Archive for ‘Odds & Sods’

How will you prepare your turkey?

November 28th, 2013 | Fiestas

Menu mixer (2)Thanksgiving and Christmas are singularly the worst times to be a turkey. It’s not that long ago that cooking a turkey for the holidays was the reserve of only the very wealthy as turkey was considered very much a luxury item. I am not completely sure where the tradition of cooking turkey originated, but I do know that in the majority of households the bird will be served as a simple roast meal (with all the trimmings).

I found a document on the internet the other day that pokes fun at restaurant menu descriptions, and if you click on today’s picture you might just be able to make out how it works. It made me laugh, and, also made me ponder some alternative ways to prepare the traditional turkey dinner….. for example, how about ‘Carpaccio of water-bathed turkey injected with slow-poached cranberry’? Or maybe ‘Whisper of flame-roasted turkey dappled with marinated purple flowering broccoli’.

If you get bored this Thanksgiving evening you should play this as a game – to see who can come up with the most original (and amusing) turkey dinner description. Oh! And by the way, every depiction has to be suffixed with the phrase ‘accompanied by a glass of refreshing, zesty, chilled albariño’.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Menu mixer (2)Thanksgiving and Christmas are singularly the worst times to be a turkey. It’s not that long ago that cooking a turkey for the holidays was the reserve of only the very wealthy as turkey was considered very much a luxury item. I am not completely sure where the tradition of cooking turkey originated, but I do know that in the majority of households the bird will be served as a simple roast meal (with all the trimmings).

I found a document on the internet the other day that pokes fun at restaurant menu descriptions, and if you click on today’s picture you might just be able to make out how it works. It made me laugh, and, also made me ponder some alternative ways to prepare the traditional turkey dinner….. for example, how about ‘Carpaccio of water-bathed turkey injected with slow-poached cranberry’? Or maybe ‘Whisper of flame-roasted turkey dappled with marinated purple flowering broccoli’.

If you get bored this Thanksgiving evening you should play this as a game – to see who can come up with the most original (and amusing) turkey dinner description. Oh! And by the way, every depiction has to be suffixed with the phrase ‘accompanied by a glass of refreshing, zesty, chilled albariño’.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Self-adhesive gorillas…

August 15th, 2013 | Labels

HTC SmartphoneWhat happens when you’re smart phone becomes too smart…. or at least when it thinks it is? The other day Angela went to an official tasting at the Rias Baixas denomination office in Pontevedra. Whilst she was there she had to collect a box of ‘tirillas’ (in case you don’t remember these are the small stickers that we attach to every bottle to prove that our wine has passed the official tasting and is an authentic Rias Baixas wine). It is the proof of origin if you like.

On my new, all-singing, all-dancing HTC smart phone I wanted to send Angela a simple message to remind her to collect these special labels. What I typed into my phone was “Don’t forget to collect the tirillas”, but what my smartphone thought I wanted to type was “Don’t forget to collect the gorillas”! Suffice to say that Angela was just a little confused!

This morning when we actually came to bottle the wine in question, we started with a problem that we sometimes have at this time of year – sweating bottles. When the cold wine hits the slightly warmer empty glass bottle, a very fine film of condensation forms which can prevent the labels from sticking properly. On this occasion it was the tirilla that refused to stick properly, which made me laugh….. I couldn’t resist telling Angela that the ‘gorillas’ wouldn’t stick to the bottle! I apologise yet again for my infantile sense of humour, but I’m told that it’s only healthy to laugh now and again (even if it is at your own jokes!)

HTC SmartphoneWhat happens when you’re smart phone becomes too smart…. or at least when it thinks it is? The other day Angela went to an official tasting at the Rias Baixas denomination office in Pontevedra. Whilst she was there she had to collect a box of ‘tirillas’ (in case you don’t remember these are the small stickers that we attach to every bottle to prove that our wine has passed the official tasting and is an authentic Rias Baixas wine). It is the proof of origin if you like.

