The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

So, what have you got planned for the weekend?  If like many of us you persuaded your parents last night that a trial separation was worth a pop, you’ve now got your Mum living in your spare bedroom and as a side effect can now go and visit your Dad at his house because, you know, he’s on his own.  Your Dad thinks this new found freedom is amazing, your Mum is delighted to be able to spend more time with the grandchildren whilst you, you’ve never been keener to get back to the office.  Granny can now take two of the kids to the zoo, via the bookies, whilst your eldest is still going to school, finishing up year 6 two metres away from everyone else and wondering why she’s not at Whipsnade…

But of course, none of this is true because we can’t do any of this yet.  Rather than implementing something overnight, with the exception of lockdown, every new ‘relaxation’ or ‘guideline’ has a spurious start date in a spurious attempt to show us who’s in charge.  Support bubbles can start from tomorrow – why not yesterday?  Facemasks on public transport from next Monday, decided on the 4^th June – why the wait?  Dentists went back to work last week, yet opticians and hairdressers are still shut?  Quarantine when arriving from abroad?  It’s all about control of course, seemingly less about that much vaunted common sense.

And we need to get the pubs open, if not for ourselves, then at least for our kids.  A reported 82% drop in beer sales during the coronavirus crisis has pushed a lot of breweries close to the wall and has, as an unforeseen consequence, impacted Marmite production.  No beer being brewed, no brewers yeast, no Marmite.  So, let’s get back in the pub and keep the breakfast soldiers marching!

And we need to get the pubs open because the football’s coming back.  Fresh from their lockdown indiscretions, the Premiership’s finest start back in their day jobs next Wednesday for a helter skelter ride until 26^th July – 92 games in 40 days, it’s like the baseball but without the knickerbockers!  Elsewhere, in athletics, we learn that the 2022 Commonwealth Games which is taking place in Birmingham will now start 24 hours later than scheduled, due to coronavirus.  Well, that’s just thrown all my plans for 2022 into total disarray!

Wine meanwhile persists within its own bubble.  And within that bubble even, there exists a bubble with even more rarefied air and that is the bubble containing the Bordeaux En Primeur campaign. 

Against various trade rumblings that the campaign would be better served by being suspended this year, that in fact it was a bit tasteless even, a number of houses have released their wines onto the market at prices 15-30% less than the 2018 vintage.  2019 looks to be a decent vintage too, not at the level of 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015 or 2016 but decent nonetheless.  It was a hot vintage, lots of concentration and power potentially but with small yields – if you fancy some claret at a better price than recent year then go for it but don’t lose too much sleep if you decide to give it a miss – after all, as discussed earlier, there’s beer to be drunk!

Away from wine, what about Gin?  Well, for those of you who don’t already know, this Saturday is World Gin Day – I think you know what to do.  It’s also Sewing Machine Day, World Softball Day and International Axe Throwing Day – I think you know what not to do!

So what else to report?  The shop is still not open, despite many knocks on the door followed by queries such as “I saw the closed sign but I was just wondering if you were open?”  I know, never a dull moment round here!  Anyway, yes, we’re not open yet but we very nearly are, next week sometime will most likely see us dip our toes in the pond to see what bites and from there we will take every day as it comes – we won’t be making an announcement, we’ll just open the door very, very, slowly….

So keep placing your orders, we’ve got wine galore, we’ve got beer, we’ve got Gin and its highly spirited colleagues and we’ve got Champagne for those fizz Friday moments too.  If you fancy something for this weekend, fire off a quick response to this email and we’ll get it all delivered by our loyal liveried coachman, Mr Blomfield.

Enjoy your bubbles this weekend, in all senses of the word!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

How is the gardening going? Had any ripe strawberries yet? Our agapanthus look like they’ll soon be in flower and we’ve already used more charcoal than last year!

This week, as with so many lately, we’ve looked back for some inspiration. Working on the basis that if it’s ok for Lineker and Shearer its ok for Blomfield and Roberts, we note that we might normally mention the likelihood of traffic and the thunder of horses hooves around Epsom with the arrival of The Derby. The race has been run at Epsom every year since 1780 with the exception of the two World Wars, when Newmarket muscled in on the action. This year we will discuss it later on, as the race will be held behind closed doors on July 4^th – our tips over the years should certainly have been kept behind closed doors!

