It’s hard to believe that it was more than 7 years ago that we launched our original A2O label. The only change since its first introduction has been the addition of the words ‘Sobre Lias’ (aged on the lees) a couple of years ago……. until now. Although our first design has stood the test of time pretty well, we still thought that it might be time for a change. The only question was, how could we come up with something just as original?

I’m not sure exactly where the inspiration came from, but after several attempts, I eventually developed this new idea. Design has always been a bit of a hobby of mine, and I find it quite gratifying to try different things, and to watch an idea evolve into the finished label. Quite unusually, on this particular occasion, almost nothing was changed from my very first draft. (Where would I be without Photoshop?)

One final thing that I should explain is that the photo does not do the label justice. For example, all the red ink has been screen printed which gives a raised, three dimensional feel. This is complimented by using a textured paper that adds to the graphic look of the label.

We hope you like it.

It’s hard to believe that it was more than 7 years ago that we launched our original A2O label. The only change since its first introduction has been the addition of the words ‘Sobre Lias’ (aged on the lees) a couple of years ago……. until now. Although our first design has stood the test of time pretty well, we still thought that it might be time for a change. The only question was, how could we come up with something just as original?

I’m not sure exactly where the inspiration came from, but after several attempts, I eventually developed this new idea. Design has always been a bit of a hobby of mine, and I find it quite gratifying to try different things, and to watch an idea evolve into the finished label. Quite unusually, on this particular occasion, almost nothing was changed from my very first draft. (Where would I be without Photoshop?)

One final thing that I should explain is that the photo does not do the label justice. For example, all the red ink has been screen printed which gives a raised, three dimensional feel. This is complimented by using a textured paper that adds to the graphic look of the label.

We hope you like it.

It’s funny how our customers always appear to order at the same time. We can have nothing for several days, and then two or three orders will suddenly appear together. Certainly there are peaks and troughs during the year – as you might imagine late spring/early summer is usually a very busy time as customers stock up for the warmer weather (we hope).

As our thoughts turn towards the harvest we also encourage our importers to order now, rather than in the middle of September when we are up to our ears in grapes.The result of our forward planning can be seen in today’s photo where you can see an orderly queue of pallets waiting to be collected. Indeed, tomorrow we will start to prepare yet another large order for export, and to be quite frank I’m not too sure exactly where we are going to put it.

Hopefully, by the start of next week, we should have an orderly queue of trucks waiting at our door. If the wine does not leave sooner rather than later we may have to cancel the harvest as we simply won’t have enough space to work!

It’s funny how our customers always appear to order at the same time. We can have nothing for several days, and then two or three orders will suddenly appear together. Certainly there are peaks and troughs during the year – as you might imagine late spring/early summer is usually a very busy time as customers stock up for the warmer weather (we hope).

As our thoughts turn towards the harvest we also encourage our importers to order now, rather than in the middle of September when we are up to our ears in grapes.The result of our forward planning can be seen in today’s photo where you can see an orderly queue of pallets waiting to be collected. Indeed, tomorrow we will start to prepare yet another large order for export, and to be quite frank I’m not too sure exactly where we are going to put it.

Hopefully, by the start of next week, we should have an orderly queue of trucks waiting at our door. If the wine does not leave sooner rather than later we may have to cancel the harvest as we simply won’t have enough space to work!

Believe it or not I am very careful about healthy eating, and certain treats are only ever eaten in moderation…. except once a year on my birthday! A month or two ago I wrote about our favourite local restaurant Tio Benito (Uncle Benito’s) where not only is the food great value for money, but the desserts are truly to die for. My favourite of all is the oven baked cheesecake – simply delicious!

A week or so ago was it was my birthday (that co-incidentally falls on a national holiday in Spain, unfortunately not in recognition of my special day). Late that morning Angela suddenly appeared in her running gear and announced that she was going out for a jog. A bit unusual, but not completely unheard of – I thought nothing of it. About 40 minutes later she re-appeared carrying a most unexpected birthday treat; a whole, freshly-baked cheesecake, still warm from the oven. She had arranged with the restaurant to make on extra for me. (By the way, Angela went by car and did not run the 15km to the restaurant!)

