Fellow Wine Lovers,
We’ve sat here waiting for the phone to ring but, as yet, not a single nation has offered us so much as a discount code for EasyJet, much less a personalised airliner. Alex was even considering having an orange rinse and a spray tan to expedite things. Possibly it is just one of those rules that’s not for us and given the parlous state of Boeing lately, he’ll have likely retired well before production starts!
Whilst we’re on the subject of luxury goods, I’m very suspicious of salesman with talk that boats are unsinkable, cars having remarkable traction control or bicycles with puncture proof tyres. Mike Lynch’s unsinkable boat had a design flaw that meant it wasn’t, I had a ride extended timewise by a bougainvillea thorn, and the amount of tyre screech that comes out of Melrose Avenue daily suggests traction control has its limits.
The Tango Tariffmeister has been on a tour of the Middle East. He’s been topping up his tan, signing deals, not drinking coffee and whingeing about Apple choosing to expand their Indian operations.
In Turkey, there are talks for peace between Russia and Ukraine but given the attendees are mostly note takers or work experience interns, we’re not holding out much hope for success. It seems a bit of a pointless exercise if nobody is taking it seriously.
As I type this on Thursday afternoon, the two Ryder Cup Captains are on the leader board at the PGA Championship; most of the peloton had a visit with the tarmac in a very chaotic stage of the Giro D’Italia which is now actually in Italy. It would appear that not only we amateurs struggle with rain and white paint.
In football news, FIFA has received a complaint from a team of lawyers including their former anti-corruption adviser. It seems they may have broken their own rules in relation to Human Rights and awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. We’ll report back as we hear more.
I’m sure many of our regular readers will have read last week’s 990 word missive and formed their own opinions of how they felt about our prose. Our correspondent in the north asked an AI programme for a precis of it. The result made us laugh aloud: “Trump quote reflects frivolous disregard or poor understanding; Rosé sales robust; Giro D’Italia starts.”
Last week’s choice of tasting wines, whilst popular in the glass, certainly caused some amusement. A number of tasters keenly pointing out that the Giro was not visiting Sicily this year and that perhaps our pre-race reconnoitre was not up to snuff.
With that in mind, we will be opening two wines from Greece this week. We understand that the Giro D’Italia will not be visiting and that whilst Albania was close, it is closer to Corfu than Crete.
Lyrarakis Vóila Assyrtiko 2023 – £17.99. Located in the mountainous commune of Alagni in Crete, Domaine Lyrarakis stays true to local winemaking traditions. The domaine focuses on indigenous varieties, taking them from obscurity and driving them in a more modern direction, while still retaining a clear sense of place. Its style focuses on pure varietal character, precision and supple texture. The 2023 Assyrtiko is a delicious wine, grown at 580 metres’ altitude in the Voila vineyard. There is a definite floral character, refreshing minerality and chalky texture to this delicious wine that marries well with all forms of seafood, as you might expect from a producer surrounded by sea!
Lyrarakis Kotsifali 2022 – £17.99. One of the Queens of Cretan grape varieties, Kotsifali is indisputably a classic of the island, offering spicy red fruits, an elegant mouthfeel and a piquant aftertaste which makes it a deliciously fresh drop, not too weighty and seriously good with a bit of fried saganaki. Our chum Mary suggests it as an ideal partner to some lamb skewers on the Friday night takeaway slot!
It’s Eurovision this weekend, you’ll know if you need to add a bottle of fizz for the occasion!