In 2016, the Euros were about to start in Paris, Rio’s Velodrome had no track and Djokovic had played every day this week in the French Open. In 2018, we took to some very unscientific extrapolation to prove that a glass of wine a day would lead to a return to greatness of British Industry. Clearly, we have just included this item as a shameless self-plug to be invited as experts to the relevant government committee, when the time comes!

There is definitely a feeling of going round and round on the news stories though. As figures were released showing unemployment heading for similar numbers to the 1980’s, three former chancellors come out and say “Unemployment is heading for numbers seen in the 1980’s”. I’m sure we don’t need to point out to you dear reader, only one of these predictors of the screamingly obvious was even an MP in the 1980’s. But if Groundhog Day really needed any proving beyond a picture of Bill Murray, then reading this headline on the BBC website possibly nails it “Ed Davey launches bid for Lib Dem leadership”. To be fair to the man, he’s definitely played the long game! If the question came up in this evenings zoom quiz to name all eleven LibDem MPs, who would get to even four? We probably have better chance of naming the eight James Bond actors.

Whilst we’re on the subject of fictional characters, were any of you a fan of Thunderbirds, Joe 90 or Stingray? There is an absolute treat for you on YouTube, newly filmed too. Check out Nebula 75, should you find the time.

How we got from Lineker to space in such a short email I’ll never know? We’ll push on nonetheless. When we all watched the Space X Dragon dock with the International Space Station orbiting the earth did we reflect do you think? Wayne reflected upon being woken by his dad to see a man step on the moon, whilst Alex reflected upon how small the world is. Do you think Dominic Cummings reflected upon the fact that the International Space Station orbiting at 220 miles above the earth is closer to his house than Durham?

Whilst we seem to have alighted on adventures in driving, news reaches us that F1 is to start up again, beginning in Austria with races on 5^th  & 12^th July, a quick spin around the Hungaroring on 19^th July before a double header at Silverstone on the 2^nd and 9^th August.  All these races will be behind closed doors, so I wonder who’ll get sprayed with the bubbly at the end.

Now that we’ve arrived at fast cars and closed doors, it seems a suitable time for a reminder that we are still operating as a closed shop (not in a union sense!). Send us an email to shop@parkvintners.co.uk with an idea of what you’d like, and your budget and we’ll get back to you with some suitable suggestions, pop them in the Volvo and bring them to your doorstep. 

We have been pushing on getting the shop more welcoming to visitors but aren’t quite ready yet. We’re still not quite sure how keen we are to open if we’re honest, we know some of you would like us to, and some not. The problem for us is that we have been operating as a self-contained bubble but once we open again that bubble is burst and then if one of us becomes ill, we will have to close completely for two weeks. Currently, we envisage opening initially for limited hours, with only two customers in the shop at any time. We would like everybody to use of hand sanitiser on entry to the shop to ensure everyone has as safe a shopping experience as possible. If you have any feedback, advice, or thoughts on this we would love to hear from you.

Well that’s probably enough from us for this week, we’ve discussed horse races and car races but don’t really feel qualified to comment on this week’s other race news except to say there is but one.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Sometimes we feel the need to huff, puff and shake our head a little at the world. Yesterday was one of those days, as we read that Liberal Democrat peer Lord Fox was in a spot of bother. It seems that he was busted for furloughing himself from his consultancy business, Vulpes Advisory, whilst at the same time claiming his daily £162 allowance for working from home as a peer in the House of Lords! He didn’t become a member of the Economic Affairs Committee for nothing, eh? He now intends to repay the full amount as soon as possible.

McDonalds opened a number of their drive-thrus this week and, by all accounts, the queues were visible from the International Space Station. Those workouts with Joe Wicks seem distant now as half the nation turns into the plant from Little Shop of Horrors!

Elsewhere, Woolacombe in Devon ground to a halt in absolute gridlock as numpties from all around the country parked on double yellow lines whilst they had a stroll on the beach and a ‘99’. If only somebody had looked up the tourist information centre whose website said:  “We love welcoming visitors to Woolacombe & Mortehoe, however in these extenuating circumstances we are asking that you do not visit us at this time.”

Rosé, Pink, Blush?

