Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t really understand why journalism has to be so nasty, so sarcastic and intrusive.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>Paul Daniels, February 2005<\/p>\n Pick a card, any card<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Just a few weeks after Blankety Blank\u2019<\/em>s finest moved upstairs, the diminutive host of Odd One Out<\/em> and Every Second Counts<\/em> has now gone to join him.<\/p>\n Whilst it was never cool to profess a liking of Paul Daniels, for many of us he was as much a part of our formative years as Crackerjack<\/em> and Rentaghost, <\/em>and he was most definitely a TV superstar and a housewives favourite.\u00a0 <\/em>Alongside a bit of magic here and there, he was most famous in our house for being the rug-topped host of the two shows mentioned at the top.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know these programmes, google them, they will provide a perfect time capsule of life, and dress sense, in the 80\u2019s \u2013 you\u2019ll like it, not a lot, but you\u2019ll like it!<\/p>\n Pick a winner<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, this is not the end of the depressing news this week.\u00a0 It seems to have been coming at us from all angles: buoyed by an English win in the rugby, we tuned into the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday to watch what turned out to be a masterclass.\u00a0 Chris Gayle was giving it and the England team seemed overawed.\u00a0 We\u2019re yet to have a winner at Cheltenham and we\u2019ve tried everything \u2013 except backing the favourites.<\/p>\n Stop picking on us<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Outside of sport, everybody\u2019s favourite George crushed our spirits on Wednesday.\u00a0 Well, actually, he didn\u2019t do anything to spirits, beer or cider, but he did let wine duty increase for the first time since 2014.\u00a0 Interpretations amongst our suppliers vary between a 3 or 4 pence increase in duty, which in fact means 5 pence once you\u2019ve added VAT.\u00a0 This now means that every bottle of wine on the shelf has more than \u00a32.50 worth of taxes included in the price \u2013 makes me wonder what may, or may not, be in that Tempranillo that Aldi are selling for \u00a33.49 (apparently with free delivery too…)<\/p>\n Don\u2019t pick him<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Outside of wine, in the real-er world, we still seem to have that other famous wig worrier, Donald Trump, filling our screens.<\/p>\n In the Global Forecasting Service for April 2016, from The Economist Intelligence Unit, nestled between “Grexit” is followed by a euro zone break-up (risk intensity 15)<\/strong> and The rising threat of jihadi terrorism destabilises the global economy (risk intensity 12), <\/strong>also at risk intensity 12, sits: Donald Trump wins the US presidential election.\u00a0 <\/strong>Apparently, his lack of consistent policies, his consistent hostility towards free trade, China, the Middle East, Mexico and everyone in between, mixed with the previously inconceivable fact that he is the Republican frontrunner for Presidential candidate has set some serious alarm bells ringing.<\/p>\n I think, perhaps, we ought to tell someone…<\/p>\n Pick up a bottle of wine on the way home, love, it\u2019s been a rotten week…<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n And now it\u2019s Friday and we need a drink, I think.\u00a0 The sun shone yesterday and I had the door open all day until the darkness descended.\u00a0 And it was lovely.\u00a0 If it carries on being lovely (not today admittedly) you might well start thinking about Ros\u00e9 again.\u00a0 We can help.\u00a0 The new vintage (2015) of Chateau Aumerade Cru Class\u00e9 arrived at the end of last week and we believe this is probably the best vintage we\u2019ve tasted.\u00a0 There\u2019s a bit more bright fruit this year but still with a beautifully dry finish \u2013 the three people to have tried it so far have been definitely wowed.<\/p>\n Chateau de L\u2019Aumerade \u2018Cuv\u00e9e Marie-Christine\u2019 2015 C\u00f4tes de Provence Cru Class\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chateau de L\u2019Aumerade is a 400 year old vineyard in the heart of Provence. Its red soils are rich in minerals, giving it an edge on the quality stakes amongst its neighbours. This edge was recognised in 1956 when the estate was designated \u201cCru Class\u00e9\u201d. A lovely pale salmon colour, it is indeed cracking stuff with delicate red berry fruits, slightly floral and an impressively long finish. We think they\u2019ve pulled out all the stops for the 60th anniversary of their Cru Class\u00e9 designation.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n The perfect wine for summer, great with all manner of food, or just with the Sunday papers and a deck chair.<\/p>\n \u00a313.99 each – Six bottles for \u00a372<\/strong><\/p>\n Should pink not be your drink right now, why not have a taste of Pauletts Aged Release Riesling 2009 – \u00a318.99.<\/strong>\u00a0 From Polish Hill River in Clare Valley, South Australia, this is absolutely delicious.\u00a0 Light straw in colour with an enticing floral, toasty honey nose.\u00a0 Citrus flavours, particularly lime, pack the palate and some of that floral honey character closes it all off beautifully.<\/p>\n If red is more what you\u2019re seeking then can we offer you a glass of Carlonet 2012 – \u00a317.49?\u00a0 <\/strong>From the Uitkyk Estate in Stellenbosch, whose Chenin Blanc went down a storm last week, this Cabernet Sauvignon has a cassis laden nose framed with a bit of oak and a palate of fresh rounded, red fruits and less oak character than threatened on the nose.\u00a0 Very tasty with a supremely long finish \u2013 would be great with lamb at Easter, should you be thinking that far ahead.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it from us for this week, Spring starts on Sunday, shorts and flip-flops to the front of the wardrobe, please!<\/p>\n Wayne & Alex<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, \u201cI don’t really understand why journalism has to be so nasty, so sarcastic and intrusive.\u201d \u00a0Paul Daniels, February 2005 Pick a card, any card Just a few weeks after Blankety Blank\u2019s finest moved upstairs, the diminutive host of Odd One Out and Every Second Counts has now gone to join him. Whilst […]<\/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-707","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\/707","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=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}