There are some debates and discussions that simply appear to go around in circles, and never reach any definitive conclusion. For example, I often write about the various studies that are conducted advising us which foods we should or shouldn’t eat, or perhaps whether a moderate daily consumption of wine can be beneficial to our health or not. It seems that there is always one ‘expert’ or another who is willing to dispel our popular beliefs (or perhaps simply to contradict expert advice of the past). In the end, we can only scratch our heads, not really knowing what to do, and make our own decisions based on common sense and experience.

This week the discussion about wine closures has come to the fore again, as Davis University in California embarks on yet another study on the effectiveness (or not) of screw caps. Backed by a local Napa Valley winery, this two year project will at least use new equipment in the form of a CT scanner, to measure the wine’s evolution. A professor of Davis was apparently quoted as saying “Oxygen is the biggest culprit for wine — it affects taste, colour and the ageing process” – which I have to admit did not come as any great shock to me.

Thus, using my own common sense for a moment, I can tell you that we will not be making any changes to our own tried and tested (Nomacorc) closures at any time in the near future. In the words of one of my very favourite quotes “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!”

There are some debates and discussions that simply appear to go around in circles, and never reach any definitive conclusion. For example, I often write about the various studies that are conducted advising us which foods we should or shouldn’t eat, or perhaps whether a moderate daily consumption of wine can be beneficial to our health or not. It seems that there is always one ‘expert’ or another who is willing to dispel our popular beliefs (or perhaps simply to contradict expert advice of the past). In the end, we can only scratch our heads, not really knowing what to do, and make our own decisions based on common sense and experience.

This week the discussion about wine closures has come to the fore again, as Davis University in California embarks on yet another study on the effectiveness (or not) of screw caps. Backed by a local Napa Valley winery, this two year project will at least use new equipment in the form of a CT scanner, to measure the wine’s evolution. A professor of Davis was apparently quoted as saying “Oxygen is the biggest culprit for wine — it affects taste, colour and the ageing process” – which I have to admit did not come as any great shock to me.

Thus, using my own common sense for a moment, I can tell you that we will not be making any changes to our own tried and tested (Nomacorc) closures at any time in the near future. In the words of one of my very favourite quotes “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!”

In Chinese restaurants we are quite used to ordering our dishes by number, whilst in other restaurants even the wines on the list are allocated a bin number. I must confess that I don’t really enjoy ordering my bottle by number – perhaps I’m just a bit of a wine snob at heart.

In the case of selling to airlines our wines are also allocated numbers, but not for their wine list. They are actually allocated part numbers, perhaps in the same way that they might allocate a number to their replacement nuts and bolts! If you think about it, the use of numbers on our bottles is not that unusual. A huge percentage of the bottles that we buy will have a unique bar code, and if they don’t have this, then they will certainly have a Lot Number that gives us the ability to trace our wine back to a particular bottling, or if needed, back to the exact source of the grapes used in the bottle.

I have no doubt that the part number we print on our airline cartons simply makes it easier for them to track their stock as it moves around the world, although I have never really considered our wine as being a spare part!

In Chinese restaurants we are quite used to ordering our dishes by number, whilst in other restaurants even the wines on the list are allocated a bin number. I must confess that I don’t really enjoy ordering my bottle by number – perhaps I’m just a bit of a wine snob at heart.

In the case of selling to airlines our wines are also allocated numbers, but not for their wine list. They are actually allocated part numbers, perhaps in the same way that they might allocate a number to their replacement nuts and bolts! If you think about it, the use of numbers on our bottles is not that unusual. A huge percentage of the bottles that we buy will have a unique bar code, and if they don’t have this, then they will certainly have a Lot Number that gives us the ability to trace our wine back to a particular bottling, or if needed, back to the exact source of the grapes used in the bottle.

I have no doubt that the part number we print on our airline cartons simply makes it easier for them to track their stock as it moves around the world, although I have never really considered our wine as being a spare part!

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!

Back in June I mentioned on this blog that we had been measuring the Oxygen Transfer Rate (OTR) in our wines. In case you didn’t read it this is quite simply a measurement of the oxygen levels within the wine in our tanks (before bottling), during bottling (oxygen suspended in the wine when bottled), and also oxygen in the ‘head space’ (the small gap between the wine and the cork). By measuring this we can learn about the effectiveness of the closure that we use to seal our bottles.

Back in June I mentioned on this blog that we had been measuring the Oxygen Transfer Rate (OTR) in our wines. In case you didn’t read it this is quite simply a measurement of the oxygen levels within the wine in our tanks (before bottling), during bottling (oxygen suspended in the wine when bottled), and also oxygen in the ‘head space’ (the small gap between the wine and the cork). By measuring this we can learn about the effectiveness of the closure that we use to seal our bottles.

 Now, I have to be honest by telling you that our migration from Blogger to WordPress has not gone as smoothly as we might have hoped. The main problem was that our Spanish host turned out to be a bit unhospitable….. We had a compatibility issue between our hosting and the new software, which resulted in certain functions of the new site simply refusing to do what we wanted.

During the design phase everything went swimmingly and all the pages appeared exactly as they should – unfortunately the problems did not come to light until we actually went live. Strangely, despite using a Spanish host, many of the issues were to be found on the Spanish pages (possibly more to do with the software than the hosting), and try as we might, we could not fix them.

Suffice to say that we have now shifted our hosting to the U.S.A., and as a result (with fingers crossed) we believe that all is now working as it should.

Of course, with all this going on behind the scenes, I have not been able to work on our blog, so please allow me to apologise for those of you who have developed withdrawl symptoms – once again, normal service has been resumed.

Now, I have to be honest by telling you that our migration from Blogger to WordPress has not gone as smoothly as we might have hoped. The main problem was that our Spanish host turned out to be a bit unhospitable….. We had a compatibility issue between our hosting and the new software, which resulted in certain functions of the new site simply refusing to do what we wanted.

During the design phase everything went swimmingly and all the pages appeared exactly as they should – unfortunately the problems did not come to light until we actually went live. Strangely, despite using a Spanish host, many of the issues were to be found on the Spanish pages (possibly more to do with the software than the hosting), and try as we might, we could not fix them.

Suffice to say that we have now shifted our hosting to the U.S.A., and as a result (with fingers crossed) we believe that all is now working as it should.

Of course, with all this going on behind the scenes, I have not been able to work on our blog, so please allow me to apologise for those of you who have developed withdrawl symptoms – once again, normal service has been resumed.