The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers, 

Clearly the big question this week isn’t:

•  why did I think it was a good idea to give up alcohol in January?
• who would be an Aston Villa fan?
• how did Marlon Samuels miss Shane Warne’s head from that distance?

But is, in fact:

• who is the lady in the new David Bowie video?  Rumours that it is Iggy Pop seem, thus far, to be unfounded…

See it’s not all about wine, just mostly.

Moving on, we’re now fully ensconced in the New Year, Christmas trees are sprawling on the pavements like drunken weebles and it’s darned cold and grey.  Only one thing for it, let’s open some fizz! 

Introducing Digby

Many moons ago Wayne and I ran a little wine shop in Clapham Old Town, up there in t’big smoke.  We had many good and loyal customers, some of whom became friends as time progressed and minutes spent chatting about wine in the shop often turned into hours spent having a few pints and ironing out the creases in the worlds fabric.

Two of these characters were Trevor and Jason.  Bright chaps, fun to talk to and fully excited about wine – but with sensible grown up jobs that paid mortgages, bought food and perhaps even sent them on holiday a couple of times a year.  Fast forward a couple of years and where do we find them?

 Sussex.

They’ve only gone and got into the wine trade. 

Not the wine-trade of opening at 11 am, -‘Cup of coffee, Wayne?’ -‘Don’t mind if I do Alex, and then we’ll do some work shall we, there’s some Burgundy to taste here and then perhaps, this afternoon, we should have some lunch…’ variety, but more the ‘we’re actually making our own English Sparkling Wine, it’s called Digby, there’s a Brut Vintage and a Rose Vintage and it’s regularly kicking known names from the UK and Champagne into touch’ style.

These two aspects of the trade would not exist without each other and with this in mind (and to shorten what has already become a long story), Trevor came to see us on Wednesday and left us a sample of each of their wines, the Brut and the Rose.  It’s brand new, I’m not even sure if anyone is selling it yet, so we thought we’d open it up on Saturday so that we can all try it together  and get very excited at the launch of a brand new Fine English wine.  Usual routine, glasses charged around midday so come in and have a sample and then hopefully we’ll get it on the shelves very soon.

Where were you when they launched Digby, Grandpa?

Wine School

This is filling up.  Places are still available, so if you want to learn more about what you like, what you don’t like and perhaps even why this is so, sign up for this six week tasting-based course.  As we always like to point out, you will have tasted 60 different wines by the middle of March (day 103) which is not a bad start to the year, and you’ll have a pretty tough time keeping up that momentum!

Join us, it’s fun, informal, educational, and it breaks the weeks up nicely between the weekends.

6 Week Wine School – commences Wednesday 30^th January until Wednesday 13^th March (no class 20^th February for half term) – 8pm until around 10pm – £150 per person.

Further details attached.

Park Vintners Wine Club

I know we mentioned this last week but we now have an addition.  Alongside our normal monthly mixed six for £50, we are now doing a quarterly mixed six for £100.  Same rules apply, the wines are just more Saturday night dinner party rather than Tuesday night pizza, but having just finished writing the tasting notes even if I say so myself, it’s a cracking selection. 

Let us know if you want to find out more about these cases, how the wine club works, how we chose the wine, ask away.

6 for 5

One of the easier mechanics – buy 6, pay for 5 (but not Krug unfortunately).  It doesn’t even need to be 6 of the same wine; some of you have dipped your toes in, more of you should, since this won’t happen again until January 2014…

That’s it from us, come and meet Digby tomorrow, sign up for wine school, buy a six box – any questions?

Cheers!

Alex & Wayne

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Happy New Year to all – I trust you emptied your wine racks over the holiday period so if you need any help re-filling you know where to come!

Looking back at last January’s predictions, we sent our footballers to Europe with low expectations and were rewarded with a surprise quarter final exit on penalties.

Wayne not only threw down his crutches and walked, but took the stabilisers off his bike too!

The US decided to hang on to the President they had.

So what shall we watch out for this year?

Stage 8 at the Giro d’Italia holds the key for Bradley Wiggins (assuming he doesn’t do a Wayne and fall off).

Ashes start on July 10^th whilst the Lions are roaring down under.

Elsewhere the Eurozone mess will roll on, money will be printed, and ice will be danced on.

