The Weekly Wine

Fellow Wine Lovers,

I’m not going to lie, Wayne has been a tad over excited this week.

Yes, we’ve known the programme since it was unveiled in October last year and have had plenty of time to work out the best vantage points to watch all the action; we have kept a keen eye on who will be there and who, significantly will not; we have also regularly checked the weather forecasts and googled what different participants might be wearing, so are feeling pretty well prepared; however, even with all that, as the big day approaches the tension is palpable when he blurts out something for which I hadn’t prepared:

‘So, who do you think is going to be crowned?’

‘Errm, are you extracting the Michael, I think we’ve both spent all our lives knowing the answer to that question…’

‘No, no, no – who do you think is going to be crowned when they cross the line in Rome on May 28^th?’

Evidently, you can take the boy out of Essex but you can’t take him off the bike, as his agitation would seem to be stemming from the start of the Giro D’Italia this Saturday.  He’s paid his GCN subs and will be glued to the action from 10am on Saturday morning, don’t expect any bunting.

Meanwhile, for those of you less inclined to Lycra, you may be aware that this Saturday will be King Charles’ coronation – we will be open from 12-7pm as usual and are expecting 70% chance of drizzle all day with temperatures in the low teens, what could be more British?

So, anyway, for a lot of us, this is our first Coronation but, having become experts in Jubilees over the last few years, I imagine we have the requisite skillsets to cope with the novelty.  Ditto regarding the extra Bank Holiday, which we also have had a lot of recent experience in dealing with.  Street parties have been encouraged as ‘Neighbours and communities across the United Kingdom are invited to share food and fun together at Coronation Big Lunches on Sunday 7th May 2023, in a nationwide act of celebration and friendship. From a cup of tea with a neighbour to a street party, a Coronation Big Lunch brings the celebrations to your neighbourhood and is a great way to get to know your community a little better.’ www.royal.uk

So what should we be eating?  Looking back over previous events of this stature, courtesy of Professor Wikipedia, we discover a goldmine of trivia that needs to be shared.

The Victoria Sponge is named after the good Queen, who, whilst she didn’t invent it, was reportedly a very keen partaker of afternoon tea and this style of cake was her favourite.  Alfred the Great also had some cake based anecdotes but they are best ignored as cooking guides.

By all accounts, in 1902, King Edward VII organised (?) a ‘Coronation Dinner for the Poor of London’ where 500,000 dinners were served in multiple locations across town – apparently the King contributed £30,000 towards this.

According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator £30,000 in 1902 is worth £2,974,268.89 today.

There is no obvious food association for George V; his son Edward VIII abdicated before we got to learn his tastes and very quickly a rather reluctant George VI was crowned in 1937.  We don’t learn much about the food side of proceedings but did find out that the event cost £454,000, just shy of £25 million today and I suppose you could argue they got two coronations out of that.

Next up, our Queen, the lady we all grew up with and who played a blinder, not only in her service to the nation but also in her dish – Coronation Chicken.  Still hugely popular in sandwiches today, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it!

Charles has enlisted Nadiya Hussain, Ken Hom and Gregg Wallace to rattle off some tasty sounding main course but the choice of a quiche as the ‘signature’ dish has surprised a lot of us. 

To start with, it’s French, which has been a Republic since 1792.  If The Proclaimers get removed from the official playlist for Republican views how does this slide through?  Secondly, the ingredients:  If you want to unite the nation as one, offer them fish and chips or a cup of tea, not broad beans in an egg custard – might as well make marmite on toast the official breakfast too!  In fairness, I like broad beans and marmite but they are divisive tastes that only elicit binary responses – perhaps it’s a clever metaphor and, if it is, I must praise Charles for his cognizance!

QEII gave us Chicken in mayo, KCIII gives us Egg in pastry – I think we can now answer which came first.

I mentioned the Official Coronation Celebration Playlist that is available to enjoy alongside your French tart on Sunday.  Of course Coldplay and Ed Sheeran are on there, Queen too and Harry Styles but no Robbie Williams which comes as a surprise, but not necessarily a disappointment.  Noticeably no Prince either, another sign of Charles’s clever curation perhaps?  It was a bit disappointing to see that Coventry’s second finest band, King, failed to make the shortlist, their song Love and Pride would have been a banger!

So, I think that’s possibly all you really need to know about the Coronation to get the conversation started on Sunday.  As mentioned, we’ll be here as usual on Saturday but closed on Monday.  Should you be in need of a break from the television and a bit of a leg stretch then pop down and see what we’ve got on tasting this weekend: Chatelain Desjacques Chardonnay (£10.99) from the Loire Valley and Juliénas Chaintré Fleurie (£15.99) from Beaujolais – both absolutely bang on matches for your egg flan on Sunday and both unashamedly French.

Vive La France – Long live the Quiche!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s been a bit of a week and it feels like only five minutes since I last typed that if I’m honest. We also know that a number of you have had birthdays and anniversaries during the course of this week, so felicitations one and all!

You’ll have seen Cruella Braverman has been doing the rounds again this week and on that front we’d like to bring you a bit of a scoop: we only got to help out on a bit of speech writing!

Obviously, we’re in full agreement with all parties on the right to free speech and were chuffed to have this opportunity.

[This speech has been edited by HM Government to remove political content.]

Thank you, Rory for that introduction. You know better than most, from your own experience on the beat, the realities that our brave police officers face when going up against MP’s and other criminals, and the damage that crime can do to people and communities.

