Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
There are now 10 days until Christmas – I know this because my junk mail has told me.<\/p>\n
Uniqlo, Runners Need, Amazon, Buyagift, Kew Gardens and even Surrey County Cricket Club have been warning me that I risk missing out on their latest offers and that I really, really must hurry.\u00a0 Even the cheeky so-and-so\u2019s at the Wine Society were putting the hard word on me.\u00a0 Yesterday, there were 11 days until Christmas and on Tuesday there were 13 days \u2013 how do I know?\u00a0 Because Uniqlo, Runners Need, Amazon\u2026 you get the gist.\u00a0 However, my daughter wishes me to believe that there are only 9 days left because you don\u2019t include today or the 25th<\/sup> in the count and, in fact Dad, because she is going away next Friday to her cousins\u2019 house that, actually<\/em> Dad, there are only really 6 days until Christmas properly starts\u2026<\/p>\n So, I will now revise my opening statement, there are in fact just 6 days until Christmas \u2013 we all know this because my daughter has told me!<\/p>\n Whilst Theresa, Brexit and a Tory rebellion dominate the front pages, it is sport that really helps us keep a sense of perspective and, as often happens, it is the world of football and, within that, the world of Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, which provides us with the appropriate balance we need.<\/p>\n For non-football fans, here\u2019s what you missed and I\u2019m not sure it will encourage you to become fans in the near future.\u00a0 Manchester United hosted Manchester City and lost the match 2-1.\u00a0 After the match, it is alleged that Mr Mourinho made a complaint that the City team were \u2018over-celebrating\u2019 their victory and thus weren\u2019t showing United, the losers, enough respect.\u00a0 In a surreal re-invention of what is normally known as \u2018handbags\u2019, a scuffle ensued in the tunnel during which milk, water, plastic bottles and even the occasional punch are alleged to have been thrown, proving once more that footballers are the hardest sportsmen around.\u00a0 Oh, and the concept of \u2018over-celebrating\u2019 \u2013 what is that, Jose?\u00a0 Is that similar to over-laughing, over-smugly smiling and having an over-estimation of one\u2019s own worth?!<\/p>\n Having said all this, I was on the verge of grabbing the Cravendale when I heard what Jonathan Ford of the FAW (Football Association of Wales) said of the requirement for a new Welsh national coach:\u00a0 “We have always favoured Welsh people because arguably the passion is there.\u00a0 Somebody said this earlier, Welsh most definitely, foreign possibly but definitely not English.”\u00a0 <\/em>Apparently he has had to apologise and put on his hair shirt in order to avoid a sticky international incident resulting in borders closing and a wall being built – who knew the world of football was so very sensitive?\u00a0 Oh, hang about\u2026<\/p>\n In other news, Donald Trump is 71 years old and has never apologised for anything.<\/p>\n Hopefully cycling isn\u2019t hitting another serious doping scandal \u2013 we\u2019ll have to wait and see; hopefully the English cricket team can grab something at the WACA – Day One was a decent day, Day Two started well until Steve Smith turned up again and it seems that Jimmy Anderson has yet to recover from the deeply psychologically traumatising Duckett dousing he received recently; however Steve Finn insists recent disciplinary lapses are not reflective of a drinking culture in English cricket.<\/p>\n In other news, Sir Ian Botham is to launch an English Sparkling Wine next year as part of a new wine range, and is already a partner in Botham Merrill Willis wines with Bob Willis and Geoff Merrill, superstar winemaker, who he met whilst on an Ashes tour in the 70\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n Anyway, enough of what other people are drinking, what about us here in Wimbledon Park?\u00a0 It all seems to be gearing up a bit now, parties are going on, pre- Christmas Christmases are being celebrated almost every day of the week and instore talk of turkey and smoked salmon seems to be on a perpetual loop \u2013 and we love it!<\/p>\n This weekend, to help with our drinking choices over the festive period but from less traditional areas, we will be opening Herbert Hall NV – \u00a329.99<\/strong> \u2013 our delicious fizz from Marden in Kent; we\u2019ll be opening Quinta de la Erre Albari<\/strong>\u00f1<\/strong>o 2016 – \u00a315.99<\/strong> \u2013 a cracking wine from Galicia; and we\u2019ll be opening Spencer Hill Latitude 41 Small Batch Pinot Noir 2014 – \u00a321.49<\/strong> \u2013 from Nelson, NZ.\u00a0 Plus, knowing Wayne\u2019s expertise in persuading corks out of bottles of Port, I suspect we shall open something fortified too but I\u2019m not sure what yet!\u00a0 Of course, we will have an array of spirits open, including the Foxdenton Rhubarb Gin – \u00a314.99<\/strong> – that is challenging Prosecco as a top seller and is certainly going to get the award for best newcomer!<\/p>\n That\u2019s about it really from us this week, only about 5 minutes left until Christmas I\u2019m told, don\u2019t forget our Wine Course starts in very late January and makes a perfect gift<\/strong> for that wine fan in your life – \u00a3150 for 6 weeks of vinous education<\/strong>, sounds good to me!<\/p>\n We\u2019re off now to buy Jos\u00e9 some earth boots (thanks Galliano) to help him keep his feet on the ground and then have a chat with David Gower about his \u00a31,000 fine for hiring a plane and buzzing the Carrera Oval during the 1990\/1 Ashes tour \u2013 proper misbehaviour!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, There are now 10 days until Christmas – I know this because my junk mail has told me. Uniqlo, Runners Need, Amazon, Buyagift, Kew Gardens and even Surrey County Cricket Club have been warning me that I risk missing out on their latest offers and that I really, really must hurry.\u00a0 Even […]<\/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-944","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\/944","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=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":945,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}