Fellow Wine\nLovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, a quiet week,\nthus far, in the world of 126 Arthur Road. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from two\nAmazon deliveries for the people upstairs and a visit to the Coop for a spot of\nquality lunch, Monday flew past in a m\u00eal\u00e9e of paperwork and tumbleweed. The great and the good of Wimbledon Park,\nwhich is you by the way, had clearly decided that tennis, the gym, running club\nor boot camp were far more appealing than a drop of wine and chat with a local\nentrepreneur, which is me by the way. Such was my concern that, at 7pm, I had to\ncall my wife to check for proof of life, concerned that I\u2019d missed some sort of\napocalypse and was now destined to be stuck alone for eternity on Arthur\nRoad. However, the very act of her\nanswering the phone confirmed my worst suspicions – I hadn\u2019t missed Armageddon,\nit was just Monday and my utopian future\nof life surrounded by hundreds of bottles of wine and steaks liberated from the\n\u2018closed on Monday\u2019s\u2019 Casa Argentina, disappeared into the sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then Tuesday\nrocked up, filled with promise and sunshine and news that a tiny white cloud\nhad been spotted over the Greek islands and all was good with the world. Oh, and I sold some wine, if anyone happens\nto ask. Wednesday was early closing at 1pm,\nas I always like to do when Wayne is away, traditional market day closing don\u2019t\nyou know, and a visit to a local hostelry to watch a north London football team\nthrow away a 2-nil lead to cling onto a draw, not for the first time this\nseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Wednesday\nout of the way, Thursday came next and with it a phone call from the car\ninsurance people. For those who haven\u2019t\nyet encountered the Park Vintners delivery mechanism, we have a 1995 Volvo\nestate that has a boot as big as a billiard table and a 2.5 litre engine \u2013 it\u2019s\na beast and we love it. It would seem though\nthat not everyone shares this love. 10\ndays ago, parked outside Wayne\u2019s house for just one night, it underwent some\nfairly major surgery as some local charmer decided to slash all four of its\ntyres and destroy all three the windscreen wipers. Genuinely didn\u2019t know people did this sort of\nthing still but apparently they do and aggressively vandalising a stranger\u2019s\ncar is ok. We reported it to the police\nwho, I am pleased to say, have already closed the case due to lack of evidence\nbut at least we got a crime number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So anyway, the\nphone call from the insurance company. \nBasically, the car is so old, none of What Car?\/Parkers\/Autotrader were\nable to give it a valuation, so they were going to write it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018How much is the\nwork going to cost\u2019, I asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u00a31800\u2019, came\nthe flat reply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018You\u2019re having a\ngiraffe\u2019, I said, \u2018four tyres and some windscreen wipers for the best part of\ntwo grand \u2013 I\u2019m in the wrong job!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Oh, is that all\nyou want done?\u2019 was the response, \u2018we thought we were going to do all the\npaintwork too?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At which point I\nlaughed. It\u2019s almost 25 years old and\nlives on a London street, don\u2019t fret about the paintwork was my instruction to\nthem and, it would seem, the bill has gone down hugely and is no longer a write\noff. A perfectly decent, reliable and\nuseful car was about to be written off due to its paintwork \u2013 sometimes I\nwonder about the world of insurance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now we have\nreached Friday, time for the weekend to start up, the suns out again, it\u2019s all\ngood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Away from my\ntravails in Arthur Road, there has been a world going about its business\nwithout me. Two iconic sporting figures\nwere in the press this week, for reasons out of their control. Whilst Gareth Thomas hasn\u2019t named The Sun, they,\nor their like, were undoubtedly behind the blackmail that led to his HIV\nannouncement. Equally, we know for\nabsolute sure that they were responsible for the Ben Stokes story this week. It would be really nice to see the headline\n\u2018That\u2019s it Sun, you\u2019re done\u2019 and the end of this sort of sordid car\ncrash\/ambulance chase journalism, which actually isn\u2019t journalism at all, but\nsadly I think this tabloid would survive the apocalypse, like a cockroach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t talk\nabout smoking much, partly because it mucks up your palate, partly because we\nboth haven\u2019t smoked for years but mainly because it\u2019s not terribly\ninteresting. What we both have agreed on\nsince day one, both being Marlboro purists, is that vaping is just weird. Either smoke or don\u2019t smoke \u2013 don\u2019t suck on a\nBic biro\/mini walkie-talkie hybrid filled with strawberry flavoured liquid, it\u2019s\njust weird. Anyway, there have been a\nfew deaths recently in the US that have been attributed to vaping but perhaps\nnot enough to create a serious dent in the vape popularity. However, what