On my new, all-singing, all-dancing HTC smart phone I wanted to send Angela a simple message to remind her to collect these special labels. What I typed into my phone was “Don’t forget to collect the tirillas”, but what my smartphone thought I wanted to type was “Don’t forget to collect the gorillas”! Suffice to say that Angela was just a little confused!

This morning when we actually came to bottle the wine in question, we started with a problem that we sometimes have at this time of year – sweating bottles. When the cold wine hits the slightly warmer empty glass bottle, a very fine film of condensation forms which can prevent the labels from sticking properly. On this occasion it was the tirilla that refused to stick properly, which made me laugh….. I couldn’t resist telling Angela that the ‘gorillas’ wouldn’t stick to the bottle! I apologise yet again for my infantile sense of humour, but I’m told that it’s only healthy to laugh now and again (even if it is at your own jokes!)

Ship-shape and Bristol fashion

August 1st, 2013 | Odds & Sods

Bodega VineyardRoughly ten years ago we planted a new vineyard around the bodega. Any new vineyard yields virtually no usable fruit for the first few years, and it takes much longer than that to produce high quality grapes, so the return on investment can be quite protracted. Even at ten years old this ‘finca’ is still very young – the fruit that it produces now is not bad, but the very good news is that it is going to get much better in the years to come. Of course it goes without saying that all the vines that we plant, whether it be in new vineyards, or to replace old or damaged vines, are the very best clones of the albariño grape variety that we can lay our hands on.

 Although today’s photo is just another boring shot of the new bodega vineyard, I wanted to put it in as a tribute to David, Juan and Freddie, our young  and enthusiastic team who work very hard, often in inclement weather, to keep all our vineyards in tip-top condition. Our fincas are quite deliberately manicured like gardens in order to fully support our philosophy that ‘quality begins in the vineyard’.

The expression that I use to describe the state of this finca is ‘Ship-shape and Bristol fashion’ which is an old English nautical term, or to be more accurate, two separate terms from the 17th and 18th centuries which over the years have become married together. The city of Bristol is a port in the south west of England. Situated inland on the River Severn it experiences the second highest rise and fall of tides of anywhere in the world (I believe that this can be up to 40ft or 12/13metres). The old wooden Royal Navy ships that used the port had to be extremely strong as at low tide they would be left beached, resting on their keels, and therefore tilting over. Before they could use the port they had to ensure that everything was lashed down and secured, so that when it tilted its contents would not simply be strewn across the ship. 

The term ‘ship-shape’ refers to neat order; ‘Bristol fashion’ refers to the critical specifications that ships had to meet before entering Bristol. The phrase in its entirety therefore comes to mean ‘neat, tidy and well-ordered’. Some old phrases can be quite interesting, we often use them without really knowing their true origins…..

Bodega VineyardRoughly ten years ago we planted a new vineyard around the bodega. Any new vineyard yields virtually no usable fruit for the first few years, and it takes much longer than that to produce high quality grapes, so the return on investment can be quite protracted. Even at ten years old this ‘finca’ is still very young – the fruit that it produces now is not bad, but the very good news is that it is going to get much better in the years to come. Of course it goes without saying that all the vines that we plant, whether it be in new vineyards, or to replace old or damaged vines, are the very best clones of the albariño grape variety that we can lay our hands on.

 Although today’s photo is just another boring shot of the new bodega vineyard, I wanted to put it in as a tribute to David, Juan and Freddie, our young  and enthusiastic team who work very hard, often in inclement weather, to keep all our vineyards in tip-top condition. Our fincas are quite deliberately manicured like gardens in order to fully support our philosophy that ‘quality begins in the vineyard’.

The expression that I use to describe the state of this finca is ‘Ship-shape and Bristol fashion’ which is an old English nautical term, or to be more accurate, two separate terms from the 17th and 18th centuries which over the years have become married together. The city of Bristol is a port in the south west of England. Situated inland on the River Severn it experiences the second highest rise and fall of tides of anywhere in the world (I believe that this can be up to 40ft or 12/13metres). The old wooden Royal Navy ships that used the port had to be extremely strong as at low tide they would be left beached, resting on their keels, and therefore tilting over. Before they could use the port they had to ensure that everything was lashed down and secured, so that when it tilted its contents would not simply be strewn across the ship. 