We wanted to talk to you all about rosé. It seems you all have quite a thirst for it and, given the weather, we can’t say we’re surprised. We wanted to talk a little about why many people have started to refer to the wine as blush.

So, we wondered where and how it became so widespread, because you, the fine folk of Wimbledon Park, are not alone in the use of the term.  Is it perhaps that Dulux produced a paint called Blush Pink that everyone started comparing the wine in their glass to? We can certainly rule out anything to do with when a person blushes, because in most instances that’s far too dark a colour for most people’s pink wine tastes. We wondered perhaps if it was with the rosato style of Pinot Grigio coming along as a product of marketing departments with big companies, desperate not to miss out on the growing popularity of rose in the early part of the 21^st century.

And now the answer.

In 1978 Charles Kreck of Mill Creek Vineyards (and one of the pioneers of Cabernet Sauvignon in California) trademarked the word “Blush”. The name caught on as a marketing name for the peculiarly sweet style of rose from producers such as Sutter Home and Beringer. Its popularity peaked in the 1980’s and has been declining ever since. We can see from talking to our customers, friends and colleagues around the country that in 99.9% of cases this is absolutely NOT what you all mean. You all want something very pale and dry, generally the style championed by the winemakers of Provence, who have been specialising in this style of wine since Wayne’s sepia coloured childhood.

Our Rosés are what would generally be described as dry and pale, the Cuvée Jean Paul has a little more fruit, ideal with something a little spicy, the Aumerade is our best selling wine every year. Line them all up together and we have five different bottles, labels, colours and prices, hopefully something to suit everyone.

Borsao Rosado 2018 – £7.99

Cuvee JP Jean Paul Rosé 2019 – £8.49

Dom. Foncalieu Piquepoul Rosé 2019 – £13.69

Chateau de L’Aumerade Provence Rosé 2018 – £14.99

Ch. D’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé 2019 – £22.99

And if you fancy adding a bit of sparkle:

Domaine Landreau Cremant De Loire Morin Rosé NV – £15.99

Hawkins Bros Rosé Reserve NV – £29.00

Delavenne Pere et Fils Grand Cru Brut Rosé NV – £45.00

Bank Holiday Monday

Yes it surprised us too, but we’ve double checked and triple checked and it’s definitely the case. As a result we won’t just be shut on Monday, we’ll be shut shut!

Back to our desks on Tuesday!

Would You Like A Delivery?

We might not have the robots and zero hours staff of Amazon, or the kind of warehousing efficiency technology and van fleets of Ocado. We also have no offshore accounts or tax efficient brass plates in Lichtenstein, Limassol or Luxembourg.

What we do have is an enormous Volvo 850 and a business account on the High Street. There’s space in the boot for your order (we can even fold the seats down if necessary!) and we’ll be leaving the shop about 4pm on the delivery run. Is there a box with your name on it?

• Drop us a line at shop@parkvintners.co.uk and give us an idea of what you desire – minimum order is six bottles 
• The most helpful thing for us to know straight away is how many bottles you would like, an approximate cost and ideally what you like and definitely don’t like!
• The more information, you give us the quicker we can turn it round 
• We’ll suggest ideas, send you the cost and payment details and deliver to your doorstep, all safely distanced

Whilst I know you are all missing our dulcet tones, we aren’t answering phone calls at the moment and, as a consequence, email is absolutely, 100%, the best way to place your order.  We are dealing with them all in chronological order and will definitely get to you – there’s plenty of stock for everyone…. our pencils have been sharpened and hover poised over paper, so send us your orders and we’ll pack the boxes!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all, the needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before

And so here we are again, back at the start of the song, or better put, at the start of the weekend – do the weeks seem to be passing at a reasonable lick right now because I’m sure it was Sunday afternoon just a moment ago.  Anyway, I’m not going to argue, if it’s the weekend it means it’s wine o’clock and I’m happy to sing along to that.  With temperatures in parts of Yorkshire and Cumbria hitting -4C on Thursday morning, I was a bit nervous to look at the forecast but actually it’s not too bad – sunshine, clouds and the temperature getting closer to 20c on Sunday – full steam ahead for barbecues and Rosé drinking then!

