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.
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.