Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n
Has it really been a week since we last spoke?\u00a0 God grief, the time has just flown past in a flurry of bad weather and divisive rugby results.\u00a0 We received a certain amount of criticism last weekend for failing to mention the Winter Olympics starting \u2013 much as I\u2019d like to say I was saving it for a special feature this week once some events had actually got underway, I would be talking through my hat and that would never do.<\/p>\n
So Winter Olympics, why should I watch you?<\/p>\n
You start \u00a0half way through the night and then finish up around midday, which makes life difficult for us here as, generally speaking, our most successful sport watching is done under the cover of work, and when work doesn\u2019t start until 11am, well, it\u2019s tricky.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll ever be to thank you enough for sucking me in last Sunday morning to watch the mixed curling, Canada v Switzerland that finished after 1am \u2013 the merciless ridicule that I received from wife and children when I told them of my antics will leave scars; for the record Canada won this round robin match and then proceeded to meet Switzerland again in the final and beat them once more but of course, I knew that would be the case, having been following them from early on\u2026 which meant I hadn\u2019t anticipated the fact that the Canada\u2019s ladies would be bottom of the table today after three sessions!<\/p>\n
The joy the Winter has over the Summer version is to introduce us to sports that we have never tried ourselves.\u00a0 If you went to school in the UK you will have done a variety of athletics, there is a definite chance you will have been in a kayak, on a bike, kicked a football, swam a length or played bows and arrows \u2013 none of the Summer Olympic sports are alien to us, we can sort of imagine doing them.\u00a0 Fewer of us can imagine the skillset needed for biathlon and ski-jumping or the mind-set needed for the luge, bobsleigh and skeleton \u2013 and here-in lies its viewing appeal.\u00a0 I was gutted when Elise Christie flew into the barriers and failed to get the medal she so deserves but when my son asked what had happened I couldn\u2019t really tell him what had gone wrong, he just had to watch it for himself.<\/p>\n
And then we have the commentators.\u00a0 With the summer version we seem to land up with industry stalwarts who are used to being at the business end of a microphone and who are dab hand at painting a verbal picture whilst giving incisive commentary.\u00a0 Watching the Men\u2019s Slopestyle Final (highlights this time, it didn\u2019t finish until 2.30am on Monday) such stalwarts were definitely missing \u2013 plenty of \u2018wow, that was amazing\u2019, \u2018I don\u2019t know how he did that\u2019, coupled with \u2018he really won\u2019t be happy about that jump\u2019 made me feel more like I was eavesdropping on some keen amateurs armchair punditry in the pub rather than profound professional commentary \u2013 but you know what, their enthusiasm was infectious.\u00a0 When one of the commentators\u00a0 put his neck on the line and said, after a fall on the first run, that Red Gerard was going to struggle to medal because he was too light to cope with the cross winds you just knew he hadn\u2019t read the Book of Gaffes to Avoid when on Air \u2013 Gerard won Gold!<\/p>\n
And of course we\u2019re all about the Skeleton today \u2013 could you have told me anything about Dom Parsons yesterday?<\/p>\n
So, there you have it, thoroughly engrossing when it\u2019s on, sometimes too engrossing when it\u2019s on late at night and we\u2019ve still got just over a week left \u2013 get involved!<\/p>\n
Spring Festival<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n As discussed last week, our four legged friends are front and centre today as we celebrate Chinese New Year \u2013 Year of the Dog.\u00a0 Unlike some of the local pubs, we are yet to stock Snuffle Dog Beer (chicken flavour) or other such dog friendly dog drinks so we\u2019ll have to limit our dog based recommendations to the following wines this weekend:<\/p>\n Mimi M\u00e9thode Traditionnelle NV – \u00a312.99<\/strong><\/p>\n Predominantly Pinot Noir with the merest splosh of Pinot Meunier and a delicate dab of Chardonnay, this fizz has been regaining in popularity as the lights seem to be coming up at the Prosecco party and people are looking to get their kicks elsewhere \u2013 the label has a young lady with her pet pooch in her arms, hence the dog theme.<\/p>\n Dog Point Chardonnay 2014 – \u00a325.99<\/strong><\/p>\n The 2014 Chardonnay reveals a pretty perfume of honey-drizzled white peaches, orange blossoms, marzipan and ginger with savory wafts of struck match (sulfides) and baking bread. \u00a0Light to medium-bodied, taut and with a wicked backbone of racy acid, it gives a great intensity of citrus and savory flavors and great length. \u00a0Drinking window 2016-2022.<\/em><\/p>\n Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate, 30th December 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n I think the canine link is self-evident here \u2013 and as our red we have:<\/p>\n Tenuta San Guido Le Difese 2015 – \u00a320.49<\/strong><\/p>\n From the same stable as the mighty Sassacaia, this wine is made from the estates younger vines. \u00a0The wine is matured for 12 months in a mixture of French and American oak barrels. This vintage is a particularly fine one for Tuscany.<\/p>\n A round and delicious wine with bright fruit and fine tannins. \u00a0Medium body, lovely flavors and a fresh finish. \u00a0Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese.\u00a0 91-92 Points<\/em><\/p>\n James Suckling, jamessuckling.com October 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n Again, it\u2019s the label that has a dog on it, in fact two hunting dogs chasing down a spot of cinghiale for the Sunday roast!<\/p>\n We\u2019ll have the white and the red open for tasting this weekend so do come and join us for a sip or two, they are both truly wonderful examples!<\/p>\n Right, I\u2019m off to catch a nap before midnight – 12 bouts of curling to get through before this time tomorrow, who\u2019s with me?<\/p>\n Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. \u00a0Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. <\/strong><\/em> G<\/strong>roucho Marx<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fellow Wine Lovers, Has it really been a week since we last spoke?\u00a0 God grief, the time has just flown past in a flurry of bad weather and divisive rugby results.\u00a0 We received a certain amount of criticism last weekend for failing to mention the Winter Olympics starting \u2013 much as I\u2019d like to say […]<\/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-967","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\/967","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=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkvintners.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}