Fellow Wine Lovers,
Going to avoid politics this week, for the UK at least, which is easy because all sorts of fun and games have been going on away from Downing Street and Westminster.
Two sackings this week but only one appointment
To use his other nickname, Air Miles Andy was given the Spanish Archer by her Maj and not before time it would seem. He doesn’t, drink, doesn’t smoke or do drugs but what he does do is no longer going to be suffered in silence by Elizabeth II. Our first question was do we now get some of his travel money back? Browsing through Wayne’s copy of Sovereign Grant Report 2018-19: Royal Travel Appendix we gulped at a couple of his trips last year:
The Duke of York – Scheduled Flight – 4th-6th April: London – Bahrain – London
Official FCO visit to Bahrain to open the UK Naval Support Facility in Bahrain and visits to British University of Bahrain and Fintech Bay. Visit and attend Award Ceremony for Huddersfield University’s programme with Bahrain Ministry of Interior.
£16,272
Scheduled Flight – 21st-22nd August & 9th-12th September: London – Budapest – London
Staff planning visit and staff advance trip.
The Duke of York – Charter – 10th-12th September: Farnborough – Budapest – Aberdeen
Official FCO visit to Hungary. Meetings with the President, Prime Minister of Hungary and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Attend a British Community Reception at the Residence and Dinner with British and Hungarian business leaders. Visits to Hungarian Academy of Science, National University of Public Service and an Inclusive /Paralympic sports training facility.
£22,208
£38 grand – bearing in mind he was being wined and dined and probably provided a pillow and a bidet for the night, it seems an awful lot of money that we can now spend more usefully elsewhere, hopefully? Oh no, it’s already been re-distributed apparently….
The other sacking also involves money but certainly not the saving of it. Jose Mourinho has returned to football, replacing Mauricio Pochettino but for twice the price. Bearing in mind that Daniel Levy spent a whole year not giving Poch any money to buy players, he clearly believes the special one’s hype – will he last the season? They’ve not published the odds yet…
Other news
In other sport, the cricket started in New Zealand on Wednesday evening and boy did the weather look nice, everyone sitting on the grass, catching some rays, just minutes from the surf… a nice bit of chilly evening escapism, if you can get it!
Trump still faces impeachment, perhaps, and Netanyahu is being charged with corruption – two charmers who are probably overdue a day in court.
More locally we have had some very exciting wine news – I’ll leave it to Nina and Edu to explain:
The Pulenta Family is delighted to be sponsoring Wimbledon Hockey Club.
We feel that we share many of the traits that have made the club so successful over the years: dedication, hard work, no little skill and perhaps most of all, loving what we do.
We are a family owned winery with vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina and we have been making top quality wines since 1912.
We plan to hold a number of tastings and events during the season to give you an opportunity to taste and enjoy our wines. Look out for news!
And now the exciting bit:
In the meantime, we have partnered with our friends Wayne and Alex who run Park Vintners in Wimbledon Park to offer all members and friends of Wimbledon Hockey Club a 10% discount on our wines for the duration of the 2019/20 season.
You can email them shop@parkvintners.co.uk, call 020 8944 5224 or pop in to their shop on Arthur Road, Wimbledon Park.
Have a great season!
Nina & Edu Pulenta
As I said, very exciting. If you’re a member of the mighty Wimbledon Hockey Club then you already know about this and can participate (not you Joe, you’re only 15) but even if you’re not a member you can benefit from the fact that we now have the majority of the Pulenta range in stock:
White
Estate Pinot Gris 2017 – £13.99
Estate Chardonnay 2016/18 – £14.99
Red
La Flor Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 – £15.69
La Flor Malbec 2018 – £15.69
Estate Malbec 2016 – £22.99
Gran Malbec 2015 – £36.99
Gran Corte 2016 – £37.99
And they’re all blooming delicious, come and see for yourself!
Final Wine & Cheese Tasting for 2019
That probably says it all. It’s the best four cheeses from the year, the best wines from the year – who will be pronounced the Homecoming King & Queen for 2019 we wonder? 7 of you will definitely find out but we do have space for 5 more of you – come on, you know you want to be a part of history in the making!
Thursday 28th November – 8pm – £20 per person – call us on 020 8944 5224 or respond to this email. Or go old school and pop your head round the door!
One week to go…
Next Thursday, the USA and its citizens around the world celebrate the annual day of Thanksgiving. Better known as Black Friday Eve, this day is commonly celebrated with family gatherings, turkey cooking and over consumption of sweet and sticky things – very similar in fact to the traditional Boxing Day Sales Eve that we commonly celebrate here on December 25th.
Anyway, historically Black Friday Eve has also involved the consumption of wine, notably wine from America and with this in mind we have decided to open a couple of our new listings from the Vina Robles winery in Paso Robles, California.
How a civil engineer from Zurich ended up with a wine estate in California is a story for another time I think… In the white top hat we have his 2018 Viognier – £19.99. This Viognier is planted in the highest part of the Huerhuero Vineyard benefitting from the cooling afternoon pacific breeze. Crisp and medium-bodied with peach and mandarin fruit with a long lively finish – really rather fabulous.
In the red stripy trousers we have the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – £24.99. Classic Cali Cab Sauv – full bodied with cassis and black cherry fruits, ripe textured tannins and a touch of anise and chocolate in the finish – a delight!
That’s it for us pretty much – Christ the King have their annual Christmas fair this weekend so do pop in and see us on the way there or back!
Bon Weekend!