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Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/span><\/p>\n This week we find ourselves talking in American accents, wondering why a bay is named after pigs (do they like to swim, surf, sunbathe or fish?). We find ourselves ruminating on a time before even Wayne was born – back in those days the world was mostly in black and white, Presidents drove around in convertible cars and nobody had yet thought of dub-step. <\/span><\/p>\n 50 years ago today John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Numerous conspiracy theories abound and even as recently as this year 59% of American\u2019s think there is more to it than meets the eye. Writers Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis share JFK\u2019s day of demise but seem to have had less column inches devoted to them. Additionally, the second Beatles album, \u201cWith the Beatles\u201d<\/i>, came out in the UK. <\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been rooting out our best Pumpkin Pie recipes and feeling thankful. Thankful, because we\u2019re not turkeys, thankful that we\u2019re not taking a flight in the US, but mostly thankful that we remembered our sweater. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Americans everywhere will be full of turkey, using the remote to turn the game up and the kids down, and desperately trying to duck out of doing the dishes!<\/span><\/p>\n Tasting This Weekend<\/span><\/span><\/b> – We will open a pair of Cambria\u2019s, from California, in honour of the above events (well, maybe not the Beatles album). <\/span><\/p>\n Katherine\u2019s Vineyard Chardonnay 2007 (\u00a322.99)<\/span><\/b> – “Bright yellow. Complex aromas of musky pear skin, lees, iodine and oak spice. Deep but lively, offering moderately sweet orchard fruit flavors and a strong lashing of brown spices. A zesty mineral quality lingers on the long, spicy finish.”<\/i> 89 points, Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Julia\u2019s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009 (\u00a324.99)<\/span><\/b> – “Another lovely Julia’s Pinot from Cambria, at a fair price. With its light tannins and transparency, it\u2019s definitely Pinot Noir, and the acidity testifies to a cool climate. You might even pick out the Santa Maria Valley from the crushed Indian spices. Subtle but intriguing cherry, cola and plum flavors round out the picture. Drink now-2015.”<\/i> 92 points, Wine Enthusiast<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Wine School<\/span><\/span><\/b> \u2013 Once the palaver of Christmas, New Year\u2019s Eve and January are out of the way we find ourselves in February, ready to face the year ahead.\u00a0 What better way to kick it all off than by learning a bit more about what\u2019s in your wine glass in the convivial surroundings of your local wine shop?\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Ok so a sun-drenched vineyard would be better, but we can\u2019t offer that yet.\u00a0 In the meantime our ever popular 6 week course starts on Wednesday 5th<\/sup> February at 8pm and concludes on Wednesday 19th<\/sup> March.\u00a0 Those of you with keen observation skills will have already realised that this period is in fact 7 weeks \u2013 we are taking a week off for half term (19th<\/sup> February) whilst Alex goes and hones his beach volleyball skills in Dubai\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Wine School Wednesday 5th<\/sup> February \u2013 Wednesday 19th<\/sup> March \u00a3150 per person.\u00a0 <\/span><\/b>We await your call, more details attached.<\/span><\/p>\n Slice of History<\/span><\/span><\/b> – Way back in the summer when the sun was shining and we were still in short trousers, we received an email containing Christmas gift ideas. We immediately poo-pooed the idea and got an ice-cream. Randomly we then went back to said email and replied to it, promptly forgetting all about it until yesterday. <\/span><\/p>\n We are now the proud owners of wooden boxed mini verticals of Meerlust Rubicon<\/b>. For a mere \u00a390 you can have one too!<\/span><\/p>\n Boy, are they lovely! Handcrafted wood boxes (dovetail joints, sliding lid, the whole caboodle!) containing a bottle each of: <\/span><\/p>\n Meerlust Rubicon 2004<\/span><\/b> “Concentrated and grippy, with dark, roasted plum, black licorice, charcoal, mesquite and bittersweet cocoa notes. Traditional in vein, with an iron- and earth-filled finish that should soften nicely with cellaring. (90 points)\u201d<\/i> Wine Spectator – James Molesworth – September 30, 2008<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Meerlust Rubicon 2006 <\/span><\/b>“Ripe and dense, but sleek and focused, with a lovely core of mulled black currant, warm fig paste and tobacco, laced with mouthwatering dark olive and iron notes that help the finish stretch out nicely. Has solid grip in reserve, too.<\/span><\/i> (90 Points) ”\u00a0 <\/i>Wine Spectator – James Molesworth – November 15, 2010 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Meerlust Rubicon 2007 <\/span><\/b>\u201cOne of the best vintages of Rubicon to date, and for the price it’s a fantastic value that’s great for building up your cellar. Right now, the wine is still young and tight, with firm, gripping tannins that need some time to mellow. Fortunately, there’s a great concentrated black-fruit core and enough acidity alongside the tannins to support long-term aging. Spicy and earthy, with accents of black tea, cedar and crushed violets.<\/span><\/i> 92 Points” <\/i>Wine Enthusiast – Lauren Buzzeo – May 2012<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s enough from us for this week, if you\u2019re going out in an open top car, wear a vest!<\/span><\/p>\n Wayne & Alex<\/span><\/p>\n PS Cricket, what cricket?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, This week we find ourselves talking in American accents, wondering why a bay is named after pigs (do they like to swim, surf, sunbathe or fish?). We find ourselves ruminating on a time before even Wayne was born – back in those days the world was mostly in black and white, Presidents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","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\/325","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=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}