For a brief, shining moment at the end of April, London was the centre of the global social network as "waity Katie" caught her "Big Willie". But the Financial Time's Lex column was on the money when attributing a financial script to the nuptials. "The marriage of William Wales and Catherine Middleton may be remembered not so much as a magical fairytale but as a hard-edged business case study" planned and flawlessly executed by Middleton Inc.
No surprises for Lex, then, that the bride's young brother, James, "an upscale cakemaker", registered a new company, Nice Wine, shortly before he read the lesson in Westminister Abbey. With impeccable timing, Charl Theron, from the University of Stellenbosch, blogged on www.winenews.co.za, "wine is not nice!" He ended off waving a red rag at a bull: "Does anyone disagree that being able to describe a wine as clear, greenish, non-muscat with a floral finish and a dry taste is far more interesting than describing a wine as nice?" From a wine point of view, the wedding was a bust. Pol Roger Champagne, that favourite of Winston Churchill, was chosen as the the bridal bubbly, a slap in the face of the English winemakers who have been trying to convince the world that their fizz is as good as French.
In the Press 