I rushed to find a bottle of Champagne in the cellar and quickly jammed it into the freezer (actually not a bad way to chill Champagne). I have no idea where this particular bottle came from, it was certainly not a Marque that I would normally buy, but to be honest the star of the show on this occasion was the cheesecake anyway.

Believe it or not I am very careful about healthy eating, and certain treats are only ever eaten in moderation…. except once a year on my birthday! A month or two ago I wrote about our favourite local restaurant Tio Benito (Uncle Benito’s) where not only is the food great value for money, but the desserts are truly to die for. My favourite of all is the oven baked cheesecake – simply delicious!

A week or so ago was it was my birthday (that co-incidentally falls on a national holiday in Spain, unfortunately not in recognition of my special day). Late that morning Angela suddenly appeared in her running gear and announced that she was going out for a jog. A bit unusual, but not completely unheard of – I thought nothing of it. About 40 minutes later she re-appeared carrying a most unexpected birthday treat; a whole, freshly-baked cheesecake, still warm from the oven. She had arranged with the restaurant to make on extra for me. (By the way, Angela went by car and did not run the 15km to the restaurant!)

I rushed to find a bottle of Champagne in the cellar and quickly jammed it into the freezer (actually not a bad way to chill Champagne). I have no idea where this particular bottle came from, it was certainly not a Marque that I would normally buy, but to be honest the star of the show on this occasion was the cheesecake anyway.

I have been meaning to write about the Wine Advocate Spanish wine ‘scandal’ for some time now. It’s possible that you might not even be aware of what’s been going on, but over the last year or so there has been many a libelous accusation flying about, bismerching the integrity of Mr Robert Parker’s beloved publication.

The problem really began when the number of wine regions covered by this most famous publication became simply too big for one single palate to handle. The solution, in the case of Spain, was to delegate responsibility for the tastings to Mr Parker’s personal friend and colleague, Jay Miller. When you consider the considerable influence wielded by the Wine Advocate around the world it was perhaps a slightly puzzling choice when you consider that Jay Miller had only limited professional experience and had never set foot in Spain in his life!

Armed only with this limited experience Mr Miller enlisted the help of Spain’s only MW, Pancho Campo (no relation to Sancho Panza who was quite a different type of  sidekick!), to be his guide and perhaps translator. To cut a very long story short, it soon became apparent that Mr Campo actually started to auction off the services of Mr Miller to the highest paying denominations. For example, 40,000 euros for a two day visit to a wine region, and then an additional 6,000 euros per winery to secure a visit and “unbiased” tasting of their wines.

Mr Parker claimed that his own code of ethics demanded those tasting on his behalf declare all hospitality, and that expenses for these trips would be borne by the Wine Advocate itself – there was never any mention of visits being funded by the wine regions, let alone by the Bodegas themselves. It is perhaps difficult to comprehend how Parker’s organisation, in a subsequent investigation, continued to deny all knowledge of these practices, but did at least admit that arrangements in Spain created “an appearance of impropriety”. (Carefully worded by a lawyer no doubt).

Suffice to say that the visit of Jay Miller to our own denomination scheduled for April 2011 never took place, and that he subsequently left the Wine Advocate ‘of his own accord’. Sancho Panza? Well, in typical Latin style (a Chilean National) he too denied everything, but resigned as a Master of Wine under the threat of an investigation by this well respected organisation.

As the saying goes, “there’s no smoke without fire”.

I have been meaning to write about the Wine Advocate Spanish wine ‘scandal’ for some time now. It’s possible that you might not even be aware of what’s been going on, but over the last year or so there has been many a libelous accusation flying about, bismerching the integrity of Mr Robert Parker’s beloved publication.

