, all the while knowing that this was for the global good.

Putin the Sociopath has no sense of camaraderie or benevolence toward his fellow beings.  However, by all accounts, he is terrified of Covid and has taken many extreme measures to avoid infection by isolating himself from all but the closest aides, which certainly cannot have helped his delusions.  The man is a coward, ordering cowardly attacks on innocent people and he needs to be stopped right now.

Apologies for the dark thoughts but frankly what we should all be doing right now is embracing each other and looking forward to some brighter days, not bombing the $^!£ out of our neighbours.

Meanwhile, in London, all the oligarchs are scrambling, liquidating assets and trying to get cash out of the country. 

Or perhaps not, in the case of Roman Abramovich, who has instructed his team to ‘set up a charitable foundation where all net proceeds from the sale will be donated. The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine. This includes providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery.’    Sounds pretty good doesn’t it and a large part of me wants this to be a grand gesture of faith and support to the Ukrainian people and a massive two fingers to Moscow.  However, a little bit of me wonders what ‘net proceeds’ means and how much can be winnowed away as I guess that charitable assets might not be frozen; it also wonders how rich he really is if he can write of all the Chelsea loans as well; is there so much more stashed away that losing a few billion here and there is just a cost of business if he ends up not being sanctioned and keeps his assets unfrozen?

Time will tell.  As I say, I want to believe Roman is doing the right thing (just to clarify my football allegiances lie in North London) but I fear I might be disappointed…. Time will tell.

Possibly the most startling news this week was that Gav ‘hide of a rhino’ Williamson is to get a knighthood.  Really?  I’ve attached a link below to an article from The Guardian last September which clearly summarises all the reasons he should never work again, let alone ascend to the House of Lords.  It’s a toxic farce, there are legions of people who should be ahead of him in the queue for ermine lined robes; however I imagine they aren’t bothered by such fripperies, being keener on saving lives, protecting the vulnerable or teaching our kids, whilst desperately chasing a lie in and a day off.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/15/russia-should-go-away-shut-up-gavin-williamson-biggest-blunders

I need a drink, come and join me.

I’ve got a couple of wines from Chile open – oft overlooked, which is a crying shame.

Aromo Viognier 2020 – £9.99 – from the Maule Valley, one of Chile’s traditional wine growing areas, just about 250km south of Santiago.  There’s not a great deal of Viognier planted there but when you taste this you’ll wonder why.  We really rate this wine and have been selling it for over 10 years now, one way or another as it is consistently great value, great quality with lovely peachy-apricot fruit characters and a nice crisp finish. 

From the same producer, we have the Aromo Carménère 2018 – £9.99 – a treat if you like a Merlot but fancy something with a bit of added spice and interest.  Carménère is almost Chile’s own grape, it having been lost to most of the rest of the world but originating in Bordeaux.  Interestingly, through DNA testing, they have found that Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère all share the same parent – Cabernet Franc – one to remember for the pub quiz on Monday.  Anyway, this one has some lovely damson spiced fruit notes, a medium weight with just a touch of oak lurking in the background.

And now I must be gone but I will leave you with some words of wisdom from Frederick Coolidge, a professor at the University of Colorado who has studied the personality traits of autocratic leaders that shows us what we are dealing with in Putin:

“They tend to have an excessive fear of death or infection… They fear losing control, they fear losing everything and have a need to control everything…. And they are not always rational about it.”

Send help.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any crazier, a fragile attention seeking dictator decides he needs to kill thousands of people who’d rather just be left alone to get on with their lives. You’d have thought the world had suffered enough sorrow the last couple of years.

In other news, the Six Nations is back this weekend, unaltered by the addition of any South African representatives who have opted to stay where they are. England, who host Wales at Twickenham, will be boosted by the return of Lawes but not Tuilagi – at what point does Eddie stop waiting for his Manu. Anyway, we always enjoy this fixture as many of our Welsh readers like to teach us naughty words that we have to Google translate.

We worry many of our Scottish readers will be watching from behind the sofa as an in-form France visit Murrayfield. Let’s hope it’s not a horror show. Italy will be bringing their special brand of hope to Dublin, where Johnny Sexton is set to make a return to the Irish team.

In proper sports, the Spring Classics kick off on Saturday with Omloop Het Nieuwsblaad. The Elite Women’s race is 128 km between Ghent and Ninove. We think it’s difficult to see past Annamiek van Vleuten but would suggest keeping an eye on Sarah Roy too.

