Archive for ‘Odds & Sods’

Slogans

June 7th, 2012 | Marketing

I mentioned yesterday that I was trying to come up with a good slogan that we could use for our Bodega, so I had a quick look on the internet for a bit of inspiration – here are some of my favourites:

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy wine, and that’s kinda the same thing.

I do not get drunk – I get awesome.

A meal without wine is called breakfast.

Wine – how classy people get wasted.

Error! Windows cannot find the file. Would you like some wine instead?

And finally, the secret to enjoying a good bottle of wine. 1. Open the bottle and allow it to breathe. 2. If it doesn’t look like it’s breathing give it some mouth-to-mouth.

I mentioned yesterday that I was trying to come up with a good slogan that we could use for our Bodega, so I had a quick look on the internet for a bit of inspiration – here are some of my favourites:

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy wine, and that’s kinda the same thing.

I do not get drunk – I get awesome.

A meal without wine is called breakfast.

Wine – how classy people get wasted.

Error! Windows cannot find the file. Would you like some wine instead?

And finally, the secret to enjoying a good bottle of wine. 1. Open the bottle and allow it to breathe. 2. If it doesn’t look like it’s breathing give it some mouth-to-mouth.

Let’s speak Spanenglish

June 6th, 2012 | Odds & Sods

 Let us be in no doubt that English is an important language, albeit that people these days are telling us that we should all be learning Cantonese. I am not sure exactly why, but it would seem that English is actually quite a trendy language when it comes to advertising, and we can find examples infiltrating posters, radio and TV adverts around the world. Only the other day I had a double take when on the Spanish radio station that I was listening to they announced “Stop flying, start Vueling” during an ad break. (Vueling is a Spanish airline whose name already derives from a half-English play on words – vuelo being the Spanish word for flight). Later the same day on the Spanish website of Adidas I noticed a t-shirt designed to support the Spanish national football team at the forthcoming Euro championships. The slogan? “España – All together”.

I wrote only the other day about a new Spanish gastronomy magazine called Clap & Wine, saying that I thought the choice of name was perhaps just a little ill-informed, or perhaps just badly researched – the moral being that you have to tread carefully when using a foreign language for your product or slogan.

A few years ago the French actually created new rules about the use of English infiltrating not only their language but also their airwaves. They were so upset about the number of English and American artists dominating their popular music stations that they actually moved to restrict the number of songs per hour that could be broadcast. This is quite apart from the English words quite commonly used in everyday life, such as ‘le weekend’ and ‘le parking’. So this problem is not unique to Spain.

Finally, on the subject of slogans, I have been trying to come up with something to promote our Bodega. My best effort so far is ‘What happens at Castro Martin, stays at Castro Martin’ – my only problem is that nothing ever happens!

Let us be in no doubt that English is an important language, albeit that people these days are telling us that we should all be learning Cantonese. I am not sure exactly why, but it would seem that English is actually quite a trendy language when it comes to advertising, and we can find examples infiltrating posters, radio and TV adverts around the world. Only the other day I had a double take when on the Spanish radio station that I was listening to they announced “Stop flying, start Vueling” during an ad break. (Vueling is a Spanish airline whose name already derives from a half-English play on words – vuelo being the Spanish word for flight). Later the same day on the Spanish website of Adidas I noticed a t-shirt designed to support the Spanish national football team at the forthcoming Euro championships. The slogan? “España – All together”.

I wrote only the other day about a new Spanish gastronomy magazine called Clap & Wine, saying that I thought the choice of name was perhaps just a little ill-informed, or perhaps just badly researched – the moral being that you have to tread carefully when using a foreign language for your product or slogan.

A few years ago the French actually created new rules about the use of English infiltrating not only their language but also their airwaves. They were so upset about the number of English and American artists dominating their popular music stations that they actually moved to restrict the number of songs per hour that could be broadcast. This is quite apart from the English words quite commonly used in everyday life, such as ‘le weekend’ and ‘le parking’. So this problem is not unique to Spain.

Finally, on the subject of slogans, I have been trying to come up with something to promote our Bodega. My best effort so far is ‘What happens at Castro Martin, stays at Castro Martin’ – my only problem is that nothing ever happens!

