Fellow Wine Lovers,
I stood here by the till and wondered aloud what we should talk about this week. In an unsurprising development, I received no answer. Alex has had his hair cut and set off on his holidays, and the Chocolate Block Jeroboam is not much of a chatterbox.
Here we languish in mid-august and with a mysterious turn of events we’ve had three consecutive days of sunshine, with talk of more to come. Students across the land have received their A-level results, so congratulations one and all, and good luck with whatever comes next. Proud parents everywhere are being reminded of those motivational bribes they were offering to encourage study. We’re here to help if we can!
It seems Gillian Keegan, the Education Minister, said something a bit mealy mouthed but I only mention it here because I have a wider question… if you went along to a job interview and discovered that taking the job you would make you the sixth person in the role in less than four years, do you think you would take it? Ms Keegan is the sixth Education Minister since the 2019 Election, indeed the fourth one since July 2022. Can you imagine running a business where the person dealing with something changed so frequently? In some roles you’d have barely caught up with the email trail let alone grasped the brief. Fortunately, the WhatsApp’s will have been deleted.
An old school friend of mine had a wedding anniversary this week. He and his wife celebrated by renewing their vows where they got married in Santorini. It would appear that good fun was had by all, and Santorini still has the most amazing sunsets.
Did you know that in 1972 1 in 12 of all unmarried men in the country got married? Or that in 1976 91% of women were married by the age of 30, whereas today it’s about 33%? I mention this only in that we put together a box of wine for a wedding present this week, so if you’re going to a wedding, it might be an idea. We even have an absolute stunner of a white from Santorini where the winery is next to the beach!
Michael Parkinson, who we sadly lost this week, once said: “Anybody who’s been married to a man for forty odd years knows he’s all talk. …” I was always rather a fan of Parky, I loved the way he seemed to enjoy his job so much, and that any moment chaos could descend. Tears of laughter when Billy Connolly or Dame Edna were on, eccentricity and great stories with Spike Milligan and that peculiarly awkward interview with Meg Ryan, where the show was rescued by the discovery of Jamie Cullum for me. Let’s not also forget the Rod Hull and Emu chaos either eh? Cheers Parky, it’s been wonderful.
This weekend we’ll open a couple of bottles from the tail end of Gavin Williamson’s time as Education Secretary. Deep Roots Riesling Trocken 2021 (£14.49) is a lovely dry Riesling from Rheinhessen. Crisp, dry, and citrus on the palate, we reckon it’s just the ticket with some tandoori chicken, whether you barbecue it yourself or dial it in.
The red hails from Sicily and is Cantine Paolini Nerello Mascalese 2021 (£11.89). One of Sicily’s indigenous grape varieties, unsurprisingly grown on volcanic soils, it has an easy going personality with red cherry fruits, a touch of spice and a nice fresh finish with fine tannins. Again I think I’d consider Tandoori Chicken with this, but also perhaps a tuna steak!
All that remains from us is a huge roar for The Lionesses on Sunday!