Wine School

This starts on Wednesday 30^th January at 8pm and lasts for 6 weeks (not including the break for half term).  Even better it all takes place here in our shop where we are surrounded by vinous gems to taste.

Plenty of you have shown plenty of interest in this course, but it is starting to fill up now, so if you want to de-mystify all the jargon that surrounds wine come and join in.

I have attached details for your perusal – give us a call on 020 8944 5224 to book your place.

Sale

I would like to announce at this point that, as ever, everything is for SALE in our shop.

To sweeten it a little though, we have decided throughout January to offer everything in the store at ‘6 for 5’.  This is not a ‘cheapest item free of charge’ offer either – it is a straight 16.6666667% discount, for those interested in the maths. 

Wine Club

Over the last few months a number of you have enquired of us whether we have any sort of monthly Wine Club, whereby, for a fixed amount each month, you receive a selection of delicious wines with tasting notes and more importantly, at a better price than available off the shelves (usually around 15% less).

The answer is yes.

We have a thriving little club which does just that.  For £50 per month you receive 6 different bottles of wine complete with notes and food recommendations.

We email you at the beginning of the month and tell you what is in the selection – you then tell us what a marvellous selection it is, how really we should be charging twice what we are, and what smashing chaps we are to boot.  Or, if one of the wines really doesn’t appeal, you can ask for it to be changed.  We will then organise delivery and payment and off we go.  Simple as that.

There is no tie-in, we only take payment once we receive confirmation from you, and we endeavour to be as varied in our selections as possible.

If this appeals, and it seems it does to a few of you judging from feedback, then please see attached registration form, Wayne’s choosing this month’s selection as we speak.

That’s it from us – we will have something open to taste tomorrow but we are currently still trying to tidy up post-Christmas and haven’t picked them out yet – I predict a white and a red, and you can quote me!

So, have a look at your wine rack and see what you need – if the Wine Club can’t help then surely the ‘6 for 5’ must be able to in some way!

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Right, that’s the family done for another year. 

The last time for a year when you will do back-to-back roast dinners for a dozen people.  The last time so many vegetables will congregate on one table together – potatoes, sprouts (because Uncle Martin likes them), parsnips (because Uncle Martin doesn’t like them), peas, carrots, red cabbage and of course broccoli for the kids… not to mention a turkey that weighs more than a case of wine, enough cranberry sauce to swim in, ditto Cumberland sauce, a loaf-load of bread sauce, meat stuffing, herb stuffing, pigs-in-blankets, sausage rolls, smoked salmon sandwiches, ham sandwiches, and of course twiglets.

Pudding, sir?  What would you prefer – Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake, ice cream, brandy butter, chocolate cake (again for the kids, but I’m sure I saw mum with a plateful too), truffles, chocolate orange, chocolate Santas, Rudolphs, snowmen, bells, coins, and of course satsumas.

No wonder we all need a drink.

But we’re not quite there yet – there’s still New Year’s Eve to clamber across before we look down the long, cold corridor that we call January.

NYE is the time you spend with your friends, more roast meat, more potatoes, Christmas jumpers and slightly dirtier jokes.  Same, same, but different.

We’ve got ourselves out of bed and we’re here to help.  We’re open today, tomorrow (10-8), Sunday for a four hour cameo performance (11-3), and of course Monday from 10-6.  We’re recommending magnums (we only have a few left but they do look the absolute whatsits on the dinner table).  Plus, we’ll open some wines tomorrow too, to help your decision making:

Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Marlborough, New Zealand £8.99 – fresh, fresh off the boat, we welcome the 2012 vintage of this favourite back on board.  Typical NZ characteristics of passionfruit, citrus, nettles, cut grass and capsicum.  Good acidity, clean fruits and a lively finish – exactly what that Sauvignon Blanc lover in your life yearns for!

Tamboerskloof Syrah 2007, Stellenbosch, South Africa £19.49 – a friend of ours put us onto this wine a few months back, thanks Jack, but I have to confess we were initially a bit sceptical – we haven’t been overwhelmed with requests for £20 Syrahs from SA in the past, but Jack’s the sort of bloke who you listen to when it comes to slightly obscure recommendations.  A really elegant Syrah, the fact it has a bit of age has tempered the fruit nicely, adding a bit of savoury complexity to the deliciously long finish.  I’m having sirloin on NYE and this drop would certainly be a worthy partner.

For those who like to learn more than they like to detox come and join our wine course. Details attached.

