Moving wine around the world is actually quite a complicated business, not just because of the different labelling requirements and strict customs/import regulations, but also because of the physical conditions under which the wine travels. If you’re moving wine across the equator, or half way around the world your bottles will be subject to all sorts of stresses, the most significant being temperature.

In an ideal world we would move everything using refrigerated transport (as we do for all of our domestic pallet deliveries), but for long distance this can be a very expensive exercise. Whilst I have no doubt that all the 1er Cru Classé wines of Bordeaux are always moved around using temperature controlled transport (as customers protect their huge investment), for a humble wine such as albariño this is not quite so common.That’s not to say that it doesn’t happen as we do have customers that ship our wine across the planet at a constant temperature of  around 12°C….. a real achievement in logistics!

If you’re not quite so rich there is however, an alternative – perhaps not quite as effective, but still offering some protection against the elements. J.F. Hillebrand offer a system called a Vinliner, sort of like a big ‘oven proof’ foil bag into which you simply zip your pallets or cases. Obviously it isn’t really just foil, in reality it’s made from an aluminium coated woven polyethylene fabric, which simply adds another layer of protection against thermal shock (see photo). Of course it still needs to be backed by a good marine transit insurance.

As one final precaution, however you decide to pack your container, you always need to specify that your precious cargo is stowed below deck, and not piled high on top of the ship with full exposure to hot sunshine – baking your beloved albariño like an oven!

Moving wine around the world is actually quite a complicated business, not just because of the different labelling requirements and strict customs/import regulations, but also because of the physical conditions under which the wine travels. If you’re moving wine across the equator, or half way around the world your bottles will be subject to all sorts of stresses, the most significant being temperature.

In an ideal world we would move everything using refrigerated transport (as we do for all of our domestic pallet deliveries), but for long distance this can be a very expensive exercise. Whilst I have no doubt that all the 1er Cru Classé wines of Bordeaux are always moved around using temperature controlled transport (as customers protect their huge investment), for a humble wine such as albariño this is not quite so common.That’s not to say that it doesn’t happen as we do have customers that ship our wine across the planet at a constant temperature of  around 12°C….. a real achievement in logistics!

If you’re not quite so rich there is however, an alternative – perhaps not quite as effective, but still offering some protection against the elements. J.F. Hillebrand offer a system called a Vinliner, sort of like a big ‘oven proof’ foil bag into which you simply zip your pallets or cases. Obviously it isn’t really just foil, in reality it’s made from an aluminium coated woven polyethylene fabric, which simply adds another layer of protection against thermal shock (see photo). Of course it still needs to be backed by a good marine transit insurance.

As one final precaution, however you decide to pack your container, you always need to specify that your precious cargo is stowed below deck, and not piled high on top of the ship with full exposure to hot sunshine – baking your beloved albariño like an oven!

Much has been written in recent years about the increasing madness of Health & Safety legislation, and I’m afraid that Spain is no exception.

In the workplace it’s quite obvious that no one wants to return to the days when small boys were sent up chimneys to clean them, and everyone recognises that there are many workplaces such as factories and construction sites which are dangerous and where regular health and safety checks must continue. The problem occurs when we treat everyday environments such as shops, offices and even wine cellars as if they were chemical plants full of bubbling cauldrons of explosive substances. It appears that we now obsessed by actively seeking potential danger, even in places where it doesn’t really exist.

I’m sure that by now you have realised the reason behind today’s post – our bodega has just undergone it’s own risk assessment, where some dubious dangers were uncovered, and odd recommendations put forward. Taking our tractors as an example, it was pointed out that our older tractor still requires to have a roll-bar fitted, which we accept, and which is clearly necessary. However, the suggestion that both tractors need fire extinguishers, was slightly more of a puzzle. My personal opinion is that it might be more dangerous to encourage our employees to tackle a fire, rather than to simply stand well back and wait for the fire services.

Health and safety is also responsible for changes in our school policies too. Some sports and playground activities have been curtailed on the grounds that they are now deemed too dangerous, despite having been enjoyed more or less safely for generations. I say ‘more or less’ because there will always be accidents, no matter how many precautions are taken, and this is just a fact of life that has to be accepted. The problem is that we simply can’t legislate for every eventuality.

 Having said all this, I am actually wearing a hard hat as I type this, just as a safety precaution!

Much has been written in recent years about the increasing madness of Health & Safety legislation, and I’m afraid that Spain is no exception.