And that’s why it’s wonderful to be here welcoming the launch of The Public Safety Foundation, an organisation committed to making the UK the safest place to live, work, vanish taxpayer funds and raise a family. Alongside Rwanda obviously.

This really is the perfect forum for setting out my ethos for common sense policing.

Everything that our police officers do should be about doing what I say, wearing Hi-Viz, fighting crime, catching criminals, and keeping the public safe.

My mantra at the Home Office is simple: common sense policing.

Common sense policing means more common sense.

It means better police culture and not wasting time investigating our elected officials.

It means giving the public confidence that Parliament is unequivocally on their side, not pandering to politically correct or, indeed, incorrect preoccupations.

It means measuring the police on outputs such as public response times, Hi-Viz deployed, crimes solved, and criminals captured.

It means police officers freed up to spend their time on proper police work like jogging alongside the PM’s motorcade.

It means police prioritising the highest harm crimes and those that matter most to the public. We are particularly concerned with that noisy man on Parliament Square and those nasty teenagers who keep glueing themselves to things. The public is mistaken in their belief that all the missing fast track covid money should be investigated.

And above all else, common sense policing means officers maintaining a relentless focus on wearing Hi-Viz, fighting crime, catching criminals, and most of all, common sense.

It is central to common sense policing that the public wants to see more Bobbies on the beat and so do I. Particularly if that beat is provided by Justin Bieber.

Everyone who has been part of the government’s Police Uplift Programme should be immensely proud of what we’ve told you we’ve achieved in the last few years.

We’ve delivered an additional 20,951 officers into policing over the past three years, coincidentally replacing the 20,000 officers that we cut 2010-2017. I’ll also point out that we’ve increased the police numbers to a new record of almost the same despite a rise in the population of 5% over the same period.

I have widened the pool from which we can recruit, by enabling non-degree holders to be part of policing. It’s not about how many exams you sit or essays you can write – important skills though those are, believe me when I say I was never top of the class in any of those.  It’s about common sense, problem-solving, strength- of character and how your physique looks in Hi-Viz. You will, of course, still be required to be dishing out the third degree!

Lastly, I repeatedly get asked about the common sense policing of Michelle Mone and the large amount of money that may or may not be missing. Let me be clear, there is nothing to discuss as Michelle has a big boat and it’s only small boats that are illegal. Actually, I wonder if I can skip the crowning thing and join her for some cocktails.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and remember, 20,000 officers is not just a statistic in a press release!

In the interests of balance the real speech is available here…

Suella Braverman: Full speech on ethos of ‘Common sense policing’ | West Bridgford Wire

Elsewhere, Labour’s Jess Phillips appears to be in trouble with the Standards Commissioner over some untimely declarations, Kier Starmer has distanced himself from looking at Proportional Representation, the SNP continue to gently implode and Arsenal fans are starting to wobble.

It’s been quite a while since we ordered wine from our New Zealand supplier; the journey has been a long and arduous one that included the moving from a warehousing facility that was small and crowded to an enormous one where nobody can find anything. However, that’s all in the past and we are chuffed to announce now that our bestselling Marlborough white has finally arrived. Yes folks, Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2022 (£12.99) is back in da house. We’ll open a bottle to let you all re-discovers its charms.

We’ve spoken to a number of you planning holidays in Greece this summer. As part of our remit to public and community service and definitely not because we fancy kleftiko on Sunday, we will be opening Monemvasios Red 2013/14(£23.99). It’s from the southern part of the Peloponnese, in the southern part of Greece, made from 90% Agiorgitiko and 10% Mavroudi but I imagine you knew this already.  It’s absolutely delicious, the fact that the wine has a nice bit of age means we have some lovely mature dark fruit and silky polished tannins – all in all a wine that gives scores high on both tasty and satisfaction scales.   

With that we’re outta here – have a great long weekend and remember as it’s a Bank Holiday we will be closed on Monday, so we’ll see you Tuesday at noon!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

When Rishi Sunak made his first address as Britain’s Prime Minister, he vowed to lead a government of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” He now joins Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Henry Smith MP, Scott Benton MP, David Mundell MP, Christopher Pincher MP and Steve Brine MP on the investigations list of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. *

The Oxford Dictionary suggests integrity (noun) – the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles

*In an update to this, Dominic Raab has resigned today. If you read his resignation letter, it’s a real “sorry, not sorry” example and I’m not convinced he feels any contrition or even much acceptance of the findings of the enquiry.

With no comment from us, the latest blog post on Ofwat’s website starts… “Trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback.”  This old proverb was quoted recently in a discussion about trust in the water sector in England and Wales.

It’s the London Marathon on Sunday. Since its inception in 1981, it has become an event that has inspired so many people to take up running, give up running, take up charity or volunteer work or become fancy dress experts. Alex has run it twice, Wayne joined in for one of them in 2014 though we didn’t manage to meet till the end, but definitely felt we’d earned a beer and pizza that evening. We know many of you have run it and that several of you will be running it this year. A friend of Wayne’s is running her 10^th , and final, London Marathon this year for Haven’s Hospices, so if you’ve some spare cash down the back of the sofa you can donate here… Havens Hospices – JustGiving.  Or perhaps the Lifeboats, because you never know when you might need saving and you’ll have the added bonus that it so upsets Suella and Nigel RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution – JustGiving . Best wishes and good luck to all runners, the hard work is behind you and the cheers, smiles and jelly babies will power you round like a magic carpet. But don’t use a magic carpet obviously, that’d be like getting in a car on an ultramarathon!

