{"id":1966,"date":"2025-06-06T12:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2025-06-06T12:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:26:32","slug":"samsara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1966","title":{"rendered":"Samsara"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, where to start.&nbsp; As I am sitting here wearing a sweater, long trousers, ski socks and a beanie whilst my colleague is parading around in shorts and a polo shirt, I do wonder whether he was a postman in Newcastle in a previous life.&nbsp; Clearly, Postman Pat did something very naughty at some point in a previous incarnation because his samsara has taken a significant backward step (if a circle can do such a thing) to end up running a wine shop in a wet Wimbledon Park.&nbsp; But he seems happy enough, so no need to dwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fairness, the weather was just as pony this time last year and eve n worse on 6<sup>th<\/sup> June 2023 so it is, apparently, to be expected nowadays.&nbsp; However, at least this year we\u2019re not having to deal with an upcoming General Election and all the fallout that produced \u2013 thank goodness we\u2019re through all those unsettled times, safe in the hands of Kier &amp; Co \u2013 not sure what devilment we all got up to in a previous incarnation but I hope it was worth it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it\u2019s not all sunshine and cupcakes in the world of hospitality.&nbsp; According to a survey undertaken by <em>UK Hospitality<\/em> alongside <em>The British Institute of Innkeeping, The British Beer &amp; Pub Association <\/em>and<em> Hospitality Ulster<\/em>, 33% of hospitality businesses are now operating at a loss.&nbsp; As discussed previously, the impact of increases in NI and Business Rates in April was always going to be brutal, with an estimated \u00a33.4 billion of extra costs landing on the sector\u2019s lap, just like that.&nbsp; In fact, in the last few months, 60% of those surveyed have cut jobs, 63% have cut staffing hours, 76% have put up prices and yet, notwithstanding &nbsp;these actions, 11% more businesses are working at a loss than in the last quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One final bit of number crunching, with approval ratings courtesy of IPSOS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, post the fabulous September 2022 mini-budget:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Doing a good job \u2013 16%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Doing a bad job \u2013 53%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Neither good nor bad \u2013 21%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Dunno \u2013 10%<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves, right now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Doing a good job \u2013 16%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Doing a bad job \u2013 51%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Neither good nor bad \u2013 22%<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Dunno \u2013 10%<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As I\u2019m sure you know, there\u2019s nothing going on in the USA this week, likewise in sport, so let\u2019s move away from all that and talk cheese and wine.&nbsp; Further to the announcement of our upcoming event you all went away for the long weekend, enjoyed the break and forgot to book your seat!&nbsp; So, just to remind you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wine &amp; Cheese Tasting on Thursday 19th June at 7.30pm &#8211; \u00a330 per person<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have four spaces left as I write so, if you fancy it, give us a call on <strong>0208 944 5224<\/strong>, reply to this email or pop in and see us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, if you cannot join us on the 19<sup>th<\/sup>, you can always pop in and taste some vino today and tomorrow.&nbsp; This weekend, given the cryptic climatic conditions we don\u2019t really know whether to barbecue or roast so we\u2019ve fence-sat with our wine choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About a million years ago, when we sported Oddbins polo shirts, we used to sell lots of this <strong>Domaine Lebrun Pouilly Fum\u00e9 2023 &#8211; \u00a320.49.&nbsp; <\/strong>The bottle has lost its distinctive orange label somewhere in the intervening years but the wine has lost none of its quality or verve.&nbsp; The estate is now run by Laurent, who is the sixth generation of the family to run it.&nbsp; Gooseberry, grass, minerals, lemons and limes all crop up somewhere between the start and the nice long finish.&nbsp; Tip-top classic Pouilly Fum\u00e9!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The red is from Italy &#8211; <strong>Cantine Povero Barbera D\u2019Asti \u2018Dianae\u2019 2023 &#8211; \u00a315.99.&nbsp; <\/strong>This is a bit of a cracker, quite natural with hand-harvesting, minimal intervention in the winery, minimal sulphur too.&nbsp; Fermented in temperature controlled tanks and aged for 6 months in stainless steel.&nbsp; The result is a velvety red with cherry and raspberry fruit character and medium to full body, just a touch of tannin to keep it tidy and a lovely long fresh finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that\u2019s almost it from us but one thing before we go \u2013 recently was the Copa Jerez, an annual event celebrating food and sherry matching.&nbsp; By all account one of the stand-out combinations, from the UK entry, was a dessert of beetroot amazake sorbet matched with Cream Cruz del Mar.&nbsp; Now, everyone claims not to like cream sherry but perhaps it needs a revisit?&nbsp; If you fancy some, we have the Cruz del Mar &#8211; \u00a311.99\/half bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, it surely must almost be time for all of us to down tools and nip off to support the hospitality industry in the Friday \u2018sunshine\u2019, who\u2019s with me?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fellow Wine Lovers, Well, where to start.&nbsp; As I am sitting here wearing a sweater, long trousers, ski socks and a beanie whilst my colleague is parading around in shorts and a polo shirt, I do wonder whether he was a postman in Newcastle in a previous life.&nbsp; Clearly, Postman Pat did something very naughty [&hellip;]<\/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-1966","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\/1966","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=1966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1967,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions\/1967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}