Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026.<\/p>\n
Yep, tennis is back in town and, if you haven\u2019t noticed, here are some signs to look for:<\/p>\n
\u2022 a notable increase in oversized SUV\u2019s struggling to drive on their side of the road or through width restrictions or in fact anywhere that there are other vehicles
\n\u2022 perma-tanned, beautiful people wearing glistening tennis whites whilst schooning pints of Lanson in Hemmingway\u2019s
\n\u2022 lots of eager emmets will soon be emerging blinkingly from the penumbra of Wimbledon Park tube station to discover that the All England is not bang outside or even that close and no, they haven\u2019t bothered to put up any signposts to help
\n\u2022 the Pig & Whistle will become a drop-in centre for people camping in the park yearning electricity and cushioned seating
\n\u2022 sightings of the red faced and \u2018seemingly\u2019 well refreshed Attach\u00e9 for Sports, Humanitarian, Cultural Affairs in the European Union for the Central African Republic and BBC pundit will become more regular as the finals loom
\n\u2022 the Co-op will run out of anything salad of strawberry related but will have a plenitude of swedes and turnips and other winter casserole ingredients
\n\u2022 we\u2019ll all become tennis experts once more<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026.<\/p>\n
Football\u2019s coming home! Or perhaps it isn\u2019t. After last night\u2019s performance, it\u2019s hard to tell but we do now know that we are playing Colombia next week.<\/p>\n
Strategically, last night\u2019s game was a masterpiece: it\u2019s about winning the war, not individual battles. By cunningly choosing not to score and thus keep the element of surprise and our powder dry last night, the Red Devils will have no idea how\/where\/when we are going to score a goal when we meet them again in the Finals!<\/p>\n
While we\u2019re at it, why Red Devils? Online research has not clarified this slightly nebulous nickname for me, since demons are not the first things I think of when I think of the land that brought us Magritte, Merckx, Tintin and Plastique Bertrand – but if they want to be associated with Man Utd then that\u2019s their choice \u2013 Toby Aldeweireld\u2019s particularly!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026.<\/p>\n
Coming home to roost, for Theresa. Pressure at home from her own party, pressure from 27 EU leaders in Brussels and lots of deadlines looming. I wonder how often she wishes that pro-Leave candidate Andrea Leadsom had been a stronger, victorious opponent two years ago? Still at least they all voted for the third runway at Heathrow this week \u2013 still can\u2019t work out how \u00a314 billion will be found by Ferrovial to fund even a small part of this –<\/p>\n
Ever since Britain privatised its airports in 1986, infrastructure improvements have been the responsibility of private-sector owners. EU rules clarified in 2014 have further circumscribed the ability of governments to provide state aid to privately owned companies.<\/em> FT JUNE 22 2018 – Who will pay for Heathrow airport\u2019s \u00a314bn third runway?<\/p>\n This works for now \u2013 but what about after we leave Europe?<\/p>\n In their 2017 accounts, Heathrow Aiport Holdings borrowings were \u00a313.4 billion. But they did have a whopping(!?) \u00a3703 million of equity\u2026.<\/p>\n It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026.<\/p>\n As promised last week, we\u2019ve got our act together and organised some dates for tastings etc after the summer hullabaloo.<\/p>\n First up, the return of Wine School and a quick Q & A with Wayne:<\/p>\n Who is this course aimed at? What\u2019s your goal? What will you cover? Where does it take place? When? What do I bring? How much does it cost? Actually it\u2019s not for me, it\u2019s for my partner\u2019s birthday \u2013 can I gift it? However, if you don\u2019t fancy committing to a six week jamboree then here are some dates for upcoming Wine & Cheese Tastings:<\/p>\n Thursday 13th September at 8pm All these cost \u00a320 per person and, as ever, payment confirms your place at the table!<\/p>\n It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026.<\/p>\n Well, not exactly home but it\u2019s certainly coming. Next Wednesday will find us watching our American cousins celebrate their Independence from British rule \u2013 they seem to have done alright out of that severing of ties \u2013 and we thought we might as well start the celebrations this weekend by tasting a couple of wines from the US of A, wines that might also be appropriate with barbecues perhaps, as the weather seems to be holding.