So that’s it from us, Happy New Year, invest in umbrellas rather than parasols, and remember if you’re really thinking about giving up the grog in the New Year, February is a shorter month than January!

Sláinte.

Alex & Wayne

Fellow Wine Lovers,

We could talk about ‘Plebgate’ , supersonic air travel, the cricket, or even the Champions League draw (not you Chelsea), but we won’t!

Instead we’re going with…

You better watch out

You better not cry

Better not pout

I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town

He’s making a list

And checking it twice;

Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice

Santa Claus is coming to town

Wine Course

Don’t just buy them a taste of one bottle of wine for Christmas, with the Park Vintners Wine School you give the chance to taste 60 bottles of wine. It’s what Wednesday’s were made for. Starts 30 Jan 2013, £150 per person, details attached.

English Sparkling

If you’re having one of Michael the butcher’s turkeys from Appledore in Kent, why not start the day with a bottle of Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2008 at £31.99? The vineyard is about a mile from the turkey farm.

Tasting This Weekend

So we’re going to start off with some kicking fizz from our chums in NZ Morton Estate Brut – £12.99 (or pay for 5 bottles in a box of 6). Then we’ll be winging it back to Burgundy where we’ll tantalise the taste buds with Rully 1er Cru Montpalais 2010 – £22.99 a wine full of creamy elegance. Then we’ll add a bit of colour with Beaune 2009 from Nuiton Beaunoy – £20.99 bags of class from this ever popular cru. If one of those isn’t perfect for a Christmas day drink then my name’s not Rudolph…

Christmas Hours

Friday 21^st 11am-8pm

Saturday 22^nd 10am-8pm

Sunday 23^rd 11am-3pm

Monday 24^th 10am-6pm

Friday 28^th 11am-8pm

And finally…

We’d like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

As all our thoughts turn to parties, mince pies, wrapping paper and of course the pressies to wrap up we thought we’d offer some friendly help and advice…

Parties – wear something festively red, make sure you have a taxi number with you, and drink at least 1 glass of water.

Mince pies – don’t forget the Optrex, no party season is complete without the pocket brightener for the morning after. In the food sense, it’s the perfect afternoon pick me up with a cup of tea.

Wrapping paper – flock wallpaper is absolutely rubbish. It looks fantastic but the sticky tape does not stay stuck! Why not try one of our bottle bag options.

Pressies – we can suggest many things, two are below:

Wine Course

The gift that keeps on giving! Why not send your other-half/brother/sister/personal-trainer(delete as appropriate) on our six week wine course. You’ll have Wednesday nights free for six weeks, they’ll taste around 60 wines, discover the difference between red and white grapes and even learn some groovy new wine terms to impress their friends.

Sound too good to miss? Then come along with them. Term starts 30^th Jan 2013 for 7 weeks (break for half term in the middle) and costs £150. Considerably less than a pair of Gucci loafers and much more fun. Full details attached.

The Chocolate Block 2011 – Same price as last year £22.99 whilst stocks last…

Boekenhoutskloof have done it again. Just when you thought you’d never see one again, and you wish you hadn’t drunk that last bottle, up pops the new vintage. It makes the perfect present too. Over to the Mark Kent… “Winemakers comments: The 2011 Chocolate Block is a blend of Syrah (69%); Grenache Noir (14%); Cabernet Sauvignon (11%); Cinsault (5%) and Viognier (1%). This wine is the perfect example of identifying “undiscovered” parcels of vineyard with amazing potential and utilizing it to unleash its world class quality.”

*Rest assured no chocolate was harmed in the making of this wine.

Tasting this weekend

The tasting table has a definite Italian accent this weekend starting in Piemonte in the north with Roberto Sarotto’s delicious Gavi del Commune di Gavi (£12.99). This is the real deal, single vineyard wine from lofty slopes that is aged on its lees to add depth and character.

We’ll then head to Toscana and the beautiful village of Montalcino. Giacomo Bindi’s Brunato Il Cocco (£12.99) from the highest vineyards in Montalcino we found ourselves wondering if it might not be just fab with goose. Best reacquaint ourselves with its flavours.

Lest we get carried away talking with our hands, we shall provide focus with some suitably seasonable bubbles. Chassenay d’Arce is our new recruit on the Champagne front and we shall open Chassenay d’Arce Brut Premiere (£33.99) an elegant 60/40 Pinot Noir Chardonnay blend that’s been floating the boats at quite a few private members clubs lately.

