Fellow Wine Lovers,
There is a film, from the early 1980’s, called “The Gods Must Be Crazy”; it’s a slightly bonkers film that my wife is rather fond of. In essence, a pilot throws an empty Coca-Cola bottle out of his airplane window and it lands, unbroken, in front of the chief of a nomadic tribe in the Kalahari Desert. The chief believes it to be a gift from the gods and promptly picks it up. Throughout the film a series of chaotic mishaps befalls him, which quite possibly created the title. Spoiler alert- he ditches the bottle at the end of the film. That said, there was a sequel!
I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, other than the sense of chaos that pervades the film is what made me think of it. This week, we read of enormous sinkholes that appear to be trying to consume Godstone High Street, its houses and cars. A burst water main could be the culprit, apparently. That very same day we discovered 2024 YR4 which is an asteroid of around 40-90 metres in size scheduled to hit the earth in December 2032. Thankfully, that’s not as big as the one that caused all the problems for the dinosaurs. Well that’s a relief!
Talking of chaos, much of it centred on Spacehopper 47, who, trying to achieve peace in Ukraine, has decided that President Zelenskyy is the dictator who started the war. Even a modestly successful comedian elected President should not have pointed out the one thing that nobody says aloud but everybody knows. He said that Spacehopper 47 was “Trapped in a disinformation bubble”, which rather upset the apple cart.
Still pushing for a Nobel Peace prize, the White House hosted Tiger Woods and a number of members of the PGA Tour along with members of the Saudi Public Investment fund to try and broker a peace deal between LIV and the PGA.
Meanwhile, Musk and his DOGE team have continued to fire government employees and remove funding from institutions without any wonder about the consequences. Seems the $36 billion that goes to Space-X hasn’t been cut yet, or even the alleged $10.7 million that Trump has spent on golf trips since his re-election!
Having touched upon golf and Russia, we find ourselves pondering the likely outcomes of Amazon assuming “creative control” of the James Bond franchise. Will Bond get around London in a transit van that stops every 10m blocking all traffic? Will those parcel boxes be renamed dead drops? Will Amazon sell you a pack of Penfold Hearts golf balls? Will they just suggest Spectre has been misunderstood? So many questions…
Talking of questions, Six Nations Rugby is back this week. Will Wales score any points against Ireland? Will Italy make France’s trip to Rome a miserable one? Will England finally wrestle the Calcutta Cup back from the Scots who’ve won it the last four times?
The real question is, what are we going to have in our glass whilst we ponder upon all of this?
France will be represented by Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier 2023 – £11.49. This Languedoc estate, belonging to the Fayet family, is based in the village of Moussan, close to Narbonne. The property has a small brook running around the outskirts which provides natural irrigation to give much needed water. This gives the wines their freshness and appeal; keeping the vines cool in a very hot climate. A flirty Viognier: shimmering hay and peaches with a lush viscous texture give way to a sensual palate of roses, pineapples and mangoes. A delicious partner to Thai or fusion food.
At the other end, Italy will be represented by Urban Park Appassimento 2020 – £14.99 is from our chums at Montresor and is made from grapes dried for around 30 days before being made into wine. A mini Amarone, if you will. We’re quite excited about it, so come and tell us what you think. We’ve got a mushroom stroganoff against this one, how about you?
That’s all from us – Ireland, England and France all playing in the same shade this weekend, will it be a whitewash?!