Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funny how the calendar works out sometimes, we\u2019re about to have another Bank Holiday weekend when it\u2019s not even 3 weeks since the last one finished and, potentially, we will have back-to-back scorchers too \u2013 vive le r\u00e9chauffement plan\u00e9taire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the turbulent world of Westminster, the Chancellor has announced a tax cut on family fun this summer of sun. This will apply for children and family tickets for cinemas, theatres, exhibitions, concerts and shows whilst the reduced rate applies to\u202fadmission tickets, including adults, for: amusement parks and fairs, including water parks and theme parks (excluding pay-per-ride attractions), circuses, adventure parks, including outdoor adventure centres, museums and similar cultural facilities, including planetariums, heritage sites, nature reserves and botanical gardens, zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks and farm visitor attractions, soft play centres, indoor bounce parks and indoor play facilities, observation attractions, including viewing platforms, towers and observation wheels \u2013 something for everyone in there, providing it\u2019s not raining. Buses will be free for under 16\u2019s and swimming pools will remain VAT free. If you\u2019re hungry, I suggest you order two plates of nuggets from the kid\u2019s menu rather than one from the main listing, as this too will be VAT reduced. It\u2019s a long old list but is it enough \u2013 we\u2019ll see, just as we\u2019ll see which food and drink items make up the 100 to have agrifood tariffs suspended \u2013 hopefully alcoholic grape juice makes the cut!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, as we learnt earlier this month, two pubs closed every day in the first quarter of 2026, with the \u2018sheer weight’ of tax rises being chiefly to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There must be happier things to report on though, perhaps sport will offer salvation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arsenal won the Premier League on Tuesday without kicking a ball, chapeau, they didn\u2019t bottle it despite making every effort to do so. On Wednesday, Aston Villa won in Europe, which guarantees them CL football next season and, if Liverpool win and they lose on Sunday, then we\u2019ll have 6 teams in the top European competition! Imagine then, if Palace were to win next week, we\u2019ll have the best part of half the Premier League booking flights to cities they\u2019ve never heard of come September. Meanwhile, to add to Arsenal fans excitement, Tottenham lost to a team that has been unable to win in the league since March 4th <\/sup>and now face a fraught Sunday afternoon that relies on Everton, Leeds and West Ham following the correct script\u2026 think I\u2019ll watch the Vitality Blast instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In real sport, men on bikes are still ploughing their way around Italy, Jonas Vingegaard seems to be keeping his powder dry, happily coasting in second place, whilst the mischief makers amongst you have been querying whether a bike race without Tadej P is a bit like a tennis competition without Carlos A \u2013 not quite what the punters are paying for? We have no comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the shop, with a warm weekend in the offing, we thought we\u2019d taste some ros\u00e9 again this weekend. Many of you enjoyed the Eden we showed a couple of weeks ago, so we thought we\u2019d open its sister wine, Marie, today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To remind you – Ch\u00e2teau Saint-Pierre Marie Ros\u00e9 2025 – \u00a316.99<\/strong> is named after the family matriarch and is made from a classic blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah, grown on limestone and clay soils that help retain freshness and aromatic lift. Floral and fruity, it\u2019s packed with aromas of white peach, melon and blossom. Quite full in the mouth, with delicate raspberry notes and crisp minerality on the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the red, as I suspect the barbecue might be lit a couple of times, we\u2019ll be opening a wine that will absolutely hit the spot. Wines from the USA are currently a little less popular than they used to be (perhaps due to a certain \u2018politician\u2019, who knows?) anyway this wine was made in 2021, when Biden was on the throne, plus it was founded in the late 1990s by Swiss entrepreneur Hans Nef, so it\u2019s all okay\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vina Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 – \u00a330<\/strong> is mainly Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with a small addition of Petit Verdot. The wine is aged for 20 months in a combination of French and American oak. This gives us a rich and opulent wine, very balanced and reminiscent of the warm California sun! Powerful aromas of dark fruits, cocoa, violet, coffee, and toasted oak lead to a full-bodied palate with ripe tannins – perfect with a rich barbecue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s probably it from us, enjoy the weekend, we\u2019ll be closed on Monday as it\u2019s the Bank Holiday and back here, filled with all the vim and vigour available, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00c0 bient\u00f4t!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Funny how the calendar works out sometimes, we\u2019re about to have another Bank Holiday weekend when it\u2019s not even 3 weeks since the last one finished and, potentially, we will have back-to-back scorchers too \u2013 vive le r\u00e9chauffement plan\u00e9taire! In the turbulent world of Westminster, the Chancellor has announced a tax cut […]<\/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-2093","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\/2093","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=2093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2094,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093\/revisions\/2094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}