Nearly there,

Wayne & Alex.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

 So, now that we’re two, we want to make a couple of things very clear before the press start sniffing around:

 1.       We are not pregnant, never have been, have no realistic prospect of becoming so, and thus a global media frenzy is somewhat excessive

 2.       We have never worked for the BBC

 3.       We would happily manage Chelsea (and be paid accordingly) even for just a few weeks, especially if we could also watch them lose so regularly direct from the dugout

 4.       We, somewhat foolhardily it would seem, pay all the tax we are due to pay in the UK and do not have a ‘one desk office’ in Luxembourg

 5.       We didn’t believe England would beat the AB’s last weekend, and were delighted to be proven wrong, but we don’t necessarily believe the hype

 6.       We have no comment on England’s cricket progress in the subcontinent (we have too much experience of giving the kiss of death to seemingly unbreachable positions) but are sure it’s warmer there

 7.       We do not think it a travesty that Justin Beiber has failed to get any Grammy nominations – how down with the kids are we?  Not at all, really – may I refer you to point 2 in the list….

 Thank you

 Huge thanks to everyone that popped by to see us last weekend, wine was drunk, nuts, olives, chorizo and cheese were eaten and generally a thoroughly festive atmosphere prevailed.  Having chatted to many of you over the weekend a number of you were asking the same questions (and not just where had Wayne’s moustache gone) so we thought we would address the most common ones here.

 Deliveries

 Yes sir, absolutely, where to?  We deliver locally for free in SW19 (but we have a reasonably fluid idea of local, let’s say close enough for Wayne to cycle to without having to do too much training – panniers full of bottles can be quite heavy – ask us).  You’ve probably seen us wandering around the grid with our noisy trolley and we do have a vehicle too so can deliver the four dozen Champagne safely and securely.

Further afield it’s a courier job – we do quite a lot of mail order so have suitable packaging available for transporting single bottles, 6 bottles or 12 bottles properly.  We also use a courier who is sensitive to the fragile nature of our deliveries and is used by a number of wine companies in London.  We feel that for a couple of quid extra it’s worth getting the wine delivered intact and ready to be savoured rather than delivered in the style of an American paperboy, smashed, unusable and frankly disappointing.

 So if you want to send a gift to your Dad in Bristol or all your staff in Doncaster then give Wayne a call and he’ll strap on his cycling cleats – 020 8944 5224 is his direct cycle courier line.

 Large, medium, small

 Yes, we do have different sizes.  We have 5 different reds and two Champagnes in magnum format, obviously we have loads in bottles, but we also have half bottles of Champagne, sweet wines and fortifieds, and a couple of wines in this size too – handbag/pocket size we call them.

 Wine School

 Last night saw our last formal tasting of the year – the Champagne and Sparkling Wine evening, which, as you would hope, went off with a pop – goodness me doesn’t fizz make you feel festive!

 We’ll have wine open on weekends as usual over the next few weeks, but our next organised tasting run will be our 6 Week Wine School that starts again on Wednesday 30th January and, as you can no doubt guess, goes on for 7 weeks.  What?  Oh yes, we have a week off over half term (around 21st February) and it all completes on 13th March.

 Last year this course was massively oversubscribed, a combination of thoughtful Christmas Gifts from loved ones and people wanting to take the edge off the new year with a glass of wine and some educashun.

 In short, the course is 6 weeks long (normally), costs £150 and covers whites, reds, rose, fizz, sweeties, corked/oxidised/faulty wines, food matching suggestions and a lot of belly laughs courtesy of Wayne’s seemingly limitless supply of one-liners. 

If nothing else you’ll taste 60-odd wines over the course and, as we always say, the best way to learn about wine is to taste it.

Call us, call in, email us – places are limited – first come, first served as ever.

 More details attached.

