Fellow Wine Lovers,
So, here we are, the USA has again been tangoed and the space hopper that was President 45 is now President 47 and, to quote the News Agents, ‘the velociraptors now know how to open the gates.’ Did you see any of the inauguration? I tried to avoid as much as I could but still managed to see much more than I would have liked. Some of it was like a rogue’s gallery; we had the Tech Bros lurking like second rate Batman villains alongside Lettuce Liz, Suella Braverman, Aaron Banks, Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage. Could nobody manage a zap-biff-pow? Sixties kids shows aside, it seemed to me that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment might even prohibit him being President but I’m guessing smarter folk than I have managed a legal work around.
Talking of work arounds, as promised, he signed loads of executive orders, avoiding any actual law-making but making him look very busy with books, pens and clever stuff. Those executive orders range from bad to just terrible and there are even accusations from lawyers that some are so error strewn that they may have been written by AI!
The wall is going back up, the drug cartels have been declared terrorists and yet Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, the drug world’s dark web Amazon if you will, has been pardoned. On the subject of pardon’s, many of the people behind the January 6th invasion of the Capitol building have been pardoned, which rather suggests that treason is acceptable in some way or other. How long before the Secret Service is replaced by the Proud Boys we wonder? It’ll end up like the Rolling Stones experience in Altamont I suspect, albeit with less Sympathy for the Devil and more street fighting, man.
Whilst the Statue of Liberty is busy packing her bags to head off ‘home’ to France, Trump has also suggested that Vlad Putin heads homeward with his guns and North Korean soldiers and leave Ukraine alone. If that happens that actually would be at least something good to come out of all the chaos.
Saturday sees us celebrating the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-Race and the poet that wrote the address. Yes, 25th January has arrived with undue haste and Burns Night is upon us. Over the years, Trump has made much of his Scottish heritage through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis. Sadly, since 1971, he has not been able to celebrate properly because haggis has been banned by the US authorities, depriving Trump and 27 million or so Scottish Americans of their rightful heritage. Whilst we are somewhat surprised that a repeal of this wasn’t in the pile of executive orders signed, we may have good news. Macsween’s are developing a ‘compliant’ haggis so they can reach that untapped market by substituting the sheep lung for sheep heart. That’s going to give the Donald a change from his cheeseburgers!
Whilst we’re on the subject of haggis, we naturally were looking at a wine match that we might not have thought of and naturally had a chat with you friend and mine, Google. They have an AI search now which suggested a selection of red wines much the same as we had thought of but then ended with: “You can also try a sweet dessert wine like Sauternes to cut through the fat of the haggis”. Clearly, I don’t want to incur the wrath of Hal, Grok or whatever the AI is called, but Sauternes, really? Just no!
Whilst talking foodstuffs it appears that Kemi Badenoch would like Lettuce Liz to shut up. We’re with you on this one Kemi!
So, we’re going to suggest we taste some wine this weekend that will be very tasty should you be enjoying an evening with a wee haggis beastie.
We’ll open the bidding with a glass of Troballa Garnatxa Blanca 2022 (£19.99), Costers del Segre, Spain which is just the right sort of weight and fruitiness to hang in there with the richness of a haggis if necessary, and will be an absolute wow with the Cullen skink starter, the right kettle of fish if you will!
Following on with the red waistcoat will be Le Voisin D’En Face Syrah (£16.49), Ardeche, France which is absolutely the right balance of fruit and juiciness to tame the wee beasty.
That’s it from us – we’ll be a bit late opening up on Tuesday 28th as we have yet another tasting to go to but we will be back before most of you realise we’re gone!