Master of all Masters

May 28th, 2012 | Odds & Sods

The other day I visited a website where the author described himself as a ‘Master of Wine Business’ – an expression that I had never encountered before. I have of course come across the title Master of Wine, and I must confess to personally knowing a fair few of them – all very knowledgeable members of the wine trade. Subsequently, I came across a BBC webpage written by a Master Sommelier, and it occurred to me that despite all these people no doubt being highly qualified, that by overusing the term ‘Master’ this only serves to undermine it’s true value. Indeed, Angela has a Masters degree in wine making from the University of Madrid, which she did as a follow on to her degree in Biology, and so by the same token, should she now refer to herself as a Master of Oenology?

Incidentally, in the same BBC article that I mentioned above the ‘Master Sommelier’ answers a few commonly asked questions about wine, one of which is quite simply “Why does wine get better with age?” He launches into a great technical explanation as to how the molecules reform and change, breaking down and going from very primary flavours to more complex flavours….. very impressive! If someone had asked me (Master of Nothing), I would have started my reply by simply saying that not all wines improve with age, and then explaining why!!

The other day I visited a website where the author described himself as a ‘Master of Wine Business’ – an expression that I had never encountered before. I have of course come across the title Master of Wine, and I must confess to personally knowing a fair few of them – all very knowledgeable members of the wine trade. Subsequently, I came across a BBC webpage written by a Master Sommelier, and it occurred to me that despite all these people no doubt being highly qualified, that by overusing the term ‘Master’ this only serves to undermine it’s true value. Indeed, Angela has a Masters degree in wine making from the University of Madrid, which she did as a follow on to her degree in Biology, and so by the same token, should she now refer to herself as a Master of Oenology?

Incidentally, in the same BBC article that I mentioned above the ‘Master Sommelier’ answers a few commonly asked questions about wine, one of which is quite simply “Why does wine get better with age?” He launches into a great technical explanation as to how the molecules reform and change, breaking down and going from very primary flavours to more complex flavours….. very impressive! If someone had asked me (Master of Nothing), I would have started my reply by simply saying that not all wines improve with age, and then explaining why!!

Research your name!

May 14th, 2012 | Odds & Sods

I think that I made a post a long time ago about the virtues of researching your brand name before putting it on the market, and more especially if you are choosing a name that is not in your own native tongue. I say this because there is an increasing fashion, perhaps not only in Spain, to give your product or service an English name, which I imagine must be seen as being more trendy. (This is quite apart from the slogans that I see appearing on t-shirts in the street, supposedly making some statement or witticism in English, but which are in fact written in total gibberish and make no sense whatsoever!)

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me and my distorted sense of humour, but I received a mail shot a couple of days ago for a new gourmet magazine – and the name? Clap & Wine! Perhaps someone can explain to me exactly what this is supposed to mean, before my imagination runs away with me completely. The only explanation I can think of is that the authors believe that wine should be ‘applauded’, hence the use of the word clap? On the other hand, and more negative side, there is of course another colloquial meaning for the word clap (Google ‘clap’ in English and see what I mean). Maybe someone should have a quiet word with them and explain?

I think that I made a post a long time ago about the virtues of researching your brand name before putting it on the market, and more especially if you are choosing a name that is not in your own native tongue. I say this because there is an increasing fashion, perhaps not only in Spain, to give your product or service an English name, which I imagine must be seen as being more trendy. (This is quite apart from the slogans that I see appearing on t-shirts in the street, supposedly making some statement or witticism in English, but which are in fact written in total gibberish and make no sense whatsoever!)

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me and my distorted sense of humour, but I received a mail shot a couple of days ago for a new gourmet magazine – and the name? Clap & Wine! Perhaps someone can explain to me exactly what this is supposed to mean, before my imagination runs away with me completely. The only explanation I can think of is that the authors believe that wine should be ‘applauded’, hence the use of the word clap? On the other hand, and more negative side, there is of course another colloquial meaning for the word clap (Google ‘clap’ in English and see what I mean). Maybe someone should have a quiet word with them and explain?

Are you satisfied?

May 4th, 2012 | Odds & Sods

They say that customer satisfaction is paramount in any business, and certainly I wouldn’t disagree with that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re offering a product or a service, we all want the people who pay us their hard-earned cash to be happy. In the case of our wine business the aim is always to make the best product that we can, and offer it at an attractive price, but our commitment does not stop there. How we interact with our customers is equally as important, and we always strive to give importers exactly what they want, and when they want it. We pride ourselves in turning orders around quickly and efficiently, whilst always keeping our customers informed of what’s going on (which may sound obvious, but I’m afraid does not always happen).