History

Last weekend, as we all know, was a back to front bank holiday.  Friday saw most of SW19 sitting in their front gardens, sociably distancing and drinking bubbly from a flute or cider from a lemon, depending on their age.  Driving round the grid, dropping off good cheer, there was a definite scent of positivity in the air; good humour with a sense of  togetherness that made it feel as though perhaps, yes, we really can get through this current crisis but people, to do so, we really must stop listening to Vera Lynn and George Formby…

Politics

And then 7pm on Sunday happened, or didn’t really.  Boris clenched his fists and waved his arms about whilst telling us all that Loose Lips sink Ships and that we should Dig for Victory.  Ok, he didn’t’ say any of this but you always felt that he was but a tongue slip away from telling us to Keep Calm and Carry On.  Oh, and stay alert… given the clarity of his message he could quite easily meant that he was going to go and stay in Alert, the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world (in Canada, just past Chequers).  A previously clear message, now nicely muddied, quickly resulted in a couple of empty bottles of wine in our house!

Business

But carry on we do, for the time being still as a closed shop focused on doing deliveries.  We have been asked by a few people when we are planning to open up again and the honest answer is that we don’t know. 

There are only two of us here, one of whom was sent into self-isolation very early on and who happily has recovered and come out the other side, but what we learnt from those weeks was that it doesn’t take very much to knock the business sideways.  We don’t have massive shop, it’s only 2.5 metres wide in fact, so it wouldn’t take too many bodies to make it full, especially if 2 of us are already in it.  We have spent the last ten years encouraging people to come in, taste stuff, touch the bottles, read the tasting notes, shoot the breeze – it’s at the heart of what we do – but these things are currently strictly verboten, so we’re not sure what opening the doors would actually offer?  Do we insist on gloves and masks?  Do we buy industrial vats of hand disinfectant and make use of that a condition of entry?  Do we invest heavily in Perspex and recreate the homely and welcoming atmosphere of the offies of our youth?  Add to this that the inside of the shop looks like a bomb-hit warehouse; that we are still here 6 days a week putting together orders and then delivering them full time  – might need to open the shop just to have a rest!

So, in a nutshell, we’re not sure…

Travel

Not happening.  Locally we are told that it is our ‘civic duty’ to avoid public transport which is easy to say when you’re a minister with a chauffeured Jag parked outside.  Internationally, also not happening.  On Wednesday, Tui announced that it expects to accelerate its transformation plans to adapt to the current situation with the knock on effect that 8,000 staff will now be going on permanent holiday – so where did the 1.8 billion euro loan, effectively from the German government, disappear off to?

Music

You probably all know this already but Post Malone has launched a Provence Rosé.  My son, who listens to Mr Post’s music was very much of the ‘so what’ opinion.  I don’t knowingly listen to the Malone but am of a similar opinion…

Sport

Finally, we actually have some sport to report on.  The Bundesliga returns this weekend, with Wayne’s team, Werder Bremen not actually playing until Monday when they host Bayer Leverkusen but, with both teams desperately needing the win from opposite ends of the table, it could be a cracker!

That’s it from us.  The Volvo is parked outside, I checked the air pressure in the tyres yesterday and now it’s all ready for a full load of weekend wine – send us your orders!!

Have a great weekend, doubtless the next one will be along shortly!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I don’t know about you but I’ve found it a bit fresh at points this week yet have been enjoying the sunshine nonetheless. We were chatting about how different the mood might have been if it had been raining for these past six weeks, we won’t dwell on it though as we’ve a lovely long weekend ahead of us. Today is the May Day Bank Holiday Monday, despite my calendar saying it’s Friday.

We’re all prepared, the bunting is out, there’s something suitable chilling away in the fridge and Spitfires were spotted at Southend airport earlier this week. Alex has put Vera Lynn, the Beverley Sisters and Glenn Miller (still missing) on the playlist and we’ve set an alarm for the Queen’s speech. We’re hoping that somebody brings something savoury along, as there have been way too many pictures of cakes floating around. That’s it folks, The Virtually Escaped street party is kicking off on a screen near you while you read this. Fortunately for all of us it has the same initials as VE day from 75 years ago which is surely something everyone is happy to raise a glass to.

