<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/span><\/p>\n Some headlines that caught or attention this week<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Ban on Indian mango imports to EU comes into force (BBC)<\/span><\/p>\n Where does this leave Mango chutney?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Chelsea 1 Atletico Madrid 3 match report: John Terry and Jose Mourinho suffer Champions League semi-final heartbreak (The Independent)<\/span><\/p>\n No comment<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Men fear ridicule over ordering wine (The Drinks Business)<\/span><\/p>\n British men enjoy drinking wine at home but avoid ordering it in a pub in case their friends make fun of them, a recent survey has claimed.\u00a0 Man up.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Beer giant Lion buys NZ wine estate (The Drinks Business)<\/span><\/p>\n Lion New Zealand has purchased the Morton Estate wine brand, including its Stone Creek vineyard, strengthening its expanding wine portfolio.\u00a0 Bugger \u2013 there goes another independent winery down the supermarket route.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n And on a happier note:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Protester hits Nigel Farage with egg (BBC)<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, back on track.\u00a0 After the wonderful warm weather that helped us clamber through the last few days of April we welcome May with galoshes and an umbrella.\u00a0 However we didn\u2019t allow this climate change to dampen our spirits last night.\u00a0 12 of us donned our sombreros, put Gipsy Kings on repeat, flipped the doorsign over to say \u2018Siesta\u2019 and settled in to some serious Sherry tasting.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n We were guided on our journey by the very talented Bea, a native of Cadiz who now lives over here and who was on hand primarily to pronounce all the names in a convincingly appropriate accent and also to give us the lowdown on all things Jerez.\u00a0 Last year Bea received her Diploma as a certified Sherry Educator from the Consejo Regulador de la D.O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry <\/b>\u2013 and as she also managed full marks in both parts of the exam, she was presented with a Venencia for coming top of the class!\u00a0 Aha, an expert in our midst, not before time.<\/span><\/p>\n It was pointed out to us early on that it was a nice change for people to not be\u00a0 forced to listen to us massacring our Spanish pronunciation but to actually learn from a professional at the top of her game.\u00a0 So we sat at the back and tucked into tortilla espa\u00f1ol, habas fritas, almendras, aceitunas, chorizo ib\u00e9rico de bellota, jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico de Extremadura curada 24 meses,\u00a0 pan y chocolate de verde y negros.\u00a0 Oh, and some sherries from Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla<\/b> too.<\/span><\/p>\n Whilst skulking at the back we took the opportunity to make some notes which we have taken the liberty of repeating here:<\/span><\/p>\n Classic Manzanilla 15% – \u00a37.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Not to be confused with camomile tea (same name be warned!) this has spent 3 years under flor. Fresh and tangy with fresh apple and floral notes and a touch briny into the finish, Wayne\u2019s having this with tonight\u2019s fish and chips.<\/span><\/p>\n Fino En Rama 15% – \u00a39.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n This is raw fino, no clarification just a very gentle filtering, it has spent 6 years ageing under the flor. Richer and fresher than the Manzanilla with an almost honeyed note to it, Alex suggests \u201cgambas al pil pil\u201d but then he would wouldn\u2019t he?<\/span><\/p>\n Antique Amontillado 19% – \u00a330.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Oh my! This little number has been ageing in a barrel for 20 years, having started life under flor before additional alcohol added to kill the flor allowing oxidative ageing. Nutty, caramel notes in the nose but the palate is bone dry and deliciously complex. Jam\u00f3n Jam\u00f3n!<\/span><\/p>\n Classic Oloroso 18% – \u00a314.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n No flor involved here, just oxidation over the course of 12 years. More viscous in the mouth, yet still dry it presents spicy, rich dark fruit notes and a long pleasantly warming finish. We like the idea of mature cheeses with this, but if more serious sustenance is what you\u2019re after game and braised oxtail are good ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n Antique Palo Cortado 20% – \u00a334.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n A real treat. This rarity starts life as a fino until the flor goes wrong. Luckily for us when the flor went wrong here it didn\u2019t turn into sherry vinegar but into this rare beast that has hung out in a barrel for 30 years just becoming awesome. It has a lovely umami character that\u2019d be mighty fine with some foie gras. If that\u2019s not your bag then why not give wild boar a go!<\/span><\/p>\n Antique Pedro Ximenez 15% – \u00a330.99<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n When the grapes we on the vine for this Alex hadn\u2019t started shaving! Thirty years in barrels has made this soft, rounded and properly sweet with more sugar than is mentionable in polite company. This is unctuous and delicious and most of us enjoyed it with some 70% Green & Blacks. Chocolate dodger Alex loved it with salted almonds, and there was talking of marinating raisins in it, for a naughty apple strudel!<\/span><\/p>\n Solera Gran Reserva Brandy 38% – \u00a350<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n One of the smoothest brandies that we\u2019ve had the pleasure of. Drier than most Spaniards, a bit richer than cognacs and with such a long finish we\u2019ve forgotten where we started!<\/span><\/p>\n Brilliant.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n It was a fabulous evening, the flamenco singers arrived at 1am, Wayne re-introduced us to Gin y Tonica (50\/50), we danced until dawn and then went for a swim in the sea… yo no soy marinero, soy capitan, baile la Bamba…..<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve still got the Brandy here to taste and joining it this weekend will be…<\/span><\/p>\n Bank holiday on Monday so we\u2019ll be shut, business as usual Tuesday onwards.\u00a0 We have a delivery into town on Tuesday though, so we\u2019ll be here from about 4pm onwards.<\/span><\/p>\n Avoid the tube strike and drink wine in Wimbledon Park I say…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Some headlines that caught or attention this week \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ban on Indian mango imports to EU comes into force (BBC) Where does this leave Mango chutney? \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chelsea 1 Atletico Madrid 3 match report: John Terry and Jose Mourinho suffer Champions League semi-final heartbreak (The Independent) No comment \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Men fear ridicule […]<\/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-392","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\/392","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=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":394,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions\/394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}