The term ‘ship-shape’ refers to neat order; ‘Bristol fashion’ refers to the critical specifications that ships had to meet before entering Bristol. The phrase in its entirety therefore comes to mean ‘neat, tidy and well-ordered’. Some old phrases can be quite interesting, we often use them without really knowing their true origins…..

Ship-shape and Bristol fashion

August 1st, 2013 | Odds & Sods

Bodega VineyardRoughly ten years ago we planted a new vineyard around the bodega. Any new vineyard yields virtually no usable fruit for the first few years, and it takes much longer than that to produce high quality grapes, so the return on investment can be quite protracted. Even at ten years old this ‘finca’ is still very young – the fruit that it produces now is not bad, but the very good news is that it is going to get much better in the years to come. Of course it goes without saying that all the vines that we plant, whether it be in new vineyards, or to replace old or damaged vines, are the very best clones of the albariño grape variety that we can lay our hands on.

 Although today’s photo is just another boring shot of the new bodega vineyard, I wanted to put it in as a tribute to David, Juan and Freddie, our young  and enthusiastic team who work very hard, often in inclement weather, to keep all our vineyards in tip-top condition. Our fincas are quite deliberately manicured like gardens in order to fully support our philosophy that ‘quality begins in the vineyard’.

The expression that I use to describe the state of this finca is ‘Ship-shape and Bristol fashion’ which is an old English nautical term, or to be more accurate, two separate terms from the 17th and 18th centuries which over the years have become married together. The city of Bristol is a port in the south west of England. Situated inland on the River Severn it experiences the second highest rise and fall of tides of anywhere in the world (I believe that this can be up to 40ft or 12/13metres). The old wooden Royal Navy ships that used the port had to be extremely strong as at low tide they would be left beached, resting on their keels, and therefore tilting over. Before they could use the port they had to ensure that everything was lashed down and secured, so that when it tilted its contents would not simply be strewn across the ship. 

The term ‘ship-shape’ refers to neat order; ‘Bristol fashion’ refers to the critical specifications that ships had to meet before entering Bristol. The phrase in its entirety therefore comes to mean ‘neat, tidy and well-ordered’. Some old phrases can be quite interesting, we often use them without really knowing their true origins…..

Bodega VineyardRoughly ten years ago we planted a new vineyard around the bodega. Any new vineyard yields virtually no usable fruit for the first few years, and it takes much longer than that to produce high quality grapes, so the return on investment can be quite protracted. Even at ten years old this ‘finca’ is still very young – the fruit that it produces now is not bad, but the very good news is that it is going to get much better in the years to come. Of course it goes without saying that all the vines that we plant, whether it be in new vineyards, or to replace old or damaged vines, are the very best clones of the albariño grape variety that we can lay our hands on.

 Although today’s photo is just another boring shot of the new bodega vineyard, I wanted to put it in as a tribute to David, Juan and Freddie, our young  and enthusiastic team who work very hard, often in inclement weather, to keep all our vineyards in tip-top condition. Our fincas are quite deliberately manicured like gardens in order to fully support our philosophy that ‘quality begins in the vineyard’.

The expression that I use to describe the state of this finca is ‘Ship-shape and Bristol fashion’ which is an old English nautical term, or to be more accurate, two separate terms from the 17th and 18th centuries which over the years have become married together. The city of Bristol is a port in the south west of England. Situated inland on the River Severn it experiences the second highest rise and fall of tides of anywhere in the world (I believe that this can be up to 40ft or 12/13metres). The old wooden Royal Navy ships that used the port had to be extremely strong as at low tide they would be left beached, resting on their keels, and therefore tilting over. Before they could use the port they had to ensure that everything was lashed down and secured, so that when it tilted its contents would not simply be strewn across the ship. 

