Fellow Wine Lovers,
**** Today – Friday, 6th March – is our annual close-early-and-go-and-run-the-bar-at-the-KCS-quiz-night. So, we must apologise because we will be closing at 5pm today****
Now, I think it’s time for some good news…
From today, it’s going to be a beautiful and long summer. Somehow, we’re all going to win the lottery and buy yachts. Elon Musk is going to find a way to turn rain and floodwater into electricity. Or wine. Or gold. And then give it all to us. Amazon is going to be found to be just using all the data they gather for a better customer experience and nothing more. The world will not end, we will survive…
It’s been a bleak week and no mistake. Thanks to the weather and the general mood, at times it has felt like I have been put into an involuntary self-isolation – the first person through the door yesterday was after 4pm. So, with all this free time I have been gifted, I have been gently exploring different business avenues. Currently the loo roll industry seems a good one to be in and I’m just trying to work out how I can recycle all the newspapers filled with scare stories into NEW Park Vintners Bathroom Tissue. Sticking with the bathroom, apparently bidet sales are on the up in Australia, as a consequence of the loo roll shortage hitting them hardest down under – I’m not entirely sure what information the Australian government has been given about the current health scare but it does seem like it’s being approached from an odd angle…
Got to love the British though and their insatiable love of dogs.
Whilst two of the world’s biggest wine fairs, Prowein and Vinitaly, International rugby matches and, potentially, the London marathon are facing postponement or cancellation, Crufts: The World’s Greatest Dog Show, Where Every Dog Has Its Day opened yesterday, business as usual, no mucking about. Just goes to show that the eccentricity of the English, coupled with a soppiness for our canine friends trumps any virus threat! Whilst reading about Crufts earlier I happened across something called Flyball (no, not Flybe) – it’s a great watch, particularly the whippets, trust me!
However, I hope flyball isn’t the only sport on telly this weekend because it should be rugby time again. Always a funny one the England v Wales match – that strange time of the year when Wayne and I discover how many of our customers are in fact from the Land of Song when we’d always thought they were from Godalming or West Ham. Anyway, always adds a bit of spice to the chat over the tasting table on a Saturday morning – I fully expect it to be a humdinger as ever – we really mustn’t forget that Wales have lost twice already, so will turn up to Twickenham hungry. Home advantage has never been so important although probably what is more important this weekend is for Scotland to set Murrayfield alight on Sunday and be the first to beat France in 2020!
In other sport, and back to Australia, the England Women’s Cricket Team were denied the opportunity to play their T20 World Cup semi-final because it was raining and no one had thought to have a reserve day for this stage of the competition – did I mention it was the semi-final? So, a team gets all the way to a World Cup semi-final and is then knocked out because of the weather – someone needs to rethink the planning of these events although I’m sure it would never happen in the football (too much money at stake perhaps?). Gutted.
However, if like me, sport is of little interest, let’s talk food. I’m sure we’ve mentioned this before but, as a reminder, there is a local pop-up supper club called Dining Room that we provide the wine for. They base themselves out of Coolangatta Café (81 Kingston Road, London SW20 8LB) and every couple of weeks they take over on a Friday and Saturday night. This month they are doing a Mexican Menu:
Rhubarb Margarita
***
Butternut Squash, Cheese and Coriander Quesadilla, Sweetcorn and Pico de Gallo Salsa, crumbled Feta, Chipotle Mayo
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Slow cooked Pork Shoulder Pibil, Escabeche de Cebolla, Arroz Rojo and Mexican Slaw
Or
Spicy Black Bean Chilli, Arroz Rojo and Mexican Slaw and Sour Cream
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Churros y Chocolate
This all costs just £40 per person including welcome cocktail, a glass of dessert wine (or perhaps tequila), coffee and service.
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it – I’ve also heard the wines are not bad either!!
Tasting this weekend
We don’t have Mexican wine sadly but keeping with the Spanish speakers, we’ve got a couple from Galicia.
The white will be Val do Xuliana Albariño 2019 – £13.99 – a crisp, orchard fruited and gently mineral dazzler from Rias Baixas, whilst the red will be Rechamante – £14.99 from Orense in the Ribeiro. Made mainly from Mencía Grape variety, it is light, fresh and fruity. The fruits are a mixture of red and dark fruits to this taster, but there is no doubting its juiciness and consequently how dangerously easy to drink it is at only 12%
That’s it from us for now, just one final reminder:
**** Today – Friday, 6th March – is our annual close-early-and-go-and-run-the-bar-at-the-KCS-quiz-night. So, we must apologise because we will be closing at 5pm today****
Cheeeeers!