The Wellington tournament was first up this year on Tuesday 19^th February. We had a perfect sunny Wellington day at Thorndon Tennis Club and teams turned up in some great costumes. The outdoor courtside Bollinger bar proved to be the most popular place to sit and watch the tennis.

Our lunch time game of ‘Hit the Bottle’ attracted a long line of hopeful players. The object of the game is to serve the ball to hit a bottle of Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvée NV at the other end of the court. This proved to be a lot more difficult than you would think, with only one person managing to hit the target. The other game played was ‘Beat the Pro’ where Thorndon Tennis Club’s top player, Dave Knight, served against all entrants and if they could keep the ball in play, they then advanced until only one person, the winner was left. At the end of the day, there was also a limerick competition which was hilarious. The limerick had to include the words ‘Champagne Bollinger’ and there were some very clever and entertaining entries.

The final featured the 2018 National winners, Logan Brown up against Loretta with Logan Brown pulling out some great tennis to win on the day.

Wellington Regional Winners – Logan Brown

Steve Logan & Shaun Clouston

Runners Up – Loretta

Erin Mackenzie & Hamish Duff

Sportspersons – The George, Christchurch

Best Dressed – Floriditas

Most Provocative Style – Shed 5

Best Supporters – Boulcott St Bistro

Best Limerick – Charley Noble

Hit the Bottle – Oualid Bachiri from Capitol

Beat the Pro – Hamish Duff from Loretta

The Auckland tournament was held on Tuesday 5^th March and we were lucky to have another beautiful sunny day. Sam Barry from Jim Barry Wines was our guest for the day and provided the lunch time wines, which included the Jim Barry Assyrtiko 2017, Jim Barry Annabelle’s Rose 2018, The Barry Bros Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 and Jim Barry The Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon 2016.

We had a large number of teams entered for the Auckland tournament, with a wide range of tennis skills on display. Some teams had alot of tennis experience but most were there to just enjoy the day and only picked up a tennis racket now and then, usually when they were attending the Champagne Bollinger trade tennis tournament. The Round Robin games involved 8 short games per team, then the two top teams in each of the four pools went through to the quarter finals. It was then sudden death to progress to the semi finals with the final game being played between the 2018 Auckland Winners, Herne Bay Cellars and Point Wines. Point Wines came out the winners with star player Paige Alter scoring some impressive points.

Auckland Prizegiving List

National & Auckland Regional Winners – Point Wines

Paige Alter & Simon Mackenzie

Runners up – Herne Bay Cellars

Michael Lee & Michael Hudson

Sportspersons – Hilton Auckland

Best Dressed – Ostro

Most Provocative Style – Euro

Best Supporters – Casita Miro

Winners of the giant zucchini (out of Clive’s garden) and Bollinger keyrings for not winning any games but still smiling – Number 5

Best Limerick – Michael Lee aka Mike The Mexican

Beat the Pro – Sam Barry of Jim Barry Wines

We hope to see all of our wonderful Champagne Bollinger trade supporters at the 2020 tournament. Make sure you indicate your interest to your Area Manager well in advance to ensure you get an invitation.