Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, not long to go now, are you ready, because we are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tomorrow morning (Saturday), at exactly 9.21am, we will likely be found dancing a merry jig at the A303\u2019s most famous landmark, Stonehenge, as we hope to catch a glimpse of the Sun\u2019s rays through the stones, which are apparently perfectly positioned to align with the Sun\u2019s path. Yep, it\u2019s the Winter Solstice, aka the Shortest Day, which I\u2019m informed will last 7 hours 49 minutes and 42 seconds \u2013 equivalent to the AA\u2019s estimated journey time from the Solstice Services to Winterbourne Stoke this weekend\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that, anyone got any plans for next week? Having looked at sales figures for previous years, we\u2019ve decided to make it a short one. Noticing that the historic trend is zero business between 25th<\/sup> and 29th<\/sup> December, we have elected to only open on Monday and Tuesday next week and then re-open on 30th<\/sup> December \u2013 we\u2019ll see you then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our usual trawl through the newspapers has not gleaned much to report \u2013 Elon Musk met Nigel Farage at Mar-a-Lago and, by all accounts, waved his wallet at him which, as we all know, is Nigel\u2019s favourite sort of wave. Prince Andrew continues to charm us with his antics whilst in booze news, yet another research study, this time from the University of Barcelona and the Hospital Cl\u00ednic Barcelona, has found that a small glass of wine is better for the heart than statins \u2013 heartening to see that, almost 50 years after the concept was first discussed, the Mediterranean Diet is still winning fans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what small glass of wine are you drinking? Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n LARGER FORMATS, FOR LONGER LUNCHES\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n MAGNUM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lopez de Haro 2019\/20 Crianza, Rioja – \u00a330.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ch\u00e2teau de Paraza 2019, Minervois – \u00a338.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meerlust Red 2015, Stellenbosch – \u00a338.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n La Cote Sauvage Cairanne 2021, Rhone – \u00a340.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Saransot Dupr\u00e9 2019\/20, Listrac-M\u00e9doc – \u00a346.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Roda Sela 2022, Rioja – \u00a352.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chocolate Block 2021\/23, Swartland – \u00a355.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Valenciso Reserva 2018, Rioja – \u00a355.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meerlust Rubicon 2016, Stellenbosch – \u00a380.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JEROBOAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chocolate Block 2023, Swartland – \u00a3130.00<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re gonna need a bigger glass\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with just over 100 hours until the big day, we intend to tantalise your tastebuds with a couple of open bottles this weekend, to pair with your festive feasting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cape Mentelle Chardonnay 2021 – \u00a323.99. <\/strong>Cape Mentelle is one of the founding wineries of Margaret River in Western Australia and helped to pioneer the region\u2019s styles. Aromas of lemon zest, white peach and floral notes run alongside mineral characteristics and a hint of saltiness. Medium bodied on the palate, with a silky succulence showing honeysuckle and lemon pie fruit character. Beautiful purity with real elegance and a great all-rounder, from your smoked salmon sandwiches, via your devils on horseback through to the turkey with all its accoutrements!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sticking with our friends in Australia, for the red we have Paringa Estate Peninsula Pinot Noir 2023 – \u00a332.00.<\/strong> This is our \u2018go to\u2019 Pinot Noir, should such a thing be possible. Hailing from the famous and beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, this is slightly unfairly referred to as their entry level wine! However, we fully believe that this has more sophistication and character in its little finger than a number of Pinot\u2019s demanding far higher prices. Lovely ripe fruit on the attack with some gentle spice coming through towards the finish and a fabulously long and silky finish. We find New World Pinot Noir to be a great match for Christmas Dinner as they tend to have a bit more body and fruit than their Old World counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also have the Breitenbach Winery Tokaji Asz\u00fa 6 Puttonyos 2018 – \u00a333.00<\/strong>, which is a delightful sweetie with a wonderfully deep golden colour. The aromas are very inviting with dense, complex apricot and orange marmalade fruit characters which are supported by an exotic, floral nose. Mid-weight and finely honeyed with beautifully poised acidity and spice on the long balanced finish, this needs to be tasted\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, the Foxdenton Estate Christmas Gin Liqueur – \u00a325.00<\/strong> is open, as are a number of our spirits. Two that deserve a particular mention are the Ninebar Italian Espresso Coffee Liqueur – \u00a326.00 <\/strong>that has 12 cups of espresso in each bottle which could be very useful post-Christmas luncheon and also our much loved Hepple Gin – \u00a338.00<\/strong> that has had a really rather spiffy re-brand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s about it from us for now, we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with the appropriate number of small glasses of wine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the longest night coming up – we\u2019re ready, are you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, So, not long to go now, are you ready, because we are? Tomorrow morning (Saturday), at exactly 9.21am, we will likely be found dancing a merry jig at the A303\u2019s most famous landmark, Stonehenge, as we hope to catch a glimpse of the Sun\u2019s rays through the stones, which are apparently perfectly […]<\/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-1908","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\/1908","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=1908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}