The problem really began when the number of wine regions covered by this most famous publication became simply too big for one single palate to handle. The solution, in the case of Spain, was to delegate responsibility for the tastings to Mr Parker’s personal friend and colleague, Jay Miller. When you consider the considerable influence wielded by the Wine Advocate around the world it was perhaps a slightly puzzling choice when you consider that Jay Miller had only limited professional experience and had never set foot in Spain in his life!

Armed only with this limited experience Mr Miller enlisted the help of Spain’s only MW, Pancho Campo (no relation to Sancho Panza who was quite a different type of sidekick!), to be his guide and perhaps translator. To cut a very long story short, it soon became apparent that Mr Campo actually started to auction off the services of Mr Miller to the highest paying denominations. For example, 40,000 euros for a two day visit to a wine region, and then an additional 6,000 euros per winery to secure a visit and “unbiased” tasting of their wines.

Mr Parker claimed that his own code of ethics demanded those tasting on his behalf declare all hospitality, and that expenses for these trips would be borne by the Wine Advocate itself – there was never any mention of visits being funded by the wine regions, let alone by the Bodegas themselves. It is perhaps difficult to comprehend how Parker’s organisation, in a subsequent investigation, continued to deny all knowledge of these practices, but did at least admit that arrangements in Spain created “an appearance of impropriety”. (Carefully worded by a lawyer no doubt).

Suffice to say that the visit of Jay Miller to our own denomination scheduled for April 2011 never took place, and that he subsequently left the Wine Advocate ‘of his own accord’. Sancho Panza? Well, in typical Latin style (a Chilean National) he too denied everything, but resigned as a Master of Wine under the threat of an investigation by this well respected organisation.

As the saying goes, “there’s no smoke without fire”.

A few weeks ago there was a minor scandal in the UK, when the host country of the 2012 Olympics unveiled their new team outfits for the games. Designed by Stella McCartney no less, the problem was not so much the design itself, but more the fact that it was not created using the traditional national colours of red, white and blue. The 2012 uniforms were to be blue, blue and white, which was considered by some as being not very British.

This minor UK scandal was then superceded by problem of the US uniform, this time designed by Ralph Lauren. This super ‘preppy’ outfit, complete with razor sharp tailored white pants and blazers, was not criticised for its design, nor for the colours used, but simply for the fact that it had been manufactured in China. This caused so much outrage that one American Senator was quoted as suggesting that all the uniforms should be take outside an burned. Perhaps a bit melodramatic methinks? 

These minor upsets were then rendered completely insignificant by the Spanish effort. In a country that boasts some of its very own world renowned designers, where did they decide to buy their Olympic oufits? Madrid? Barcelona? No….. Russia! And the reason behind this, the most puzzling of decisions? Yep, money! The Russian design firm of Bosco offered to supply all the kits for free, and even so, the Spanish still paid too much! The results are an embarrassing disaster. You can tell how thrilled the team are with this ground breaking, avant garde design, by the face of gold  medal winning canoeist Saul Craviotto, in the photo.

A few weeks ago there was a minor scandal in the UK, when the host country of the 2012 Olympics unveiled their new team outfits for the games. Designed by Stella McCartney no less, the problem was not so much the design itself, but more the fact that it was not created using the traditional national colours of red, white and blue. The 2012 uniforms were to be blue, blue and white, which was considered by some as being not very British.

This minor UK scandal was then superceded by problem of the US uniform, this time designed by Ralph Lauren. This super ‘preppy’ outfit, complete with razor sharp tailored white pants and blazers, was not criticised for its design, nor for the colours used, but simply for the fact that it had been manufactured in China. This caused so much outrage that one American Senator was quoted as suggesting that all the uniforms should be take outside an burned. Perhaps a bit melodramatic methinks? 

These minor upsets were then rendered completely insignificant by the Spanish effort. In a country that boasts some of its very own world renowned designers, where did they decide to buy their Olympic oufits? Madrid? Barcelona? No….. Russia! And the reason behind this, the most puzzling of decisions? Yep, money! The Russian design firm of Bosco offered to supply all the kits for free, and even so, the Spanish still paid too much! The results are an embarrassing disaster. You can tell how thrilled the team are with this ground breaking, avant garde design, by the face of gold  medal winning canoeist Saul Craviotto, in the photo.

