Fellow Wine Lovers,
We have nothing to report that you don’t already know.
We have a new King, we have a new Prince of Wales and Prince Andrew has two ‘new’ dogs.
As mentioned last week, we have a new PM but there’s not a lot new coming from her and her colleagues currently and we’re not confident of when we will next hear anything at all from our representatives in Westminster.
We’re sure that this is entirely unrelated to the fact that Parliamentary Summer Recess was from 21st July until 5th September. Oh, and then, 3 days later, Parliament rose in mourning until after the Queen’s funeral. Oh, and then they are due to go on Conference Recess from 22nd September until 17th October (unless Lindsay Hoyle’s suggestions on Thursday are heeded) before they then take the well-earned November Recess from 9th-14th November. So, if nothing changes what this means, by my maths, is that in the 116 days between July and mid-November, our MP’s will have been at their usual place of work for just 25 of them. 5 weeks work out of 16 – thankfully there is nothing terribly pressing for them to deal with right now…
While we’re at it, anyone remember this note being left on desks in April this year:
“Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon. With every good wish, Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP.”
Back at yer.
Perhaps Jacob, in his new role as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy could get himself into the office and give us all a clue about what he is doing to ‘ensure that the country has secure energy supplies that are reliable, affordable and clean’ (www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy – RESPONSIBILITIES) and also let us know about the 6 month business energy price cap that has been suggested but not satisfactorily expanded upon.
Anyway, let’s move away from Westminster for now. Very little seems to have happened in Arthur Road this week, it’s been eerily quiet for large chunks of time and even the return of Wayne with his anecdotes about air travel seem to have done little to lighten the mood. Everyone is walking around on eggshells, trying to be suitably #respectful whilst at the same time wondering when the world became so judgemental and bossy, perhaps most vividly displayed by the actions of The Sheffield and District Fair Play League – google it.
One thing we have been doing a lot of this week though is wine tasting. Two supplier tastings, three more next week, and then hopefully a slew of new wines will soon arrive in the shop for autumnal appreciation. Whilst we wait for these new arrivals, we’ll open a couple of bottles this weekend to allow you to join in the tasting fun:
Follas Novas Albariño 2021 – £14.49
From Val do Salnés, the oldest, coolest and wettest of the five distinct sub-regions of Rías Baixas, yet also the birth place of Albariño sometime before the 12th century. The vines for this wine are between 20 and 40 years old and vinified in a state of the art winery, completed in 2005. Fabulously clean and crisp with citrus and floral notes on the nose, tangy stone fruit on the palate and a lovely mineral laden finish.
Di Majo Norante Contado Aglianico Riserva 2015 – £18.69
100% Aglianico, grown in the estate vineyards in Molise. Aglianico can produce really quite tannic styles of wine that could take up to 10 years to soften out and show their fruit balance. However, that is certainly not the case here; the winemaker has endeavoured to make an earlier drinking style without losing any of the classic nuances. Full, intense, dark red fruit characters dominate, some fleshiness and tannin are still evident on the palate but with a softer, velvety background.
So come and join us for a taste and raise a glass again to absent friends.
That’s it for us this week, just worth noting (and I imagine this doesn’t come as much of a surprise) that as we now have a Bank Holiday Monday coming up, we will be CLOSED, opening again on Tuesday as usual – see you then!