The men’s race is between Ghent and Ninove too but, in typical fashion, nobody wanted to ask directions and as a result the route is 204km. Difficult to pick here but Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert and Stefan Kung are all worthy of attention.

Sunday sees Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with some new climbs but without Oude Kwaremont this year. Along with the names above I might just mention Peter Sagan who hasn’t ridden Opening Weekend since 2017.

In wine news, if you’re planning a trip to Bordeaux this year it might be worth looking up Wine Cab. It’s basically a London Taxi that takes you on a tasting tour of vineyards. However, if you’re after a more serious tour in Bordeaux, do let us know and we’ll put you in touch with our chum Hamish who knows just about everyone in that part of the world.

In Warrington, Julia Iverson, who’s just celebrated her 108^th birthday, says the secret of a long life is definitely a glass of red wine a day. 

Now that we’ve finally got around to the subject of wine we’ll be opening some of that this weekend.  We have discussed some eye watering price changes in Burgundy with a number of you lately so feel we should look at alternatives. We will start on the white with De Wetshof Estate Lesca Chardonnay 2020 (£16.99). The estate is known as one of the most important Chardonnay producers in South Africa, being pioneers for the Burgundian grape in the 1970’s.

On the red, we’ll head off to the Douro in Portugal for it is here we will discover Quinta do Espinho Colheita 2017 (£13.99) a rather fabulous blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca demonstrating to us once again that there’s great drinking for your money in Portugal.

And finally a reminder:

Today is our annual close-early-and-go-and-run-the-bar-at-the-KCS-quiz-night. 

So, we must apologise because we will be closing at 5pm.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow at Noon.

Go in peace my friends.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We’d like to start off by saying that we’ve never met Prince Andrew, never been to Tramp or even Pizza Express in Woking, so where do we need to send our BACS details? We suspect he’ll disappear from public life and be found on a golf course in the sun somewhere in the desert.

Quite a topsy-turvy week one way and another. St Valentine decreed that we should all start drinking on Monday and we duly did, declaring undying love, indeed loving it so much that we kept it up on Tuesday too.  Windy Wednesday, or Storm Dudley seemed to put us all off though and his partner Eunice is still going. Plenty of sweeping up to be done later and a bit of splicing of the odd electricity cable here and there. I have to say, they may sound more like a mid-70’s sitcom couple but the havoc caused seems a bit more Hammer Horror!

We see in the chilly sports Britain’s Curlers have finally managed to get us on the medal table, so well done them. We also noted that the Wikipedia entry for the skeleton might need an amendment given the statement: “Great Britain is the only nation to have won a medal every time skeleton has featured at the Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal in each of the five contests of Women’s skeleton since its introduction with five different athletes.” Oops.

Something that rather warmed the cockles will happen at St Pancras Station on 8^th March. The station will become a stage for a series of brand-new, train-themed micro-operas created by female composers from anecdotes submitted to the Royal Opera House by members of the public, exploring themes of time, motion, meetings and farewells. It seems a lovely addition to your journeys and what a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day.

We read this week that 2021 saw the highest volume of Champagne produced for a decade, sadly the news arrived after all the emails from all the big brands pleading poverty and dry goods problems leading to price rises. The production figures are for the grapes of the 2020 vintage which saw the earliest Champagne harvest ever, with July 2020 being the driest one ever recorded. All that said, the UK’s thirst for Champagne remains undiminished, surging 30% to 29 million bottles in 2021.We shall continue to seek out small producers offering great wines that are interesting and well-priced.

The Domaine Treloar Tasting is now full up, and we’re all rather looking forward to it.

Today is National Wine Drinking Day 2022, how fortunate that it falls on a Friday eh?

Tasting This Weekend

Propping up the bar in the white t-shirt this week will be Menade Verdejo Ecologica (£15.29) an organic Verdejo from the Castillo Y Leon region of Spain. From 25 year old vines, the wine gives us a glassful of citrus and herb notes, a touch of minerality and a lovely finish.

Rolling in with the red bomber around it’s shoulders will be Domaine Treloar’s Three Peaks (£14.99) a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre from the French Pyrennes and an ideal chance to taste Jonathan’s handiwork for those of you who can’t make the tasting.

Finally, one important piece of admin before we go:

Next Friday, 25^th February, is our annual close-early-and-go-and-run-the-bar-at-the-KCS-quiz-night. 

So, we must apologise because we will be closing at 5pm that day.