As you probably know we are quite keen on re-cycling. Indeed, Angela even collects the paper sachets off her tea bags to put into the re-cycling (which is fine until you go to make a fruit infusion and realise that you’ve picked up an empty one!)

Our latest idea however, is possibly as much to do with design as it is to do with re-cycling. We had a pallet of half bottles, which for one reason or another were unusable, and we were considering our options before committing them to the waste bin. I am not sure where my idea originated from, but I know that I have seen it done before – we decided to use the bottles to smarten up our bar area. The space below our ‘bar back’ consists of pleasing geometrical pattern formed by a series of wooden partitions, albeit that the 45° angles were highly impractical for storing anything – in truth a bit of a waste of space. Over the years a few empty bottle samples had accumulated, as, laying horizontally,  they were one of the few things that would fit the space. So we decided to extend that idea…..

The whole of this under bar space is now filled with empty half bottles (as opposed to half empty bottles), and with lighting behind, they now form an attractive backdrop for visitors using our tasting area. See today’s photo to understand my poor attempt at a verbal description.

As you probably know we are quite keen on re-cycling. Indeed, Angela even collects the paper sachets off her tea bags to put into the re-cycling (which is fine until you go to make a fruit infusion and realise that you’ve picked up an empty one!)

Our latest idea however, is possibly as much to do with design as it is to do with re-cycling. We had a pallet of half bottles, which for one reason or another were unusable, and we were considering our options before committing them to the waste bin. I am not sure where my idea originated from, but I know that I have seen it done before – we decided to use the bottles to smarten up our bar area. The space below our ‘bar back’ consists of pleasing geometrical pattern formed by a series of wooden partitions, albeit that the 45° angles were highly impractical for storing anything – in truth a bit of a waste of space. Over the years a few empty bottle samples had accumulated, as, laying horizontally,  they were one of the few things that would fit the space. So we decided to extend that idea…..

The whole of this under bar space is now filled with empty half bottles (as opposed to half empty bottles), and with lighting behind, they now form an attractive backdrop for visitors using our tasting area. See today’s photo to understand my poor attempt at a verbal description.

In the extreme north west of Europe it hasn’t been much of a summer so far – cool temperatures (not much higher than 20°C or 68°F), rain, rain and more rain. On the other side of the pond, in North America, the story has been quite the reverse – more than half of the USA is officially in drought, and in some 26 States natural disasters have been declared. And the reason for all this weather chaos?…. One of the four jet streams that circle the earth. The position of the different jet streams varies according to the time of year, but is still far from predictable. At this time of year our own jet stream would normally flow across the Atlantic in a north easterly direction, but well north of the UK, and just to the south of Iceland. This year, so far, it has been quite a different story.

Until now this northerly jet stream has been flowing much further south, almost across the Bay of Biscay, following the coastline of northern Europe, across France, the Benelux and the north of Germany. This high velocity wind that always flows west to east at an altitude of about 7-10km (4.5-6miles), has the effect of sucking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, this year keeping the north of our continent cool and wet. It is this same airflow that makes our return plane journeys back from the USA much quicker than our outgoing trips (it is not downhill, contrary to popular belief!)

The very good news is that in the coming days it is expected that high pressure will develop over the Azores, and this high altitude belt of wind will move north, returning to a more normal position for the time of year. Yesterday, we had one of the hottest days so far this year (33°C – 91°F), so we have our fingers crossed, as always, that our ‘normal’ weather will now prevail.

In the extreme north west of Europe it hasn’t been much of a summer so far – cool temperatures (not much higher than 20°C or 68°F), rain, rain and more rain. On the other side of the pond, in North America, the story has been quite the reverse – more than half of the USA is officially in drought, and in some 26 States natural disasters have been declared. And the reason for all this weather chaos?…. One of the four jet streams that circle the earth. The position of the different jet streams varies according to the time of year, but is still far from predictable. At this time of year our own jet stream would normally flow across the Atlantic in a north easterly direction, but well north of the UK, and just to the south of Iceland. This year, so far, it has been quite a different story.