But with the PM addressing the nation on Sunday evening with a view to partly easing the lockdown, perceived to be in favour of picnicking and exercising. We feel there is an underlying yearning for a party though, several people have said “I heard he’s going to open the pubs!” Never ones to rain on another’s parade, we have smiled and suggested anything could happen. Secretly though, we’ve been thinking a month will have passed before we reach that Sunday.

The Virtually Escaped street party in our house is starting with a quiz, pausing for the Queen and ending with dancing, I’m told. I’ve absolutely no idea how we’re going to fit all of that onto a phone screen. Rest assured before the evening is over, someone will have brought out a Porron and there’ll be red wine all over the shop! Time for bed, said Zebedee.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, police have arrested a man in California after he climbed underneath a moving wine tanker in his underwear, unscrewed a valve, and proceeded to drink from the vessel. Talk about impatient!

Finally some good news – we spoke to Lee from Saucer and Cup yesterday, he is opening from tomorrow for takeaways. No longer will you have to torment yourself with Maxwell House, a decent cup of coffee is back on the agenda. Form an orderly queue with the appropriate distance! Also the Post Office is open again, Monday-Friday 10-2.30 for the moment.

As an aside, this week five years ago we were tasting Magnifico Rosso Fuoco Primitivo di Manduria Riserva and found it to be ‘lovely voluptuous rich black fruits and oodles of spice on the nose – concentrated black currants and berries and bright sweet fruit on the palate with masses of crowd appeal – we’ll sell masses of this!’  . We thought maybe we’d watch the slow action replays and taste it whilst putting new commentaries to old sales stories.

It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses.

We’re still offering free local delivery, neither of us smoke and Chicago is a tidy hoof further than that. Yet we are still fully fired up – the Volvo is now a familiar sight but the boot is still empty. 

So, all you need to do is:

• Drop us a line at shop@parkvintners.co.uk and give us an idea of what you desire! 
• The most helpful thing for us to know straight away is how many bottles you would like, an approximate cost and ideally what you like and definitely don’t like!
• The more information, you give us the quicker we can turn it round. 
• We’ll suggest ideas, send you the cost and payment details and deliver to your doorstep, all safely distanced.

I cannot emphasise enough that email is absolutely, 100%, the best way to place your order, we are dealing with them all in chronological order and will definitely get to you – there’s plenty of stock!

We’re here and doing the rounds today and tomorrow so don’t be shy!

Hit it!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

39 days ago, 27 million of us watched Mr Johnson announce the lockdown thus:

From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home….. We will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with….stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives.

And we all did, some more, some less – 9,000 fines is the figure released yesterday and certainly we witness more and more street corner chats and dog walks between friends every day which lead s to the question – how much longer can we maintain our resolve?  I know of some customers who are loving the lockdown – people who usually have to stick to a strictly regimented work routine often interrupted by aimless phone calls who are loving the freedom that working from home has given them.  Conversely, many of us just don’t have the right home environment to be able to work from there long term – your zoom business meeting with the US is strangely incompatible with your husband’s need to dance in his boxer shorts to Sparks at top volume – this town ain’t big enough for the both of us….

So, almost 40 days in, it seems that Quarantine could very likely become Settantine if not more, depending on how the ‘testing’ debate/debacle pans out, and as a consequence people are having to adapt more and more to the new normal.  An article we read in Travel News Sverige a week back was perhaps more deserving of a 1^st April headline:

Coronasäker en-bords-restaurang öppnar i Värmland.

The article then explains:

Ett bord.  En stol.  Mitt på en sommaräng i Värmland. Ingen serveringspersonal och inga andra gäster.  Maten levereras i en korg från restaurangkökets fönster. Bakom initiativet står paret Rasmus Persson och Linda Karlsson.  Idén uppstod när paret skulle bjuda Linneas föräldrar på mat.

Which, I think we’ll all agree, is pretty bonkers!

For those of you without a fluent speaker in your midst, the article is applauding the opening of a one-table restaurant located in a Swedish field, where meals are delivered in a basket on a washing line – only one booking a day, set menu and only open to solo diners or people from the same household.  Should the sun shine long enough here over the next few weeks perhaps we could try it – anyone know any farmer’s with fields to spare?

In sport, everything is getting cancelled but still there is surprise and denial in some quarters. 