 Opening hours

We are open as usual up to the 22nd December (11-8 Monday to Friday, 10-8 Saturday) then it all goes a bit ding-dong merrily on high:

 SUNDAY 23RD DECEMBER                          11AM-3PM

 MONDAY 24TH DECEMBER                         10AM-6PM

 TUESDAY 25TH DECEMBER                        CLOSED

 WEDNESDAY 26TH DECEMBER                CERRADO

 THURSDAY 27TH DECEMBER                    CHIUSO

 FRIDAY 28TH DECEMBER                            11AM-8PM

 SATURDAY 29TH DECEMBER                     10AM-8PM

 SUNDAY 30TH DECEMBER                          11AM-3PM

 MONDAY 31ST DECEMBER                          11AM-6PM

 TUESDAY 1ST JANUARY                                LYING-IN

 WEDNESDAY 2ND JANUARY                       STILL IN DENIAL…

 THURSDAY 3RD JANUARY                           WARMING TO THE IDEA…

 FRIDAY 4TH JANUARY                                   11AM-8PM

 And then back to normal, happy New Year!

 Wine list

 We do have a PDF list of wines on our website www.parkvintners.co.uk, which is also attached and will be updated on Monday – stock comes in and goes out, such is the nature of commerce, and we aim to keep it as up to date as possible in December, but do please be gentle with us if something has already left the building.

 A bit long this week, too much exciting going on, and I haven’t even mentioned wines on tasting this weekend.  Suffice to say it will be with Christmas in mind, for the white we will be looking at our Chablis 1er Cru and the red has to be our 2005 Graves, Chateau Gaubert.

 Alex will be standing behind our stall at the Wimbledon High School Christmas Fare from 11am until 4pm on Saturday, so if you’re there please remind him he’s driving and to put that glass of Port down!

Cheers

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s all thanks to you.  You never asked us to open here on Arthur Road, you never lobbied for extra wine shops, Merton Council received no petitions.  Nonetheless, we opened up here without so much as a by your leave, filled our shelves with fun you don’t find in Tesco, in Wine Rack, or the pub – put white wines and Champagne in the fridges, stuck some of our favourites in the window, put blackboards outside telling you what was going on and generally made a nuisance of ourselves.

And in spite of all this, you all came to visit us.

We opened wine on Saturdays, put on monthly Wine and Cheese tastings, got winemakers in to show you their wares, filled up 6 week wine courses, did private tastings at people’s houses/schools/churches, provided wine for weddings/christenings/knees up(s?)…

And still you came to see us.

We bugged you to ‘Vote for Us’ in Time and Leisure – you did, bless you – and we won Best Wine Retailer 2012.  Two Septembers on the trot, we inundated you with info and wine tastings from Chile – twice we came Runners-Up in the Wines of Chile Independent Wine Merchant Awards.

And you know what, all this has happened in less than 2 years.

So as they say, time flies.  Monday 3^rd December sees us celebrate our second birthday, the onset of our third Christmas on Arthur Road, and the official start of silly season.

However since our big day falls at the start of the week, when we will obviously be drinking fizzy water and green tea, eating our five a day and going for a long healthy run, we’ve decided to pop celebratory corks this Friday night and Saturday.  Wayne also celebrates another birthday on Saturday (how many does one man need?), so frankly it will be taxis home come 8pm on Saturday night…

We had thought long and hard about how we could celebrate – too cold for a street party, speed dating would be too weird, some helpful customers mentioned a supermarket sweep style affair (thank you, but no), others a drink the shop dry event (must explain the difference between on- and off- licences), but then Spain rang us up and solved all of our problems: how about a Spanish tasting with some nibbles kindly provided by Brindisa? ¡hola!, we said to ourselves…

All we need is for every single one of you to come and see us over the weekend so that we can thank you individually for your support over the last two years and hopefully, via the medium of food and wine, we can bamboozle you into supporting us for the next 200 years!

As an enticement here’s what we’ll be opening:

• Mas Macià Cava Brut NV – £9.89 – a fresh and creamy Cava with complex flavours of apple and stone fruits, herbal notes and some nutty yeasty influences from its time spent on its lees.  Good acidity and a long, crisp finish.
• Macià Batle ‘blanc de blancs’ 2010 – £16.49 – A blend of Prensal Blanc and Chardonnay.  This stunning white is from Mallorca.  Local variety Prensal Blanc provides a light structure of herbs and white fruit character to set off the appley Chardonnay.  Think Condrieu meets Burgundy in a Spanish nightclub…
• VIña Zorzal Graciano 2010 – £10.49 – this wine, from Navarra uses one of the lesser known Rioja varieties, Graciano.  We love this grape for its ripe, round, elegant fruit, its softly integrated tannins and gentle fruit development.
• Bodegas Ontañón Gran Reserva Rioja 2001 – £25.49 – ‘it has a traditional, dusty, sandalwood-scented bouquet, while the palate has a freshness and vitality lent by the acidity.  Fresh dark cherry, boysenberry and wild strawberry fruits combine well on the silky smooth finish that urged you to take another sip’ 91 Points – Neal Martin – Robert Parker Wine Advocate August 2012
• Bodegas El Maestro Sierra Oloroso – £9.99 – Aged in solera for 15 years, this is a complex wine oozing hazelnut and spice aromas with a rich textured palate covered in nuts and spice once more.  Superb value especially given its complexity.  Wayne has his gaze firmly set on this wine, so if you want to try some I suggest you arrive before his sun disappears over the yardarm…

