Fellow Wine Lovers,
Indecent Proposal (1993) – Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson
David Murphy and Diana Murphy have been together since high school and get married. Everything goes well until the recession strikes and they go through financial turmoil. In their last attempt to revive their financial situation, they decide to gamble in Las Vegas, where they meet John Gage, a very rich man, who offers them $1,000,000 to spend the night with Diana. Out of desperation, they both agree to do it and forget it forever. However, it begins to erode their relationship. (IMDB synopsis)
A film that courted much controversy at the time, dealing with many taboos, amongst them the power that money can have over everything else:
- I guess there’s limits to what money can buy.
- Not many.
- Well some things aren’t for sale.
- Such as?
- Well you can’t buy people.
- That’s naive. I buy people every day.
Anyway, we digress.
The Conservative Party have been in government since 2010. Everything goes well until the recession strikes and they go through financial turmoil. In their last attempt to revive their financial situation, they decide to gamble in Las Vegas take sizeable party donations, from amongst others Frank Hester, a very rich man, who gave them £10,000,000 in the year up to March 2024 perhaps to help with the NHS, having previously said: “We are here for our NHS. We are here to help. Not to drive profits for shareholders, or to grease revolving doors” and also having profited from £135,000,000 of NHS contracts between 2019 and 2022, during the Covid pandemic.
Out of desperation, the Tories refuse to return any of the money and agree amongst themselves to forget forever any racist, misogynist and threatening behaviour, because the multimillionaire has shown ‘genuine remorse’.
However, it begins to erode their relationship with the British public, once again.
Apparently you can buy people, every day.
I’ll stop here though, just in case Mr Gove decides to continue his journey through the dictionary and re-define the meanings of freedom of speech and censorship.
Still, it’s not all bad news in Westminster as we hear that MP’s will get a 5.5% pay increase in April. This knocks into touch the piffling 2.9% they received last year and isn’t too shabby when you add in the NI savings of around £700 – trebles all round!
Looking elsewhere for our fun, it seems we managed the unmanageable by beating Ireland at Twickenham last Saturday which was a fantastic achievement matched only by Italy’s win in Rome. Wayne is back from his Riviera recharge and, as such, is not fully up to speed with the cycling but I’m sure he’ll be full of it by next week, you have been warned.
The Cheltenham Festival finishes today; Alex won big on Captain Guinness on Wednesday but was down yesterday so his tipping form is definitely in need of calibration.
Wine continues to sell and we continue to buy. With this in mind, we will be opening later on Monday 18th March as we have yet another tasting to go to (nothing to do with it being St Patrick’s Day on Sunday, promise) and will only be back in the shop for 3pm, sorry.
I think this is the last of these for a couple of months; hopefully the fruits of our labours will appear on our shelves soon.
To clear some space, what shall we taste this weekend?
White will be a posh Albariño from Galicia, a place with average rainfall levels almost matching those we have in SW19… Granbazán Etiqueta Ambar 2022 – £25.79 has fresh, almost tropical aromas then stone fruit and citrus on the palate with a creamy texture, mineral notes, vibrant acidity and classic saline characters. Quite ripe and complex in style with fresh balancing acidity and a classic saline character.
The red will be a claret, to celebrate victory in Lyon: Domaine Valmengaux 2016, AC Bordeaux – £27.79. This is from Verac, which is situated between Pomerol and St Émilion. The wine, made possible by a group of 50 friends forming the business, is certified organic and the vineyard farmed on biodynamic principles. Minimal use of oak and 10% aged in amphora give us a real juicy moreishness. 100% Merlot, this is dark in the glass, with some lovely damson character, velvety tannin and a lovely long finish.
Finally, should you need something for Sunday, JJ Corry The Gael Batch No. 2 – £73 might be the smart answer.
In 2015, these guys resurrected the lost art of Irish Whiskey Bonding which is the practice of sourcing new make spirit and mature Irish Whiskey from Irish distilleries and maturing, blending and bottling unique whiskeys. During the ‘golden age’ of Irish Whiskey (in the 19th and 20th centuries), there were hundreds of distilleries operating on the island of Ireland. These distilleries made their new make whiskey spirit and sold it wholesale to the Bonders to age, blend and bottle. The Bonders were the publicans, grocers and mercantile owners. They would travel to their local distillery with their own barrels, fill them up with new make spirit and then cart them home for ageing and then blending. Bonders were present in every town in Ireland, giving rise to regional styles. Sadly, the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed in the 1930s and the few remaining distilleries cut off the Bonders’ supply, leaving Irish Whiskey Bonding to die out.
The Gael Batch No.2 is a 60% Malt and 40% Grain blend comprising of
• 30% single malt bonded in 2002
• 26% single malt bonded in 2003
• 4% single malt bonded in 1991
• 40% single grain bonded in 2010
Aromas of shortbread, peaches and cream and sweet grass fill the nose, complemented by notes of lemon drizzle cake, honeycomb, rye bread and thyme throughout the palate.
Batch No.2 was of just 2800 bottles.
Sláinte!