Friday, January 28, 2011

Too much of a good thing?

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber recently discovered he had a terrible problem (and not for the first time in his adult life apparently), when he found that he owned too much wine!
Wouldn’t it be splendid to have a large enough wine collection that one could satisfy ones thirst for any particular wine, from any wine producing region of the world, at any given time? If that was the case in Vinoland I definitely could have chosen to have a Lambrusco with my Pastisio the other night. Unfortunately, there is always a scarcity of Italian wines in my wine cellar, because they get polished off very soon after arriving in Vinoland.
Sir Andrew is a very fortunate man to have access to, and the means to purchase, many world renowned wines: and to have made such shrewd and intelligent investment choices by purchasing case after case of them. Now, I consider myself a wine enthusiast, but Sir Andy loves wine in a way I couldn’t possibly begin to and he has taken his personal appreciation of wine to a higher level - he loves to make money from reselling it.
A passion for fine wine, a talent for writing catchy tunes, a savvy business acumen, a recent bank deposit for £3.5 million – Sir Drew and I don’t have a lot in common, but we do share a birthday (with John Toshack).

8 comments:

Cesar Valverde said...

Quite what would possess an enthusiast to sell their collection unless they're in serious financial trouble is beyond me...

I had the great privilege recently of staying with someone who had decided to drink theirs instead. An '82 Petrus on the first night left me utterly speechless.

Interesting John Toshack Fact #1: He spends pretty well all summer every year sitting in a small beach bar in a place called Costa de los Pinos in Mallorca.

Vinogirl said...

Cesar, in the article he said he simply didn't have enough room to store it...now he can buy more!
I read your Pétrus post :)
Have you had a glass of vino with Tosh then?

Affer said...

I have a particularly fine 2008 E&J Gallo Chardonnay for which I will take offers. Or swap it for some original Blue Nun..........

Thomas said...

"...a talent for writing catchy tunes..."

Not hard to do when most of the tunes are derivative of something much classier--or is that classical?

But then, what to expect from a wine hoarder rather than a wine consumer?

Cesar Valverde said...

Not vino, but I've chatted away when up at the bar with him.

Run by an Italian bloke, and decorated exclusviely with signed team photos of Inter Milan and Liverpool- your man's a bit of a local celebrity.

Interesting (but predictable) John Toshack Fact#2: Not that pretty in swimming trunks.

Vinogirl said...

Affer: Would you take a bottle of Black Tower for the Blue Nun?

Thomas: Hoarding is not good, wine is meant to be shared. But I bet he probably consumes a fair bit of what he buys, he just buys so much. I am hoarding a hefty vertical of Chasse Spleen...it's just that it's difficult for me to get all my favourite wine lovers on the same continent to be able to drink it!

Ceasar: Factoid No. 2 - A Speedo? Does anyone? Drink more vino, he'll start to look better!

phlegmfatale said...

Poor guy - burdened with all that undesireable wine just laying about. Lucky someone was willing to take it off his hands at bargain basement rates, eh?

Vinogirl said...

Well, he's made some room in his cellar, so with the proceeds from the auction - he can buy more wine!