The cancellation of the Eredivisie season in the Netherlands was a bit of a swashbuckling move which perhaps could still come back and bite them.  A number of clubs are looking to sue someone but surely, when the government banned sport until 1^st September, what other choice did they have?  Likewise, in France, a ban following the same timeframe has been set, which puts the Tour de France in jeopardy again.  These bans come a week after Belgium banned all mass gatherings until the end of August.  With Italy and Spain yet to make a decision, which must follow the same logic as the French and the Dutch, I’m starting to wonder, yet again, what planet the Premiership teams are on, as, against the lockdown rules no matter what they say, they returned to training this week with players from abroad who went back home to isolate being told to fly back in next week.… does no one watch the news anymore?

The Premier League managers have a meeting today, regarding Project Restart, what chance they talk sense??

Wine

Because, really, that’s what we’re all about, in between moaning about sport and politics, just in case that had slipped your notice…

I am reliably informed that today, Friday 1^st May, is International Sauvignon Blanc Day.  This always occurs on the first Friday of May and, astonishingly, in New Zealand National Sauvignon Blanc day is also held on the first Friday of May… could there be a connection?!  Judging from the fact that I could find no acknowledgement from France of this ‘international’ celebration, I am starting to wonder if it should be more correctly titled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Day but this could bring confusion to lots of households who have long assumed that every day is a NZ SB day…

Anyway, always keen to have a celebration in these dark times, here’s my tasting list for tonight:

Oyster Catcher Sauvignon 2018, Central Valley, Chile (£8.29)

False Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Western Cape, South Africa (£8.99)

The Accomplice Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2018, South Australia (£9.39)

V Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand (£9.79)

Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand (£11.99)

Barton Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2017, Walker Bay, South Africa (£12.79)

Domaine Jouan Frere et Soeur Menetou Salon 2018, Loire Valley, France (£15.99)

Flametree Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2017, Margaret River, Australia (£16.99)

Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand (£19.99)

Roblin Sancerre ‘Terres Blanches’ 2018, Loire Valley, France (£21.99)

Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Le MD de Bourgeois 2017, Loire Valley, France (£29.99)

And then, to go with dinner, a magnum of

Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand (£41.00)

That should keep me quiet…

Should you care to join me on this exciting adventure, we have stock of all these wines and can deliver – fuel is still cheap and our parallel parking is improving, so just follow these simple directions to reach your vinous nirvana:

• Drop us a line at shop@parkvintners.co.uk and give us an idea of what you desire – minimum order is six bottles 
• The most helpful thing for us to know straight away is how many bottles you would like, an approximate cost and ideally what you like and definitely don’t like!
• The more information, you give us the quicker we can turn it round 
• We’ll suggest ideas, send you the cost and payment details and deliver to your doorstep, all safely distanced

Whilst I know you are all missing our dulcet tones, we aren’t answering phonecalls at the moment and, as a consequence, email is absolutely, 100%, the best way to place your order.  We are dealing with them all in chronological order and will definitely get to you – there’s plenty of stock for everyone…. our pens are poised, send us your orders and we’ll pack the boxes!

Right, I’m past my peak, so I’m off to drink a world of Sauvignon Blanc, who’s with me?

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I suspect you’ve had your lunch already, as we’re a bit on the late side this week. Timewise I suspect we’re closer to crisps and a Gin and Tonic in the garden?

We just wanted to drop you all a quick line to say we’ll be operating an early cut off on Saturday and then be back on Tuesday. We shall carry on replying to emails in chronological order, so there may be a bit of a backlog come Tuesday. Wayne is back in the chair now so we should get a bit quicker too.

Thanks everyone for your support and have a lovely Easter.

Cheers!

Wayne & Alex

Fellow Wine Lovers,

When I was but a whippersnapper, I used to watch a lot of Hammer Horror films. Now, don’t judge me, there’s nothing wrong with The Curse of The Mummy’s Tomb, or The Curse of Frankenstein, let alone The Curse of the Werewolf. Apart from the rather formulaic naming of some of the films, I also recall that Peter Cushing starred in rather a large number of them as did Christopher Lee. Personally, I always liked the Dracula and Vampire films but could never understand why we never watched any of the films featuring a Mummy. Fast forward a couple of years and a now 14 year old Wayne, with two of his chums, have laid their hands on a ridiculous amount of crepe bandage, just in time for April Fool’s Day.

