Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we look back at the week commencing 8th<\/sup> September 2025, I\u2019m not sure it will be with much fondness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Arthur Road could be renamed the Wimbledon Wilderness with the vibe in the area being akin to early Covid but without the hysterical boozing. It\u2019s astonishing that a tube strike can bring a local economy to its knees but there you go, it has. I know we are not alone and that businesses have suffered all over London but to what gain \u2013 we don\u2019t seem to be much further forward and the prospect of some sort of planned TfL\/RMT peace talks next week surely begs the question, why couldn\u2019t these talks have taken place this week? In fact, DesignMyNight, the long-established company that does what it says on the tin, has reported a 67% drop in bookings for venues across London during the strike period which doesn\u2019t even take into account the collapse in numbers of spontaneous walk-ins. On a local level, Monday was a nadir. 4 customers, 3 of whom visited between 5.12pm and 5.26pm, followed by a power cut starting 20 minutes later meant that, even if there had been people on the street, we couldn\u2019t have traded anyway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fairness, the week got a lot better as everyone realised this wasn\u2019t going to be over in a hurry and we started to see more people wandering around, in shorts and t-shirts rather than their usual weekday work attire, many of them displaying a keenness to fill their bags with bottles of something nice to enjoy in the hours they would usually be stuck commuting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across the pond, Lord Mandelson gets the boot for being a friend with someone we already knew he had been close friends with. Donald obviously hasn\u2019t been given the boot for the same thing because Donald doesn\u2019t draw (?), so it all must be a hoax, the lawyers have been called. Keir sacked Peter \u2013 if Donald worked for Keir, would he sack him too? The answer must be yes, which could make for some great conversation amongst the guests whilst they tuck into their pie, mash and jellied eels at Windsor Castle next week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wayne, at this point, would be telling you something exciting about La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a but, sadly, I\u2019m not Wayne so I\u2019ve been watching the golf at Wentworth where it rained for much of yesterday and looks likely to continue all weekend. Happily, I didn\u2019t watch the foreshortened T20 on Wednesday evening, 12.5 overs really doesn\u2019t make for any sensible sort of competition but I did watch the dead rubber One Day International on Sunday which also wasn\u2019t competitive. Rugby is on again this weekend with the Women\u2019s World Cup Quarter Finals offering us a New World double header on Saturday followed by an Old World version on Sunday – England v Scotland at 4pm would be a good time to settle into the sofa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In admin news, everyone\u2019s favourite topic, we are in the midst of tasting season, as mentioned last week. Tuesday 16th<\/sup> September sees us venturing to Camden for a big tasting with our biggest supplier so we won\u2019t be opening until 4pm; the following Tuesday, 23rd<\/sup> September, we will be closed ALL DAY as we put our palates to the sword with tastings at four different venues across town \u2013 remember, we do this so you don\u2019t have to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of tastings, we\u2019ll have our usual couple of bottles open this weekend for you to savour tonight and tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s New Zealand v South Africa in both men\u2019s and women\u2019s rugby on Saturday, so it\u2019s New Zealand v South Africa here in the shop too and both sides have fielded some heavy hitters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Representing New Zealand, we have Mahi Pinot Noir 2022 – \u00a329.00 <\/strong>an absolute belter from Marlborough. The grapes come from two vineyards – The Twin Valleys portion gives the palate structure and finesse whilst the grapes from Ward add depth to the palate and rich black fruit characters. Aged in French barriques for 15 months, we have a full and rich nose followed by a rich and supple mouthfeel showing dark cherry and plum fruits pursued by soft tannins that give a well-rounded finish. I\u2019m astonished that we seem to have never put this on tasting before\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The South Africans have opted to show us a white – Patina Chenin Blanc 2021 – \u00a325.99<\/strong>. This is a wine, a project from the mighty Boekenhoutskloof winery, that we only stumbled across last year and it\u2019s gaining more and more fans as time goes on. Helpfully, the winery has provided us with a spot-on tasting note: \u201cthe nose is initially shy, yet very complex, offering subtle layers of citrus and stone fruit aromas, and whiffs of angelica, acacia flower and allspice. Flavours of lemon, yellow apple and nectarine follow through onto an elegant, balanced palate with delicate notes of greengage, papaya, yellow apple and passion fruit. The wine is light to medium bodied, with a smooth, fleshy texture and vibrant, integrated acidity. Lime zest, green apple and lemongrass linger on a clean, refreshing finish with hints of orange blossom, ginger and saffron.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I should probably stop now, always leave them wanting more is the advice I think, although I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve never wanted any more piffle from us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, When we look back at the week commencing 8th September 2025, I\u2019m not sure it will be with much fondness. Arthur Road could be renamed the Wimbledon Wilderness with the vibe in the area being akin to early Covid but without the hysterical boozing. It\u2019s astonishing that a tube strike can bring […]<\/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-2004","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\/2004","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=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}