In the workplace it’s quite obvious that no one wants to return to the days when small boys were sent up chimneys to clean them, and everyone recognises that there are many workplaces such as factories and construction sites which are dangerous and where regular health and safety checks must continue. The problem occurs when we treat everyday environments such as shops, offices and even wine cellars as if they were chemical plants full of bubbling cauldrons of explosive substances. It appears that we now obsessed by actively seeking potential danger, even in places where it doesn’t really exist.

I’m sure that by now you have realised the reason behind today’s post – our bodega has just undergone it’s own risk assessment, where some dubious dangers were uncovered, and odd recommendations put forward. Taking our tractors as an example, it was pointed out that our older tractor still requires to have a roll-bar fitted, which we accept, and which is clearly necessary. However, the suggestion that both tractors need fire extinguishers, was slightly more of a puzzle. My personal opinion is that it might be more dangerous to encourage our employees to tackle a fire, rather than to simply stand well back and wait for the fire services.

Health and safety is also responsible for changes in our school policies too. Some sports and playground activities have been curtailed on the grounds that they are now deemed too dangerous, despite having been enjoyed more or less safely for generations. I say ‘more or less’ because there will always be accidents, no matter how many precautions are taken, and this is just a fact of life that has to be accepted. The problem is that we simply can’t legislate for every eventuality.

 Having said all this, I am actually wearing a hard hat as I type this, just as a safety precaution!

An Inspector Calls, as some of you may know, is the name of a famous thriller written by J.B.Priestley. A play based on the book has been hailed as the theatrical event of our generation, winning more awards than any other play in history, although it is actually nothing to do with my real story today!

Running any business these days means that you will be subject to inspections of every conceivable type, whether it be Financial, Health & Safety, Food Hygiene or Fraud etc. Naturally there are quite a number of rules and regulations that we need to follow in order to comply with the numerous governing bodies.

As Christmas approaches it appears that it must be ‘that time of year’, as we find ourselves with several different inspectors forming an orderly queue at our front door. Obviously we work hard to follow all the rules and regulations laid down, not only for the working environment, but also those set by our Consello, as they strive to control the local wine making process. Despite doing our very best we know that we will never be 100% perfect, and the spectre of heavy fines always looms in the background. In these circumstances, all we can do is keep our fingers tightly crossed and hope that we have done enough……

An Inspector Calls, as some of you may know, is the name of a famous thriller written by J.B.Priestley. A play based on the book has been hailed as the theatrical event of our generation, winning more awards than any other play in history, although it is actually nothing to do with my real story today!

Running any business these days means that you will be subject to inspections of every conceivable type, whether it be Financial, Health & Safety, Food Hygiene or Fraud etc. Naturally there are quite a number of rules and regulations that we need to follow in order to comply with the numerous governing bodies.

As Christmas approaches it appears that it must be ‘that time of year’, as we find ourselves with several different inspectors forming an orderly queue at our front door. Obviously we work hard to follow all the rules and regulations laid down, not only for the working environment, but also those set by our Consello, as they strive to control the local wine making process. Despite doing our very best we know that we will never be 100% perfect, and the spectre of heavy fines always looms in the background. In these circumstances, all we can do is keep our fingers tightly crossed and hope that we have done enough……

After a week or two of R&R we are finally back at the helm, steering our Bodega inexorably towards the Christmas rush (we hope!) In anticipation of this we now have to stock up on certain lines, and so the trucks have been arriving over the last couple of days, laiden with all the materials that we need for bottling. Over the next few days our bottling line will be working overtime, as will our staff, as we fill the warehouse with a bit of Christmas cheer……

 Unfortunately, however organised we are (or think we are), there is always something to throw a spanner in the works. Whilst bottling the first tank for example, the capsule machine started to play up, and decided that it would only put capsules on two out of every three bottles. A 33% saving I hear you say – but unfortunately not acceptable to our customers! In the short term the only answer is to have one individual standing in front of the line dispensing capsules by hand as the bottles speed past at roughly 1,500 – 2,000 bottles per hour – that’s about one bottle every two seconds.

Having drawn the short straw I had the task of placing the capsules myself, and I can tell you, not only do you hardly have time to blink, but also, after an hour or two, the whole process has a slightly hypnotic effect (no doubt I will be ‘capsuling’ in my sleep tonight).

So when we tell our customers that Angela and I are very hands-on managers, that’s exactly what we mean!

