Fellow Wine Lovers,
Bang! – And it’s gone. Six weeks at the start of the year is a slow trudge towards the lighter days of Spring, whereas July and August rattle on by like the Hogwarts Express being chased by Billy Whizz – and that is in spite of the fact we all spend more time with our kids!
Holiday
Devon was heaven – the sun shone for the first time in 4 million years and we mocked the Gore-Tex and welly brigade, even when the wind got up and the children went blue. Home comforts were transported down to help us all sleep – teddy bears, CD player, a double magnum of Barbazul red for the adults.
Fully aware that the British Summer is a rarely-sighted and certainly-not-for-long-periods phenomenon, a safety net flight to Spain had been booked for guaranteed sun and shorts. Fewer home comforts this time, more aftersun. Plenty of seafood, delicious Albariño and some slightly iffy cider from Asturias – one incredibly sweet the other like proper, hard-core scrumpy with an added dash of acidity and a twist of damp tea-towel. We checked from the top to the bottom of the bottle and can confirm that it tasted the same all the way down. Cold copitas of dry sherry, large glasses of Tinto de Verano – the unholy mix of red wine, sweet soda water, ice and a slice – that some members of our party were able to drink quicker than others could drink a beer! Prawns in garlic, barbecued sea bream, lamb chops on the grill, ordering salad because you fancied it rather than you felt you ought to…
Walking into the Co-op yesterday lunchtime was a bit of a culture shock.
And now off to Greece. Olives, ouzo and perhaps octopus for alliteration purposes. More seafood, more local wines from unpronounceable grape varieties, more sand between our toes, more time to finally get to grips with the book that has been laughing at your futile, few pages at a time, forays since those long dark days of January and February…
Into the Groove
Mid-September will find the whole Park Vintners team back, fighting fit, with a healthy tan, refreshed for the months to come – and there’s plenty to look forward to, as mentioned last week.
Wednesday 18th September – Wednesday 23rd October our six week wine school re-starts and we still have a couple of spaces left on this fun-filled tasting extravaganza – why let the children be the only ones to learn something new in September? £150 per person, spittoons provided but with no obligation to use them.
Thursday 26th September the new season of Cheese & Wine tastings starts – 8pm here in the shop, £15 per person, four places left.
Thursday 24th October the next Cheese and Wine tasting – 8pm, here in the shop, £15 per person, you know the drill. This one is going to be a Spanish focused evening; I don’t think we’ll be showing Asturian cider though…
To sign up for any of the above, give us a call on 020 8944 5224, or email us, or pop in and see us – as always, payment confirms your place.
November will see a Bordeaux tasting on a date soon to be confirmed (it will be a Thursday though), and we have a couple of other plans that just need confirmation.
December will no doubt involve Christmas at some point, but more importantly a Champagne and Sparkling wine evening will take place to get us all in the mood for season of merriment.
Vogue
Keen to be up to date with all things local and exciting we have a new listing:
Dodd’s Gin (49.9%) £37.50 – distilled in Battersea, just around the corner from Ransome’s Dock, this is the latest arrival on the London Gin scene. The company’s end goal is to produce the first London Whisky for over a century, but while they wait for this to develop, there is plenty of fun to be had playing around with other spirits. Our resident nose and spirits aficionado says:
Very London on the nose with juniper and a barley creaminess. On the palate very spicy yet soft with lots of peppery juniper and just a hint of orange (?) citrus. Best served with lemon peel and ice, and tonic too if you must!
Fever
… and with gin on our minds, we have now got small bottles of Fever Tree Tonic Water (200ml) for £1 each or 4 for £3.
South Africa provides our wines for tasting this weekend – for the white we will unseal the ever popular, yet rarely opened, Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc 2011 £12.29 and the complementary red will be Barton Vineyards Merlot 2011 £12.99. They’ll be open this evening and they’ll be open all day tomorrow so there are no excuses!
¡Salud!