Fellow Wine\nLovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less than a\nweek to go, who will be in the hot-seat come Friday the 13th<\/sup>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will it be\nGraham Hadley, the Independent candidate and the man behind the Mary Queen of\nScots whisky we sell? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Will it be\nStephen Hammond, our Conservative incumbent for the last 14 years and\nex-National League hockey player? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or perhaps we\nwill see Paul Kohler, of the Liberal Democrats\/Unite to Remain side of\nbusiness, living up to the promise they were showing in mid-November when they\ntrailed the Tories by 2 points, or has Jo Swinson damaged the brand too\nmuch? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or will Jackie\nSchneider, for Labour, become the first female Wimbledon MP?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or perhaps this\nnew local super hero is Sarge? No! Or Rosemary the telephone operator? No way man! \nPerhaps then, Henry the mild mannered janitor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far as Park Vintners\nis concerned, we would quite happily see Penrod Pooch elected if it could\nguarantee that everyone carries on buying champagne and Christmas drinks rather\nthan booking a one way ticket out of here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere in the\nworld of politics the world\u2019s most sensitive bully, Mr Trump, got a bat up his\nnightdress when other world leaders were seen talking about him \u2018behind his\nback\u2019. Let\u2019s be honest, Donald, you love\nit that people are talking about you, it empowers you and massages your fragile\nego. Plus, they were talking about you\nbeing 45 minutes late having called an impromptu press conference \u2013 if you\nhadn\u2019t done this there would have been no gossiping! The final touch for us though was the fact\nthat the Conservatives were noticeably delighted that DT cancelled his next\n\u2018meet the press\u2019, so concerned were they that he might damage Mr Johnson\u2019s\nelection campaign \u2013 a ringing endorsement of how they really view the POTUS\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Less than a\nweek to go, who will be in the hot-seat come Friday the 20th<\/sup>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will be. The last Friday before Christmas, we fully\nexpect the grill to be turned up to max as we begin the final buying weekend\nand with it the start of the exodus, which this year we feel could be spread\nover 4 days, especially if you\u2019re travelling on South Western trains! Anyway, the point to all this is that if you\nknow you want by some treats for Christmas, you don\u2019t necessarily need to wait\nuntil that weekend \u2013 we\u2019ve got a lot of stock in here already, our Christmas\ncases will be ready from Monday and, frankly, right now we have more stock and\nmore time to ensure you get exactly what you would like \u2013 which can\u2019t be\nguaranteed in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of you have\nalready started shopping, and we appreciate that. We\u2019ve already had enquiries as to whether we\nsell mini bottles of Babycham, Buckfast Tonic Wine and various super-sweet,\nsuper-confected spirits \u2013 we\u2019re sending all these enquiries up to the shops in\nthe village, through sheer devilment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And no, funnily\nenough, we don\u2019t sell wine in cans, despite the fact that a recent survey in\nthe US by WiC Research revealed that 37.2% of participants said they preferred\nros\u00e9 wine from a can, compared to 31.4% who said the bottled version tasted\nbetter! All those years of drinking cans\nof coke have obviously taken their toll\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In sport we saw\nthe Mourinho spell come unbound in Manchester \u2013 he must have been spewing, no\nmatter what he claims otherwise, although when he wins the Champions League\nwith his third different club we may well eat our chap\u00e9us! \nIn cricket we watched as England brought village cricket to the\ninternational stage, helped massively by Joe Denly, with crowds to match those\nseen at Hadlow on a good day. We also\nlost, suddenly for us, Bob Willis on Tuesday, a local resident and perhaps most\nfamouls captain of England during the 1981 Ashes victory. RIP, sir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christmas<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a variety of\nreasons, Christmas doesn\u2019t ever really start until this weekend here at Park\nVintners. We held the last two tastings\nof the year this week and until they are out of the way we can\u2019t really\ndecorate, as we have to move stock around all the time. But now that\u2019s done and we can steam towards\nthe 25th<\/sup>. This weekend sees\nAlex at the Wimbledon High School Christmas Fair on Saturday and the Wimbledon\nPark Primary School event on Sunday. \nHe\u2019s being a bit imprecise over the timings but I do know they both take\nplace over lunchtime, should you be interested in visiting either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monday will see\nus decorating the windows, buying new lights no doubt and generally filling up\nthe shelves and floor with the good stuff. \nAs mentioned above, we will also be launching our Christmas selections,\nwhich will be three different 6 bottle selections \u2013 one mixed selection for\n\u00a360, one mixed selection for \u00a3100 and a Red Bordeaux selection for \u00a3115 (\u00a3120 with a gift box). Notes attached\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tasting this\nweekend<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I don\u2019t\npretend to have any control over Alex once he is off-site, I can imagine he\nwill be tasting Champagne, a red, a white, a sweetie and undoubtedly an array\nof spirits\u2026. Here in the shop though I do know that we will be opening a fizz,\na red, a white and hopefully a port!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We both have the\nsame \u2018go to\u2019 Fizz Friday bottle of bubbles which is the Leveret IQ Brut NV – \u00a315.99<\/strong> – This is champagne in all but name\nreally, being a blend of the usual suspects, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and\nChardonnay but grown instead in New Zealand. \nCrisp and dry with a fine mousse, it\u2019s exactly the sort of bubbly for\nany occasion, birthdays, christenings, weddings, parties or just Friday night\nfish and chips!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new white in\nthe stable is the Domaine Jouan Menetou\nSalon 2018 – \u00a315.99<\/strong> which we are very pleased with. This is the fourth generation of the family\nto run this estate and experience certainly shows. This has the quality and elegance of a\nSancerre but without the price tag. A\nfabulous all-rounder \u2013 did I mention that we are very pleased with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the red, we\nwill open another old favourite – Lopez\nde Haro Gran Reserva 2010 – \u00a321.00.<\/strong> After\nconducting extensive tastings, our in-house team (Alex and I, sacrificing\nourselves again!) decided this silky little should be our main GR Rioja. A blend of Tempranillo and Graciano aged for\n30 months in oak barrels, it has complex berry, coffee and vanilla notes and a\nlovely velvety finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the port\nshould be a bit of a treat\u2026.Taylors 1985\n– \u00a385 <\/strong>part of the last shipment from Taylors cellars, where there is no\nmore left so when it\u2019s gone\u2026we\u2019ve put it in the eto so it lasts long enough for\nyou all to have a taste before Wayne guzzles the lot! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what Will\nLyons of the Sunday Times had to say about it in 2015\u2026 \u201cThis vintage port, described as the Latour of Portugal, is just\nstarting to reach its drinking window. Mid ruby in colour, it has an evocative\nfragrance of wood smoke, cassis and spice. Soft and silky in the mouth,\nnevertheless once swallowed it has a powerful kick and leaves a sensation on\nthe tongue of tingling freshness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And with that we\u2019re\ngone. Do come see us at the Shop, at\nWimbledon High or Wimbledon Park Primary!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Less than a week to go, who will be in the hot-seat come Friday the 13th? Will it be Graham Hadley, the Independent candidate and the man behind the Mary Queen of Scots whisky we sell? Will it be Stephen Hammond, our Conservative incumbent for the last 14 years and ex-National League […]<\/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-1226","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\/1226","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=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1227,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}