Fellow Wine Lovers,
And so, with that end of term feeling in the air, with journalists all desperately punning H.E.Bates novels and looking up all the different interpretations and definitions of the word May, we come to the end of Theresa Time.
By way of a small adieu, we thought we’d round up some headlines and news items that have peppered her time as leader:
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he agrees with those calling for Theresa May to quit over cuts in police numbers.
This first appeared on the BBC News on the 5th June 2017 and, we notice, this wasn’t the last time that JC called for her departure
Theresa May’s narrow election victory has resulted in swathes of politicians calling for her to resign.
As The Metro happily reminds us, on the 9th June 2017, Theresa hasn’t always had the support of her team.
The Prime Minister is currently entertaining MPs at her Chequers country retreat, where she has allegedly told them she will quit as Prime Minister on August 30, 2019.
On the 27th August 2017, The Star, amongst other more prestigious titles (but they all had paywalls!), actually comes up with the most accurate prediction of all.
On the 9th November 2017, The Express spoke to Jessica Bridge, of Ladbrokes, who said: May looks safe for now, despite her strong and stable government doing their best to prove otherwise, but savvy punters are struggling to envisage plain sailing for the PM until year end. Ladbrokes (then) said the chances of Mrs May being replaced in 2017 are 5/1 but there are 7/4 odds of it happening in 2018, 15/8 odds for 2019 and 4/1 odds for 2020 or later.
Moving to the 1st May 2018, The Mirror offers another resignation opportunity:
The rattled PM faced growing calls to resign for dodging responsibility for the heartless policies that led to the wrongful deportation of Windrush family members. And with her “shield” Ms Rudd gone after she stepped down as Home Secretary for misleading parliament on targets, Mrs May was left exposed to attack. But she refused four times to say whether she would quit…
On the 23rd November 2018, reading The Telegraph, we finally get back to the issue that will finally sink her – Europe: Theresa May has refused to confirm whether she would resign if her Brexit deal is rejected by MPs, as she insisted that it was the “the best deal for the UK.” In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Mrs May was asked three times if she would stand down but refused to provide an answer.
We now know where this chapter will end but do we know where the next chapter begins? Let’s ask Ladbrokes again…
On 9th November 2017, these were the odds on who would be the next Conservative leader:
- Jacob Rees-Mogg 6/1,
- Boris Johnson 7/1
- David Davis 7/1
- Amber Rudd 10/1
- Andrea Leadsom 10/1
- Ruth Davidson 16/1
- Dominic Raab 20/1
- Michael Gove 20/1
- Philip Hammond 20/1
Then, on 6th June 2019, these were the odds:
- Boris Johnson 4/6
- Michael Gove 5/1
- Jeremy Hunt 8/1
- Andrea Leadsom 10/1
- Penny Mordaunt 20/1
- Dominic Raab 20/1
- Rory Stewart 25/1
- Sajid Javid 33/1
- Steve Baker 50/1
- Priti Patel 100/1
God help us all.
Fortunately for us there have been plenty of other things going on outside of politics. As mentioned last week, we lost money on the Giro d’Italia; we also lost money on the Champions League; ideally Johanna Konta would have kept us in the Billecart-Salmon lifestyle we’re accustomed to but sadly not. Having decided that most of the teams in the ICC World Cup are being offered too short, we took the West Indies as a bit of an outside punt and certainly some excitement and of course an immediate loss.
Our best tip – don’t take sports tips off wine merchants…
Perhaps most excitingly though, the FIFA Women’s World Cup starts tonight and we have a very real chance of making it deep into the latter stages of the competition. We’ve backed England to win and with an outside punt on Australia – having looked at the bookies today, there is something strange about seeing football teams from Brazil at 25-1 and Argentina at a whopping 400-1!
Anything else? Oh yes, it’s only WORLD GIN DAY again tomorrow (Saturday). Not as complicated as it sounds, by all accounts, and one of our number certainly considers it to be Gin day everyday but has still taken tomorrow off just to be sure he doesn’t miss anything…
Suffice to say we’ll have our tasting Gins open, and ready for sampling – a reminder of our selection:
- Elderwood English Gin – £33.00
- The Eclectic Gin Society Original Blend – £35.00
- Sacred Classic Gin – £35.00
- Hepple Gin – £38.00
- Bloody Ben’s Earlsfield Gin – £38.00
- Sacred Juniper Gin – £38.00
- Sacred Pink Grapefruit Gin – £38.00
If however Gin isn’t your bag, this weekend then we’ve got Rosé, White and Red open.
Chateau de L’Aumerade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ 2018 – £14.99
The same Provence rosé that we’ve had for not sure how many years now and every bit as tasty. A lovely pale salmon colour, with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral and an impressively long finish. We think it is the perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the Sunday papers and a deck chair!
Palacio del Camino Real Blanco 2017 – £10.99
A cracking blend of predominantly Viura with a bit of Malvasia and Grenache Blanc, grown in the higher vineyards of Rioja Alta. Pale yellow in the glass, with lovely fresh aromas of stonefruit and citrus, framed with a touch of vanilla from a couple of months lazing around in the barrel. A nice alternative to a light white burgundy we reckon.
Southern Dawn Pinot Noir 2013 – £14.49
From Marlborough, New Zealand, this is a wine we have had on the shelf pretty much since we opened. I could give you all the guff about the soil in the vineyards, the angle of the slope the vines are planted on and the winemaker’s collection of 19th century corkscrews, but none of that is really relevant. We sell this wine because we think it tastes brilliant: light with red cherry fruit character, a nice bit of age and a lovely fresh finish.
So come in and have a taste, be it gin or wine but, if you find you can’t manage it, Alex will be manning a stall at the Wimbledon Park Primary School Summer Fair on Sunday with many of the same tasting options available!
That’s all for now from us – have a soooper weekend!