As we move into Record Store Day, we have exciting news on the music front: Everything But The Girl have a new album out today. ‘Fuse’ is their first album since 1999’s ‘Temperamental’ and has gained a 5 star Album of the Week review from The Guardian. Wayne ordered a copy on hearing the first track and reckons it’s definitely worth a listen on this weekend’s new tunes rotation.

Truth be told we’re probably pretty poor at our jobs, you’ve all signed up to hear about wine and in return we give you poor takes on sport, tin-pot political views and mostly rubbish horseracing tips. That all changes today as we’ve got some new wines coming in or just arrived.

Funkstille Grüner Veltliner 2022, Niederösterreich, Austria (£13.99) is a cracking new member in our Austrian corner and is a classy, crisp dry white with pear fruit, citrus and melon notes and a great dry finish.

Chateau de l’Aumerade Marie Christine 2022, Côtes de Provence Cru Classé (£17.99 or 6 for £90). Everybody’s favourite rose arrived yesterday, crisp, dry and as elegant as always.

Solevari Reserve Feteasca Neagra 2017, Recas, Romania (£12.99) from the same stable as the ever popular Orange wine, this was a bit of a find. We tasted it a couple of weeks back and were rather taken with it. Spicy black pepper framing black berry fruit character, a hint of cherry, maybe even a bit Pinot Noiry, medium bodied and great value was what we wrote down.

Las Tres Filas Mencia 2020, Bierzo, Spain (£15.99). We’ve been looking for one of these since our last one went missing in action, unable to survive the combined problems of Brexit and Covid.  As you’d expect from this north western part of Spain, silky in the mouth, medium bodied with dark fruits and just the ticket with some lamb chops, grilled tuna or some aged hard sheep cheese!

Another one that snuck onto the shelves a few weeks ago and that we’ll be opening this weekend. Dom Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, Valle del Maipo, Chile (£31) is an absolute stunner from the smart folks at Tabalí. Apart from being a smashing resignation gift for all your friends called Dominic, it is from one of Chile’s finest sites for Cabernet Sauvignon. Lovely cassis fruit, soft tannins with cedar and star anise notes providing a framework to that cassis character is what we reckon, have a taste yourself and tell us what you think.

On the white front, we’ll give that Funkstille Grüner Veltliner mentioned above a go shall we?

That’ll be us for another week, do come and taste the new wines and have a fabulous weekend!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Another short week this one, with more on the horizon – we could really get quite used to these long weekends!

For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to pop in yet this week, I’ll fill you in on what you’ve missed – frankly nothing.  I’m not sure if it’s the fact that everyone is taking advantage of a nice Easter break somewhere less wet than here or that you are all keenly avoiding Alex for fear of him regaling you in torturously tedious detail about how much money he won on his Phil Mickelson Masters tip.  Either way, the bell above the door hasn’t tinkled as much as it usually would…

So, we’ve spent quite a lot of time reading what’s been going on in the world.  Okay, in fairness we spend a lot of time every week catching up on the news, as evidenced in our amateur assessments every Friday lunchtime.  On the whole, we found it quite hard to find much to report on – less coverage of the junior doctor’s strike than we thought we would find, lots of coverage of Joe Biden in Ireland and lots about that controversial Labour Party poster of Rishi Sunak.

So, realising that perhaps we should actual get on and do some work, we looked to the world of wine for our entertainment which sadly didn’t involve opening a bottle of Meursault but did involve us buying a couple of new lines.

Ferghettina Franciacorta Brut NV – £25.00

For a long time we have resisted the temptations offered by Franciacorta, on the grounds that we often found the wines to be too expensive when they arrive in the UK and consequently not terribly competitive when put up against the wines of Champagne.  For those of you that don’t fancy looking at Google, let me save you the trouble.  Franciacorta is a sparkling wine produced in northern Italy, from the province of the Brescia, Lombardy.  Widely considered to be Italy’s finest sparkling wine due to the fact that it has more complexity and finesse than Prosecco or Moscato d’Asti, it is produced in the traditional method using Chardonnay, Pinot Nero (and occasionally a spot of Pinot Bianco), and is undoubtedly a homage to the fine sparkling wines of northern France.

Ferghettina is a family run winery, founded in 1991 (sparkling wine production in the region only started in the 1960’s) and their Brut NV is a blend of 85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Nero.  It is aged for 30 months on it lees and has a palate laden with some citrus zing, some ripe golden apples, some floral blossom and some hazelnut too.  As you can perhaps tell, we are fans….

Staying with Italy, we see the return of Le Volte dell’Ornellaia 2020 – £30.00.  Whilst not officially a new line for us, the grapes in this wine were yet to have been born when we last sold this, in those halcyon pre-Covid days, it deserves to be mentioned.  As the winery themselves say: Instantly enjoyable, versatile and playful, Le Volte dell’Ornellaia is all about conviviality. This bright red wine opens the door to the world of Ornellaia and simply shares the passion for quality that is experienced every day on our estate and with every sip.

So far as a tasting note is concerned, it’s hard to argue with Jane Anson’s appraisal:

“Grabs you from the first moment your nose hovers over the glass. Smudged charcoal runs into raspberry, underbrush and mandarin orange peel that speaks of Tuscan sun. Excellent quality, good persistency in the glass as it stretches out through the palate. Everything feels in balance, and this provides another indicator that 2020 is a great vintage in this corner of Italy – Le Volte is (almost) 100% Merlot but has freshness and nuance.”  93 points

Domaine Richard Saint Joseph Cuvée Prémices 2020 – £23.99.  It had come to our attention that we were looking a little bit short in the Northern Rhône department so we acted immediately.  This is from a family estate in the small village of Chavanay located at the heart of the Pilat, the top of the Rhône valley. 100% Syrah, this is a super fruity Saint-Joseph with light notes of red fruits and pepper, really approachable right now and a great all-rounder.