The term ‘ship-shape’ refers to neat order; ‘Bristol fashion’ refers to the critical specifications that ships had to meet before entering Bristol. The phrase in its entirety therefore comes to mean ‘neat, tidy and well-ordered’. Some old phrases can be quite interesting, we often use them without really knowing their true origins…..

My favourite things – A2O & LFC

July 29th, 2013 | Labels

Construction shirtPeople who know me, or perhaps those who have read our blog before, will know that I am a pretty huge Liverpool F.C. supporter, and that we actually have one small corner of our wine cellar dedicated to my favourite team…. a small shrine if you will.

A week or two ago I was browsing the LFC website, when I came across a t-shirt design that made me smile. By complete co-incidence it was almost a carbon copy of our new A2O label design – a sort of  ‘Da Vinci-esque’ logo, using architectural construction lines. Of course I could not resist, I had found yet another perfect excuse to add to my already substantial collection of Liverpool shirts!

What is it they say? Great minds think alike (or is it that fools seldom differ?)

Construction shirtPeople who know me, or perhaps those who have read our blog before, will know that I am a pretty huge Liverpool F.C. supporter, and that we actually have one small corner of our wine cellar dedicated to my favourite team…. a small shrine if you will.

A week or two ago I was browsing the LFC website, when I came across a t-shirt design that made me smile. By complete co-incidence it was almost a carbon copy of our new A2O label design – a sort of  ‘Da Vinci-esque’ logo, using architectural construction lines. Of course I could not resist, I had found yet another perfect excuse to add to my already substantial collection of Liverpool shirts!

What is it they say? Great minds think alike (or is it that fools seldom differ?)

Vintage Sherry?

June 26th, 2013 | Odds & Sods

La GuitaWhen I was a boy (a long, long time ago), I still remember that my mum’s favourite drink was Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry. Harvey’s was a Bristol wine merchant dating back to 1796, that was famous for centuries as an importer of sherry. It still exists today, but now as a wine museum and tapas restaurant, still serving it’s most famous beverage – Bristol Cream Sherry. Unfortunately I don’t remember too much about its taste, except to say that it was desperately sweet and sticky – if not for drinking then it could probably have served as some type of glue – an early adhesive for the Post-It pad perhaps?

On the subject of sherry, one of my own favourite drinks, and something that we nearly always have in our refrigerator, is Manzanilla. Of course anyone who drinks Manzanilla will know that one of the single most important factors in enjoying this fortified wine is that it is fresh, from a recent bottling. Of course this is quite ironic coming from someone who encourages consumers to drink their albariño with a bit of bottle age! The brand that I chose to drink is La Guita (not to be confused with La Gitana), not just because I like its taste, but also because I believe it is the only brand of Manzanilla to include the exact bottling date printed on the back label. You will often see me in my local supermarket sorting through the bottles on the shelf to find the newest wine….. 

Of course, by far the best way to enjoy a fresh glass of Manzanilla is to visit the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz where it is made. The distinctive Manzanilla wine acquires its dry, slightly salty tang from the seaside environment and the moist poniente wind that blows from the west along the Straights of Gibraltar. Its style is also derived from the distinctive chalky soil, the grape variety and from the local climate, which is cooler with high humidity, resulting in a higher level of flor yeast. As with our own wine it is absolutely perfect with seafood.

Yesterday I was out shopping with La Guita on my shopping list – there were only three bottles on the shelf. Upon closer examination one bottle was from 2010, one bottle from 2011 and the most recent bottle from March 2012….. doesn’t say too much for their stock rotation, and suffice to say that I didn’t buy any of them. I will look for some newer stock elsewhere.

La GuitaWhen I was a boy (a long, long time ago), I still remember that my mum’s favourite drink was Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry. Harvey’s was a Bristol wine merchant dating back to 1796, that was famous for centuries as an importer of sherry. It still exists today, but now as a wine museum and tapas restaurant, still serving it’s most famous beverage – Bristol Cream Sherry. Unfortunately I don’t remember too much about its taste, except to say that it was desperately sweet and sticky – if not for drinking then it could probably have served as some type of glue – an early adhesive for the Post-It pad perhaps?

