A beautiful new wine to unfold? Not quite. Alas the end of last week went amidst a haze of Eucalyptus lozenges, Night Nurse and Lemsip. Full-on Man Flu. Hence no tasting of wines. Henry fared little better but I did dispatch him to a Burgundy tasting earlier in the week but nothing sufficiently tempting for us to in turn tempt you. An odd week indeed.
Weekly Indulgence:
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1997 Sauternes
Premier Grand Cru Classé
at £ 19.00 per Half-Bottle
Classic Vintage, beautiful colour, perfect with Foie Gras (just don’t tell the Guardian readers!)
(90-92 points Robert Parker)
44 Halves in stock.
“Silly Season”
‘Tis a dangerous game when you compare others or the opposition to oneself. I did that recently with our Planeta Chardonnay at £ 16.50 against Majestic at £ 25.00. I don’t feel too off the mark with that one but sometimes one needs to be a bit more considered. On Sunday night I was at a friend’s House and accidentally (honest) picked-up a copy of The Mail on Sunday. The header said “70 pence cheaper than the Sunday Times”. I had never really considered the price of The Mail but it simply highlighted to me how grossly overpriced the Mail actually is, against pretty much anything. I am unequivocally not a fan of Murdoch and he has long been off my Christmas card list but the Culture Section alone in the Sunday Times outguns the collective best that the Mail on Sunday can muster. Some things one should just keep quiet about. Even if it were free I’d not mention it in the same breath.
Prompted by Claire Rayner’s final words of warning this week to David Cameron it did remind me of the highs and lows and different perceptions of that great old dinosaur, the N.H.S. Just yesterday I scuttled off to Imperial College which sprawls southwards around the Albert Hall. A spectacular amount of money has been spent here across the approximately ten blocks of prime South Kensington Real Estate. Phenomenal. Impressive. Expensive. Heaven knows where the money came from to pay for this. On second thoughts… Anyway I popped in for a routine check-up at the Dental Practice, prompted by a Scottish friend who recommended it highly, not just because it only costs £ 16.50 and that as he told me was a leading factor for a Scotsman, but because the dentist was a particularly cute Scottish lass. The invariable N.H.S. flaw – a 10.30 a.m. appointment, yet finally summoned in at 11.10 a.m. and finished and out by 11.20 a.m.! It was however pretty state of the art and when the wheels were finally in motion it was incredibly efficient. But of course it couldn’t run by itself. As I sat there waiting, flipping through a dog-eared copy of Country Life from the Gordon Brown Era, I was confronted by a gaggle of five, presumably, bureaucrats. Four looked as if they had just left School. Clipboards, pointing, gesturing and this strange language that I have mentioned before. Only English of sorts. This techno littered meaningless language where any potentially simple task is instead layered upon layer. In amongst this slick efficiency it was depressing to witness this extra and I can assure you unnecessary strata. Will we ever unravel back to a simpler form of life?
Back to the Sunday Times (10th October) and I did spot “Let’s Fire The Lot Of Them” concerning The Apprentice. It reminded me that I said the exact same thing but back in May 2008:
“The Apprentice is fast becoming a farce, however compulsive it is to watch. If someone is not good enough old beardie points the finger and says “you’re fired!” Understood, simple format. With this series however he should have fired the first Muppet and then immediately afterwards said “and you are all fired!” because they are all unemployable; unappealing; unattractive; and all utterly useless. I have been served by some better people flipping burgers at McD’s. It would shorten the series but sometimes a bit of honesty is needed. I guarantee that whomever Mr. Amstrad picks as the winner they will not be working for him at the year’s end. “
Still a ways to go but good news from San Jose, Chile at least.
“He (Carlos Tevez) has been in England for five years now. So it’s disappointing that his English isn’t as good as what it should be.” – Graham Taylor
Tuggy
And proof read by Henry for political correct ness.
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