We also have a couple more wines in the pipeline but sadly they haven’t arrived in time so more fun to be had next week!

Looking ahead to the weekend, Alex now tells me that there are two things I should be aware of.  Firstly, it’s International Malbec Day on Monday, which strictly speaking isn’t the weekend but does give me a guide as to what to open today.  Secondly, he tells me that Escaria Ten, Cape Gentleman, A Wave of the Sea, Recite a Prayer and Born By The Sea are all at 100-1 in the Grand National tomorrow at 5.15pm.  I’m not sure if he thinks he’s some sort of renascent John McCririck but frankly, I still wouldn’t touch his tips with a bargepole – I reckon Back On The Lash at 50-1 sounds far more his level!

With International Malbec Day having been mentioned, I think perhaps we should crack open a bottle of Bodegas Staphyle Iris Malbec 2021 – £9.99 for tasting later.  This is from Lujan de Cuyo, which is pretty high altitude wise and home to most of the smart names in quality from Mendoza.  The winery was originally built in 1930 but was fully updated in 2002 by boutique winery Bodegas Staphyle.  The wine is brilliant, youthful and bright with light tannins, cherry and berry fruit characteristics and a lovely easy going finish.

For a white, a cheeky little Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa has been tugging at my sleeve.  Barton Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2020 – £13.49.  We like the wines from Barton and it seems you do to.  The cool maritime climate of Walker Bay is ideal for Sauvignon and this one is all about green pepper, gooseberries, and grapefruit, underlined with a crisp minerality and a medium- bodied citrus finish – ideal!

That’s it from us for this week, and remember it’s another short weekend this one, with more on the horizon – we can’t really get quite used to these long weeks!

Alex & Wayne

Park Vintners

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Fellow Wine Lovers,

Our week, in numbers:

506/222=2.279279279.

Having recently completed a major refurbishment programme, Bibby Stockholm can accommodate up to 222 guests in high quality en suite bedrooms alongside a range of modern facilities over three decks (www.bibbymarine.com/bibby-stockholm -Stockholm-Factsheet.pdf)

So is capacity 506 or 222?  There seems to be some serious discrepancy, are we trying to get 506 men into 222 beds?  Pretty sure that there aren’t too many UK prison cells with more than 2.279279 people inside?

14, to become 15?

So, is Scott Benton the next Owen Paterson?  Maybe, maybe not, but as we write he has had the Conservative party whip suspended and I would suggest to all of his colleagues to be really careful who they have meetings with, and make promises to, outside the Palace of Westminster.  If Scott does end up becoming un-whipped, it will take the number of Independents currently sitting in the Commons to 15 – the fasting growing party and the fourth biggest group there, with one more member than the Liberal Democrats!

Minus 2.

Everyone’s favourite orange, President Trump, finally made it to court this week to give his reaction to the 34 charges he faces.  As you would imagine, he brought some supporters and family members, so Melania’s decision to stay in Florida and wash her hair went by completely unnoticed.  Oh, and Ivanka had better things to do too….

£200 million.

That’s how much interim manager Frank Lampard spent last time he was at Chelsea (aren’t all Chelsea mangers interim?).  Anyway, they sacked him, of course, and he subsequently ended up at Everton where he was praised for successfully steering the Toffeemen away from relegation.  The question we are asking ourselves is, whilst  we know Chelsea are top of the bottom half of the table, 12 points clear of the drop, surely they aren’t already putting their focus on league survival, are they?!

400-1.

Having been unable to place our usual bet on Fickie Rowler as he was outside the Top 50 (don’t worry Wayne, one day he’ll win and we’ll get all our money back), we scanned down the various odds for the Augusta Masters and far, far down we found Phil Mickelson at 400-1.  Now, we know he’s a numpty and in pretty patchy form but frankly, an each-way on the man who has won the Green Jacket three times seemed a pound well spent.  Theegala at 80-1 and Spieth at 16-1 also caught our attention for e/w punts however, if you want to win some serious money, I’d avoid them at all costs because we are lousy tipsters!

Zero.

That’s exactly the amount of information our cycling fanatic gave me, before he beetled off to the south coast to eat fish and chips and drink Rosado, about the Paris –Roubaix, whatever that is.  A quick google tells me that it’s 257km, hilly and takes place on Sunday…. sounds like a lot of hard work, think I’ll stick to hitting little white balls into hidden sand-traps and lateral water for my fun, thanks!

12-5.

As you have now no doubt realised, we are open today (Friday) and tomorrow from 12 noon until 5pm.  Easter Sunday and Easter Monday we will be mostly consuming chocolate and intermittently snoozing to ensure we return to work bright and breezy on Tuesday.

2.

The number of wines open to taste today and tomorrow.  For those of you who haven’t beetled off to the south coast to eat fish and chips and drink Rosado, you’re in for a bit of a treat.

Domaine Alexandre Chablis Vieilles Vignes 2020 – £21.99.  This 13 hectare property is in the small village of La Chapelle-Vaupelteigne just north of Chablis.  It’s a real family affair here, Guy and Olivier being the 3rd Generation at this estate and this cuvée is from the oldest vines, around 60 years old, which were planted by their grandfather.  It is an excellent, elegant Chablis with a nice richness from the old vines and a good, lean minerality with great balance between the fruit and acidity into the long finish.

