Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, it didn\u2019t take long for life to get back to normal did\nit? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One minute we\u2019re fending off mince pies and glasses of Pedro\nXimenez; it seems just moments later that we\u2019re singing Auld Lang Syne and\nwondering where we left our Champagne glass and then, ka-boom, it\u2019s the 3rd<\/sup>\nday of 2020 and Il Donaldo is trying to start World War III, which would\ndefinitely be the last in the trilogy, with little prospect of any of us making\nit through to the final credits. Thus he\nwished us all a very Happy New Year reminding us that it\u2019s an election year and\nthat the best distraction from domestic strife is a good dose of aggressive\nforeign policy – oorah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boris returned from channelling his inner Princess Margaret\nin Mustique \u2013 images of the tousled toff sporting a floaty kaftan and Bakelite\ncigarette holder were too much even for the most prying paparazzo it would seem\n\u2013 and he is back in the driving seat. By all accounts phone reception is\nterrible in that part of the West Indies so despite relevant vicinity of\nMar-a-Lago, Donald was unable to let Boris know what he was up to in the Middle\nEast\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway Boris didn\u2019t need such distractions since he has now\ngot to \u2018get Brexit done\u2019 although I imagine he hasn\u2019t a far more erudite way of\nexpressing this. We await, with bated\nbreath, the next stage in this drama \u2013 31st<\/sup> January is the new date\nof significance for our diaries, I believe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday the tabloids erupted in mutual despair, panic and\nvitriol at the announcement that a Ginger Prince and his wife, a successful\nactress, might want to live outside the bubble that is the British Royal\nFamily. Instead they want to live in a\ndifferent bubble, in Canada or Hollywood perhaps, and thus will be harder to\npry on. Shameful. And this comes just weeks after the other\nGinger Prince announced he was going to take \u2018a breather to travel, write, and read. I\u2019ll be off social media until\nit\u2019s time to come back.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Question \u2013 has anyone ever seen Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran\nin the same room at the same time? Just\nsaying\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a more local viewpoint, it\u2019s January, it\u2019s damp whilst\npeople are trying to stay dry and the Coop is full of \u2018fake beef\u2019 burgers. Yep, it\u2019s time for our annual Rantuary \u2013 a\ntime for us to be incredulous at almost everything that\u2019s going on in the\nworld, to be disappointed and frustrated to the same degree as we are for the\nrest of the year but at least this month it has a nametag, it has a purpose and\nwe might perhaps even blag someone to sponsor us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We seem to have heard less about dry January thus far but we\ndo seem to be hearing an awful lot more about not eating meat. Great for us \u2013 for a change, we purveyors of\nfine beverages are not getting it in the neck from the same journalists who\ncouldn\u2019t get enough fine beverage down their necks 10 days ago and instead it\u2019s\nthe cows and sheep who are feeling the sharp stick this month. Goats would be in trouble too, if anyone in\nEngland knowingly ate much of their meat but that\u2019s a story for another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, the cows and sheep are still digesting too much and\nfilling the world with methane, so we need to stop eating them. But just for a month? Surely if we don\u2019t eat them, they\u2019re far more\nlikely to carry on producing methane\u2026 I know I\u2019m being fatuous but what are we\nactually going to do with all these extra animals if we stop eating them? The world is already overpopulated, we\u2019re\ntold, and if we\u2019re going to have to start fighting for a parking space at\nSainsbury\u2019s with Peppa Pig and Larry the Lamb, fighting for the last bag of\nsprouts and the last sliced loaf, where does that really leave us \u2013 perhaps I\nget the sprouts and Peppa eats Larry? \nHow does that fit in with the not eating animals thing? Can cats still eat mice or do they now have\nto eat rice. No, they can\u2019t because, we\ncan\u2019t eat rice. Rice paddy fields,\nmanmade wetlands, methane producers extraordinaire \u2013 sadly I don\u2019t think\nseaweed is a cure this time. So, we\ncan\u2019t eat meat and we can\u2019t now eat rice. \nLet\u2019s eat cheese? Oh no, can\u2019t do\nthat, long standing research from every ski resort ever indicates that\nexcessive ingestion of Raclette and three cheese fondue can result in\nindigestion and a notable increase in gases that remind one of a greenhouse. And then I go home to my vegan supper of\nlentils and sweet potato and realise that it\u2019s been cooked using fossil fuels\nand more significantly, as my wife cooked this, I have enslaved another animal\nto produce my food \u2013 by far the easiest part of Veganuary is not eating the\nmeat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, with apologies, I am not going vegan or dry this month\nand, since Wayne has just said, in his wisdom, \u2018Alex. Leave it!\u2019<\/em> I will do just that \u2013 welcome to Rantuary!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wayne\u2019s wisdom doesn\u2019t end here though of course. As he sagely pointed out to a customer who\nwas threatening an abstemious month the other day, \u2018we can cater very well for Dry January \u2013 we have dry whites, dry reds,\ndry Gin and even dried meat!\u2019<\/em>, at which point he rested his case and the\ncustomer left the shop\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a potential sale lost, it was now up to him to come up\nwith a mechanic that would jump start sales in this month leading up to the\ndivorce from Europe. So, using the adage\nthat imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, he came up with this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n SIX\nBOTTLES OF WINE FOR THE PRICE OF FIVE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those of you with fabulous memories may recognise the fact\nthat we may well have done this before, in 2012. And 2013. \nAnd 2014. And, well yes, every\nyear since. But it works \u2013 it works for\nyou, it works for us and, in a backhanded fashion, it works for the taxman who\nwants his cut at the end of the month too\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So don\u2019t be slow, we\u2019ve attached a list of what we have in\nstock for your perusal, the deal can be mixed too, so frankly, what are we all\nwaiting for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tasting\nthis weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To help you towards the half dozen we\u2019ll open a couple of\nbottles of easy drinking Italians this weekend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madregale Bianco 2018 –\n\u00a38.99 – <\/strong>We\nlove the whites of Abruzzo and this is soft and fruity with a crisp dry finish\n\u2013 Chardonnay blended with Trebbiano make it all about richness without becoming\ntoo unctuous or overbearing. Would work\na treat with smoked salmon, or chicken Caesar salad, and beyond food \u2013 a\nperfect aperitif!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madregale Rosso 2018 –\n\u00a38.99 – <\/strong>This\nblend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese is a prime example of the enormous\nstrides forward that have been made in terms of quality and tastiness in\nAbruzzo. The soft earthy rusticity of\nthe Montepulciano combines nicely with the slightly fresher, more elegant\nSangiovese. Perhaps not a wine to\nponder, it is pitch perfect with a tomato based pasta!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nthat\u2019s it from us \u2013 first email of the decade, only another 520 odd to write\nuntil 2030 \u2013 things can only get better!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Well, it didn\u2019t take long for life to get back to normal did it? One minute we\u2019re fending off mince pies and glasses of Pedro Ximenez; it seems just moments later that we\u2019re singing Auld Lang Syne and wondering where we left our Champagne glass and then, ka-boom, it\u2019s the 3rd day […]<\/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-1235","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\/1235","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=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}