Fellow Wine\nLovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
20% of UK adults now do not drink alcohol\nand of those that still do, 47% have cut back their consumption.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now here\u2019s a\nquestion for you \u2013 how many of you have ever taken part in a survey? Or perhaps more correctly, how many of you\nhave taken part in a survey that hasn\u2019t just disappeared into the miasma of\ndata harvesting but has actually been used for a \u2018greater\u2019 good, where you can\nactually see the fruits of your labours and say, \u2019yes, I\u2019m one of the 47% who has cut back, I remember that question\nwell!<\/em>\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, I\nthink the closest I ever get to one is when a local newspaper makes me answer\n\u2018one simple question\u2019 in order to gain access to an article online. Or when one of our suppliers wants to find\nout if we\u2019re happy with their offering via survey monkey. Or when Amazon is feeling overly needy. Never have I been asked by Euromonitor, MORI\nor Mintel for my august opinion. Clearly\nthey already know my thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, the\nreason I ask is because I often wonder who is actually being door-knocked by\nthe man from the market research company? \nIs there a hardcore of form fillers out there who make a small income\nbeing professional vox pop providers? \nAre the surveys only carried out mid-afternoon on a Tuesday when a lot\nof people are at work? If so, when they\nask the question \u2018do you watch the BBC\nsoap Doctors?\u2019 <\/em>affirmative answers dwarf negative and the front page of The Mirror the next day\ninforms us that more than 90% of the British public watch afternoon soaps. Clearly not true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are a\nserial survey subscriber then do come and talk to us \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear your\nsecrets! <\/p>\n\n\n\n End of\nimpromptu market research bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the world\noutside of wine, because by all accounts there is one, life meanders on. Trump slags off a man he has never met and\nthen proceeds to slag off the PM too whilst Boris somehow gets blamed for the\naforementioned civil servant\u2019s resignation. \nConfused? Don\u2019t worry; there\u2019ll be\na new outrage along shortly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the other\nworld outside of wine, we are facing Blue Tuesday next week. Having had all available devices streaming\nthe cricket, the tennis and the Tour de France all this week, the 16th <\/sup>July\nwill find us bereft \u2013 Wimbledon and the World Cup will have wrapped up on\nSunday and the cyclists are taking a rest day on Tuesday so, if you want great,\nundistracted customer service, that\u2019s the day to choose \u2013 we\u2019ll both be here,\neager and attentive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\nwithin the wine world, we hear of the latest easy way to spend 30,000 euros,\nwith a distinct whiff of the emperor\u2019s new clothes. A Bordeaux producer, Liber Pater, has\nannounced that their 2015 vintage consists of just 550 bottles and each of\nthese will leave you pocket change from \u00a327,000. I do wonder if the vineyard has taken the\nMintel report a little bit too seriously when it confirmed that whilst the 47%\nhave cut back, they are now spending more per bottle \u2013 seeking quality over\nquantity \u2013 but it\u2019s still a bit of a leap for most of us pricewise! <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the\nwine? Well, we know nothing about it\nreally \u2013 it\u2019s made using local Castets, Tarney-Coulant and Pardotte grapes\nwhich are not the first names one reels off in a Bordeaux grape list. Oh and they are intensively planted, at\nalmost double the density per hectare than normally allowed in the region and\nthen vinified in clay amphora, with no use of oak. To the uneducated, and I very much include\nmyself in this realm, this actually sounds like an effective recipe for cutting\ncosts. Use unfashionable grapes, plant\nthem shoulder to shoulder to increase potential yields and then save money by\navoiding buying expensive, hand-made oak barriques. Oh and it can\u2019t be labelled Bordeaux as a\nconsequence of all this so is merely a Vin de France\u2026 next time I moan about\nthe increasing cost of Sassicaia and other Super-Tuscans I\u2019ll remember to wind\nmy neck in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local news<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And by local,\nwe mean really local, 126 Arthur Road local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As discussed\nlast week, we have various dates for your diary well worth noting and booking\nbefore you abandon ship for the summer hols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Places are\nstarting to fill up on the next Wine\nSchool<\/strong>, so if you\u2019re thinking about joining the fun, do give us a shout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wednesday 2nd<\/sup> October \u2013\nWednesday 13th<\/sup> November (half term 23rd<\/sup> October) – \u00a3150\nper person<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If however you can\u2019t\ncommit to a six week course, here is a brief overview of what is going on over the\nnext few months, in the evenings when the summer is over and watching boxsets\njust feels like brain atrophy\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 12th<\/sup>\nSeptember <\/strong>at 8pm \u2013 WINE & CHEESE TASTING –\n\u00a320<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 10th<\/sup>\nOctober <\/strong>at 8pm \u2013 WINE & CHEESE TASTING –\n\u00a320<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 17th<\/sup> October at 8pm\n\u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOMAINE TRELOAR WITH RACHEL TRELOAR –\n\u00a320<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonathan and Rachel Treloar own and run\nthis small, highly-regarded vineyard and winery in the Roussillon, France’s\nmost exciting wine region. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 7th<\/sup>\nNovember <\/strong>at 8pm \u2013 WINE & CHEESE TASTING –\n\u00a320<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 28th<\/sup>\nNovember <\/strong>at 8pm \u2013 WINE & CHEESE TASTING –\n\u00a320<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest hits from all the tastings\nover 2019, just in time for Christmas!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday 5th<\/sup>\nDecember <\/strong>at 8pm \u2013 CHRISTMAS BUBBLES TASTING –\n\u00a330<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our annual journey through the world of\nfizz and Champagne \u2013 will the same people turn up this year we wonder!?!?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Plenty to\nchoose from there \u2013 drop us a line if any of them tantalise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After many\nweeks of waiting we finally have Cretan wine back in stock and more than last\ntime. Not content with just having the\ndelicious Assyrtiko we now also have a red, Kotsifali and a small quantity of a\nwine called Dafni, more on that another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, as is our\nwont, we will be opening the Assyrtiko and the Kotsifali tonight and tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Assyrtiko\nhas a definite floral\ncharacter, refreshing minerality and chalky texture that makes it a truly\ndelicious foil to lightly fried white fish or seafood whilst the Kotsifali is indisputably a classic of\nthe vineyard of Crete. Spices and red fruits with an elegant mouthfeel and a\npiquant aftertaste make it a deliciously fresh drop, not too weighty and\nseriously good with lamb kleftiko or a bit of fried cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lyrarakis V\u00f3ila Assyrtiko 2018 – \u00a314.49<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lyrarakis Kotsifali 2018 – \u00a312.50<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it from\nus for now \u2013 come and taste some Crete sunshine in a bottle and sign up for a\ntasting or two whilst you\u2019re here. We\u2019ll\nleave you with one final thought \u2013 if 47% of us have cut back, is it not\npossible that 53% of us are now pulling more corks than ever?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll drink to\nthat!\n\n\n\n\n\ned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, 20% of UK adults now do not drink alcohol and of those that still do, 47% have cut back their consumption. Now here\u2019s a question for you \u2013 how many of you have ever taken part in a survey? Or perhaps more correctly, how many of you have taken part in a […]<\/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-1170","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\/1170","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=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1171,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions\/1171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}