Fellow Wine Lovers,
We’ve long believed that, should the world become teetotal and there be a need for us to find other employ, the realm of weather forecasting wouldn’t be a bad place to start. We spend more time than you might imagine, even as Englishmen, discussing the current weather, the future weather and telling witty tales of weather we have enjoyed a great deal in the past. We are, as you can tell, very, very Rock ‘n’ Roll. In our defence, the weather does have a direct impact on our business – a rainy Monday in May yields few customers but stick a bit of sunshine in the sky at around 6pm and suddenly the gym seems less enticing than a glass of Rosé in the garden.
So, with this in mind we looked at our two most regular influencers – the BBC and Accuweather – to see what might be going on this weekend. As we all now know, weather forecasts are much like inspections led by Hans Blix – they’re interesting studies but only of relevance if they say what we want them to say. So we gave the weekend weather the Blair treatment:
Friday 8th July
Accuweather – 22°/14°C – Partly sunny, a few showers
BBC – Rather cloudy with showery rain, perhaps heavy at times, especially across northern parts in the morning. Becoming drier in the afternoon with some brighter spells possible later.
Park Vintners – Bright and Sunny
Saturday 9th July
Accuweather – 23°/17° – Variable clouds; breezy, humid.
BBC – Cloudy and muggy but most likely dry on Saturday, and turning breezier.
Park Vintners – Nice and warm with a refreshing breeze
Sunday 10th July
Accuweather – 22° /15° – Partly sunny with a shower
BBC – Rain overnight and muggy conditions should clear during Sunday, becoming fresher with sunshine and scattered showers into Monday.
Park Vintners – Sunny sunshine Sunday
As you can see, it’s going to be an absolutely glorious weekend, with sunshine in abundance – a weekend that Alex and I will nostalgically discuss for years to come!
Sunny weekend = sunny wines!
In order to fully appreciate the glorious weather we thought we should get some wines open. ON a complete whim last week, Alex decided to buy some Edelzwicker. I know, sounds uncomfortable. Anyway, he has been rattling on about this style of wine for more years than I can bear to recall, ever since he had a bottle in his father-in-laws back garden. It was, apparently, a beautiful summers day and this quaffing blend from the Alsace (Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Riesling) went down a treat over lunch. I told you we had weather related anecdotes. Anyway, long story short, he saw some for sale, fell foul of a salesman’s pitch and a pretty label and before I could stop the cheque, he had 4 dozen bottles sitting in the shop.
Pretty label or not, it is delicious and I already think we might need to order more – Edelzwicker Vin d’Alsace £9.99.
Pretty as the white is, I feel we might need to have a red with a bit of backbone to go with all these barbecues we’ll be lighting over the next few days. Bodegas Farina Gran Colegiata Tinto Roble 2012 – £11.99 – from Toro to the west of Ribera del Duero in Spain, this has lovely berry fruit, some nicely evident tannins and a gentle touch of oak.
Wine School
We have finished our tastings for the summer now, and will be taking it easy over the summer, checking our notes and rehearsing for the new term in September. Our 6 week Wine School jumps back to life on Wednesday 28th September at 8pm.
Over the course you will learn about and taste around 6o wines. You’ll fall in love with Chardonnay once more, discover life beyond Malbec and be able to spot a corked wine from 5 paces. You’ll do a lot more than this obviously and all for only £150.
Sign up today, before you go away.
Other news
I think you all know the news. Tennis is on still. Football has us in a quandary about who to support. We are still waiting to find out who will be leading our country in the autumn. Trump is getting closer to the White House as Hillary loses a lot of trust. We’re still talking about Brexit…
As Andy Murray said, ‘it’s not that bad is it?!’ – enjoy the weekend, enjoy the tennis and in memory of Caroline Aherne, enjoy the weather because it’s going to be SCORCHIO!
Wayne & Alex
PS Park Vintners takes no responsibility for the weather this weekend but is happy to take the credit if it does turn out nice!