Interesting news from Bordeaux.

The Dickin Medal is the highest award that can be issued to animals in British military service. Bearing the words "We Also Serve" it has been awarded 75 times since its creation in 1943. Only one cat has ever received the award. This is the story of Able Seacat Simon, of HMS Amethyst. 🧵 1/25

A Giro d’Italia in 32 excellently chosen and delicious wines, courtesy of WineWise Benelux. Diploma D3 Italy - done!

My Bordeaux 2024 Report is published and available to buy and download from Tim Atkin's site. timatkin.com/product/bord... Please help spread the word if you can! #GrandsCrus #Bordeaux #2024 #EnPrimeur 3,218 kms. €384 petrol, €192 motorway tolls, 15 days away from home, 3 weeks. 581 wines.

Yum! Some times old wine just hits the spot. Dusky and still fruity with prune, leather and lots of mild sweet spices. Completely evolved tannins, and fine fruity balsamic-edged acidity. Cooked morello cherries on a long expansive finish.. I Sodi di S. Niccolo Castellare 1994. @CastellareWine

You can hear me talk about the difference between MW and MS (risky territory, but I think I managed not to insult anyone!), wine marathons, and other stuff! vintmarketplace.com/master-somme... It’s half an hour you won’t get back, but never mind…

You know things are bad when an oil tanker and a ship full of cyanide colliding becomes the good news story.

Repost & like, if you stand with President Zelensky!

Excellent to have Loïc Pasquet of Liber Pater come and share his amazing philosophy and his also amazing wines, with us this afternoon in Bordeaux.

I decided to escape and spend the day walking on my own. And a plan came to fruition…

Not every day you get to share a stage with Jancis Robinson, presenting her with the Lifetime Achievement award for James Halliday. An honour. #WineParis, #InstituteofMastersofWine, #Vinexposium, #TheDrinksBusiness

I quite like it that fully a quarter of a “Traditional Danish Lunch” is spirit alcohol.

Onwards! I’m going to Denmark. Yay! 🇩🇰 So, I am wearing my Greenland 🇬🇱 t-shirt. Because Greenland 🇬🇱 is part of Denmark 🇩🇰. So, it is appropriate - in the way that absolutely nothing is appropriate about Donald Trump. Al magt til Danmark! Ned med orange mini-hjerne!

The last time the cheesy wotsit jellyhead was president (good grief), he took credit for there having been no air crashes. So, by “OrangeMiniBrain-O-Matic” logic, this one’s entirely his fault. Lock him up.

Guess who went off on his own, chasing heavens-knows-what fauna, for an hour, as ‘part’ of his afternoon walk. Dead-beat, thirsty and hungry, but thankfully no evidence of having picked a fight with a bigger boy/boar…

I might be tempted, but - by the most astonishing coincidence - ninety-two grand a month is *exactly* the amount I don’t have to spend on renting an apartment in Monaco.

No offence to German hotels, which are lovely (if a shade sauna-y), but I have really missed this…

Dogs are the best Caoimhe, Lora and Wather.

Too cold for an inauguration. According to people who want to invade Greenland.

This was great fun.

Breda.

I went to Greenland 🇬🇱 I didn’t see any ‘for sale’ signs. It’s beautiful and unspoiled. Let’s hope it stays that way.

@jessphillipsmp.bsky.social Jess Phillips, an elected official, has done more for women’s and victim’s rights than anyone else I can think of. Elon Musk - an unelected moron - on the the other hand, has aligned himself with a convict who boasts of grabbing women by the pussy.

Patrick Wolf’s masterpiece, Wind in the Wires, remastered and released on what I can only describe as panda-eye coloured vinyl. A treat. (Along with a new EP of rarities, The Effigies) @patrickwolf.music-social.com.ap.brid.gy

Sunday is fun-day with a lovely MW Paper 3 tasting. Some super-smashing wines in this bunch!

Saturday is red wine day! Although nicely Christmassy, I suspect this might prove a lot more difficult in practice than it seemed on paper...

Twelve white wines to test the palate and mind. Great fun for a Friday morning!

Good Bandol is hard to beat. Too young but deliciously fruity, juicy, spicy multilayered and with tingly fresh tannins warmth and lipsmacking acidity.

An amazing album. Start to finish, every track is brilliant.

Here’s what’s black about my Friday.

I wish I had the shoes I wish I had the hat I wish I had the energy (Probably in reverse order)

Belgrade is going all Christmassy.

If you squint, the Russian for ‘Chardonnay’ looks a bit like ‘warzone’

Trust @mattgreencomedy.bsky.social to point it out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyWW...

At the end of my day of Diploma lecturing on Sparkling wines I said to the class: “unfortunately the one Sparkling Shiraz that you could not get in the exam is Rockford Black Shiraz, as it is so good, so rare, and so limited that it is on allocation from cellar door only.” Imagine my surprise…

Hello!