Fellow Wine Lovers,
Some weeks we find that our weekly missive just trips off the keyboard, and other weeks it is more a labour of love. This week was one of those weeks.
Should we start with Mario Balotelli swapping shirts at half time, is it prudent to mention the falling apart of the Caterham F1 team, who have been locked out of their facilities by the administrator, what about the state of West Indian Cricket?
Should we discuss the fact that Chris Froome might miss the Tour de France next year (too many hills) and concentrate instead on the Giro and La Vuelta?
But no, none of those, I thought this week we’d talk about science instead. Given the lack of scientific coverage in The Weekly Wine we thought we’d jump straight to the pointy end and look at the rocket science bit.
“Rotten eggs, horse stable, and the pungent, suffocating odour of formaldehyde” is neither Alex’s new aftershave, nor the tasting note for a faulty wine. It is in fact the smell you’d experience if, for arguments sake, you were astral surfing and a comet crossed your path.
This ‘Eau de Comet’ has been discovered by the European Space Agency’s probe Rosetta which caught up with the comet 67P/C-G (What a name, move over Hayley) after a six billion kilometre trek involving four flybys of Earth and Mars. A Satnav experience surely shared with many of our readers.
So we’ve discovered that a comet smells much like a teenager’s bedroom, and it took rocket science to find it out!
In other news we find a sense of humour being replaced by corporation muscle as Disney Corporation’s Lucasfilm off shoot has objected to a new brew by craft New York Brewpub Empire Brewing. Apparently “Strikes Bock” is very similar to a movie title.
Also in beer a Papua New Guinea company is selling beer in insect repellent boxes. Drink the beer, put the box on the fire and say goodbye to the mosquitos, that really is thinking err…creatively.
Champagne
Apparently today is #ChampagneDay, the fifth annual social media fest to celebrate the bubbly stuff. As we’re the largest export market consuming a toast worthy 30.786 million bottles, I’m sure you already knew that. Personally I’m going to raise a glass to the Belgians who got through 9.525 million bottles which is very nearly 1 each for the entire population.
If you’re of a mind I’m going to suggest marking the occasion with Ruinart Rosé (£58) a fine drop by anybody’s standards!
Weekend Wines in Wimbledon Park
We think we’ll celebrate the European Space Agency’s dedication to aromatics with a couple of European wines this week:
Türk Grüner Veltliner Kremser Weinberge (£15.49) is a delicious white from Austria’s Kremstal region, crisp dry and without a whiff of horse stable.
Cantele Telero Rosso (£9.99) is a velvety red from Puglia, the heel of Italy. Made from 100% Negroamaro it is full-bodied, lovely cherry fruit and a hint of herbiness. Come and tell us what you’d eat with it!