Fellow Wine Lovers,
And so it finally came to pass, Alex parted company with Park Vintners last Friday.
It would seem that he had been sharing top secret tasting notes with a number of parties at Regal Wine Cellars via his googlemail account. In fact, as he wrote in his letter of resignation:
‘Earlier today, l sent some Bordeaux tasting notes and a beer recommendation from my personal email to a trusted former colleague with the aim of garnering support for a visit to the pub next week. This constitutes a technical infringement of the rules. As you know, the tasting notes were also written by you and were due to be written on little pieces of card and attached to bottles imminently. Much of them had already been seen by customers, their dogs and various delivery drivers. Nevertheless it is right for me to go.’
He then yattered on a bit about high standards, business, responsibility and mistakes. It was sometimes unclear whether he was referring to himself or was in fact using a not so clever allegorical device to make a point – it was all a bit laboured though. The fact that he then decided to reiterate ‘l have made a mistake; l accept responsibility; l resign’ had me starting to believe that in actual fact he didn’t really think he had made a mistake and that actually he was resigning because he’d received a better offer from Regal but just didn’t want me to know about it just yet.
Either way he’s gone, thank goodness.
As a result I have been running the shop for the first part of this week on my own and it has felt quite liberating. This has also given me the opportunity to put together a whole fresh new team in time for the weekend and one that I hope will take us through to Christmas.
So, let me introduce you to my newest recruit – Alex.
I was very fortunate to be able to hire Alex at such short notice due to him finishing rather abruptly with his previous employer last week, perhaps under a cloud. However, Alex recognises that he made an error of judgment and has accepted his mistake which is why I was delighted to welcome him back into wine retail particularly considering the experience and stability he brings to the heart of Park Vintners.
You couldn’t make it up!
Meanwhile, whilst Alex was on his gardening leave he decided to ‘do a Dominic’ and drive all the way up to the northeast, via Barnard Castle and Hadrian’s Wall, to visit with the happy folk of Hepple. As you are all hopefully aware, Hepple is our un-official house Gin. We call it un-official because we don’t like to put pressure on our products but, if pushed, this would be the house tipple and is certainly our best seller. So, when confronted with some unexpected days off, it came as no surprise that Alex would flee to the land of heather, juniper and very large Negronis – wouldn’t you?
By all accounts he had an absolute ball, brought back the latest news from Walter the Cultivator and Chris the Distiller and, more excitingly for me, came back with more stock for our shelves. Alongside the usual, he also brought some rather fun little 5cl bottles of Hepple Gin which, as we all know, is a double shot. These retail at £5 per bottle, add a bottle of Fever Tree and you’ve got a delicious G’n’T for a lot less than the pub – perfect for quiet nights in, perfect for little gifts, perfect for big events.
For the first time in a while we haven’t listed any new products this week so will be tasting some old favourites instead and, as I’m told that it’s Halloween soon, perhaps something with that in mind.
Vina Robles Viognier 2019 – £19.99. When Hans Nef, a civil engineer from Zurich, came to Paso Robles in the mid-1990s a new generation of California winemakers was turning it into one of the world’s most dynamic winegrowing regions. This Viognier is planted in the highest part of the Huerhuero Vineyard benefitting from the cooling afternoon pacific breeze. Crisp and medium-bodied with peach and mandarin fruit with a long lively finish – really rather fabulous and by all accounts one of the best matches for pumpkin!
Finca Bacara ‘Time Waits For No One’ 2020 – £13.99. This is a delicious drop of Monastrell from Jumilla in Spain where, in spite of its latitude, the wines are well managed largely due to the vineyards being at reasonable altitude. A juicy and opulent red with attractive floral aromas, ripe fruit and balsamic notes in the background leading onto a nicely balanced fresh palate that lifts the vibrant fruit through to a smooth and persistent finish…. and then on to another glass. Oh, it’s got a skull on the label too!
That’s it from us for now, back to a full team in time for the weekend and hopefully well into next week!
Spring forward, fall back….