Fellow Wine\nLovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, another\nwatershed weekend is upon us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the summer\nholidays stumble to a close, we have the last Bank Holiday of the year until\nChristmas and, by all accounts, it\u2019s going to be a stonker. 3pm on Saturday afternoon we have forecast of\n29 degrees here in town, 26 degrees down in the southwest and even 23 up in\nNorthumberland; southern Spain will be 27 Celsius so, frankly, you might as\nwell save your air-miles, and the planet at the same time, and just set up a\ngazebo on the common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the state\nof play over the last few weeks it didn\u2019t seem possible that it could get even\nquieter here in Wimbledon Park but quieter it has definitely got and it would\nbe fair to say we are starting to become very envious of anyone who is able to\nwork from home\/work remotely. One of our\nfriends has been happily sending snaps of the view from his Greek island\nhideout, with his computer in the foreground and the caption \u2018today\u2019s\noffice!\u2019 – since we have but the view of\nMelrose Avenue from the shop and never have the chance to work from home, his\nhumble brags have not been received too favourably!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Has the news\ntaken a snooze, too? Well, Boris is\ntaking his 15 minutes of fame very seriously, travelling Europe, talking a lot,\nputting his feet on the French President\u2019s table and hopefully becoming a\nnegotiator of the stature of a Mandela, a Kissinger or a Roosevelt rather than\na Trump!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following on\nswiftly from A-level results, GCSE\u2019s came out yesterday. This was immediately followed by the entire 16\nyear old population of SW19 decamping to the Reading Festival armed with\nsupersized portable chargers, a sleeping bag, definitely no alcohol and\ndefinitely no books \u2013 no reading at Reading apparently! The Foo Fighters are headlining on Sunday, we\nstill remember being teenagers when Dave Grohl\u2019s first band was in its pomp \u2013\nwhat on earth was their name again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cricket\ncontinues to delight and despair us \u2013 and also scare us just a little bit\ntoo. Funny old weather yesterday but we\nmanaged to get some wickets although it seems that the Smith replacement,\nLabushchagne, should possibly have been in the starting eleven anyway. Still, as we all know by now, anything can\nhappen in Test cricket. Football is all\nover the shop with Liverpool and Arsenal the only premiership teams with a full\ntally of points and Chelsea just above relegation whilst Fulham seem to be\nloving being back in the Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And of course,\nas you all know, Spain\u2019s classic cycling race, La Vuelta, starts its journey on\nSaturday. They\u2019ve got a quick stop in\nBenidorm on Sunday, so if that\u2019s where you happen to be holidaying, keep your\neyes open for men in lycra. Keeping with\nLa Vuelta, it\u2019s nice to know that at least one Englishman will wear the red\njersey this year \u2013 Chris Froome received the 2011 jersey this week after the\noriginal winner was finally disqualified for doping. For the win this year though, Alex is\nwildcarding with Rigoberto Uran whilst Wayne is backing Primoz Roglic so avoid\nputting money on either of these two!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, there\nis still plenty of talk in the trade about younger drinkers not drinking. As discussed previously, in a survey last\nyear of 10,000 16-24 year olds, 29% didn\u2019t drink at all, which is a 10%\nincrease of non-drinkers over a decade. \nHowever, in a bit of a blow perhaps to Seedlip and their ilk, \u2018they\ndon\u2019t see the point in alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits, preferring a\nglass of water if they choose not to drink.\u2019 Drinks Retailing News 16-08-19.<\/em> \nIt seems that some of those surveyed, those between 16 and 18, shouldn\u2019t\nbe drinking anyway but that\u2019s a conversation for another time\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018good\u2019 news\nis Alex is now back from his travels and Wayne can have a day off. If you can get him to stop talking about how\ngood the olive oil is in Jaen, how great the ham is in Salamanca and how cheap\nthe wine is in Carrefour he might pour you a tasting sample and let you get a\nword in edgeways. Five euros for a\nbrilliant Godello, four euros for lovely Verdejo \u2013 yep, thanks mate, very\ninteresting but you do realise you were buying these wines in the country of\nproduction, that whilst VAT in Spain is 21%, excise duty is currently nil and\nyou haven\u2019t even factored in transportation costs to the UK! Of course the wine was cheaper there, you\nmuppet \u2013 why do I have to remind you of this every time you go on holiday!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he does\neventually pour you a glass there\u2019ll be a choice of two, as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The white will\nbe, in fact, a ros\u00e9. It has come to our\nattention that we are now here at the rear end of August and we haven\u2019t had our\nbest seller on tasting yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, step by and\nhave a taste of Chateau de L\u2019Aumerade\n\u2018Cuv\u00e9e Marie-Christine\u2019 2018 \u00a314.99 (6 for \u00a378). <\/strong>This Chateau is a 400 year old vineyard in\nthe heart of Provence. Its red soils are\nrich in minerals, giving it an edge on the quality stakes amongst its\nneighbours. This edge was recognised in\n1955 when the estate was designated \u201cCru Class\u00e9\u201d. A lovely pale salmon colour, it is indeed\ncracking stuff with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral and an\nimpressively long finish. We think it is\nthe perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the\nSunday papers and a deck chair. Oh, and it\u2019s\nvery suitable for vegans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Staying in\nFrance, we will visit Beaujolais for a change and for a light red, suitable for\nchilling. Beaujolais Villages\n\u2018Cuv\u00e9e Six\u2019 2018 – \u00a310.99. <\/strong>There\u2019s been a quiet revolution going\non in Beaujolais, some of the smartest burgundy winemakers have been buying up\nparcels of land, Co-operatives have been merging, and there has been a quality\nrevamp too. This wine is from the\nvillages of Julli\u00e9 and Emeringes, and grown on the sandy granitic soils that\nproduce the best Gamay. Tender, round\nand fruity as you\u2019d expect from a pure expression of the grape variety. Awesome with a plate of charcuterie, but\nactually really versatile on the food front, so do experiment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s it from us\nfor this week. Still got spaces on the\nWine School and some of the Wine & Cheese tastings too should you\nfancy. Also as a reminder, we will be\nshutting at 7pm tomorrow (Saturday) and will not be open again until Tuesday\nmorning at 11am, bright and breezy and ready to serve!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have a great weekend\nand enjoy the sunshine!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, So, another watershed weekend is upon us. As the summer holidays stumble to a close, we have the last Bank Holiday of the year until Christmas and, by all accounts, it\u2019s going to be a stonker. 3pm on Saturday afternoon we have forecast of 29 degrees here in town, 26 degrees down […]<\/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-1185","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\/1185","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=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1186,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}