Fellow Wine Lovers,
We’ve always liked the Swedes. To clarify, all the Swedes we have met have come across as humble, fair, honest, creative, calm, open-minded and non-judgemental – thoroughly nice people generally speaking and let’s face it, everyone loves an IKEA hot dog.
But now, a well trusted Swedish friend has stolen my childhood:
“We continue to rapidly transform our product offer, which means not only moving towards full electrification, but also shifting to new platforms and technologies across all our cars. We will naturally need to evolve and consolidate our line-up as we prioritise fully electric cars and make this technological transition.
As a result, we have removed further models from the UK line-up. These include the S60, V60 and V90. Demand for our existing SUV line-up continues to grow, while interest in our forthcoming fully electric EX30 and EX90 models is strong. The vast majority of our customers opt for an SUV. The XC40, XC60 and XC90 all sit in the top three positions in their respective segments when it comes to UK sales.
Meanwhile, appetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale in the UK.”
To be fair, current President and CEO, Jim Rowan, was born in the Sweden’s southernmost city, Glasgow, so perhaps he has different character traits to other swedes but notwithstanding this, Volvo, what have you done?
GUU 560W was the first Volvo that arrived in front of my parent’s house in August 1980. A bright white estate car, far more luxurious than the beige Austin Maxi it was replacing and the first time I’d ever seen my Mum look happy with the car she was driving. It took me to school, took us all to Wales on numerous occasions and went to Sainsbury’s quite a lot. About 7 years later it got replaced by another 240, this time in dark blue/green – never buy a white car if you live in the country was the lesson learnt, and so we proceeded for the next few years.
Following Mum’s advice, E521 WKJ, a burgundy Volvo 360 was my first car. Often found galloping up and down the M4 in pursuit of some sort of university education or at other times plummeting down the M5 in pursuit of a pasty, some scrumpy and some waves – this was always far more comfortable than if we’d gone in Martin’s orange Ford Fiesta!
And now, M735 LDU, the car that delivers all of our wines to your front doors, a Volvo 740 estate, dark blue/green again, born in 1995, London resident since 2012. Sadiq has ensured ULEZ means we have to say farewell at the end of the month and Volvo have now ensured that we won’t be able to replace it!
“appetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale in the UK” – fair enough but they must be hoping that the UK appetite for Polestar saloon cars, the high performance electric car manufacturer they bought in 2015, doesn’t suffer the same fate.
However, before we march on IKEA and boycott Tetra Pak (difficult), we should perhaps be more Swedish in our reaction and just be grateful for all the good times that we have had – as the owner of the Volvo 240 that has completed over 828,000 miles put it in The Sunday Times article last weekend – “I prefer the feel of driving a car rather than the car driving you”.
Well said and Valete all you Volvo estates…
Elsewhere, life goes on as normal. Lee Anderson, everyone’s favourite menu planner, has now decided to diversify into travel advice regarding accommodation in the floating prison barge in Dorset. As Wayne commented in our email on 7th April:
‘Having recently completed a major refurbishment programme, Bibby Stockholm can accommodate up to 222 guests in high quality en suite bedrooms alongside a range of modern facilities over three decks (www.bibbymarine.com/bibby-stockholm -Stockholm-Factsheet.pdf)
So is capacity 506 or 222? There seems to be some serious discrepancy, are we trying to get 506 men into 222 beds? Pretty sure that there aren’t too many UK prison cells with more than 2.279279 people inside?
Happily though, Alex Chalk, Justice Secretary was leapt to Lee’s defence: “Lee Anderson expresses the righteous indignation of the British people. Yes, he does it in salty terms, that’s his style’ but his indignation is well placed.”
Oh, ok, that’s alright then, if you don’t like something, get salty….
I think I need a drink, so let’s open some wine:
Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2022 – £21.99
This my wife’s favourite wine when I’m paying for it. Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, the person responsible for the ground-breaking early wines produced in Marlborough. The name ‘Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard, located in Rapaura, in recognition of the prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the vineyard’s soils.
So far as the actual wine is concerned, Kevin describes it thus: “Aromas of cassis and passionfruit are first to emerge, with guava, crisp pear and white peach adding a delicious fruit salad intricacy. On the palate, it’s generous yet refreshing, with ripe pineapple and a lime sherbet zing, layered with elderflower and hints of citrus blossom. A classic example of Greywacke’s interpretation of the famous Marlborough style – ripe, textural and scrumptious – with the volume turned well down.”
Bodegas Resalte de Penafiel Lecco Crianza 2019 – £19.29
We’ve always enjoyed the wines from Ribera del Duero and, with the predicted weather, this could be the perfect red. This is 100% Tempranillo from 30 year old vines aged for 14 months in a mix of 70% French and 30% American oak. A complex and rich wine with a medium body, dark red fruit character, a touch of coffee and touches of spice into the long, lingering finish, more than happy with that smorgasbord of barbecued deliciousness you are cooking this weekend!
“I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip hip hop” words so memorably uttered by Wonder Mike (he’d like to say hello) on Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 release “Rapper’s Delight” that were, for most of us, the first encounter with a phenomenon that began in a block party in the Bronx with Kool Herc on 11th August 1973. A very happy 50th birthday to hip-hop!