Fellow Wine Lovers,
Welcome to Thursday, the new Friday for one week only. It’s not often we make excuses for brevity but this week we might have to make an exception.
We’ve been stock counting this week it really is as dull as you can imagine and takes the best part of a day. Not ideal when you’re already wrestling with a shortened week but it’ll be different next year, our year end doesn’t move around like Easter.
Outside in the world, the party politicals are all gearing up for a local election campaign. We’ve already seen New York subway footage falsely used to describe London, Labour mocking the successes (!) of levelling up and all the while child poverty is moving in the wrong direction. Still.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. For their 2025 session Saudi Arabia has been chosen as chair. I’m not sure had them in my Top 10 of candidates but we all love a surprise. Reports the Garrick Club have offered to host are, apparently, somewhat wide of the mark.
We learnt this week that water companies up and down the land have been pumping raw sewage into our rivers for 4 million hours. That is the equivalent of 5.6 average lifespans for a human in the UK. As someone who likes to swim outside this really makes my blood boil. We also learnt that rowers have been warned not to go into the water after discovery of E Coli in the Thames (I wonder how that got there).
In sports news this week, the Boat Race is on Saturday. The women’s race starts at 14.46 and the men’s at 15.46. As far as I can see Oxford appears to be favourite to take both.
Whilst on the subject of sports, I’d like to talk about the Barkley Marathons. Participation of the 100 mile race is by invitation and the course has a 60 hour cut off time. The challenge is obviously the distance, but more so the amount of ascent and descent, which is the equivalent of around two Mount Everest’s. This week, the UK runner Jasmin Paris became the first woman ever to finish the race, arriving at the line with just 99 seconds to spare. Truly inspirational stuff, especially given that she is only the 20th finisher since 1989.
Whilst on the subject of tough sports, Classics season in the cycling is in full flow with the Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday. The race should have everything looking at the forecasts with strong cross winds on what should have been the easier part of the course. Looks like it’ll be worth tuning in if you have time!
I’ve got this far without mentioning that it’s a long weekend! So put on your comfy shoes, search for Voodoo Ray on your smart speaker and dance like it’s the first time you’ve heard it.
We’ll be open… Good Friday 12-5pm
Saturday 12-6pm
Then we’ll be back as usual on Tuesday.
That leaves me to talk about what we shall taste this weekend.
We’ll start off with a trip to Piemonte for a sample of Gavi Folli e Bonato (£17.99) before have a dash north through the mountains to alight in Burgundy for a taste of Beaune to be Wild (£30.99) a red burgundy made without the addition of sulphites.
That leaves me to wish you all a Happy Easter and just say if anyone has a 2009 Cheval Blanc knocking around, we haven’t lost one in the stock count, but do have glasses and a corkscrew if you need any assistance.
Cheers!