On the subject of sherry, one of my own favourite drinks, and something that we nearly always have in our refrigerator, is Manzanilla. Of course anyone who drinks Manzanilla will know that one of the single most important factors in enjoying this fortified wine is that it is fresh, from a recent bottling. Of course this is quite ironic coming from someone who encourages consumers to drink their albariño with a bit of bottle age! The brand that I chose to drink is La Guita (not to be confused with La Gitana), not just because I like its taste, but also because I believe it is the only brand of Manzanilla to include the exact bottling date printed on the back label. You will often see me in my local supermarket sorting through the bottles on the shelf to find the newest wine….. 

Of course, by far the best way to enjoy a fresh glass of Manzanilla is to visit the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz where it is made. The distinctive Manzanilla wine acquires its dry, slightly salty tang from the seaside environment and the moist poniente wind that blows from the west along the Straights of Gibraltar. Its style is also derived from the distinctive chalky soil, the grape variety and from the local climate, which is cooler with high humidity, resulting in a higher level of flor yeast. As with our own wine it is absolutely perfect with seafood.

Yesterday I was out shopping with La Guita on my shopping list – there were only three bottles on the shelf. Upon closer examination one bottle was from 2010, one bottle from 2011 and the most recent bottle from March 2012….. doesn’t say too much for their stock rotation, and suffice to say that I didn’t buy any of them. I will look for some newer stock elsewhere.

Please don’t shout…

May 18th, 2013 | Odds & Sods

NoiseI am ashamed to admit that when it comes to learning languages the Brits can be pretty lazy…. and the reason? We simply expect that everyone else in the world should speak English. No matter which country you are visiting a common scenario is to overhear a Brit speaking (in English) to a local person, and then, when the local person doesn’t understand, repeat the same words again but in a much louder voice! It’s all a bit embarrassing really.

Having said that, when it comes to speaking in loud voices, then the Spanish should probably lead the world. In a recent study commissioned by the World Health Organisation Spain was declared  the world’s second noisiest country, beaten only by Japan. I rather suspect that one of the main differences between Spain and Japan might be that the Japanese people themselves are quite quiet and reserved by nature, the noise in their country really originates from the traffic, building works, electronic machinery and night life. In Spain a recent poll carried out by AECOR (the Spanish Association for Acoustic Quality) it was revealed that the biggest noise-related nuisance for people are their neighbours, with 90 per cent blaming the poor noise insulation of their homes!

In a restaurant scenario for example, you might be forgiven for thinking that a large table of Spanish diners might be having a wholesale argument with one another, whereas they are, in fact, simply holding several loud conversations all at the same time! Only 60 km from our door, in Portugal, the difference is quite noticeable – you can enjoy a meal in relative calm and quiet without the highly animated pandemonium of Spain!

A possible explanation is that approximately two million Spaniards suffer from hearing loss, which could be why everyone appears to be shouting all the time. I know for example that Angela suffers from slightly impaired hearing and I often find myself complaining that she shouts when using the telephone in our office. In the future this could get even worse as the so-called ‘i-pod generation’ are already being forced to visit hearing specialists, and are likely to suffer hearing loss around 20 years before their parents or grandparents ever did! A sobering thought.

NoiseI am ashamed to admit that when it comes to learning languages the Brits can be pretty lazy…. and the reason? We simply expect that everyone else in the world should speak English. No matter which country you are visiting a common scenario is to overhear a Brit speaking (in English) to a local person, and then, when the local person doesn’t understand, repeat the same words again but in a much louder voice! It’s all a bit embarrassing really.

Having said that, when it comes to speaking in loud voices, then the Spanish should probably lead the world. In a recent study commissioned by the World Health Organisation Spain was declared  the world’s second noisiest country, beaten only by Japan. I rather suspect that one of the main differences between Spain and Japan might be that the Japanese people themselves are quite quiet and reserved by nature, the noise in their country really originates from the traffic, building works, electronic machinery and night life. In Spain a recent poll carried out by AECOR (the Spanish Association for Acoustic Quality) it was revealed that the biggest noise-related nuisance for people are their neighbours, with 90 per cent blaming the poor noise insulation of their homes!

