Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We did warn you November was coming and, now it\u2019s here with horrific single figure temperatures and icy gales, you mustn\u2019t complain. Alright, we may be exaggerating a tad, since the daytime temperature this week has rarely gone below 15 degrees \u2013 just in time for COP30 next week where the great and the good will gather to discuss the \u2018state\u2019 of the climate. Coincidentally, when I say the great and the good, this will not include the current POTUS since he has gone on very public record stating that climate change is a \u2018con job\u2019. Do I suggest that the POTUS isn\u2019t great or good? Of course not, how could I\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of the great and the good, let\u2019s talk David Lammy, who\u2019s not been having a good week. Leaky Wandsworth prison released two prisoners by accident, which is not a good look for the Justice Secretary whilst a French court found a taxi driver, accused of stealing money and luggage from Mr Lammy, not guilty. Ignoring the fact that we were most likely picking up the tab for his 600km taxi journey to Flaine, for his ski holiday, what is more significant is that the taxi driver, since May, has been placed under judicial supervision with a driving ban and a 2,000 euro (\u00a31,690) bail, which effectively took away his livelihood\u2026 given the not guilty verdict, who now picks up the tab for his loss of earnings and defamation? Sadly, I think we might be able to guess the answer to that and his name\u2019s not Dave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we\u2019ve opened the Great & Good Pandoras Box, the G&Gs come flooding out. Next up, Rachel R. who is considering charging EV drivers a \u2018per mile\u2019 tax. All the encouragement and incentive to adopt electric vehicles naturally leading to an opportunity to profit from people\u2019s environmental choices was always going to be too hard to resist. Having said that, rumours are circulating that the 5p Fuel Duty Freeze could be coming to an end; apparently, some retailers aren\u2019t passing the savings onto their customers, who\u2019d have thunk it! This move alone would add a few billion to the treasury coffers each year, which might be helpful\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other G&Gs worth mentioning in passing: Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the DWP and Joey Barton spring to mind but I\u2019m sure you can add more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving on, it\u2019s another rugby weekend this weekend \u2013 Twickenham tickets in L4 are still available on Saturday for England v Fiji if you\u2019ve got about \u00a3130; equivalent tickets, in the same block, for the New Zealand game next week are north of \u00a3500, which will you choose? Meanwhile, in cricket, the Indian Women romped to World Cup victory on Sunday, whilst the Australian Ashes selectors have already started playing mind games by choosing a Masters squad for the First Test in Perth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back here, we\u2019re keenly selling wine and trying not to upset anyone. Definitely succeeding with the first, desperately hoping the second is as successful. Hopefully, if we open some wine this weekend, that might keep us in your good books?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the white, we thought a brief trip to Spain with the Valenciso Rioja 2023 – \u00a325.99. <\/strong>This is a blend of 70% Viura and 30% Garnacha Blanca, sourced from 80 year old vines and then fermented with wild yeasts before lazing around for 9 months in Caucasian oak barrels. Complex aromas combining pretty, floral characters with preserved lemon, truffle and smoky notes. The palate is broad and well integrated with nuts and stone fruit characters. Fresh candied peel, minerality and crisp citrus acidity on the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For red, the Right Bank grabs our attention with Ch\u00e2teau Lucas 2016 – \u00a324.99.<\/strong> Hailing from lovely Lussac Saint-\u00c9milion, our first taste was during a summer heatwave (not this year!) and, even then, its class stood out. 50% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it has raspberry and black cherry fruits, a nice silky texture whilst still having a bit of oomph about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it from us for this week \u2013 bonfire night tomorrow in Wimbledon Park, so traffic will be bananas from about 5pm, fyi. Apparently, Edenbridge are burning Keir Starmer this year (Starmer The Farmer Harmer) whilst Lewes already lit him up on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What a strange world we do live in!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, We did warn you November was coming and, now it\u2019s here with horrific single figure temperatures and icy gales, you mustn\u2019t complain. Alright, we may be exaggerating a tad, since the daytime temperature this week has rarely gone below 15 degrees \u2013 just in time for COP30 next week where the great […]<\/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-2024","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\/2024","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=2024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2025,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024\/revisions\/2025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}