Fellow Wine Lovers,
Black Monday – famous for multiple stock market crashes, dating back to Wall Street in 1929
Black Tuesday – following straight on from Black Monday, marks the start of The Great Depression
Black Wednesday – the Sterling Crisis of 1992 – a bonkers day, according to Wayne who at that time he had a proper job, and one where George Soros made a huge profit by selling short – if things had turned out differently George would be working here and Wayne would be worth about $10 billion….
Black Thursday – the global stock market crash in March 2020 caused by your friend and mine, the Covid-19 pandemic
Black Friday – is a 1940 American horror film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi…. Also the day when, without any help from the stock markets or the bankers, people across the world attempt to bankrupt themselves faster than their neighbours in a bid to grab ‘bargains’ before they do!
As you can no doubt tell, we don’t entirely buy into the whole one day shopping frenzy, especially as nowadays with some businesses, it seems to have turned into a multi-week extravaganza of unreal prices. Add to this the news from Which? Magazine, who analysed a selection of deals last year from 7 major players to discover that
- less than 15% of the deals offered a genuine discount and
- many of the promotions are cheaper or the same price in the previous six months….
Having said all that, we’re always keen to help people out so can tell you all that the information we have received from Elys in Wimbledon says that the best deals this year are in winter coats and female fashion, if you’re interested!
We’re avoiding dwelling too much on the news this week.
The frustration evident on Alex’s face when I told him that arch-Brexiteer, Eurosceptic and disgraced lobbyist Owen Paterson was suing the British government at the European Court of Human Rights for ‘damaging his good reputation’ was enough for me to stop talking. However, I can tell you that there is perhaps a point to be made that he damaged his own reputation by committing “an egregious case of paid advocacy”. Nor should the irony be lost that Owen has also previously campaigned for the UK to break away from the ECHR – where would he be now if that had happened?!? I then started to tell him about PPE and government scandal and Lady Mone and he muttered something about ‘pigs’ and ‘snouts in troughs’ so we left it there.
So let’s focus on our news instead. We’ve had quite a few deliveries this week and perhaps most excitingly, we think our Bordeaux offering is now ready to go – and we’re quite pleased with it… it’s a bit of a list but here you go:
LEFT BANK
MÉDOC
Château Haut Barrail 2016 £16.99
Chapelle de Potensac 2016 £23.99
Château La Tour de By 2014 £27.99
Château Patache d’Aux 1996 £35.00
Château La Grave 2016 MAGNUM £38.00
HAUT- MÉDOC
Château Grandis 2009 £20.99
LISTRAC- MÉDOC
Château Saransot Dupré 2016 (V) £23.00
Château Saransot Dupré 2015 MAGNUM (V) £46.00
MARGAUX
Château De La Coste 2018 £28.99
Le Margaux de Brane 2016 £38.00
Brio de Cantenac Brown 2015 £53.00
Château du Tertre 2010 £90.00
SAINT-JULIEN
Château Lalande 2017 £32.00
Château Haut-Beychevelle Gloria 2016 £33.00
Château Langoa Barton 2008 £82.00
GRAVES
Vieux Château Gaubert 2010 £28.99
RIGHT BANK
CÔTES DE BOURG
Gaia de Château Puybarbe 2018/19 (V) £11.99
Château Relais de La Poste Cuvée Malbec 2017 £19.49
POMEROL
Château Valois 2018 £47.00
LALANDE DE POMEROL
Château La Menotte 2016 £26.99
Château La Fleur de Boüard 2012 £30.00
FRONSAC
Château Mayne-Viel 2018 £14.99
SAINT-ÉMILION
Château Fleur de Lisse 2016 £35.00
JP Moueix 2015 MAGNUM £46.00
Château La Serre 2005 £70.00
LUSSAC-SAINT-ÉMILION
Château Lucas 2015 £21.79
MONTAGNE-SAINT-ÉMILION
Château Cardinal 2018 (V) £19.99
SAINT-GEORGES SAINT-ÉMILION
Clos Albertus 2018 £28.99
AND THE BIT IN THE MIDDLE…
AC BORDEAUX & CÔTES DE BORDEAUX
Château Gabelot 2016 £13.99
Château Deville 2016 (V) £13.99
Domaine de Valmengaux 2016 (O) £27.79
Château Le Grand Verdus 2018 MAGNUM £31.00
As I say, were quite pleased with this – if something catches your eye do let us now because some wines will certainly start to disappear over the next few weeks!
Back to now and this weekend’s tasting offering. We shall tip our hats in acknowledgement of American Thanksgiving and open one of our perennial favourite whites – Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2020 – £17.99 and for the red we will pull the cork on the Long Barn Pinot Noir 2020 – £14.99 a richer style of Pinot from California.
And with that we must be almost done. We know the World Cup has started in Qatar with some shock results and small crowds and certain controversy but I imagine that those of you who are interested know what is going on and those of you who are boycotting aren’t interested. I suggest watching some rugby this weekend perhaps…
Have a lovely weekend, do come and buy some claret – we’ll be Down By The Jetty with Wilko if you can’t find us….