Fellow Wine Lovers,
Only 6 more sleeps, how exciting is that?
Thursday 2nd May gives us all the opportunity (providing we’ve got photo ID) to choose who will be our next Mayor. If we look at the form book, we should be expecting an Eton educated Tory, having had two labour incumbents, both of whom are local boys and certainly didn’t play the wall-game. Having looked at the mini-manifesto booklet, it appears that the Tory candidate is actually Susan Mary Hall, who also didn’t play the wall-game and thus the form book goes out the window.
Now, what does the Mayor have to do? According to londonelects.org.uk they are responsible for:
- Making plans, strategies and policies for Londoners
- Acting as the executive of London’s government and managing a £20.4bn budget to run transport, police, fire services and investing in London’s housing. Part of the council tax levied by London’s councils is set by the mayor to help fund these services
- Acting as a representative for the capital at home and abroad
We have 13 candidates to choose from and we can only make one choice in this election, so we need to get it right first time, people.
11 of the candidates chose to pay the £10,000 to promote themselves in the MY VOTE DOESN’T COUNT pamphlet and here are the York Notes:
Femy Amin (Animal Welfare Party) – People, Animals, Environment – some nice, vegan-based ideas including the aim to become a global leader in opposing speciesism and the sale of foie gras and fur is rejected – no mention of police or ULEZ
Rob Blackie (Liberal Democrat) – unusually, no punchy strapline – fix the Met, support the NHS and, rather excitingly, tackle the sewage dumping in the Thames!
Natalie Campbell (Independent) – I will take a zero B.S. approach to rebuilding London – build homes, bobbies on the beat, affordable transport
Howard Cox (ReformUK – London Deserves Better) – London needs Reform – obsessed by ULEZ and cars generally
Amy Gallagher (SDP) – Stand Up To Woke – make public transport pleasant, build houses, reduce rents, scrap ULEZ and LTN’s
Zoë Garbett (Green) – It’s time for a Green Mayor – as a councillor, I hear how Londoners need better housing, safer streets and reliable, cheaper transport
Tarun Ghulati (Independent) – Empowering Growth Through Trust – more police, more tourism, scrap ULEZ and LTN’s, free school meals, minimise council tax
Susan Hall (Conservative) – We’ll fix the issues that keep Londoners up at night – more bobbies on the beat, scrap ULEZ expansion and LTN’s, build houses
Sadiq Khan (Labour) – Now let’s go even further – Sadiq is in the unique situation where he can reference what he has done over the last 8 years, including a pledge to end rough sleeping by 2030 which, if he were to see it through would be in his fourth term, 14 years after he came to office. No rush.
Andreas Michli (Independent) – Make London Strong – end knife crime, fix the police, scrap ULEZ, build houses
Nick Scanlon (Britain First) – No To Immigration – deport illegal immigrants, stop immigration, close down migrant hotels, protect our monuments and, of course, abolish ULEZ and Congestion Charge. It’s a no from me…
The 2 candidates who didn’t stump up the promotional readies were:
Count Binface (Count Binface for Mayor of London) – To Take The Piss Out Of The Thames, Vote Binface! – also planning to price-cap croissants and renaming London Bridge after Phoebe Waller. Like Rob Blackie, he also puts the Thames sewage problem front and centre.
Brian Rose (London Real Party) – A Campaign for Freedom – which in along with scrapping ULEZ etc also involves making London the financial capital of the world once more by making our capital the centre of the crypto, web3 and blockchain industries. For someone keen on finance, you’d have thought he’d have scraped together the £10,000 with ease…
Sadly, the St George’s Flag wearing hooligan that calls itself Laurence Fox failed to fill in its candidate form correctly and thus won’t be standing whilst also picking up a fine of £180,000 for being obnoxious – not a good week for the pound-shop Farage.
Oddly, not one of the candidates seems at all interested in the Fire Brigade and, if Sadiq’s figures are correct that more than 90% of cars are ULEZ compliant in the zone, then surely it seems a bit daft for so many of them to be banking on the Uxbridge Strategy to sweep them to power. Thus, I think I’m more likely to go with one of the two candidates who has put the health of the Thames in their crosshairs, I’ll decide which one on the day!
And there you have it, Mayoral election in a nutshell – we delved through all the waffle so you don’t have to!
In the world outside politics, it’s been mainly cold with bits of showery stuff.
The worlds of wine and sport collided unexpectedly last weekend as Tom Gilbey, a thoroughly engaging wine trade eccentric, hit the headlines when he decided that running the London Marathon for over 4 hours was far too much time away from his vinous pleasures, so he proceeded to blind taste a wine every mile of his journey – chapeau! Obviously, having done the Denbies Bacchus half-marathon a number of times, the concept of drink-running is something we have long endorsed.
Arsenal won, Liverpool lost, Man City won and will doubtless win the League, whilst AFC have settled for mid-table mediocrity. Bike-boy tells us that despite the fact that everyone knew exactly where and exactly when Pogačar would make his move last Sunday, none of them could do anything about it and he proceeded to win by a couple of minutes.
And what about those Red Roses. Having been knuckle-rapped for not covering the Women’s Six Nations, I proceeded to watch the clinical destruction of an Irish team that seemed to be addicted to staring straight into English headlights – 88-10 is a scoreline even Bristol would be envious of!
And so to wine. A survey by Aldi into their customers wine buying habits cast many pearls but what stuck with us was that 47% of those surveyed considered themselves knowledgeable about wine whilst 89% wished they knew more and that a desire to impress friends was a significant factor in purchasing decisions.
The good news for us is that 53% of folk don’t consider themselves knowledgeable, which hopefully means that our jobs are safe for a few more months!
However, to help make us all more knowledgeable we, as might be expected, will be opening a white and a red today for tasting and to hopefully impress your friends with…
For the white, we will dip back into an old favourite that hasn’t shown its face on the tasting table for a long time:
Domaine Jouan Menetou Salon 2022 – £18.99. Menetou-Salon is a small appellation of around 300 hectares right next to Sancerre, to the south-west. Here the Sauvignon Blanc vines are planted on Kimmeridgian limestone soils, very similar to those of Chablis and similar minerally notes can be detected in the wines. It has always been the case that a bit of careful hunting and tasting can find you some real gems that rival its more famous neighbour in the quality stakes. Fresh and floral with aromas of citrus and blackcurrant leaves and elegant mineral tones and a long finish – excellent value for the canny shopper!
The red we have chosen because we haven’t had it for a while and the wine itself seems to be suffering a bit of an identity crisis. When we first took this vintage it was called ‘Tradition’ in a Bordeaux bottle but with the latest re-stock we discovered it is now called ‘Intuition’ and comes in a Burgundy bottle – same wine, insane winemakers!
Château Viranel Tradition/Intuition 2017 – £18.99. A fabulous Saint Chinian estate, which has been in the same family since 1551. This cuvée is a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache Noir, 10% Mourvèdre, and 10% Carignan. A supple drinker with cherry, violet and liquorice notes and a palate, framed with velvety tannins, of rich dark black fruits and a hint of chocolate from the oak. We think we’d like to try it with the winemakers suggestion of lamb shoulder stuffed with herbs.
And with that we’re gone. Hopefully our election rundown was useful – bike-boy has just informed me that when Binface gets in, he’ll petition that Chelsea Bridge gets renamed Wayne…
Over and out.