Fellow Wine Lovers,
Wet weekend incoming? Pah! – we laugh in the face of meteorology because, frankly, it’s a Bank Holiday, we all have plans that involve being outside and wet dogs don’t smell great in confined spaces.
So, it’s half term – time for some reports:
Keir Starmer
Keir has acted more positively towards Europe this week, which shows a good growth mind-set. Opening the e-gates made him very popular with his class mates and Nigel from Clacton was one of the first to use them. He keeps on talking about winter fuel, which he knows is important but still seems to struggle to understand why, something he needs to work on over the half term break. Importantly, after a shaky start to term, if he is going to progress, he needs to maintain focus and concentration rather than sucking up to the troublemakers in the back row.
Donald Trump
Donald often seems to take too much pleasure in his role as backrow troublemaker, which is seriously disruptive for his more impressionable classmates. Being 16 years older than Keir, he could perhaps show this maturity on a more regular basis but, given recent performances with the South African touring party, this doesn’t seem like something he’s willing to do. Honestly, unless he seriously changes his attitude to authority, I foresee many detentions in his future.
Angelos Postecoglou
Ange has had a difficult year. His peripatetic lifestyle perhaps could be the reason for this and he promised to do better in his second year. However, it has been made very evident that the continual assessment format of the coursework this year has not been beneficial to his grades, with his marks being firmly in the bottom 20% of his cohort. However, the end of year exam on Wednesday was a sign that perhaps this format is more suited to his talents. We wish him luck at his next school, wherever that may be.
Enough of all that.
In the world of wine and associated pleasures, not much to report. Breweries are still closing at an alarming rate – the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates chief executive Andy Slee said, to deaf ears:
“Times are incredibly tough for independent breweries, and whilst the price of a pint in pubs may be rising for drinkers the price brewers are paid for their beer actually dropped over the last twelve months. What is desperately needed is a lower tax burden for pubs, lower direct taxes for brewers, and greater access for independent breweries to sell to pubs in their area – many of whom are currently controlled by global beer supply.” thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/05
Meanwhile, Champagne shipments are apparently on the up, having been in the doldrums for most of 2024 and, most excitingly of all, 1990’s icon alcopop, the Bacardi Breezer is going to be back on local corner-shop shelves as of next month, available in Zesty Orange, Zingy Lime and Crisp Watermelon. I Cannot Wait.
Here in the shop, we dallied down memory lane earlier this week. It came to our attention that on 4th May 2011, a Wednesday I believe, Park Vintners hosted their first ever Wine & Cheese tasting.
Jo & John came down from Clapham, Jen-Jen popped over from Balham, as did Silvie, whilst Kare ambled down the hill. Mio also came with a couple of friends but has since returned to Japan, and Suzy came too – little did we know at the time that she would end up selling us her Barton wines for years to come. Half of these brave souls are still customers of ours and, for that, we salute you.
We offered Appleby Cheshire, Cropwell Bishop, Golden Cross & Tunworth for the cheeses, pairing them with a couple of whites, three reds, a sweetie and a beer – all very tasty. Over the years we repeated this formula unchanged on 76 more occasions (13 times in 2019!) until Covid came along in 2020. Our last outing on 27th February 2020, the week after half term, was held in a room full of friends who had been skiing in Italy the week before, a couple of whom had a bit of a tickly cough….
Now, 5 years later, we’ve decided to dip our toes back in the fondue and are happy to announce that we will be hosting a Wine & Cheese Tasting on Thursday 19th June at 7.30pm – tickets are £30 per person and we have a limit of 12 spaces – first come, first served! The formula will be the same; hopefully the jokes won’t be….
On the subject of tasting, it’s that time of the week again. Yesterday was International Chardonnay Day – how did you celebrate? Oh, you didn’t know there was such a thing? In truth, neither did we until, well, yesterday, however it does give us a good excuse to open a bottle today.
All the talk of Bacardi Breezer’s and 90’s throwbacks has encouraged us to open some Aussie Chardy. Now, the whole ABC trend can be put down to over consumption of strong white wines from Australia in the later days of the last century. Rosemount Estate is one that springs to mind – their Chardonnay was rich, fruity, uber-oaky, 14.5% ABV and we drank it like water, felt dreadful the next morning, then did it all again next week. These hefty wines put an awful lot of people off the Chardonnay grape for a long time and could be seen as a likely cause for the huge popularity of thinly flavoured Italian Pinot Grigio in the years that followed. But Aussie Chardy isn’t like that anymore…
De Bortoli Regional Reserve Chardonnay 2023 – £18.49. This wine is from grapes grown in the north of the Yarra Valley which are fermented in a mixture of stainless steel vats and French oak barrels. This mix helps retain the flinty freshness whilst giving a touch of creaminess too. Our notes said ‘open nose, crisp on the palate, restrained ripe fruit, crisp touch of mineral, gently creamy, decent finish.’
For the red, we’ll stick with Australia and open one of our favourites: Geoff Merrill Bush Vine GSM 2016 – £22.79. Based in McLaren Vale, South Australia, Geoff always likes to release his wines with a bit of age on them and this 8 year old is a joy. This fabulous blend of 54% Shiraz, 37% Grenache and 9% Mourvèdre has outgrown the boisterously youthful fruit you would get in a younger wine and is filled with rounded blackberry fruits encasing notes of vanilla and mocha.
So, that must be it from us. We’ll be shut on Monday as it’s a Bank Holiday and we’ll be busy celebrating the AFC win, whilst also supporting our local pub and then back here bright and breezy on Tuesday morning.
Enjoy!