In a restaurant scenario for example, you might be forgiven for thinking that a large table of Spanish diners might be having a wholesale argument with one another, whereas they are, in fact, simply holding several loud conversations all at the same time! Only 60 km from our door, in Portugal, the difference is quite noticeable – you can enjoy a meal in relative calm and quiet without the highly animated pandemonium of Spain!

A possible explanation is that approximately two million Spaniards suffer from hearing loss, which could be why everyone appears to be shouting all the time. I know for example that Angela suffers from slightly impaired hearing and I often find myself complaining that she shouts when using the telephone in our office. In the future this could get even worse as the so-called ‘i-pod generation’ are already being forced to visit hearing specialists, and are likely to suffer hearing loss around 20 years before their parents or grandparents ever did! A sobering thought.

Ronaldo McDonaldo

May 8th, 2013 | Odds & Sods

ronaldo mcdonaldoPlease forgive me, this is nothing to do with wine…

Last Saturday night after scoring two goals for his Real Madrid team, the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo went out for a meal with his girlfriend. On his journey home at about 01.30am on Sunday morning Ronaldo, in his brand new Audi R8, was stopped by the police during a routine check of driver and vehicle documents.

For some reason (which was not made entirely clear) Ronaldo didn’t have his paperwork in the car, and instead turned to the policeman and said “Do you know who I am?”

The policeman allegedly returned to his vehicle, radioed his headquarters and said “Quick! Please send an ambulance, there’s a guy here who doesn’t know who he is!”

Well, actually, the last part is what should have happened, but the reality was actually much more mundane. Apparently Ronaldo made a call and simply waited an hour until someone arrived with his documents, although I have to say that I think I prefer my ending!

ronaldo mcdonaldoPlease forgive me, this is nothing to do with wine…

Last Saturday night after scoring two goals for his Real Madrid team, the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo went out for a meal with his girlfriend. On his journey home at about 01.30am on Sunday morning Ronaldo, in his brand new Audi R8, was stopped by the police during a routine check of driver and vehicle documents.

For some reason (which was not made entirely clear) Ronaldo didn’t have his paperwork in the car, and instead turned to the policeman and said “Do you know who I am?”

The policeman allegedly returned to his vehicle, radioed his headquarters and said “Quick! Please send an ambulance, there’s a guy here who doesn’t know who he is!”

Well, actually, the last part is what should have happened, but the reality was actually much more mundane. Apparently Ronaldo made a call and simply waited an hour until someone arrived with his documents, although I have to say that I think I prefer my ending!

Hey dude, where’s my wine?

April 24th, 2013 | Odds & Sods

Marine-Traffic

These days we probably tend to take most technology for granted, using apps on our smartphone for airline check-ins, football scores or even to find out where we are. Having said all that, I still occasionally find some app or website that amazes me….. The other day I was attempting to track a container of our wine en route to a customer across the world (in the same way that you might track a UPS parcel), when I stumbled upon a website called www.marinetraffic.com – Click on the map to see more detail.

The website shows the movement of every conceivable type of vessel on the seas and oceans around the world, but in quite astonishing detail. Firstly, you can filter the different ships (or yachts) by type, for example separating the cargo ships from the cruise liners or tankers. Then, if you want to find an individual vessel you can search by name, and not only will it give you information about the ship itself (including photo), but it will also give you the speed, heading and destination etc. It’s all pretty amazing stuff. 

