Fellow Wine Lovers,
We find ourselves quite entranced with this World Cup despite a few teething troubles (sorry I couldn’t resist it), England have done what we expected them to, Spain have surprised us and Brazil, as ever, are doing just enough to progress. Cricket, close but no cigar, the tennis is a work in progress, but let’s face it, the real sport starts in Yorkshire next weekend with Le Grand Depart!
Elsewhere the rain is coming into the west for the Glastonbury weekend.
Wine School
We’ve had a lot of people asking so…
Term Starts on Wednesday 17th September at 8pm sharp. Over 6 Wednesday evenings you’ll taste around 60 different wines discover new favourites and who knows, maybe make some friends too. Cost is £150 and full details are attached.
Wine & Cheese
We had a fabulous evening last night sampling some fantastic cheeses from our chums at Norbiton Cheese and matching them with some of our delicious wines (I particularly enjoyed the Kopke White Port!). The next one is Thursday 24th July so don’t be shy, as we’ll have no more till the end of September. Cost as usual is £20 per person call us on 020 8944 5224 or drop us a line on shop@parkvintners.co.uk .
Posh
We’ve long been fans of Sean O’Callaghan’s winemaking, raved on about his Sangiovese skills, why we even had a Chianti made by him for the first couple of years we were open.
For those of you who haven’t heard our ravings, Sean O’Callaghan is an Englishman, born in Sri Lanka and trained in winemaking at Geisenheim (Germany’s wine town). We think he makes some of the most sublime wines from Sangiovese you’ll find in Tuscany. Trouble is they are delicious, made in small quantities and sell out easily.
You can imagine our excitement when we managed to taste and lay our hands on some! Riecine 2010 (£46) is on the shelves now, a stunningly elegant Sangiovese, aromatic with wonderful fruit purity and fine tannins. I’ve just seen that one of Italy’s leading wine critics says it recalls a Roumier Chambolle which we’d say is high praise indeed.
…& Becks
Our chums over at Rocky Head have been busy at the mash tun producing new ale for us all to enjoy. The aptly named Rocky Head Session (£2.50) comes in at 4% so is a lighter style than their other beers, enabling the thirsty of us to engage in several slakers. Despite the lower ABV it is as flavour packed as you’d expect from them, packing the hoppy kick of an IPA.
This Weekend
For those of us not going to see Dolly Parton and Metallica at Glastonbury we thought we’d open something suitably tasty in store. Alex has been at my ear all week “can we open the Leira Seca on Saturday, can we?” So for a bit of peace and quiet I thought we’d visit Portugal.
In the white corner… our delicious new Vinho Verde Leira Seca Alvarinho e Trajadura Minho (£10.49), whilst in the interests of balance we’ll head a bit further inland to the Dao region. It is here that our chum Luis resides, making the deliciously juicy Quinta do Correio (£10.49) a cracking red blend of Jaen, Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro and Tinta Roriz.
So come in and have a taste of Portugal and we can discuss the merits of Dolly joining Metallica onstage for the encore of “Seek & Destroy”. Wear your wellies for the full Glastonbury experience if you wish, but we can’t promise any mud!
…and finally
On a topically local thingamabob, Glenn Mulcaire of hacking fame, scored AFC Wimbledon’s first ever goal (against Bromley July 2002).