Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
Horses sweat, men perspire, but women merely glow.<\/em><\/p>\n A phrase that encapsulates almost everything that has and will happen this week.<\/p>\n Tomorrow is the first date of the \u2018Liverpool Season\u2019, when the great and the good of Merseyside, the footballers, the popstars and \u00a0the scallies, will descend on Aintree to revel in the sunshine, sporting high heels, fake tan, fascinators and bright white smiles – and that\u2019s just Alan Hansen…<\/p>\n But has the Grand National lost its pizzazz?\u00a0 We\u2019re not talking about fences getting smaller or ditches shorter (which may, or may not, increase the chances of all horses getting around) but actually about the sponsor.\u00a0 Below is the list of companies who have seen the National as a good reason to shell out a few quid for some good promotion and telly-time:<\/p>\n So, if you end up watching the race at 1715 tomorrow, raise a glass of something please and drink to bygone sponsors and the times a-changin\u2019.<\/p>\n If you want tips for the race, here goes: my wife reckons that any horse with green in the name (in any language), or silks that have green in them, or a jockey called Verdant Evergreen, or a horse that has ever stood on anything green stands a decent each way chance \u2013 any bets on her favourite colour?\u00a0 My daughter, logically, will go for the one with the longest legs, which involves some serious research and understanding of \u2018hands\u2019 which is beyond both of us really but, as she is the most successful punter in the house, we do pay her some heed.\u00a0 My son takes the long game and is buttering us all up, with a view that if any of us win he potentially stands to benefit.\u00a0 Wayne has a system \u2013 ask no more.\u00a0 For me, Saphir du Rheu<\/em> or The Young Master<\/em> but I can\u2019t tell you why because I don\u2019t know why the pin ended up there!<\/p>\n So that\u2019s the bit about horses sweating and ladies glowing done \u2013 what about men perspiring?<\/p>\n Today, we took delivery of the 2016 vintage of Chateau de L\u2019Aumerade Cuvee Marie Christine Provence Rose.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a pallet, 80 cases, 480 bottles \u2013 however you want to put it, it was hot work shifting a large part of it downstairs and by the end of it we were perhaps perspiring a little but we were not sweating and in fact we were probably glowing pink.\u00a0 Anyway the important news, of course, is that it\u2019s here.\u00a0 If it now rains nonstop until October you can lay the blame squarely at our door but we would ask that you still join in and pretend it\u2019s summer and drink pink.\u00a0 It won\u2019t persistently rain until October, of course; in fact, if it only rains between midnight and 4am for the next 5 months that would be the perfect storm….<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the wine. We tasted this about a month ago, alongside Miraval and Whispering Angel.\u00a0 For the second year running we were underwhelmed by the Angel; the Miraval is lighter and drier than the previous vintage and almost defines elegance; yet again the Aumerade, with a bit more fruit than the other two, was our absolute go-to summer Ros\u00e9 \u2013 you will not be disappointed!<\/p>\n Due to the wind being in the right direction and our razor sharp negotiating skills of course, we will be offering the same price as last year and the year before – \u00a313.99 per bottle or 6 bottles for \u00a372<\/strong> -for those of you with an eye to many evenings of outside drinking.\u00a0 So if we do the maths, the first 80 customers will get their 6 box for \u00a372 and we\u2019ll have to order another pallet on Monday \u2013 form an orderly queue!<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not fancying the pink stuff yet then perhaps we can entice you with the wines we have on tasting this weekend.<\/p>\n Ci\u00f9 Ci\u00f9 Merlettaie Pecorino 2015, Offida, Italy – \u00a313.99<\/strong><\/p>\n This wine is not made of cheese, Pecorino is a grape variety originally from the Abruzzo.\u00a0 A pleasant floral nose with clean, pleasing and refined aromas of banana, broom, apple, hazelnut and plum followed by a hint of vanilla.\u00a0 The mouth follows the nose, a slightly round attack however balanced, agreeable crispness, good body and intense flavours.\u00a0 We first had Pecorino in 2005 when it first came into the market over here and frankly are quite surprised it hasn\u2019t become a chart topper, however that does mean there\u2019s more for us and our friends!<\/p>\n Le Malbec 2014, Pays d\u2019Oc, France \u2013 \u00a311.99<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been showing a lot of Argentine Malbec of late so we thought we\u2019d return to the motherland for a change.\u00a0 Malbec came from France and thrives in the Loire, Cahors, is being replanted in Bordeaux and further south.\u00a0 This is from the Languedoc and has been a persistent favourite with many of our customers.\u00a0 Not as punchy as those from Argentina or indeed Cahors, this has softer more perfumed fruit and is dangerously drinkable but not in a Crabbie\u2019s way….<\/p>\n In other news \u2013 we now have very funky MINI bottles of Prosecco for \u00a34 a hit<\/strong> \u2013 they\u2019re in the beer fridge because that\u2019s where they felt most comfortable.\u00a0 Pocketsize, even for the smallest of pockets.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Easter weekend next weekend and as with the rest of the world, we\u2019ll be keeping some pretty funny hours:<\/p>\n Thursday 13th<\/sup> April \u2013 NORMAL HOURS \u2013 11am \u2013 8pm<\/p>\n Friday 14th<\/sup> April \u2013 ODD HOURS \u2013 11am \u2013 4pm<\/p>\n Saturday 15th<\/sup> April – ODD HOURS \u2013 1oam \u2013 3pm<\/p>\n Sunday 16th<\/sup> April \u2013 Tuesday 18th<\/sup> April \u2013 NO HOURS \u2013 CLOSED<\/p>\n Wednesday 19th<\/sup> April – NORMAL HOURS \u2013 11am \u2013 8pm<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all folks, come and buy a little Prosecco bottle and sup it whilst queuing for your 6 box of Ros\u00e9!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Horses sweat, men perspire, but women merely glow. A phrase that encapsulates almost everything that has and will happen this week. Tomorrow is the first date of the \u2018Liverpool Season\u2019, when the great and the good of Merseyside, the footballers, the popstars and \u00a0the scallies, will descend on Aintree to revel in […]<\/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-846","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\/846","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=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n