After a week or two of R&R we are finally back at the helm, steering our Bodega inexorably towards the Christmas rush (we hope!) In anticipation of this we now have to stock up on certain lines, and so the trucks have been arriving over the last couple of days, laiden with all the materials that we need for bottling. Over the next few days our bottling line will be working overtime, as will our staff, as we fill the warehouse with a bit of Christmas cheer……

 Unfortunately, however organised we are (or think we are), there is always something to throw a spanner in the works. Whilst bottling the first tank for example, the capsule machine started to play up, and decided that it would only put capsules on two out of every three bottles. A 33% saving I hear you say – but unfortunately not acceptable to our customers! In the short term the only answer is to have one individual standing in front of the line dispensing capsules by hand as the bottles speed past at roughly 1,500 – 2,000 bottles per hour – that’s about one bottle every two seconds.

Having drawn the short straw I had the task of placing the capsules myself, and I can tell you, not only do you hardly have time to blink, but also, after an hour or two, the whole process has a slightly hypnotic effect (no doubt I will be ‘capsuling’ in my sleep tonight).

So when we tell our customers that Angela and I are very hands-on managers, that’s exactly what we mean!

Just in case you thought it had gone a little quiet, I thought I should explain…. we’re all having a bit of a holiday. We had planned to close the wine cellar for a week during August, in order to give everyone a short break before the onslaught of the harvest. However, owing to the very early start that we had this year, there was simply too much to do, and consequently the closure was cancelled.

So we arrived at the end of October, having completed the wine making, but with everyone exhausted, and still sitting on pretty much their full quota of holiday entitlement. With Christmas (and 2012) fast approaching we thought we’d better do something about it, so we decided to close our doors for a week or two. Around this time of year there are already a few ‘festivo’ days, and so the obvious thing to do was to build a break around this, hence this rather belated holiday.

In fairness the weather has not been too great, after a very warm period during the first half of October, but a break is still a break, and it gives us the chance to catch up on things at home.

Talking about home, it’s really great living by the sea, especially during autumn and winter when it’s so abandoned. This photo was taken early morning on a nearby boardwalk that follows the shore – in winter this forms my own personal running track as I do my best to keep fit. I can tell you that you don’t meet too many Spanish people at 7.30am, they’re not exactly ‘early birds’ like me!

Just in case you thought it had gone a little quiet, I thought I should explain…. we’re all having a bit of a holiday. We had planned to close the wine cellar for a week during August, in order to give everyone a short break before the onslaught of the harvest. However, owing to the very early start that we had this year, there was simply too much to do, and consequently the closure was cancelled.

So we arrived at the end of October, having completed the wine making, but with everyone exhausted, and still sitting on pretty much their full quota of holiday entitlement. With Christmas (and 2012) fast approaching we thought we’d better do something about it, so we decided to close our doors for a week or two. Around this time of year there are already a few ‘festivo’ days, and so the obvious thing to do was to build a break around this, hence this rather belated holiday.

In fairness the weather has not been too great, after a very warm period during the first half of October, but a break is still a break, and it gives us the chance to catch up on things at home.

Talking about home, it’s really great living by the sea, especially during autumn and winter when it’s so abandoned. This photo was taken early morning on a nearby boardwalk that follows the shore – in winter this forms my own personal running track as I do my best to keep fit. I can tell you that you don’t meet too many Spanish people at 7.30am, they’re not exactly ‘early birds’ like me!

And before you even think it….. no, I don’t mean me!

In the period between finishing the fermentation and starting the pruning, it’s traditionally the time of year when we have a bit of a clean out in the bodega.

This year we have attacked one of the storage rooms in the eaves of the building, that, over the years, had become choked with unused materials and equipment most of which is past its sell-by date.

Our big clean up yielded (amongst many other things), this strange looking piece of kit. At first I had absolutely no idea what it could be used for, at least until I examined it a bit more closely. It turns out to be the head for filling bottles by hand, only six at a time. How things have changed – our new machine for example, will handle up to 3,000 bottles per hour (which is still slow compared to some).

If it takes us nearly a day to bottle a tank of wine with our new machine, I cannot imagine how long it must have taken with this – perhaps we had to provide our staff with sleeping bags?

And before you even think it….. no, I don’t mean me!

In the period between finishing the fermentation and starting the pruning, it’s traditionally the time of year when we have a bit of a clean out in the bodega.

This year we have attacked one of the storage rooms in the eaves of the building, that, over the years, had become choked with unused materials and equipment most of which is past its sell-by date.