will put a dent in their sales\nis the news that India’s cabinet has announced a ban on the production, import\nand sale of electronic cigarettes, saying they pose a risk to health. That\u2019s a complete ban in India; India, with a\nsmoking population of 100 million people that would be an absolute goldmine for\nthe e-smoking industry but clearly the medical experts see clear risks and have\nacted. Very interesting indeed \u2013 no\nsmoke without fire, as my colleague might say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having just\nabout closed off the cricket season and the cycling Grand Tour season also coming\nto a conclusion for this year (anyone notice that Wayne\u2019s tip, Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d,\nonly went and won La Vuelta \u2013 chapeaux), we can now concentrate wholly on the\nRugby World Cup. We touched on this last\nweek with mention of Japan as an outside bet for the finals however for many\npeople, and by many people I\u2019m meaning the bookmakers primarily, the winners of\nthe World Cup will come from one of New Zealand and South Africa. Odds on the AB\u2019s are 5\/4 whilst odds on the\nBoks are 4\/1. For transparency , England also are at 4\/1\nbut I feel that has something to do with punters patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No-one knows how\nthe rugby will go this weekend, who will win, who will lose but in our own version\nof Paul the Octopus we\u2019re going to use wine as our tipster and as a consequence\nwill actually be opening 3 wines \u2013 don\u2019t tell Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In white, of\ncourse, we\u2019ll have England and an English wine. \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n New Hall Vineyards Bacchus Reserve 2018\n– \u00a314.49. <\/strong>The vineyards of New Hall are located\njust outside of Purleigh and are home to some of the oldest plantings of\nBacchus in the UK, certainly the largest (44,500 vines) and they provide grapes\nto a couple of well-known English Wineries that, frankly, are not very close to\nEssex. The wine has a vinous, limey nose\nthat leads you into a fruit focused medium dry palate with a reassuring zing on\nthe finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the absence\nof any wine from Tonga, I\u2019m going to boldly pronounce this a walkover and move\non to the main event, New Zealand v South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the interest\nof fairness I have picked similar wines at a similar price to go head to head\nfrom these two countries, so let\u2019s see how they get on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From South Africa we\u2019ll have Meerlust Red 2014 – \u00a314.49 <\/strong>which\nhails from Stellenbosch and is a classic\nBordeaux style blend of 52% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon\nand 9% Petit Verdot. Aromas of cassis\nand plums drag you into an immediately appealing, medium-bodied red with\ncrushed black fruit, a touch of vanilla spice and some nicely structured\ntannins. We note that this would be a\ngreat partner to a rack of lamb and with that in mind, we move to the Kiwi\noffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alpha Domus \u2018The Pilot\u2019 2014 – \u00a313.99. <\/strong>Similar in price,\nfrom the same vintage as the Meerlust, basically exactly what we were after for\na head to head, a typical Cabernet Sauvignon\/Merlot blend with nice plummy\nfruit, a touch of fragrant spice, a lovely mouthfeel and a nice long finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Damn, this one is going to go right down\nto the wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s about it from us for this week save\nfor a quick tastings update: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wine School<\/strong>\nstarts in 10 days\u2019 time \u2013 2nd<\/sup> October – 2 spaces left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wine & Cheese Tasting<\/strong> – 10th<\/sup> October \u2013 6 spaces left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Domaine Treloar Tasting<\/strong> \u2013 17th<\/sup> October \u2013 3 spaces left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wine & Cheese Tasting<\/strong> \u2013 7th<\/sup> November \u2013 6 spaces left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wine & Cheese Tasting<\/strong> \u2013 28th<\/sup> November \u2013 5 spaces left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, pop in and assess the wine offerings,\nsign up for a tasting our two, watch a bit of rugby, enjoy the sunshine, ignore\nthe threat of thunderstorms and generally have a bon weekend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mate ne<\/em>, as they say in\nthe bars of Tokyo!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, So, a quiet week, thus far, in the world of 126 Arthur Road. Apart from two Amazon deliveries for the people upstairs and a visit to the Coop for a spot of quality lunch, Monday flew past in a m\u00eal\u00e9e of paperwork and tumbleweed. The great and the good of Wimbledon Park, […]<\/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-1195","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\/1195","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=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1196,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions\/1196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}