Fellow Wine Lovers,
ME: What’s another word for unlikeable?
GOOGLE: unpleasant, obnoxious, vicious, impolite, venomous, vindictive, unlovable, nasty, spiteful, annoying, Rishi, Suella
So, it seems that it’s not just me that’s been listening to Real Dictators on Spotify. Mr Lineker is clearly a fan whilst the Prime Minister and Home Secretary also seem to have been taking notes as they managed to plumb ever newer depths this week, with hauntingly broad smiles all round. Arguably the least self-aware comment regarding Lineker came from the PM’s spokesperson:
“It’s obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration.”
The basic annual salary of an MP in the House of Commons, before ‘business costs’ is £84,144, also funded by hard-working British payers – have you heard some of the lazy and unhelpful rhetoric that has come from Westminster recently?
And where now for the BBC? Al Capone was felled by the Treasury department, Boris Johnson was scuppered by Pincher’s roaming hands, will the BBC be sunk by the winner of the 1986 Golden Boot? If they sack Gary they just look like a tool of the government, our very own Fox News-alike, a mouthpiece for Trumpian ramblings of Anderson, Braverman et al. However, if they stand their ground and actually look beyond the guff emanating from SW1 then they can re-establish themselves as a news outlet with integrity. I fear the former will be the preferred route but we’ll see. If he is given the boot though, he can take succour from the Suella story – sacked by the prime minister because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules, and then re-appointed to the same role six days later, this sets a perfect precedent for him to follow!
Anyway, enough already, what else has been going on this week? Farrell has been shifted to the bench for Saturday’s 6 Nations match against France which is a bit of a welcome surprise move from Mr Borthwick; Spurs have proved themselves to be monumentally awful in the FA cup, in the Premiership and in the Champions League, all in the space of 8 days whilst the mighty Arsenal are still top of the Premier league, just in case you were wondering. We’ve lost the cricket twice to Bangladesh this week in different formats but young Tom Pidcock won the Strade Bianche, the first time a Brit has been victorious in this dusty old race.
Not a lot of news on the wine front, Burgundy is still expensive, South Africa and Portugal still offer great value and Chile is often overlooked – as I said, no news really. However with these comments in mind, here’s what we’ll be opening this weekend:
Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2021 – £13.99 – this is a delicious barrel fermented Chardonnay from Swartland in South Africa. Crisp, fresh and elegant with grapefruit and lime citrus notes, a hint of something a tad more tropical and then a lovely creamy textured finish. It’s not Burgundy but it could be a nice alternative and certainly more wallet friendly!
Viña von Siebenthal Carmenère 2018 – £20.99 – from the Aconcagua Valley in Chile this is a rich and complex wine with aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants and damsons even, complemented by notes of cedar, tobacco and roasted hazelnuts. A concentrated and full-bodied first impression is balanced with soft tannins and a long elegant finish – definitely a wine that gives many Bordeaux a run for their money!
That’s all from us; we’ll leave the last words to our Home Secretary, the one person who we can rely on to never ever make lazy or unhelpful remarks:
“It’s the Labour party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today.”
I rest my case.