Our big clean up yielded (amongst many other things), this strange looking piece of kit. At first I had absolutely no idea what it could be used for, at least until I examined it a bit more closely. It turns out to be the head for filling bottles by hand, only six at a time. How things have changed – our new machine for example, will handle up to 3,000 bottles per hour (which is still slow compared to some).

If it takes us nearly a day to bottle a tank of wine with our new machine, I cannot imagine how long it must have taken with this – perhaps we had to provide our staff with sleeping bags?

On one occasion we tried growing a beautiful lawn in front of our bodega just in case we fancied playing a game of tennis – but it didn’t work – simply too hot. (The front of our bodega is south facing and can reach temperatures of up to 40°C at the height of summer). So now we have settled for something that requires a little less maintenance…. a Japanese rock garden, often known as a Zen garden.

Strictly speaking ours is a Karesansui garden, built where there is no water present, but on a base of gravel that represents either rivers, seas, oceans or lakes.

Karesansui gardens can be abstract and have stone and other elements that symbolise mountains or islands. We also incorporate “ishi wo taten koto”, meaning literally, the “act of setting stones upright.” In ancient Japan the placement of stones was perceived as the primary act of gardening. Normally there would always be more horizontal than vertical stones. If there are “running away” stones there must be “chasing” stones. If there are “leaning” stones, there must be “supporting” stones – it’s not quite as simple as you might think……

By the way, I forgot to mention that the tree in this photo is actually the root of a large tree turned upside down – in Japan this tree would represent, well, a tree!

On one occasion we tried growing a beautiful lawn in front of our bodega just in case we fancied playing a game of tennis – but it didn’t work – simply too hot. (The front of our bodega is south facing and can reach temperatures of up to 40°C at the height of summer). So now we have settled for something that requires a little less maintenance…. a Japanese rock garden, often known as a Zen garden.

Strictly speaking ours is a Karesansui garden, built where there is no water present, but on a base of gravel that represents either rivers, seas, oceans or lakes.

Karesansui gardens can be abstract and have stone and other elements that symbolise mountains or islands. We also incorporate “ishi wo taten koto”, meaning literally, the “act of setting stones upright.” In ancient Japan the placement of stones was perceived as the primary act of gardening. Normally there would always be more horizontal than vertical stones. If there are “running away” stones there must be “chasing” stones. If there are “leaning” stones, there must be “supporting” stones – it’s not quite as simple as you might think……

By the way, I forgot to mention that the tree in this photo is actually the root of a large tree turned upside down – in Japan this tree would represent, well, a tree!

Fran is our senior cellar hand, and not only helps us in the Bodega, but is also a gifted handyman. He can turn his hand to more or less anything, building, metalwork, carpentry, mechanics – you name it, he can do it. Suffice to say that he’s a very useful guy to have around, and probably saves us a fortune in not having to call contractors to do jobs around the cellar.

However, no matter how perfect we men think we are, every man has his weakness. Fran’s is keeping his ‘tool corner’ tidy.

With the recent cooler weather we are now just waiting for the final ripening in the vineyards, and so as we wait, it is an opportunity to catch up on those jobs that we never quite get around to. One of Fran’s was tidying up his tools….

The reason that I took a photograph was simply so that I can remind him how it should look at all times! (Sorry Fran)

Fran is our senior cellar hand, and not only helps us in the Bodega, but is also a gifted handyman. He can turn his hand to more or less anything, building, metalwork, carpentry, mechanics – you name it, he can do it. Suffice to say that he’s a very useful guy to have around, and probably saves us a fortune in not having to call contractors to do jobs around the cellar.

However, no matter how perfect we men think we are, every man has his weakness. Fran’s is keeping his ‘tool corner’ tidy.

With the recent cooler weather we are now just waiting for the final ripening in the vineyards, and so as we wait, it is an opportunity to catch up on those jobs that we never quite get around to. One of Fran’s was tidying up his tools….

The reason that I took a photograph was simply so that I can remind him how it should look at all times! (Sorry Fran)

You may have noticed that our blog has been a little abandoned recently, and as always, there is a perfectly good excuse…..

The screen capture above is a sneak preview of the homepage of our new website, which has been under construction for the last couple of months.

 The framework is done, the pages are set up, and now I am just going through the painfully slow part of adding the text and selecting the photographs that we are going to use. Any spare moment that I have had in front of my computer over the last couple of weeks has been occupied by this task – hence the fact that our blog has been a bit overlooked. Sorry about that.

 We hope to have the full new site up and running in the next week or so. As they say, watch this space!