Fellow Wine Lovers,
Well, it’s already week two of 2023 and summer is just around the corner.
Whilst we wait for those long evening shadows and early morning swims in the dappled dawn light, we might as well amuse ourselves in other ways and what better way than through the top of a wine glass. To help matters, we’ve dusted down our annual offering for January (codename: VAT bill crowdfunder) which is the good old BUY SIX, PAY FOR FIVE mechanic.
It’s as simple as it sounds – buy 6 bottles and we’ll then promise to give you a 16.666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666% discount off the purchase – not too shabby? There are a few exceptions to this offer – spirits and top shelf Champagnes for the most part but that still leaves plenty for the discerning shopper. Some of you have already taken full advantage of this deal and will likely return for round two but many of you are yet to dip you toes into this wine lake. We suggest you don’t tarry too long, we’ve got 76 empty cardboard boxes waiting to be filled (I counted) we have more stock now than we’ll likely have on the 31st and then we’ll be back to the standard 5.00000000% discount so, in this instance, he who laughs last won’t be laughing very much….
Sales pitch done, what else do we have to say?
Well, it seems once more it’s about winners and losers this week:
Winners
- We’ve got to start with Harry really – 1.4 million copies sold of a book none of us want to read PLUS achieving global front page coverage in the newspapers PLUS sending many pro-monarchy commentators into apoplexy
- Elon Musk – now a Guinness World Record Holder for losing the most personal fortune – perhaps $200 billion in just 14 months – and unlikely to be broken too soon as the current world’s richest person only has $203 billion…
- Prince Andrew – the previous incumbent of the Spare role has a few days off
- Kevin McCarthy, who absolutely nailed it by winning the 15th ballot mainly thanks to 6 people abstaining and him giving away some fairly hefty concessions to far right election deniers – you go, Kev
- Ray & Dave Davies/Emilio Estevez & Charlie Sheen/Noel & Liam Gallagher – siblings who properly know how to have a proper family spat and would consider tripping over a dog bowl and having their necklace broken as happy times
- Gareth Bale – finally managed to shed the pesky day job and can now fully focus on his golf swing
- Wayne’s toothache is finally subsiding so drinks on the veranda this weekend are back on!
Losers
- Elon Musk, for reasons that are quite apparent
- Prince Andrew, as above
- Rishi Sunak, because he’s PM right now
- Suella had her ‘is the Bear Catholic?’ moment when she conceded that a ‘small minority’ of the super-rich arriving on very big boats and being given golden visas between 2008 and 2015 ‘were potentially at high risk of having obtained wealth through corruption or other illicit financial activity, and/or being engaged in serious and organised crime.’ And we just thought they were here for the weather and high taxes, not trying to wash up
- Us – according to INRIX, London has the Highest Traffic Delay Times in the world, with a last mile speed of 10mph and, to add to the chaos, the most congested road is the A219 from Fulham to Morden, through Putney – time to put on the Lycra perhaps?
- Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when responding to the fact that 150 officers are under investigation, said “We’ve got some officers who we sacked, but other legal bodies, who have a power to reinstate them, did. So I’ve got officers who we determined shouldn’t be police officers and yet I have to keep them. It sounds bizarre – I’m the commissioner, yet I can’t decide who my own workforce is.”
- The NHS, for having Steve Barclay
- Andrew Bridgen
- Democracy in Brazil
Gosh, I hadn’t realised there would be so many losers, so, moving swiftly on, what shall we taste this weekend?
Well, given you’ll all be coming in to buy 6 bottles, why not put a couple of new experiences for the new year in there? To help with this we’ll open a bottle of white from The Republic of North Macedonia and a red from Georgia…
Tikveš Smederevka 2020 – £10.69. The Tikveš winery is in the central part of Macedonia, a paradise of mountains, lakes and, of course, vineyards. The wine is a real crowd pleasing style from a less trodden path, crisp fruit here from the Smederevka which is softened by a dollop of Riesling in the blend – a rival to Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps?
Vachnadziani Saperavi 2019 – £11.49. Saperavi is a truly ancient grape variety with the Georgians discovering examples 8,000 years old stored in clay amphorae. However, this example is a tad younger, juicy in the glass with lots of light, bright fruit, a hint of spice and a decent length finish – definitely a danger that you might find yourself onto the second glass sooner than you thought!
If, however, you’re taking a bit of a break from the beautiful bottle then we have just listed a couple of low-low alcohol wines that we tasted before Christmas. Wednesday’s Domaine is their name and they produce the Piquant White (0.04%) that is based on the Airén grape variety and the Sanguine Red (0.18%) based on Tempranillo. Obviously we’ll always be more about the booze but it has to be said these two are the best we have tasted ever – chill the red a little and you could imagine yourself on a barge in the Loire in those long evening shadows….
Wednesday’s Domaine – £15 per bottle.
That’s it from us, just a quick mention that, as happens every year, we will be CLOSED ON TUESDAY 17th JANUARY as it seems every man and his dog is having a portfolio tasting that day – apologies for this.
And it’s hi, ho silver lining – and away you go now Jeff – I see your sun is shining
RIP to another music legend….