Surely this will be our best one ever!

Wayne and chum number one wrap chum number two in said swaddling, position him perfectly on the doorstep, tap the knocker and retreat. What followed, when the door opened, was a scream so chilling that Hammer would still be in business if they’d been there to record it! Birds fell out of trees in surprise and, needless to say, teenage Wayne was a tad mortified. That, ladies and gentlemen is how I discovered why we didn’t watch films with a Mummy, it seemed my mum was terrified of them! So not seen by everyone as my best April Fool ever, I was barely spoken to by Easter and still receive a death stare if I mention it – gotta love a Hammer Horror!

In other news this week, our year end came round, which involves all sorts of things we do every day and several things we do considerably less often. One of the less frequent activities was where we stock counted the cellar, the shelves and the boxes in the currently closed shop. It seemed the combination of dim light, font size and perhaps our age (!) meant that at no point in the entire day did we seem to have the correct glasses on our noses. Those logistical challenges aside, it seemed most things were where they were supposed to be, we really have nearly run out of gift bags and now we just need to face our accountant with the numbers. I think we’ll get the VAT return done first though.

Need A Delivery?

Please write to us on shop@parkvintners.co.uk with an idea of what you want, how many bottles and an approximate cost as the more information you give us the quicker we can turn it round. We’ll suggest ideas, send you the cost and payment details and deliver to your doorstep, all safely distanced.

Please do bear with us though, we will get to everyone, there is wine and beer and whisky and gin to go around. Email is the best way to place your order, we are dealing with them in chronological order.

Please don’t phone the shop, we’re not monitoring the phone there except for incoming deliveries.

And that folks is that – keep on rockin’!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Many times over the 9 years that we have been writing this weekly email we have bemoaned the fact that there is no good news to comment on.  On every one of those occasions we now know that we were spoilt.  Today, there really is nothing we can poke a stick at and gently mock, so what have we written about in late March over the years – here’s a snapshot:

• 2019 – we were about to leave Europe, and then we weren’t.  Still, at least that’s all behind us now
• 2018 – we were gearing up for the clocks to change on Sunday and enjoying multiple weather forecasts containing the word ‘sunshine’ – unlike yesterday
• 2017 – the email opened with these lines:Six nations is over, England won, though not prettily and by no means easily. It seems to this correspondent though, that Mr Jones has the makings of a good team there, tidy up some of the errors and we can look forward to the 2019 World Cup in Japan with some excitement – wise words
• 2016 – in a time before DT became POTUS, The Economist Intelligence Unit Global Forecasting Service for April 2016 voiced this concern: Apparently, his lack of consistent policies, his consistent hostility towards free trade, China, the Middle East, Mexico and everyone in between, mixed with the previously inconceivable fact that he is the Republican frontrunner for Presidential candidate has set some serious alarm bells ringing.  Why didn’t anyone listen?
• 2015 – we got excited when we saw that scientists from the University of Illinois were working on “hangover free” wine – obviously not a great success as we’ve not heard much about it since
• 2014 – the lovable rogue Clarissa Dickson-Wright died this week and Vera Lynn revealed that she was going to release a new album in June – those were definitely different days
• 2013 – Girls Aloud announced they were calling it a day after all these years – a nation mourned
• 2012 – we got a bit ranty about duty increases on wine – nobody listened, yet again
• 2011 – Wayne was on holiday in Antigua, Matt Banahan replaced Mike Tindall in the England back line and fleet-footed David Strettle was back on the bench – all this just makes me feel old!

So that’s the past, what of the future?  Absolutely no clue I’m afraid.

Too many years loitering around in the wine trade has led us to believe that Alex is likely to be as fortified as an alcoholic disinfectant and  since Wayne fell into a cauldron of Claret as a baby, we are hoping that these factors will help us to stay healthy, virus free and, as a happy consequence, open for business.

Clearly, all of the above is out of our control and if we go into lockdown this weekend quite where that leaves us is anyone’s guess. 

However, we will endeavour to stay open as much as we possibly can but if we have to close our doors we would hope to continue trading by offering a free local delivery service. 

