Fellow Wine Lovers,
What do you have to lose?
Thus spake President Trump, whilst on his campaign trail this week, trying to win over the famously democrat voting New Yorkers. I have to say, it lacks the punch of MAGA and or the pugnacious overconfidence that Donny usually epitomises, it’s almost pitiful.
Of course, twitter (still trying to be known as X) was quick to respond to his question and I imagine that its owner was just one space bar short of a wittily supportive message before he realised for the second, or perhaps tenth time this week “that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text”.
What do you have to lose?
Thus spake Sue Gray, whilst renegotiating her salary under the new 2024/25 pay-band 4 for SPADS. I mean, I don’t know for certain that she said that but you know, she could have done and if I say it enough it will begin to gain its own truth. What I cannot fathom though is why, if she is so money focused, did she only ask for £170,000? If she had re-purposed herself as a Senior Civil Servant then pay-band 3 could have offered her a ceiling of around £208,000
What do you have to lose?
Thus spake Lord Alli as he tapped his card in Primark, whilst out shopping with Lady Starmer before nipping off to Specsavers to collect Sir Keir’s prescription – again, I cannot say for sure that he said it but I cannot say for sure that he didn’t. According to a bloke down the pub he also added ‘just don’t lose the election, it’s costing me a fortune’.
Suffice to say, both of our wives are wondering when that geezer who sells us Bollinger is going to open his wallet at the ME+EM counter…
What do you have to lose?
Not a question to ask a Spurs fan after last Sunday… thankfully Wayne and Keir both support Arsenal, so they’re both fine, although I don’t think Wayne gets free match tickets.
What do you have to lose?
A decently functioning liver it would seem. A study by a behaviour and health research unit at the University of Cambridge took place in 13 English pubs over the period of a month. The study showed that reducing the size of a glass of beer to two-thirds of a pint led to beer and cider sales dropping by nearly 9.7%, whilst there was an increase of 7.2% in wine sales.
All good, so far. However, the researchers then tried to suggest that this could be a way of reducing alcohol consumption…
Whoa there, cowboy, have another look at your study! Whilst there is a clear 2.5% difference between the beer drop and the wine increase, which could certainly be seen as a positive, what is being ignored is the switch to stronger drinks (wine v beer) plus, have you considered that for some people, spirits might have been the replacement for beer?
Goodness, who doesn’t love their research half-baked?
Staying with booze news, one of our producers, Cramele Recas, has just announced that it is pumping 11 million euros into business expansion to increase production to 50 million bottles per year, with a target turnover of €100m within the next three to five years – very ambitious. For those of you that don’t recognise the winery, it is in Romania and was established in the 1980’s by Englishman Philip Cox and his wife Elvira who invested in 650 hectares of slightly unloved vineyards and a rusty, once state-owned winery. To help with their turnover, we thought that this weekend we would open the two wines we buy from them:
Solara Orange – £14.99 – We seem to be bookending the summer with this wine, having also had it open in early May. A natural minimal intervention wine, it is made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice, creating a deep orange-hued finish. The wine ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or anything else. The nose exhibits quince, Poire William and a hint of vanilla whilst the complex and structured palate is elegant with discreet fruit flavours of stone fruits, backed up with a complexity and long, balanced finish, incredibly fresh.
Solevari Reserve Fetească Neagră 2021 – £12.99 – Fetească Neagră is the grape variety and gives us a brilliant spicy nose of black pepper, black berry, black currant and red cherry not dissimilar to a Pinot Noir. Medium bodied with rich, balanced tannin and acidity with a hint of coffee on the finish, we love it when we have proper local wine that we are unable to pronounce!
That’s it from us for now, more next week, you lucky, lucky people!