In these days of recession and perhaps in the face of fierce competition, I have noticed recently that an increasing number of websites are asking their visitors for their opinion. Now, I am not sure if this is borne out of some sense of insecurity, or possibly an increased number of complaints as they reduce staffing, but it is certainly happening on a much more regular basis.

In the case of Castro Martin, we will not be sending out any surveys, but instead we are always open to suggestion, and invite our consumers to contact us at any time with their opinions.

One small, related anecdote before I sign off. Many, many years ago I visited a restaurant in the South of France. On the bottom of the menu in wonderful pigeon English they wrote “If you are satisfied please tell your friends, but if you are not satisfied please warn the waitress”. Now I’m not sure if this is just my twisted sense of humour, or indeed if many people will find this funny, but I always swore that if I ever owned my own restaurant, that this ‘warning’ would be printed at the foot of every menu!

They say that customer satisfaction is paramount in any business, and certainly I wouldn’t disagree with that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re offering a product or a service, we all want the people who pay us their hard-earned cash to be happy. In the case of our wine business the aim is always to make the best product that we can, and offer it at an attractive price, but our commitment does not stop there. How we interact with our customers is equally as important, and we always strive to give importers exactly what they want, and when they want it. We pride ourselves in turning orders around quickly and efficiently, whilst always keeping our customers informed of what’s going on (which may sound obvious, but I’m afraid does not always happen).

In these days of recession and perhaps in the face of fierce competition, I have noticed recently that an increasing number of websites are asking their visitors for their opinion. Now, I am not sure if this is borne out of some sense of insecurity, or possibly an increased number of complaints as they reduce staffing, but it is certainly happening on a much more regular basis.

In the case of Castro Martin, we will not be sending out any surveys, but instead we are always open to suggestion, and invite our consumers to contact us at any time with their opinions.

One small, related anecdote before I sign off. Many, many years ago I visited a restaurant in the South of France. On the bottom of the menu in wonderful pigeon English they wrote “If you are satisfied please tell your friends, but if you are not satisfied please warn the waitress”. Now I’m not sure if this is just my twisted sense of humour, or indeed if many people will find this funny, but I always swore that if I ever owned my own restaurant, that this ‘warning’ would be printed at the foot of every menu!

It’s May Day

May 1st, 2012 | Odds & Sods

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that, after a very dry winter, it had finally started to rain. Well, as I look out of my window today (on this cold, grey holiday morning), the rain continues to come down. At this point it’s not really a bad thing for our vineyards, albeit that after such a dry spell, much of the initial rainfall simply runs off the surface and makes little impression. It will take some time before the water table is restored. With temperatures forecast for no more than 13/14°C (55/60°F) this week, it occurs to me that our calendar seems to have fallen out of sequence this year. Reversing the months of March and April would make far more sense as far as a logical progression is concerned – March being much dryer and warmer than April. Anyway, whatever happens next the only thing we ask for is a period of warm, dry weather for the flowering.

As an aside, and in the wake or the recent Titanic centenary, I just wanted to pass on a bit of useless information for the next time that you’re playing Trivial Pursuit. Did you know that the International Distress Signal Mayday, Mayday, Mayday actually has nothing to do with 1st of May (or any other day in May for that matter)? It quite simply originates from the French phrase “m’aider”, which means “help me”. Perhaps slightly oddly, the phrase was the idea of an English air traffic controller based at Croydon Airport near London, when, back in the 1920’s much of the air traffic flew between London and Paris.

The Mayday signal was (and still is) used on VHF radio, and therefore was never used on Titanic, which relied on Morse code for signalling. At that time there were however, two different distress codes used by Morse operators – ‘CDQ’ used by the Marconi company – CQ again derived from the French word “Secours” (Help). The letter D, stood for Distress. The second code (subsequently adopted by all) was SOS, created by the German Government in the early 1900’s. The letters were chosen as they were simple, both to recognise and remember – ‘Save Our Souls’ is simply a mnemonic and is not the reason that they are used.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that, after a very dry winter, it had finally started to rain. Well, as I look out of my window today (on this cold, grey holiday morning), the rain continues to come down. At this point it’s not really a bad thing for our vineyards, albeit that after such a dry spell, much of the initial rainfall simply runs off the surface and makes little impression. It will take some time before the water table is restored. With temperatures forecast for no more than 13/14°C (55/60°F) this week, it occurs to me that our calendar seems to have fallen out of sequence this year. Reversing the months of March and April would make far more sense as far as a logical progression is concerned – March being much dryer and warmer than April. Anyway, whatever happens next the only thing we ask for is a period of warm, dry weather for the flowering.