So that’s it – sport free, news free, no mention of Leveson, an email all about us this week, and of course you.

You never invited us, we turned up anyway, you checked us out, we stayed, we thank you!

Saludos,

Alex & Wayne.

p.s. As you’re all coming to visit us, why not check out the turning on of the Arthur Road Christmas Lights at 4.15.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Two companies, with the fastest revolving doors in the business, both appoint new managers on the same day, who’s going to last the longest? Answers on a postcard please …Rafa Benitez at Chelsea or Tony Hall at the BBC?

As is traditional at Thanksgiving, Barack Obama ‘pardoned’ two turkeys yesterday, Cobble and Gobble. Reports they are looking forward to Christmas seem wide of the mark.

In Reading, Father Christmas was due to turn the Christmas lights on. In a break with tradition he arrived by zip wire. Well, I say arrived, his beard got caught and he was suspended for 40 minutes till somebody rescued him. Should have taken the sleigh!

Champagne & Sparkling Wine Tasting

We’ll have Sparkling wine from around the globe in a selection of colours, four different Champagnes and smoked salmon and other delicacies. At 8pm Thursday 6^th December the cost is £25 per person and we have just a few places left. What are you waiting for? (Wine list attached.)

Birthday Drinks & Lighting Up

I mentioned the other day we’ll be hitting the terrible two’s at the beginning of December. We’ve linked up with Wines from Spain to do something special tasting wise.

Luckily it coincides with the turning on of the Christmas lights in Arthur Road, which is on Saturday December 1^st at 4.15pm. So, no excuses!

Party & Gift Orders

We received a couple of party and gift orders this week, people getting in early and all that. I’m not mentioning this to make you feel stressed, disorganised or disgruntled. However, if you’re having a party and may want to borrow some glasses come and see us, we only have so many glasses to offer and we’d really rather not disappoint.

Planning on sending a gift but not sure what packaging? I’ve attached some piccy’s of what we have.

Cheese & Wine Tasting

Alex mentioned last week that we sold this out in record time. A few people showed interest in running another night, which we can do on Tuesday 11^th December at 8pm if enough of you can manage the date. Let us know please, there is a lot going on.

Weekend Wine Tasting

This weekend we thought we’d go all a bit Southern hemisphere and show you all to the delights of Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc 2011 (£10.99) from Western Cape, South Africa and Petit Clos Pinot Noir 2011(£14.79) from Marlborough, New Zealand. We think both are perfect dinner party wines, particularly given the season.

Cheers

Fellow Wine Lovers,

No messing this week, straight down to business. 

We’ve been very kind to you thus far and not mentioned the C word, but as the temperatures rapidly descend and the nights get darker and the days shorter there is no escaping it, Christmas is on its way.  Less than 40 days if my abacus is correct and the big day still falls on the 25^th.

However, between then and now plenty of fun is to be had, lots of late nights, mistletoe, Bluewater, Furbies, pre-Christmas Christmas lunches, family reunions and Champagne tastings.

Champagne tastings?

You see sometimes December needs a bit of a kick-start, and our kick this year is to hold a Champagne and Sparkling Wine Tasting evening, here in the shop, on Thursday 6^th December at 8pm. 

Suffice to say it promises to be an awful lot of fun, we’ll give you an outline of how sparkling wines are made and how different countries produce different styles.  We’ll try Cava, Prosecco, Cremant, a couple from the New World, an English one and of course Champagne.  We’ll chuck a bit of smoked salmon on some plates, perhaps even take the crusts of some brown bread and polish up a dozen or so flutes all in the name of kick-starting the festivities.  Usual rules apply, we’ll take a maximum of a ten people, it will cost £25 per person, we take most modern forms of payment and this payment reserves your chair.  Call me, email me, come and see me – just make sure you don’t miss out!