And, because it’s Easter, we clearly need to open The Chocolate Block 2021:

Half Bottle – £15.99

Bottle – £25.00 (6 for £135)

Magnum – £55

Jeroboam – £130

“It takes a lot of talent – and good grapes -to make one million bottles of something this impressive. Using fruit from Goldmine, Porseleinberg and a block in Malmesbury, it’s a seamless cuvée of Syrah with 26% Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier. Polished, scented and glossy, with blueberry and blood orange flavours, fresh acidity, good structure and nuanced oak. 2023-30”  93/100 Tim Atkin MW, South Africa Report 2022

15, 16, 16, 14.

That’s it from us for this week – not going to tempt fate by promising a sun-drenched weekend however the daily temperature highs for today through to Monday are 15, 16, 16 and 14 Celsius – double figures every day!!!!

Happy Easter!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

This week we found ourselves admiring the French. Not, this time, for the quality of their wines, but for their energy and commitment to the cause. A mere 234 years after their Revolution, large parts of the population are out on the streets protesting, setting fire to the Town Hall doors, and fighting with the police. It’s been amazing to witness the lengths they’ll go just to keep a king out!

Germany though, more welcoming or just a bit slow off the mark? Berlin hosted the first state visit from King Charles this week with photos aplenty in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Quite symbolic really, it’s the first time the Brandenburg Gate has been used to welcome a head of state.  

We went to a wine tasting this week. We call it work, and have a system to slim down the 300+ wines that are there. Clearly many of them we have some kind of representation or similar chum already on the shelf so we don’t need to taste them all. Like always we waded through the list and marked on the sheet what we wanted to taste and set off to start with the whites. As we sipped, swirled, sniffed and spat (it’s not pretty!)we looked along the tables to see if there was anything visually appealing that we may not have checked on the list. Well there was, a Spanish red with a very fetching label so we popped a drop in the glass gave it a sniff, swirl, had a swig and then reached for the spittoon. It was really tannic, might be a pleasure in 10 years or so but won’t be appearing here anytime soon. Pretty label though!

In other news, British politics has not improved at all since we last spoke. We’ve had a queue of MP’s lining up to take jobs from a fictitious Korean company, including our very own one! Interests have not been declared properly by Mr Sunak, although the policy seems to be to answer the wrong question repeatedly rather than just correct the record. Locally, the potholes on Strathearn Road are growing at such a pace that we look forward to the imminent opening of Strathearn Lido!

Across the pond the mass shooting epidemic continues, proving once again that America still has too many guns and way too many idiots that think the solution is more guns. The town of Raymond in Minnesota has been evacuated after a train carrying both ethanol and corn syrup was derailed. Given the accelerants on board it will come as no surprise that the area suffered from a rather large fire. Trumpolina has become the first former President to be indicted (or indicated as he typed it!) on criminal charges. Apparently the privilege of being a former President means he won’t be pushed to the ground with a knee on his neck whilst they cuff him!

Sportswise, the football is back after the international break, but the real excitement is for the Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday. In the men’s race, Mathieu Van der Poel seems to be the bookies favourite but the odds don’t offer us much room for error, or indeed cobblestones! We’ve had a chat with our chum Dave and particularly like the idea of a Ganna/Pidcock combination.

In the women’s race Annemiek van Vleuten is going to want revenge after being beaten by Lotte Kopecky in the last hundred metres last year. I just wonder if all the favourites are marking each other out it might Pfeiffer Georgi and Megan Jastrab just sneak off into the distance? They seem to be having rather a lot of fun!

Easter is nearly upon us but it’s not too late to stock up on some Chocolate Block 2021 (£25 or £135 for six). It’ll be a very suitable partner to some lamb!

Easter Opening Hours

Thursday 6^th April – Noon – 7PM

Good Friday 7^th April – Noon – 5PM

Saturday 8^th April – Noon – 5PM

Sunday 9^th April – CLOSED

Monday 10^th April – CLOSED

Tuesday 11^th April – As you were!

Tasting this weekend

We’ll populate the white corner with a glass of Dog Point Section 94 2019(£27.99) – a Sauvignon Blanc sourced from a single organic vineyard parcel planted in 1992. Natural fermentation and ageing in old French oak barrels for around eighteen months make it a real treat.

Sitting to attention in the red chair will be Familia Cecchin Carignan 2018 (£13.99) – also organic, the Cecchin family have been winemakers since 1959. They are very hands off in their approach, use minimal sulphur and produce really very quaffable wines. This is one of Wayne’s favourites!

With that, we’re off!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

It’s been a bit of a week so we hope you’re sitting comfortably as there’s a bit to get through.

Monday brought us news that Switzerland’s largest bank had swallowed up the second largest bank without any need for chats with competition authorities or a vote in parliament, controversially wiping out a layer of bond holders ahead of shareholders…  Something had gone very wrong and Credit Suisse was no longer able to “build lasting value by serving our clients with care and entrepreneurial spirit” without the help of Union Bank of Switzerland. It was also the start of spring with the Spring Equinox happening at 9.24pm.

Tuesday came and went without Donald Trump’s expected arrest. Alex is convinced there’s some smoke and mirrors going on there – the fact that Trump received $1.5 million in donations after announcing his imminent arrest may be it. Bluff and bluster, bluff and bluster.

