Fellow Wine Lovers,
Feast or famine. You wait for a bus and then three turn up at the same time. It never rains but it pours. Then the floodgates open. And all hell breaks loose. At which point it’s too late to lock the stable door because the horse has already bolted.
Whilst many idioms may not make light work, they do help to define our mood. Weeks, nay, months have passed when we have been struggling to find anything newsworthy to type about and now we face a glut with a very real danger that we might have to leave some perfectly interesting titbits rotting in the fields.
Irritatingly, much like a Times obituary for a famous, but slightly doddery and faded movie star, we have had this week’s missive written for months in draft form, with plenty of quotes from other famous people bereaving the end of an era in such tragic circumstances. However, our dead-in-a-ditch-do-or-die dear leader has let us down again and as such we have no email to write – or rather it will be moth balled until January, or whenever.
But hang about, as referenced in the first paragraph, so much has been going on this week, the loss of one headliner is by no means an issue. We can talk about other politics, we can talk about wine, we can talk about sport.
Politics. Where to start?
We’ve got an election on Alex’s birthday which was definitely not on his gift list. So far, we have more than 50 MP’s declining to stand for re-election, with sadly too many of them citing the persistent abuse they get as a determining factor in their decision to step down; this figure is yet to match the near 150 who stepped down in 2010 but that was in the wake of the expenses scandal – from which they, for the most part, escaped abuse. Outside of Westminster, Hugh Grant has been called rude by Sajid Javid over a handshake or in fact a non-handshake and McDonald’s has shown a complete ignorance of Northern Ireland’s history in their ice cream adverts in Portugal.
On the other side of the ditch, The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History turns another page as impeachment gets a bit closer for DT who, in a fashion typical of those whose power is being eroded at home, is in full distraction mode trying to get everyone to focus on events in Syria and how he is dealing with ISIS. Then his favoured platform, Twitter, announce that they are going to ban political advertising – his campaign team immediately attacked the decision as “very dumb” – such an erudite and elegant retort could almost have come straight from the POTUS’ mouth…
Wine. Where to start?
With Gin, of course. With the increased popularity of multi-coloured fruit infused juniper potions the coffers have been steadily swelling and it is threatening to overtake Vodka as #1 spirit. The Gin category, in all its shades and shapes has made a net contribution of £2.4bn in both on and off-trades was £2.4 billion in the year to June – according to the William Grant & Sons’ Trending 2020 report. This is an increase of 45%, we’re told. In the same period the Vodka contribution was down to £3 billion, a drop of 1.5%.
Very exciting news for Gin but can it keep this momentum. It may have increased by 45% but it hasn’t taken much of the vodka share – and such impressive growth is hard to sustain without innovation and I’m not sure where they can go next. Meanwhile, Vodka stands calmly in the corner in a sharp suit and trilby musing – isn’t Gin just a flavoured version of me anyway?!
Sport. Where to start?
“I don’t know when I last had so much fun in a football game.”
Thus spake Jurgen Klopp after the astonishing game against Arsenal. Liverpool did win in the end so he was understandably happy. However you do feel with Jurgen that he would have said the same even if they’d lost.
And the rugby also got a little more exciting, for some of us at least. The ability of the English to become sporting pundits at the flick of a switch will never cease to amaze us and this week has not disappointed. From discussing lineout technique whilst browsing Prosecco to questioning the South African box kick strategy whilst discussing Burgundy, it’s been a lovely week of exchanging opinion and gently ribbing the opposition, safe in the knowledge that none of us know what will happen in the finals but are all secretly hoping for the best. After the semi-finals last week, Eddie Jones could easily have used the rugby equivalent of Jurgen’s quote above and I don’t think anyone on the planet would have argued. To keep a lid on any over-optimism, I’ll refer to Matt the Stat who pointed out yesterday the following:
Of the 8 WCs, NZ have lost one final, and won 3.
Of the 4 WCs that the ABs have not won, the team that eliminated them has gone on to win the trophy once (Aus 91).
In three cases (99, 03, 07) the team that beat the ABs went out in the next match.
And no, he’s not South African.
Game on…
On the tasting table this week
As it’s all about Día de Muertos this weekend we’ll be opening all our wines from Mexico.
Correct, we don’t have any. We do however have a delicious red wine from Argentina – Lazos de Sangre Malbec – £22.49 which fits the bill well, having sangre in the title and translating as ‘blood ties’ which, after all, is what Day of the Dead is all about really. Very much alive in the glass, dark and brooding, with a rich, dark fruited nose. On the palate we have the same dark berry fruit, hints of mocha, smooth and spicy with exceptional staying power. We wrote ‘really rather good’ which now feels like a bit of an understatement!
After all the disarray of last night, the makeup, the sweets, the spiders webs and the general derring-do we thought the a Czech wine named Palava – £23.99, might be just the ticket. Located in Moravia, the largest Czech winegrowing region, Sonberk is a mid-sized winery that is considered by many to be one of the best in the country, producing elegant and noble wines. Established in 2003 but with a history dating to the 13th century, the Sonberk vineyard is 45 hectares with an extraordinary view of the Pálava Hill – hence the name of the wine. Crisp and dry but with some wonderful aromatic notes and a really long finish – awesome with some Indian spiced mussels, we’re told.
That’s about it from us – 4 spaces left on our Wine & Cheese tasting next Thursday 7th November should the mood take you and you have a spare £20 in your wallet and with that we’re gone…
Goodnight, and may your God go with you!