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 1st 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.