They say that the English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and if you ever take a minute to visit this site you might understand why. The volume of traffic is quite staggering, looking much like a busy motorway or highway. Of course for the vast majority of people this site may have no value at all, but certainly the next time that I want to follow the shipment of one of our wines I will know where to look. Oh, and by the way, there is another site which might be of more interest to more people, with similar maps, but showing live air traffic – www.flightradar24.com 

Marine-TrafficThese days we probably tend to take most technology for granted, using apps on our smartphone for airline check-ins, football scores or even to find out where we are. Having said all that, I still occasionally find some app or website that amazes me….. The other day I was attempting to track a container of our wine en route to a customer across the world (in the same way that you might track a UPS parcel), when I stumbled upon a website called www.marinetraffic.com – Click on the map to see more detail.

The website shows the movement of every conceivable type of vessel on the seas and oceans around the world, but in quite astonishing detail. Firstly, you can filter the different ships (or yachts) by type, for example separating the cargo ships from the cruise liners or tankers. Then, if you want to find an individual vessel you can search by name, and not only will it give you information about the ship itself (including photo), but it will also give you the speed, heading and destination etc. It’s all pretty amazing stuff. 

They say that the English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and if you ever take a minute to visit this site you might understand why. The volume of traffic is quite staggering, looking much like a busy motorway or highway. Of course for the vast majority of people this site may have no value at all, but certainly the next time that I want to follow the shipment of one of our wines I will know where to look. Oh, and by the way, there is another site which might be of more interest to more people, with similar maps, but showing live air traffic – www.flightradar24.com

A vineyard trim

March 17th, 2013 | Odds & Sods

Sheep shearing

You could be forgiven for thinking that at this time of year a vineyard trim would refer to the pruning of our vines – but not so. Today I am referring to the other trimming that has just taken place. Our family of sheep have just had their hair cut (or should that be fleece?) As you may know we make a big effort to be as Eco-friendly as possible in our vineyards and whilst we do not qualify for the full bio-dynamic certification, we still take as many steps as possible to minimise the level of intervention that is required. For example, we allow the grass to grow between our vines, which, under normal circumstances would require regular cutting by tractor. By putting sheep in our vineyards they can happily graze under the pergolas, not only keeping the grass down, but also providing a bit of natural fertiliser at the same time. Indeed the use of pergolas in our region probably evolved in order to accommodate this practice, as the poor local farmers (who lived from hand to mouth), could maximise the use of their small plots of land – growing crops and grazing cattle at the same time. Or at least that is one of the theories…. Naturally, when we plant new vines, we have to take steps to protect the young plants, as our sheep will quite naturally eat anything that’s green.

So, in today’s picture, you can see Galicia’s version of sheep shearing – not the tanned, muscle-bound, sweat-dripping, bare-chested young men wrestling on the ground as they do in the Hollywood films, but instead two men in blue overalls, wellies and rubber gloves, pinning the sheep to a table, with not a single chest hair in sight. Perhaps not quite as romantic, but effective nonetheless!

Sheep shearing

You could be forgiven for thinking that at this time of year a vineyard trim would refer to the pruning of our vines – but not so. Today I am referring to the other trimming that has just taken place. Our family of sheep have just had their hair cut (or should that be fleece?) As you may know we make a big effort to be as Eco-friendly as possible in our vineyards and whilst we do not qualify for the full bio-dynamic certification, we still take as many steps as possible to minimise the level of intervention that is required. For example, we allow the grass to grow between our vines, which, under normal circumstances would require regular cutting by tractor. By putting sheep in our vineyards they can happily graze under the pergolas, not only keeping the grass down, but also providing a bit of natural fertiliser at the same time. Indeed the use of pergolas in our region probably evolved in order to accommodate this practice, as the poor local farmers (who lived from hand to mouth), could maximise the use of their small plots of land – growing crops and grazing cattle at the same time. Or at least that is one of the theories…. Naturally, when we plant new vines, we have to take steps to protect the young plants, as our sheep will quite naturally eat anything that’s green.

So, in today’s picture, you can see Galicia’s version of sheep shearing – not the tanned, muscle-bound, sweat-dripping, bare-chested young men wrestling on the ground as they do in the Hollywood films, but instead two men in blue overalls, wellies and rubber gloves, pinning the sheep to a table, with not a single chest hair in sight. Perhaps not quite as romantic, but effective nonetheless!

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