Wednesday though, was the big deal. We had the Commons vote on the Windsor Protocol. This, of course, is not an edict on the way to knot your tie but rather the new protocol to allow Northern Ireland to function properly for goods and services with both the UK and the EU. Despite much bluster from the usual suspects the bill passed comfortably, certainly a win for Rishi Sunak. In entirely unrelated news, Rishi Sunak chose to publish his long spoken about tax returns. With attention focused elsewhere, there was little to comment other than why did it take so long!

Then we were up in front of the Privileges Committee (or Kangaroo Court if you listen to Rees-Mogg for your news) chaired by Harriet Harman, impeccably turned out in a dark suit and wearing Jay-Z’s gold necklace. Boris appeared, flanked by legal counsel we’re all paying for, with his usual impeccably coiffed straw mat and fresh from the jumble sale grey suit. No necklace for him, just an oath on the St James Bible. He was very keen to highlight that being Prime Minister during a pandemic really was a Hard Knock Life and that everyone in No.10 was working really rather hard. The reason all the photos showed bottles of alcohol was “essential” for staff morale and the running of Government.

Clearly he didn’t like being questioned, becoming quite testy at times, continually interrupting…Excuse Me Miss, he kept trying. Blustering, huffing and insisting, when questioned, that he’d been assured that no rules were being broken when in fact two of the people he claimed told him this had given opposing evidence in their submissions to the committee. I think he may be in a spot of trouble with HR for naming one of them who was assured anonymity!

It seemed to us that Harriet Harman got straight to the nub of the argument with her comment: “If I was going 100 mph and I saw the speedometer saying 100 miles an hour, it would be a bit odd, wouldn’t it, if I said somebody assured me that I was not”. Clearly remembering her own shortcomings as she was fined for doing 99mph on the M4 in 2003!

Anyhow, we could go on with this but Boris has had his say and the committee has gone off to decide whether he’s a fit person to ever Run This Town again. We think we rather agree with the Secret Barrister: “There’s a reason that criminal defence lawyers will tell you that the defence case is usually at its strongest before the defendant gives evidence.”

On the sports front, we’ve moved into International duties in the football with Qualifying for the European Championship across this weekend. England and Northern Ireland both came away with wins last night. Congratulations also due to Harry Kane for becoming England’s top scorer ever!

In real sports, La Volta a Catalunya is rolling around the hills of Catalonia with Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel duking it out for the spoils, ahead of Sunday’s finish in Barcelona.

In wine news, a collaboration of 89 scientists from 17 countries have used genomics to establish that grapevines were probably the first fruit domesticated by humans and it seems to have happened in two separate places simultaneously! Eleven thousand years ago in fact, in both the Levant (Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan) and the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). Imagine that farmers, just 650 miles apart, started the ball rolling on what put Park Vintners on the map in Arthur Road.

With that firmly in mind, we shall visit Georgia and open Vachnadziani Winery Krakhuna 2019 (£13.49) – a dry white wine, made from Krakhuna grapes grown in the river Kvirila valley, West Georgia. It is citrusy and somewhere between a Furmint and a north eastern Spanish white – very versatile.

Once we’re done there, we’ll pull on our red trousers and head over to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and have a taste of Massaya Terrasses de Baalbeck 2018, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon (£29.99) – a wine Alex first tasted in 2008, so not the swiftest turn around we’ll accept.  The famous Rhône producer, Vieux Télégraphe, has a big interest in this winery and the 40% Grenache Noir, 30% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre blend is a bit of a giveaway.  Rhôney, but not Rhôney, is not the most helpful tasting note but I think you’ll understand once you try it. 

So that’s probably us for another week, will Boris out last Conte? Let’s wait and see…

Fellow Wine Lovers,

St Patrick’s Day today, last day of the Six Nations tomorrow, Mother’s day on Sunday – it’s a busy weekend, are you ready?

But before we get into the weekend, what’s been exciting this week?  Gary Lineker went back to work without having to plead for forgiveness, perhaps having learnt that watching Leicester lose 3-1 to Chelsea on a Saturday afternoon is far more palatable when you’re getting paid to comment on it.  However, he was probably grateful that he chose to go to the King Power Stadium rather than the Twickenham one because losing to Chelsea by a couple of goals is just about bearable compared to losing to France by 43 points.  Thankfully, unlike Gary, we were at work so were, effectively, being paid to watch it (through our fingers).  Happily, as it’s been Cheltenham all week and as it’s St Patrick’s day today we’ve decided that we’re now fully Irish, so tomorrow’s rugby match holds no fear for us!

Jeremy Hunt, he of NHS infamy and certainly a man whose time running the health service wasn’t about paying the workers more money, is now in charge of the Exchequer and on Wednesday he gave us his version of a budget.  Watching a man who is clearly so very, very pleased with himself was quite difficult and, when you add weak jokes and questionable data into mix, it almost had us reaching for the Rum.  We won’t go into deep analysis of his suggestions but suffice to say, booze will get more expensive in August whether we like it or not, you have been warned.

Thursday brought Alex a couple of big wins at Cheltenham, although when you’re only betting a pound a punt, big wins aren’t really life changing.  Wayne also had some big wins and is now looking at yacht brochures and topping up his pension pot….

