Fellow Wine Lovers,
It must be nearly time for Wimbledon Tennis to start; all those holes in road that have had white paint frames sprayed around them since November, seem to be miraculously filling themselves in. Randomly though, we haven’t seen any out of towners driving big purple and green SUV’s yet – maybe they’re going to use cargo bikes this year?
Apparently, Iran and the USA are going to give peace a chance. The three page memorandum is intended to keep them talking about preventing a nuclear device and keeping the Straits of Hormuz open. Benjamin Netanyahu seems rather keen to keep the half of Lebanon they’ve invaded and hasn’t said a lot yet. We suspect the next sixty days will be spent clearing mines from the narrow channel and couldn’t help but wonder if they are still those big ball shaped objects with spikes of detonation sticking out of them. Perhaps they are a bit cleverer these days.
Closer to home the by-election for Makerfield is sorted and we’ll now be having endless discussions about a leadership election that’ll make no difference to the state of the world. Still, those talking heads that spend hours filling 24 News will be salivating at the prospect. Then we can take a few months and start the process all over again. Westminster is absolutely full of people who wanted to be there to serve us, but mostly seem self-serving. Anyway, well played on the by-election victory…
On the sports front, the World Cup is now in game two territory, England and Scotland both started as well as they could, Spain had a bit of a ‘mare and I suspect Belgium were a smidge disappointed too. The US Open is in full flow, Rory had made a good start when I was writing this yesterday. The Second Test appears to playing out as a proper test game, it must be embarrassing for Lords that the Oval has the best groundsmen! In proper sports, Wout Van Aert is out of the Tour de France with an annoyingly persistent elbow injury whilst Josh Tarling has just had surgery having broken his collarbone at the Dauphine, so looks doubtful too, which is a real shame given the opening day team time trial. Anyway, there are still a couple of weeks until Le Grand Depart in Barcelona.
It’s Father’s Day on Sunday, I’m sure you’ve all been really organised and already bought him a vintage replica football shirt to watch the final in. But, if you haven’t been that organised, we heard on good authority that he would love to drink a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino as the Italian footballers skipped the tournament again.
Tasting This Weekend
Cramele Recas Solara Orange Wine – £14.99 – you know, the one with label where an orange is pretending to be the sun, ring any bells? If not, here’s the lowdown: it’s from Romania and is owned by Englishman Philip Cox and his wife Elvira. A blend of 69% Riesling, 22% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% of other varietals, this is a natural, minimal intervention wine made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice which then ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or any other additions, creating a deep orange-hued finish. The nose exhibits quince, Poire William and a hint of vanilla, leading to a complex and structured palate with elegant and discreet stone fruit flavours, backed up with a complexity and long, balanced finish and a delightfully fresh finish.
Juliénas-Chaintré Fleurie ‘Cuvée Sept’ 2023 – £17.99. Fleurie is probably the best known Cru Beaujolais and is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Beaujolais”, so well regarded are its smooth, supple reds. The light food friendly wines seem to be gaining a new following amongst some of smarter sommeliers in town, one taste of this and you’ll understand why. Silky and fresh, with dark berry fruit character and soft tannins and delicious lightly chilled.
Midsummer tomorrow, Alex has finally got his shorts on, just in time, and it promises to be a good weekend – it’s Friday, it’s 27 degrees out there, why are you still in the office?