As an aside, and in the wake or the recent Titanic centenary, I just wanted to pass on a bit of useless information for the next time that you’re playing Trivial Pursuit. Did you know that the International Distress Signal Mayday, Mayday, Mayday actually has nothing to do with 1st of May (or any other day in May for that matter)? It quite simply originates from the French phrase “m’aider”, which means “help me”. Perhaps slightly oddly, the phrase was the idea of an English air traffic controller based at Croydon Airport near London, when, back in the 1920’s much of the air traffic flew between London and Paris.

The Mayday signal was (and still is) used on VHF radio, and therefore was never used on Titanic, which relied on Morse code for signalling. At that time there were however, two different distress codes used by Morse operators – ‘CDQ’ used by the Marconi company – CQ again derived from the French word “Secours” (Help). The letter D, stood for Distress. The second code (subsequently adopted by all) was SOS, created by the German Government in the early 1900’s. The letters were chosen as they were simple, both to recognise and remember – ‘Save Our Souls’ is simply a mnemonic and is not the reason that they are used.

Re-cycling art

March 9th, 2012 | Odds & Sods

There’s actually not too much I can write about today’s post, as the picture rather speaks for itself. If you look closely the picture is not badly pixelated as you might image, but instead is created from 1000’s of re-cycled corks. All you need is a lot of time, a lot of patience, some creative skills, and of course, a huge wine cellar! I have no idea how much this piece is worth, but I have to say that it’s certainly a very original way to take on the challenge of re-cycling. I don’t believe that it would have quite the same warmth and charm if it was made from screw tops, so this is perhaps a less obvious way of supporting the more traditional type of closure……

There’s actually not too much I can write about today’s post, as the picture rather speaks for itself. If you look closely the picture is not badly pixelated as you might image, but instead is created from 1000’s of re-cycled corks. All you need is a lot of time, a lot of patience, some creative skills, and of course, a huge wine cellar! I have no idea how much this piece is worth, but I have to say that it’s certainly a very original way to take on the challenge of re-cycling. I don’t believe that it would have quite the same warmth and charm if it was made from screw tops, so this is perhaps a less obvious way of supporting the more traditional type of closure……

Olympics? What Olympics?

January 31st, 2012 | Odds & Sods

You may have noticed that our blog fell silent for a few days, the reason quite simply being that Angela and I were on the road.

We spent a few days in London for a major wine tasting (and not just to satisfy Angela’s cravings for a bit of winter sale shopping).

I had not been to London for several months and anticipated that the whole city would now be well and truly awash with colour in anticipation of this summer’s Olympic games.

Not so I’m afraid – I was actually quite disappointed. Having travelled through Heathrow airport and then around the city, both above and below ground, there is very little evidence that in a few months time the eyes of the world will turn their attention to this great historic capital.

Whilst I’m sure that the naturally conservative British public don’t want to have this event rammed down their throats 24 hours a day, I don’t think it would hurt to put up a few flags and posters to announce that the Olympic circus is coming to town.

Oh, and by the way, I will be at the back of the queue to buy my Olympic mascot dolls, Wenlock & Mandeville (see photo). Perhaps it’s the designers who should have undergone a bit of drugs testing for coming up with this one?….. After all, not every one in London is an alien – illegal or otherwise!

You may have noticed that our blog fell silent for a few days, the reason quite simply being that Angela and I were on the road.

We spent a few days in London for a major wine tasting (and not just to satisfy Angela’s cravings for a bit of winter sale shopping).

I had not been to London for several months and anticipated that the whole city would now be well and truly awash with colour in anticipation of this summer’s Olympic games.

Not so I’m afraid – I was actually quite disappointed. Having travelled through Heathrow airport and then around the city, both above and below ground, there is very little evidence that in a few months time the eyes of the world will turn their attention to this great historic capital.

Whilst I’m sure that the naturally conservative British public don’t want to have this event rammed down their throats 24 hours a day, I don’t think it would hurt to put up a few flags and posters to announce that the Olympic circus is coming to town.

Oh, and by the way, I will be at the back of the queue to buy my Olympic mascot dolls, Wenlock & Mandeville (see photo). Perhaps it’s the designers who should have undergone a bit of drugs testing for coming up with this one?….. After all, not every one in London is an alien – illegal or otherwise!