And now it’s Friday and we’re wearing green.  We don’t sell Guinness and we don’t sell Jameson’s but we do sell something better: JJ Corry The Gael Batch No. 2 – £73.  Here’s a bit of their story:

In 2015 we built a bonded Rackhouse on the McGuane Family Farm and resurrected the lost art of Irish Whiskey Bonding.  Whiskey Bonding is the practice of sourcing new make spirit and mature Irish Whiskey from Irish distilleries and maturing, blending and bottling unique whiskeys.  During the ‘golden age’ of Irish Whiskey (in the 19th and 20th centuries), there were hundreds of distilleries operating on the island of Ireland.  Most did not have their own brands of whiskey at that time, however.  These distilleries made their new make whiskey spirit and sold it wholesale to the Bonders to age, blend and bottle.  The Bonders were the publicans, grocers and mercantile owners.  They would travel to their local distillery with their own barrels, fill them up with new make spirit and then cart them home for ageing and then blending.  Bonders were present in every town in Ireland, giving rise to regional styles.  Sadly, the Irish Whiskey Industry collapsed in the 1930s and the few remaining distilleries cut off the Bonders’ supply, leaving Irish Whiskey Bonding to die out.

The Gael Batch No.2 is a 60% Malt and 40% Grain blend comprising of

• 30% single malt bonded in 2002
• 26% single malt bonded in 2003
• 4% single malt bonded in 1991
• 40% single grain bonded in 2010

Aromas of shortbread, peaches and cream and sweet grass fill the nose, complemented by notes of lemon drizzle cake, honeycomb, rye bread and thyme throughout the palate.

Batch No.2 was of just 2800 bottles.

Tempted?  I know I am…

However, if whisky is not your thing, how about trying some of the wines we’ve got on tasting this weekend?

A propos of nothing we’ve elected to taste a Gewurztraminer from Northern Italy and a new red from Portugal – should be fun.

Cantina Tramin Gewürztraminer 2021 – £19.99.  So, a bit of background required, I think.  Cantina Tramin was founded in 1898 and has 310 member winegrowers who follow its strict directives on the cultivation of the vines.  If I were then to tell you that the sleepy village of Termeno/Tramin is thought to be the birthplace of the Traminer white grape variety, also known as Gewürztraminer, then you can probably guess why we love this wine.  Add to all this the fact that in 2011, Cantina Tramin gained the “Double Stella” award, which is only given to a winery for achieving the prestigious “3 Bicchieri” 20 times which is awarded by the Gambero Rosso then I think you’ll agree you’re getting quite a lot of wine for your £20 note!  An intense and complex nose, with aromas of tropical fruit, notes of spice and a layer of minerality, accompanied by the charismatic scent of roses.  Creamy, with a balancing acidity and a deliciously long finish – there is no doubt that Tramin make our favourite Gewürztraminer!

Caves Alianca Quatro Ventos Douro 2021 – £10.49.  We always enjoy reds from Portugal and here’s a new edition to our range.  The hand-picked grapes are sourced from selected vineyards in the Douro Valley, where old vines are planted in schist soil in the ‘patamares’ system.  The wine itself has earthy blackberry fruit with hints of warm vanilla spice on the nose, ripe plummy fruit on the palate and a characterful finish.  Delicious with veal or lamb, or perhaps a platter of firm mature cheeses.

That’s about it from us, just a reminder that your Mum would really enjoy a glass of Champagne on Sunday, so don’t forget!

Sláinte!

Fellow Wine Lovers,

ME: What’s another word for unlikeable? 

GOOGLE: unpleasant, obnoxious, vicious, impolite, venomous, vindictive, unlovable, nasty, spiteful, annoying, Rishi, Suella

So, it seems that it’s not just me that’s been listening to Real Dictators on Spotify.  Mr Lineker is clearly a fan whilst the Prime Minister and Home Secretary also seem to have been taking notes as they managed to plumb ever newer depths this week, with hauntingly broad smiles all round.  Arguably the least self-aware comment regarding Lineker came from the PM’s spokesperson:

“It’s obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration.”

The basic annual salary of an MP in the House of Commons, before ‘business costs’ is £84,144, also funded by hard-working British payers – have you heard some of the lazy and unhelpful rhetoric that has come from Westminster recently?

And where now for the BBC?  Al Capone was felled by the Treasury department, Boris Johnson was scuppered by Pincher’s roaming hands, will the BBC be sunk by the winner of the 1986 Golden Boot?  If they sack Gary they just look like a tool of the government, our very own Fox News-alike, a mouthpiece for Trumpian ramblings of Anderson, Braverman et al.  However, if they stand their ground and actually look beyond the guff emanating from SW1 then they can re-establish themselves as a news outlet with integrity.  I fear the former will be the preferred route but we’ll see.  If he is given the boot though, he can take succour from the Suella story – sacked by the prime minister because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules, and then re-appointed to the same role six days later, this sets a perfect precedent for him to follow!

Anyway, enough already, what else has been going on this week?  Farrell has been shifted to the bench for Saturday’s 6 Nations match against France which is a bit of a welcome surprise move from Mr Borthwick; Spurs have proved themselves to be monumentally awful in the FA cup, in the Premiership and in the Champions League, all in the space of 8 days whilst the mighty Arsenal are still top of the Premier league, just in case you were wondering.  We’ve lost the cricket twice to Bangladesh this week in different formats but young Tom Pidcock won the Strade Bianche, the first time a Brit has been victorious in this dusty old race.