Until now this northerly jet stream has been flowing much further south, almost across the Bay of Biscay, following the coastline of northern Europe, across France, the Benelux and the north of Germany. This high velocity wind that always flows west to east at an altitude of about 7-10km (4.5-6miles), has the effect of sucking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, this year keeping the north of our continent cool and wet. It is this same airflow that makes our return plane journeys back from the USA much quicker than our outgoing trips (it is not downhill, contrary to popular belief!)

The very good news is that in the coming days it is expected that high pressure will develop over the Azores, and this high altitude belt of wind will move north, returning to a more normal position for the time of year. Yesterday, we had one of the hottest days so far this year (33°C – 91°F), so we have our fingers crossed, as always, that our ‘normal’ weather will now prevail.

This year is the 30th anniversary of our current Bodega, built in 1981, but with the first vintage being produced in 1982. So are we going to have a big party to celebrate? Probably not. Instead we will do something a bit more subtle, but just as exciting (for us at least).

Plans are well under way to do something new, and an announcement will be made in a few weeks time. Watch this space, as they say!

This year is the 30th anniversary of our current Bodega, built in 1981, but with the first vintage being produced in 1982. So are we going to have a big party to celebrate? Probably not. Instead we will do something a bit more subtle, but just as exciting (for us at least).

Plans are well under way to do something new, and an announcement will be made in a few weeks time. Watch this space, as they say!

Just a fun thing for the weekend…. I am sure that I have mentioned before Angela’s passion for shoes (a passion I know, shared by many other women). Indeed, I seem to recall once referring to her as the Imelda Marcos of the wine industry! At the very least I have managed to persuade her not wear high heels in the vineyards…

Anyway, today’s photograph illustrates the perfect fashion accessory for my wife, ‘killing two birds with one stone’ as they say.

Just a fun thing for the weekend…. I am sure that I have mentioned before Angela’s passion for shoes (a passion I know, shared by many other women). Indeed, I seem to recall once referring to her as the Imelda Marcos of the wine industry! At the very least I have managed to persuade her not wear high heels in the vineyards…

Anyway, today’s photograph illustrates the perfect fashion accessory for my wife, ‘killing two birds with one stone’ as they say.

You may notice that in the title of this post I have put the words “very good” in inverted commas, in the same way as you might make a gesture in the air with four curled fingers, implying that it is a quote that you don’t really believe. The reason I say this is because I was slightly astonished by this generous rating. If you consider that the global classification of a vintage has to encompass the good, the bad and the ugly, it really should be an indication of the average quality for the region. Good bodegas and good winemakers will always be able to achieve a pretty good result, even if the wine Gods chose not to work in their favour, but unfortunately this will not necessarily apply across the board, and an objective viewpoint is therefore required.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 2011 is a disaster, and indeed I have to admit that I am quite pleasantly surprised by what we have produced for this, our current vintage.

I am sure that this is not the first time I have said this, but looking back at the official classification of our last 24 vintages, the only three ratings that have ever been used are Good, Very Good and Excellent. I will say no more.

You may notice that in the title of this post I have put the words “very good” in inverted commas, in the same way as you might make a gesture in the air with four curled fingers, implying that it is a quote that you don’t really believe. The reason I say this is because I was slightly astonished by this generous rating. If you consider that the global classification of a vintage has to encompass the good, the bad and the ugly, it really should be an indication of the average quality for the region. Good bodegas and good winemakers will always be able to achieve a pretty good result, even if the wine Gods chose not to work in their favour, but unfortunately this will not necessarily apply across the board, and an objective viewpoint is therefore required.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 2011 is a disaster, and indeed I have to admit that I am quite pleasantly surprised by what we have produced for this, our current vintage.

I am sure that this is not the first time I have said this, but looking back at the official classification of our last 24 vintages, the only three ratings that have ever been used are Good, Very Good and Excellent. I will say no more.