Fran’s late Christmas

January 21st, 2012 | Odds & Sods

Fran, as some of you may know, is Angela’s cellar hand, and luckily for us, he is also the most fantastic handyman. He can turn his hand to pretty much anything, from carpentry to metalwork, not to mention the fact that he also services most of our vehicles. Of course, as with any job, the man is only as good as the tools you provide, and so in this respect we always try to keep him happy.

A month or so ago he told us that he needed a new socket set to work on the tractors, so we simply instructed him to go out and buy one. Having trained everyone in the business to be as frugal as possible, and to reduce waste where possible etc., we ended up with a pretty cheap and nasty looking piece of kit – I think about 50 Euros for a 200 piece tool set, and likely to disintegrate the first time it was used.

So, I asked Fran for a list of the best manufacturers, and after a bit of play on the internet, a very fine, new socket set arrived at our door. The only problem now is that we have gone to the other extreme….. it looks almost to good to use, and it will be a real shame to get it dirty. In fact, I think I will insist that when he uses it he has to wear a suit and tie, or perhaps a set of surgical scrubs!

Fran, as some of you may know, is Angela’s cellar hand, and luckily for us, he is also the most fantastic handyman. He can turn his hand to pretty much anything, from carpentry to metalwork, not to mention the fact that he also services most of our vehicles. Of course, as with any job, the man is only as good as the tools you provide, and so in this respect we always try to keep him happy.

A month or so ago he told us that he needed a new socket set to work on the tractors, so we simply instructed him to go out and buy one. Having trained everyone in the business to be as frugal as possible, and to reduce waste where possible etc., we ended up with a pretty cheap and nasty looking piece of kit – I think about 50 Euros for a 200 piece tool set, and likely to disintegrate the first time it was used.

So, I asked Fran for a list of the best manufacturers, and after a bit of play on the internet, a very fine, new socket set arrived at our door. The only problem now is that we have gone to the other extreme….. it looks almost to good to use, and it will be a real shame to get it dirty. In fact, I think I will insist that when he uses it he has to wear a suit and tie, or perhaps a set of surgical scrubs!

Pass the ‘Baporup’!

December 15th, 2011 | Odds & Sods

Now, I know that I am not really in a position to criticise, as even after ten years of living here, my Spanish is still pretty appalling. This little anecdote is however, not really about grammar or vocabulary, but more just a note about pronunciation.

In Spanish the letter ‘V’ is pronounced like the letter ‘B’ in English, so in effect they have two letter ‘B’s in their alphabet. This can sometimes cause misunderstandings, or just plain hilarity…..

For the last couple of days I have been a little under the weather, trying to shake off a bit of a cold. I usually stay at home and dose myself heavily, as I quite simply don’t want to pass it on to others.

In a conversation with Angela, she suggested that I should use some Bip-Bapo-Rup, or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. For some reason I start to think about music – Be Bop a Lula, or perhaps even Be Bop Deluxe, but whatever I was thinking it simply didn’t make any sense, or at least until she explained. It was actually Vicks Vapor Rub that she was suggesting! From now on, in our house, this will be known as Bip-Bapo-Rup.

This example however, is not my favourite. Have you ever heard of that well known American actress Guppy Gulper? Sorry, that’s Woopi Goldberg to you and me – this is simply Angela’s take on it.

Now, I know that I am not really in a position to criticise, as even after ten years of living here, my Spanish is still pretty appalling. This little anecdote is however, not really about grammar or vocabulary, but more just a note about pronunciation.

In Spanish the letter ‘V’ is pronounced like the letter ‘B’ in English, so in effect they have two letter ‘B’s in their alphabet. This can sometimes cause misunderstandings, or just plain hilarity…..

For the last couple of days I have been a little under the weather, trying to shake off a bit of a cold. I usually stay at home and dose myself heavily, as I quite simply don’t want to pass it on to others.

In a conversation with Angela, she suggested that I should use some Bip-Bapo-Rup, or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. For some reason I start to think about music – Be Bop a Lula, or perhaps even Be Bop Deluxe, but whatever I was thinking it simply didn’t make any sense, or at least until she explained. It was actually Vicks Vapor Rub that she was suggesting! From now on, in our house, this will be known as Bip-Bapo-Rup.

This example however, is not my favourite. Have you ever heard of that well known American actress Guppy Gulper? Sorry, that’s Woopi Goldberg to you and me – this is simply Angela’s take on it.

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