I was a little
behind the ball with the sexy judge, Mercedes Alaya. A young Spaniard
at dinner last night declared her 'hot' and told me she has a
Facebook page set up by fans who now number more than 22,000. Quite a celebrity, then. Albeit one who never smiles, in public
at least. Not bad for a 49 year old with 4 kids.
Talking of
youngsters . . . In front of me as I drove up the hill to my house
today was a car with two young kids in the back seat. How could I
tell? Well, they were not only un-belted and jumping around but also
hanging out of the windows. Where are the traffic police when they're
really needed?
Which reminds me .
. . When I tried yesterday to find out how many points are left to me
on my driving licence, I was repeatedly told: "This user is not
registered as a driver on the system". When I told a Spanish
friend about this at dinner last night he replied - "It's always
better in Spain not to exist. It's when the bastards know about you
that the trouble starts." So maybe I won't, after all, go to El
Trafico to try to establish my existence.
The Spanish
airline Iberia is part of IAG, which also owns British Airways. The
latter is doing reasonably well but Iberia is losing money hand over
fist and economies are being imposed by IAG. These are seen as
anti-Spanish by at least some of those affected and there've been
anti-BA and anti-IAG demonstrations in Madrid. One placard read
BRITISH GO HOME and another IAG: A TOMAR POR CULO, which I think I'm
right in translating as 'Take it up the arse'. A good example of
the more robust nature of Spanish political dialogue. The basic problem with
Iberia is that its short-haul costs are twice those of competitors.
Pilot salaries are said to have reached 70% more than the industry
average. One wonders how this came to be. Government subsidies? As of
now, IAG are saying it's touch and go whether Iberia will survive.
But this may be brinkmanship, of course.
The
Times has listed 50 great wines for summer. There are several from
Spain, as listed here. If you want all the guff that goes with them, you'll have to go to the paper's web
page. And get past the paywall.
-
Spanish Garnacha Tempranillo: Valencia, Spain.
Asda, down to £4.25
from £5.25 until August 15
-
Bargain barbecue red: 2012 Castillo del Baron Monastrell, Yecla,
Bodegas y Viñedos del Mediterraneo, Spain.
The Wine Society,
(01438 741177), £5.50
-
2010 Barranco del Vero Cabernet Garnacha, Viñas del Vero, Somontano,
Spain.
Waitrose, down to £5.99 from £7.99 until July 16
-
2012 Pizarras de Otero, Bierzo, Mencía, Spain.
Majestic, £8.99
or two for £6.99 each
-
2007 Castillo del Rey, Reserva, Cariñena, Spain. Ellies Cellar
(01259 740283), down to £6.99 from £8.99; Hennings Wine (01798
872485), £7.99
-
2011 Las Cuadras, Costers del Segre, Spain.
Armit Wines (020-7908
0660), £10.99
-
Manzanilla: Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla, Spain
Selfridges,
£7.99; Wood Winters (01786 834894), £10.50
- Sacristía AB, Manzanilla, Primera Saca, Antonio
Barbadillo Mateos, Spain
Lay & Wheeler (01473 313300), 37.5cl,
£21.70; Wine Shop (0208-467 3528), £20
As
for the Pizarras del Otero, I've been trumpeting the quality
of the unknown Mencia grape for 10 years now and this is what the columnist had to say
about this one:- The wonderfully perfumed, tannic, inky, richly
fruited mencia grape is from Bierzo in northwest Spain. Mencía has
produced some magnificent reds, with the sort of steely, herby,
mineral-rich concentration that producers in other Spanish regions
would kill for. Expect lots of dynamic, rich, tangy, plum skin and
vanilla pod fruit from this extra-ripe Spanish red. However, this
appears to be another Spanish wine that's only available outside
Spain. I spent a fruitless hour this morning trying to find out how
much it costs here. All I could find was a reference to it selling
for 5.80 euros. And this priceless citation
Talking
of wine . . . . here's a truly priceless menu citation from
fellow-blogger Lenox. If you look carefully, you'll also see a nice
translation of Tragos.
Finally . . .
Here's a young lady singer who strikes everyone as having shades of Karen Carpenter. I first heard her on the Jools Holland CD The Golden Age of Song but there are other albums of hers on Spotify
or the like.
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