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