<\/p>\n Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2016 – \u00a316.49 Long Barn Pinot Noir 2015 – \u00a313.59 Not coming home?<\/p>\n Should SW19 not be on your radar this weekend, then two things I cannot recommend heartily enough if you happen to be in their vicinity \u2013 a trip to Lords to watch the mighty Kent take on Hampshire in the final of the Royal London One Day Cup or perhaps, if you happen to be in Newcastle, a trip to Fenwicks where our friends at Hepple Gin have taken over the famous Northumberland Street window for the weekend to offer a unique 4 stage Gin experience \u2013 it looks extraordinary and extremely cool!<\/p>\n We\u2019re going home\u2026<\/p>\n But not until later. In the meantime, we have cold Ros\u00e9 in the fridge, warmer reds on the shelf, beers, ice and lots of other things nice \u2013 why not swing by and find out what we really think about runways!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, It\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming home, it\u2019s coming\u2026. Yep, tennis is back in town and, if you haven\u2019t noticed, here are some signs to look for: \u2022 a notable increase in oversized SUV\u2019s struggling to drive on their side of the road or through width restrictions or in fact anywhere that there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nYou! We assume you have tasted wine and enjoyed it enough to come along and explore further. Our course is aimed at the enthusiastic beginner.<\/p>\n
\nOur course is designed to give you an excellent opening to the world of wine. Based entirely around what you taste, the course will give you the confidence to trust your palate, understand the characteristics of the main grape varieties and to explore new styles and varieties. We keep the size of the group small, between 8-12 people, to allow for discussion.<\/p>\n
\nWe cover all the classic grape varieties with styles from both the Old and New World. Some of the wines are shown “blind”, so that you learn to trust your judgement based on the taste of the wine rather than what it says on the label. We will show you how to evaluate and assess quality, discuss wine production methods as well as the wine\u2019s acidity, tannins and flavour. On our journey we shall cover ageing potential, wine and food matching, wine storage conditions and, importantly, wine faults.
\nWeeks 1-3: We\u2019ll show you how to taste wine and cover the main white varieties along with a couple off-the-beaten-track selections.
\nWeeks 4 & 5: We\u2019ll cover the classic red varieties as well as a few lesser known varieties.
\nWeek 6: This week is all about bubbles – sparkling wines from around the world, alongside several styles of Champagne.
\nYou will taste 8 to 10 wines each week and we will even manage to sneak in a little pudding wine and some Ros\u00e9 somewhere amongst that lot!<\/p>\n
\nThe course takes place in the shop after we close. We pull out the tasting table, set up some chairs and get stuck in. Our courses are relaxed and about enjoying wine and sharing knowledge.<\/p>\n
\nWednesday evenings from 8pm until about 10pm, for six weeks but over a seven week period. It starts on Wednesday 10th October and concludes on Wednesday 21st November \u2013 we\u2019ll skip Wednesday 24th October as it\u2019ll be half term in the outside world!<\/p>\n
\nJust yourself! We\u2019ll provide everything you need\u2026 notes, pens, paper, water biscuits and wine.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a3150.00 per person -payment reserves your place \u2013 pop in and see us or give us a call on 020 8944 5224.<\/p>\n
\nDefinitely, courses can be the perfect gift. We can arrange attendance either for a specific course date or as an open voucher (valid for 6 months).<\/p>\n
\nThursday 11th October at 8pm
\nThursday 8th November at 8pm
\nThursday 29th November at 8pm<\/p>\n
\nBased in the Livermore Valley in California, Wente\u2019s vineyards were founded in 1883 and are still owned and managed by the same family, 4 generations later. They were also one of the first to plant Chardonnay and one taste of this suggests they are doing a fine job. Crisp with fine elegant apple notes and a supporting touch of oak, bang on some grilled lobster!<\/p>\n
\nThis is classic Californian Pinot Noir. A quick swirl fills the air with red cherry aromas whilst the palate is soft with silky tannins, lovely bramble and cherry fruit flavours, gently edged with a touch of spice and a lovely fresh finish. It really is made in an old barn too but fortunately doesn\u2019t taste like one, unlike some older Burgundies we could mention! Ribs?<\/p>\n