Not a lot of news on the wine front, Burgundy is still expensive, South Africa and Portugal still offer great value and Chile is often overlooked – as I said, no news really.  However with these comments in mind, here’s what we’ll be opening this weekend:

Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2021 – £13.99 – this is a delicious barrel fermented Chardonnay from Swartland in South Africa.  Crisp, fresh and elegant with grapefruit and lime citrus notes, a hint of something a tad more tropical and then a lovely creamy textured finish.  It’s not Burgundy but it could be a nice alternative and certainly more wallet friendly!

Viña von Siebenthal Carmenère 2018 – £20.99 – from the Aconcagua Valley in Chile this is a rich and complex wine with aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants and damsons even, complemented by notes of cedar, tobacco and roasted hazelnuts.  A concentrated and full-bodied first impression is balanced with soft tannins and a long elegant finish – definitely a wine that gives many Bordeaux a run for their money!

That’s all from us; we’ll leave the last words to our Home Secretary, the one person who we can rely on to never ever make lazy or unhelpful remarks:

“It’s the Labour party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today.”

I rest my case.

Fellow Wine Lovers,

Since Wayne has given me some time off and gone on holiday, I have been spending a lot of hours alone in the shop with just Spotify for company.  This actually is no bad thing, podcasts have bounded uninterrupted into my consciousness and my knowledge of Real Dictators has grown apace.  One of the big eye openers for me has been that there is an almost formulaic route to becoming a dictator: be a bit weird with a reputation for being not entirely trustworthy; talk well, and at length, perhaps bombastically; twist the truth; have an ego; a well-developed sense of entitlement helps; be sure to line your pockets; lie to everyone.  These characteristics used to be the preserve of the worst of men (and they are all men) but now it seems that it has become a more general job spec for too many monotone politicians.

Sorry about that, clearly my listening has gloomed my mood, I’ll stop with the podcasts now and go back to listening to music.

So, how many WhatsApp messages have you sent today? 

Yesterday I think I sent 17 but then, clearly, I’m no Matt Hancock.  We now know that 100,000 WhatsApp messages were handed to the journalist who ‘wrote’ Pandemic Diaries, The Inside Story Of Britain’s Battle Against Covid covering Mr Hancock’s period as Health Secretary.  Guessing that these messages date from March 2020 and at most go through to his resignation in June 2021, we have 15/16 months of messages which, by our conservative calculations, equate to 6,250 messages a month or about 220 each day.  Do we assume these messages include the messages to Gina Coladangelo?  Probably not, so we can fabricate that he was sending in the region of 300 messages a day, a social networking presence that a 17 year old would be hard pressed to keep up with, whilst all the while being ‘totally ******* hopeless’  in his day job, to use Boris’ words.

Anyway, suffice to say, the man whose actions during the Covid years raised too many questions, whose actions in the jungle raised too many eyebrows and who sought to provide some answers/excuses by publishing a book, now feels a ‘massive betrayal’ when 100,000 of his answers are put into the public domain.  Poor, poor chap.

Elsewhere, in cricket we fluffed our lines in New Zealand on Monday and looked like we might also do the same in Bangladesh on wednesday had it not been for a great knock by Dawid Malan.  A rugby win in Cardiff did not feel quite as triumphal as it could have done and the news that Marcus Smith has been sent home to try to learn how to play as well as Owen Farrell is currently, does not feel like a forward step…

“Drink wine, primarily for the pleasure, but at the back of your mind think ‘could I be trying different bottles or varieties that might actually be healthier for me and that I might enjoy?’ …. Diversity is also important; if you take the analogy from food, having a range of different grape varieties in your diet means you are going to be helping different gut microbes inside you and you will increase your gut health and diversity….. Don’t just stick with the same wine, get out there and try hundreds or thousands of different grape varieties that we generally don’t enjoy….. Let’s get those rare ones back on the map again because those could be helping you nourish really healthy gut microbes inside you and improve your health.”

Wise words, given perhaps greater gravitas having been uttered by Professor Tim Spector, Mr ZOE Health Study.  And of course, we agree.  There is so much choice out there, why not give your palate a bit of an adventure all in the name of positive gut health – imagine, a delicious glass of wine that might actually do you good!

So, following the Doctor’s orders, we’ll be waving the following bottles under your noses this weekend, if you fancy a taste:

Cantine Colomba Bianca Vitese Grillo 2021 – £11.99.  We’ve been enjoying our Grillo for quite a while now.  This nearly forgotten Sicilian variety (a crossing of Catarratto and Zibibbo) has lovely lifted citrus and tropical fruit character, a touch of minerality, great mouthfeel and a zesty finish.  Established in 1970, Colomba Bianca are dynamic, very quality focused and also just happen to be the biggest Italian producer of organic wine – so a winner all round then: a diverse, gut friendly organic wine that’s not Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio!

Prats & Symington Prazo de Roriz 2018 – £16.99.  Prats & Symington was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between the well-known Bordeaux winemaker, Bruno Prats and the famous Port making Symington family.  Made using port grapes (35% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 20% Tinta Roriz, 20% other varieties) the wine is characterised particularly by red fruit flavours of raspberries and cherries and the terroir provides a distinctive minerality and appealing peppery spice.  Forget your Shiraz or other such mainstream varieties – try this with your steak!

One piece of admin before we go – we will be opening later on Tuesday 7^th March because we have a big supplier tasting to attend in Camden beforehand but we should definitely be back here by 4pm – sorry for the disruption!

I think that’s it from us for now, I’m off to see if the Keir Starmer Real Dictators episode is up yet – if he is as guilty of the Machiavellian manipulations of Sue Gray that the Conservatives might have us believe, then it should be an amazing story!

Raising a glass to your good health