Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
It was a cold night, there was no doubt about it.\u00a0 The wind was blowing from the east as it often has of late and the promise of little or no sun during the day had been delivered upon, in spades.\u00a0 It was now 8pm and, in a bygone age, there would have been thick fog swirling about the entrance to Wimbledon Park Tube Station.\u00a0 Certainly, the mismatched pair clambering up the stairs, were dressed for such weather, the taller in a large overcoat, a warm hat and gloves and with a scarf covering all but his eyes, whilst the smaller creature looked more suited to alpine pursuits than commuting.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s very quiet Dad\u2019<\/em> said the amateur tobogganist, thus identifying their relationship, \u2018where is everyone?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s always like this at this time of night, Arthur Road is completely dead in the evening\u2019, <\/em>was the response.<\/p>\n A couple of people left Dalchini, filled with Hakka cuisine, and gingerly weaved through the three battered mopeds sprawled by the door by the over eager Deliveroo drivers.\u00a0 Further down the street, the sign for Estella blinked, like a remote lighthouse warning people not to approach to closely.<\/p>\n \u2018The chemist is open late though, look at the light streaming from their windows\u2019<\/em> observed the very well enunciated boy.<\/p>\n As they walked down road towards the glow, the sound of excited chatter and glasses accidentally clinking became louder \u2013 \u2018that\u2019s not the chemist, that\u2019s the wine shop, I wonder what\u2019s going on?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Rubbing the condensation from the window, they pressed their noses to the glass as people only do in narrative, never in life, and observed a vinous paradise.\u00a0 Inside the shop, bathed in gloriously warming light, were 10 people of different shapes and sizes seated around a table in the middle of the room whilst two people stood at the far end, seemingly running the show or at the very least talking a lot.<\/p>\n \u2018This must be that six week wine school that Mum was rattling on about all over December, saying how nice it would be for us to do it together, to taste about 60 wines over the period, to try some mainstream but also some esoteric styles, to learn about wine faults and sweet wine and ros\u00e9 and then finish off with a week focusing on sparkling wine and champagne \u2013 I think they\u2019ve even arranged for a week break for half term which seems very sensible.\u00a0 I believe it\u2019s aimed at people who are interested in wine but don\u2019t know a lot and are looking to expand their horizons a bit\u2019<\/em> murmured the suddenly remarkably well informed Dad.<\/p>\n \u2018But isn\u2019t that mum over there at the end with Fiona from next door, and isn\u2019t that Clive from your gym?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n \u2018I had no idea she knew Clive, in fact I had no idea she had signed up for this, why didn\u2019t she tell me?\u00a0 <\/em>replied Dad, whilst thinking to himself that this wine tasting looked far more fun than wandering the streets with an 11 year old\u2026 why didn\u2019t she tell me?<\/p>\n And with that, they unglued their noses from the windowpane and wandered towards the Coop \u2013 \u2018beans on toast for supper whilst watching Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It , please Dad\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n \u2018You are not my son\u2019<\/em> was the absentminded utterance, as Dad wondered if he was still living the dream\u2026<\/p>\n PARK VINTNERS WINE SCHOOL<\/strong><\/p>\n WEDNESDAY 31st<\/sup> JANUARY \u2013 WEDNESDAY 14TH<\/sup> MARCH <\/strong><\/p>\n (HALF TERM 14TH<\/sup> FEBRUARY) – \u00a3150 PER PERSON<\/strong><\/p>\n FURTHER DETAILS ATTACHED<\/strong><\/p>\n If you would like to book then please email us, phone us on 020 8944 5224, or pop in and sees us in person \u2013 for the course to run we need a minimum of 8 people and we currently are short of this number.\u00a0 With this in mind we will be closing the bookings on Saturday 20th<\/sup> January \u2013 so if you think you\u2019d like to come, carpe diem and don\u2019t let Clive nick your place!<\/p>\n So caught up were our protagonists with the vinous paradise that greeted them, that they completely failed to notice the whacking great blackboard suggesting that if you bought 6 bottles during the month of January the you would actually only pay for 5 of them; or to put it another way, from February to December we offer a 5% discount on a case of 6 but in January we offer 16.666% discount on the same case.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n It can be a mixed case, it needs to be from stock we have in the shop and a couple of things at the top end and in the spirits section don\u2019t qualify due to the fact that giving such a discount would lead to bankruptcy!\u00a0 Still plenty to choose from here but of course, as every day passes, such choice gets smaller and we wouldn\u2019t want you to miss out like our protagonist earlier – don\u2019t let Clive beat you to it!<\/p>\n Our News<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n That title sounds extremely formal.\u00a0 Anyway it\u2019s not really news, more a diary note:<\/p>\n We are closed all day on Monday 15th<\/sup> January<\/strong> in order to attend to our tasting and supplier based responsibilities \u2013 we\u2019ve swerved all the Burgundy tastings this year but Monday is showing us, oh, so much more than what Burgundy can offer that we have had to take the day \u2013 sorry, back on Tuesday, bright and breezy!<\/p>\n Their News<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Too much, as ever.\u00a0 Farage wants second referendum \u2013 or at the very least wants to be on the front pages again.\u00a0 Snowfall in the alps, very heavy; bear sized Andrex found in woods; Catholics found in Vatican.\u00a0 Every Premiership player linked with a move to Man City, every Premiership manager denies rumours.\u00a0 A woman who walked into a police station saying she killed a man and buried him in the garden several years ago is in court accused of murdering a man 12 years ago after police found a body buried in a garden \u2013 impressive police work.\u00a0 The NHS is creaking but sadly this isn\u2019t news.\u00a0 Theresa launches her 25 year plastic plan, very laudable \u2013 5p bags here we come, recyclable glass bottles for fizzy water (with a deposit), loose fruit and veg \u2013 anyone get a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu?<\/p>\n That\u2019s enough of their news \u2013 it\u2019s the top of the year, it\u2019s a time to feel positive and enlivened.\u00a0 To help with such enlivening, we will have the following liveners open this weekend:<\/p>\n Southern Dawn Sauvignon Blanc 2017 – \u00a310.79<\/strong> \u2013 we last tasted this wine, but the 2016 vintage, this weekend last year so it seemed about due.\u00a0 Classic Marlborough SB, a medley of herbs and grass pursued by a crisp fruit driven palate packed with gooseberry, lime and passion fruit and a lovely fresh finish.<\/p>\n Petit Pittacum 2016 – \u00a312.89<\/strong> \u2013 this is one of our best-selling Spanish wines which probably explains why we haven\u2019t opened a bottle in the shop for over a year, it sells itself!\u00a0 From Bierzo in the top left corner of the country, made from the lesser known Menc\u00eda grape, this has an extremely enticing nose filled with blackberry and elderberry fruits and a palate that reflects the self-same fruit characteristics and a touch of tannin to keep it honest.\u00a0 Try it.<\/p>\n And with that we shall wish you well \u2013 don\u2019t forget, if you have been considering wine school now is the time to strike, unless of course beans on toast with Kirstie and Phil is more your thing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, It was a cold night, there was no doubt about it.\u00a0 The wind was blowing from the east as it often has of late and the promise of little or no sun during the day had been delivered upon, in spades.\u00a0 It was now 8pm and, in a bygone age, there would […]<\/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-954","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\/954","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=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":955,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}