Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As mentioned last week, we\u2019ll be closing at 5pm today<\/strong> as we have our annual excursion to do the drinks at the KCS quiz night. Again, our apologies for any inconvenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week saw another chapter in the Post Office Horizon saga. A spat between Harry Staunton, the former chairman of the Post Office and Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary over the payment, or delay, of compensation. Both sides deny the other\u2019s story with Ms Badenoch doing so in Parliament whilst Mr Staunton chose The Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coincidentally, Ms. Badenoch said trade talks with Canada over cheese and motor vehicle tariffs were ongoing. In an unusual turn of events, Ottawa\u2019s High Commissioner to the UK said the talks have not happened. Perhaps Ms. Badenoch pursues a rather Johnsonian approach to the truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also saw Parliament descend into chaos when the Speaker broke with convention during a debate into a ceasefire in Gaza. He was accused of playing \u2018party politics\u2019 when he allowed a vote on a Labour amendment when it was the SNP\u2019s turn. Now around 50 MP\u2019s have called for his resignation. You\u2019d think a ceasefire was more important than whose turn it was to do the wording, but there you have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, we\u2019ve read some alarming news on the drinks and hospitality front. The drinks trade warned the government that the biggest hike in duty in fifty years was likely to have a dampening effect on sales which would harm both the trade and also the tax receipts. This week HMRC statistics revealed that between September 2023 and January 2024 revenue from wine, spirits, beer and cider fell by \u00a3600 million compared with the same dates a year earlier. Wine and Spirits Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale said \u201cNot only has this hurt British businesses, it has fuelled inflation and significantly reduced excise duty receipts to the Exchequer.\u201d<\/em>\u202f\u202f<\/em>\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also read a survey by UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association, British Institute of Innkeeping and Hospitality Ulster revealing the cost pressures facing venues compared to 2023. Nearly all venues (98%) have seen food and drink cost inflation and are concerned about the increase in National Living Wage in April. Of those surveyed, 25% no longer have any cash reserves at all and a further 29% have only enough for 3 months. What caught our eye though was the staggering 64% of venues that are not optimistic about their business\u2019s prospects for the next 12 months. The trade bodies issued a joint statement: \u201cThese results clearly show the perilous state our pubs, restaurants, hotels and cafes find themselves in. The fact that a quarter have run out of cash reserves completely is a real cause for concern. Those businesses are extremely vulnerable to the slightest shock forcing them to shut their doors for good.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Use them or lose them folks, use them or lose them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Six Nations is back this weekend, with Wales partaking of Irish hospitality and England travelling to Murrayfield on Saturday, whilst Italy will be taking a tour of Paris before their game on Sunday. In proper sports, this weekend sees the real racing season start with cobbled climbs at Omloop het Nieuwsblaad on Saturday. It seems Wout van Aert and Lotte Kopecky are the favourites in the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s races respectively but there\u2019s a chance that their days may be spoiled by Arnaud de Lie and Demi Vollering. Kuurne Brussels Kuurne is on Sunday with a more sprinter friendly parcours – it\u2019s going to be a fun weekend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, somewhere in all this excitement we should be able to find time for a glass of wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sporting the white jersey will be Deep Roots Riesling Trocken, Rheinhessen, Germany (\u00a313.99). <\/strong>A group of young vine growers all got together with the idea of sharing their marketing costs but in the end decided to make just the one wine to showcase their talents. Almost a mini co-operative, if you will. Winemaking duties are spearheaded by the talented Stefan Winter, and this is a cracker. Citrus and orchard fruit notes on the nose, minerals join them on the palate and we reckon this is a cracking partner to a Thai curry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We shall visit the Rh\u00f4ne valley for the red jersey, pulling the cork on C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne Villages \u2018Les Coteaux\u2019, Rh\u00f4ne, France (\u00a313.99). <\/strong>Common practice in the C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne is to bottle the best cuv\u00e9es as a single named Village wine and the rest as basic Rh\u00f4ne Villages. The philosophy here, on the other hand, is to start with the intention of making the very best C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne Villages possible. They source wine from the vineyards of named villages and enrich them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet, S\u00e9guret and Cairanne. The results are fabulous, as you can taste here, with well-balanced brambly fruit and soft tannin that is bang on the money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, As mentioned last week, we\u2019ll be closing at 5pm today as we have our annual excursion to do the drinks at the KCS quiz night. Again, our apologies for any inconvenience. This week saw another chapter in the Post Office Horizon saga. A spat between Harry Staunton, the former chairman of the […]<\/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-1797","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\/1797","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=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1798,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions\/1798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}