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 10th 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!