(020 8944 5224 ; shop@parkvintners.co.uk )

Our Christmas Cheese and Wine event sold out pretty much as soon as we confirmed it, but if enough people are still interested we could very easily be persuaded to repeat it, so do let us know if you’d be keen to see what goes well with Stilton, Cheddar et al and we’ll find a date.

Italy has moved

Not as exciting as it sounds really, all we’ve done is move Italy to the shelves at the front of the shop so it gets a chance to look out of the window for a change rather than just staring at the Champagne fridge.  However one of the reasons for the move was because it was getting too big (that was my second choice header – Italy getting too big! Pasta and Pizza prime suspects…) and the reason for this is that we keep on buying wine.  New Amarone, new Barolo, new Carema, new-ish Nero d’Avola, returning Nero di Troia, to name just a few.  We’ve also got an astonishingly more-ish Sambuca and a habit forming Amaretto, but we keep those closer to the counter for comfort.

Tasting this weekend

We will be, will you?  We’ve gone with Australia and Argentina this weekend, mainly because as we get closer to Christmas we will probably shift our focus more towards old world classics.  The red is Bodega La Flor Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Mendoza, Argentina – £11.99, a delicious Cab. with loads of blackcurrant fruit and easy tannins.  Good mouth weight and length, superb with lamb, venison and other game dishes.  Brilliant after my coffee on Saturday morning, and no doubt magnificent by 7pm that evening.  Should you fancy white, Broken Shackle Classic White 2011, South Eastern Australia – £7.99, is as you would expect from a country that names things as it sees them (Southern Ocean, Great Sandy Desert) – it’s called Broken Shackle and it’s a classic white, what more is there to know!!

So, that’s pretty much it from us.  One more good reason to look forward to Christmas though is the one-off Superstars Olympic special that the BBC are promising – Brian Jacks used to be the king, but I believe one of the Brownlee brothers might have all the answers this time around.

Oh, and that Ibrahimovic goal, just goes to re-emphasise the fine line that exists between success and failure!

Anyway, must go now, the phone’s ringing – someone for the Champagne night no doubt!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well it seems the BBC has forgotten the adage about telling, rather than being, the story for yet another week. They banned Professor Brian Cox from attempting to make contact with aliens as BBC bosses were worried health and safety laws would be broken. Who’d have thought there are already regulations and compliance to go through in case of communicating with aliens?

“Permission to speak, sir?”  We wish a sad goodbye to Clive Dunn this week, a man who has amused us since we were in short trousers.

Elsewhere in the world, Obama’s in, Hu’s on his way out, and Rod Stewart was in tears as Celtic beat Barcelona.

Chuffed in Chile

We are absolutely delighted to announce that for the second year running we were Runners Up in the Wines of Chile Independent Wine Merchants Awards. As you’ve discovered we’re pretty keen on the wines from there, Alex is even speaking at a debate in a couple of weeks.

Gifts

It is getting to that time of the year, so if you have chums you’d like to send a case to, colleagues who deserve a bottle of bubbly for their efforts, or a cantankerous uncle who only likes Italian wine then “Don’t Panic” just come and have a chat with us. We’ve done gifts in the past for an art gallery, architects, bankers and barristers, not to mention a GP’s surgery!

Birthday – Terrible Twos

It’s our birthday in a couple of weeks so we’ll do something a bit special to celebrate, eyes peeled people, you wouldn’t want to miss out!

Tasting This Weekend

Finally our search is over! We have spent months looking for a white Rioja that was both interesting and worth its price ticket. Some have been delicious but too expensive, and far too many have just been dull as dishwater. Vetiver 2009 Rioja Blanco (£10.39) is both deliciously tasty and a decent price, so we’ll have this one open.

Keeping an Iberian theme we thought it high time to show you all a Portuguese red. We think the wine from Portugal are offering some decent flavours and excitement at the moment so will open Quinta da Falorca 2007 (£13.29) a rich spicy number from Portugal’s Dao region.

And Finally…

A speedy recovery to both Bradley Wiggins, and TeamGB cycling coach, Shane Sutton, both involved in cycling accidents this week.

Let’s be careful out there folks, look twice!

Wayne & Alex