Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m back, you\u2019re all back, the schools are back and Wayne is now about to sneak out the back on his hols, now that we\u2019ve vacated the loungers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you have a good trip? Certainly we did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain was hot, which is how we like it and expect it to be; Madrid was half empty, which is how we like it and certainly didn\u2019t expect whilst the train from there to Malaga took just over two hours, which is how we would like our UK trains to be but have low expectations. Devon was warm enough to need suncream, which is always a treat; the news that Jona Lewi had moored his \u00a3250 million super yacht in Dartmouth Harbour turned out to be an entertainingly misheard fallacy of misdirection as did the ridiculous proposition from across the Tamar that you should put jam on your scone first\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now we\u2019re back and the traditional September Indian Summer seems to have disappeared behind the thunder clouds.\u00a0 I\u2019m back wearing trousers and socks about a month earlier than usual, which feels weird and a tad disappointing particularly since I\u2019m told Autumn doesn\u2019t start until 22nd <\/sup>September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve still got ros\u00e9 in the fridge though, just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been a busy first week back though, balancing the viewing of the Tour of Britain with the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a has been Wayne\u2019s job, whilst I have been mainly staring into the computer screen\u2019s dark eyes, Away from Arthur Road, generally sifting through the broadsheets we have little to comment upon \u2013 do we really think Liam\u2019s voice can last for 17 concerts? At the same time, do we think the truce between the heavily-browed brothers will last beyond Cardiff? Or even get there? Definitely maybe has to be the call. The masterplan is that, at the moment, the boys are estimated to be in line for something like \u00a3400 million from the gigs and that\u2019s before Netflix\/Prime\/Apple\/Disney et al get into a bidding war for a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Imagine if they then took the tour all around the world!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Previously, we have mentioned a certain English winery in this missive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fellow Wine Lovers 28\/06\/2024:<\/strong> What we might know is whether Chapel Down is for sale or not, as it seeks to raise even more funds for expansion. Via Seedrs they raised almost \u00a34 million in 2014, just short of \u00a32 million in 2015 to build a brewery, raised \u00a318.5 million by issuing new shares in 2017 and almost \u00a37 million in 2021, once again through Seedrs. In the meantime they opened Gin Works at Kings Cross, a bar and restaurant that opened in 2019 and closed in February 2020, before COVID could take the blame. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I don\u2019t know is how much longer they can keep doing this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fellow Wine Lovers 26\/07\/2024: <\/strong>Further to our regular reports on the English wine scene, it seems that Chapel Down is not going to be sold to Treasury Wine Estates<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n thedrinksbusiness.com 05\/09\/2024: \u2018<\/strong>Chapel Down blames off-trade \u2018challenges\u2019 for profit drop as CEO exits – according to its half-year results, the AIM-listed producer has seen its pre-tax profits reduce from \u00a32.4m to just \u00a340,000 in the six months to the end of June. Its results saw EBITA fall by 58% to \u00a31.3m from \u00a33.2m in 2023 and net sales fall by 12%, mainly driven by a 36% drop in the off-trade, which it said was due to a lack of re-stocking and a difficult comparison base due to King Charles III coronation the previous year.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hmmm, still not convinced by their business model or future survival…<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other news, CEO Andrew Carter joined Chapel Down three years ago has now decided his future is better spent running famous Yorkshire brewer, Timothy Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking of beer, we also hear that footballer and pundit Chris Kamara has launched his own beer to raise money for Prostate Cancer and is unsurprisingly named Kammy\u2019s Un-beer-lievable Lager.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, we won\u2019t be stocking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things we do stock though include Domaine Champalou Vouvray Sec 2022 – \u00a324.99 – <\/strong>this Loire domaine was started by Catherine and Didier in 1983 and has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed producers in Vouvray. This cuv\u00e9e comes from 35 year old vines and is lovely and crisp, with apple fruit on the nose. Somewhat rounder and richer on the palate leading to a lovely crisp dry finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also stock Moulin des Ch\u0113nes 2021 – \u00a319.99 \u2013 <\/strong>this is from Lirac, west of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and is a blend of 40% Cinsault, 40% Syrah, 11% Mourv\u00e8dre and 9% Grenache \u2013 quite a low proportion of Grenache for the southern Rh\u00f4ne we thought. We always like the wines from here though, dark crimson in the glass with summer fruit and herb aromas on the nose that then continue onto the lovely juicy palate rounded out with velvety tannins. Get your hands on this before Wayne does\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both these wines will be on tasting this weekend, so come and have a crack at them yourselves!<\/p>\n\n\n\n One final note before I go \u2013 we\u2019ll be opening later on Tuesday 10th<\/sup> September as one of main suppliers is holding their Autumn tasting up in Camden and we really need to be there \u2013 should be back by 4pm though, in time for the post work rush!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right, that\u2019s me done, I\u2019m off to find my lunch which I hope will not involve a tin of Heinz Spaghetti Carbonara \u2013 we\u2019ll see what the Coop can do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, I\u2019m back, you\u2019re all back, the schools are back and Wayne is now about to sneak out the back on his hols, now that we\u2019ve vacated the loungers Did you have a good trip? Certainly we did. Spain was hot, which is how we like it and expect it to be; Madrid […]<\/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-1872","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\/1872","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=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1873,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions\/1873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}looking at the EasyJet website<\/s> crunching the numbers. With the Paralympics also serving as a welcome distraction, it was heartening to see Tonbridge teenage swimming sensation Iona Winnifrith get silver in the Women\u2019s 100m Breastroke SB7 yesterday whilst still only 13 years old – one of many great performances that have put GB second in the medal table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n