We imagine it would work along the lines of us saying we will be delivering between 4pm and 6pm each day and that any orders received before 3pm will be delivered that day.  This is not our final strategy but I imagine we won’t stray far from this plan.  We do have a decent level of stock currently and we are told we will still be able to get deliveries etc but sadly we are still in the land of anyone’s guess…

Our suppliers want to do business, we want to do business, you want to do business – I’m sure we’ll find a way.

CONTACT DETAILS:

shop@parkvintners.co.uk

020 8944 5224

The email approach is the most reliable by far since we may not be able to get to the phone but do call if that is easier.  We can then take orders, you can transfer funds by BACS or other means and we can then deliver.  Happy days in these perhaps not so happy days!

We will confirm how this is all going to work as and when.  In the meantime, making the assumption that we will be open this weekend we will be tasting the two wines that we have the most stock of right now, since we seem to be selling more by the case than by the bottle this week:

Chatelain Desjacques Sauvignon Blanc 2018 – £9.99 – classic Loire Sauvignon Blanc, one of our best sellers.

Palacio del Camino Real Crianza 2016 – £11.99 – our go-to Rioja, crowd pleasing, like a comfy pair of slippers and a back rub rolled into one… so I’m told.

Wayne and I will be mainly tasting the Baller Vodka – £33 – from over near Battersea Park just to keep our resistances topped up!

That’s it from us, hopefully only until next week but we’ll see – in the interim, ignore social media, practice deep breathing when talking to your children and don’t panic – if you get stuck in, we can help you!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Well I’m back, have I missed much?  This week we have been mostly watching horses run around a track down in the Cotswolds. Our favourite race meet has been happening at Cheltenham and a slow rate of attrition has seen us gently enrich a couple of fine chaps in tweed jackets who seem awfully good with numbers. Years ago we had a customer who was a bookmaker, and he used to come into the Oddbins we worked at most Saturdays. If he’d had a good day he’d buy a case of posh claret, if he’d had a bad one he’d buy a bottle of vintage champagne. We’ll leave the story there, wishing we had such a nice collection of posh claret!

Whilst on the subject of claret we’ll just say thanks to the tasting group who were in for a Bordeaux tasting last night. All applied themselves with commitment and now know their left from right bank!

Sport

Elsewhere, Liverpool finally showed they are not completely infallible by getting knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid. At least they can concentrate on the Premiership now, eh? Both Arsenal and Tottenham have also decided against any further travel to Europe by the same method, Arsenal having ended up in quarantine for their troubles.

Politics

We’ve had a budget this week, an impressive amount of measures for a man who has only been in the job for five minutes. It would appear that wine and petrol are no more expensive, the NHS has had a cash injection and infrastructure projects are all back on board, unless you’re Heathrow. Finally, there are a series of measures aimed at helping small business’ which may help to keep a few wolves from the door.

Supply Chain & Logistics

Should you find yourself working from home more than usual, we’d just offer a gentle reminder that we do offer free local delivery. Should you wish to us to bring a box or two to your doorstep, do get in touch and we can make the arrangements.

Contact us on shop@parkvintners.co.uk or 020 8944 5224.

New Arrival

On the wine front we’ve got a fantastic new Barbera in the Vigna Marina Coppi ‘I Grop’ Barbera Superioire 2013 (£29.99). Marina Coppi is the daughter of legendary cyclist Fausto Coppi, who was the first man to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year. Whilst the family has owned the vineyards since Fausto’s time, it was only when her son Francesco took over in 2003 the estate began bottling their own wines. This wine is a single vineyard wines from the ‘I Grop’ vineyard at 400m altitude in Castellania. When we tasted it we found it nicely rounded, the little bit of age adding a slightly savoury edge to the plum and vanilla notes and gently spiced long fresh finish.

Tasting This Weekend

Wearing the white shorts this weekend will be Aromo Viognier 2018 (£9.49) a smashing crisp white from the Maule Valley in Chile. We’ve been selling this on and off since we opened and its appeal has not diminished.

Over in the corner with the red t-shirt is a new one Villa Mottura Negroamaro 2018 (£12.99), it’s a grape variety that Wayne has a bit of fondness for, from the heel of Italy. Lovely ripe dark fruits, a herby hint of tobacco – why not come and give it a try yourself, maybe we’ll put your tasting note on the bottle instead of ours!

Horses That’s it from us, come in and have a taste and chat to Alex about his new French radio station!