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!

The truth behind today’s post is simply that I was waiting for an excuse to post this photo! Taken on our visit in 2009, it obviously shows one of Sydney’s most iconic landmarks. Probably not the most iconic, because I believe that this honour surely belongs to the sweeping sail design of the Sydney Opera House.

So why have I chosen today to include this photo? Simple. The coat hanger (as it is affectionately known), celebrates its 80th birthday this week (March 19th to be precise). The 1,149m bridge, which took almost 10 years to build, was officially opened in 1932, and is listed in the Guiness book of records as the world’s widest long-span bridge. The bridge cost £6.25m to build and 16 men reportedly lost their lives during the construction process. In its early days about 11,000 vehicles crossed the bridge on a daily basis, although today’s figure is nearer to 160,000 vehicles.

Celebrations included a special performance by musicians from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from the top of the 134m-high arch, as well as a 1930s-themed picnic party, but it is perhaps best known for being the fireworks launchpad during Sydney’s annual New Year’s Eve celebrations.

The truth behind today’s post is simply that I was waiting for an excuse to post this photo! Taken on our visit in 2009, it obviously shows one of Sydney’s most iconic landmarks. Probably not the most iconic, because I believe that this honour surely belongs to the sweeping sail design of the Sydney Opera House.

So why have I chosen today to include this photo? Simple. The coat hanger (as it is affectionately known), celebrates its 80th birthday this week (March 19th to be precise). The 1,149m bridge, which took almost 10 years to build, was officially opened in 1932, and is listed in the Guiness book of records as the world’s widest long-span bridge. The bridge cost £6.25m to build and 16 men reportedly lost their lives during the construction process. In its early days about 11,000 vehicles crossed the bridge on a daily basis, although today’s figure is nearer to 160,000 vehicles.

Celebrations included a special performance by musicians from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from the top of the 134m-high arch, as well as a 1930s-themed picnic party, but it is perhaps best known for being the fireworks launchpad during Sydney’s annual New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Ever thought that you don’t like the name of your home town, or that you’d like to live in another town nearby? Then simply change your address. No, I don’t mean move house, simply tell people that your address has changed, even though you live in the same place!

Now, I can hear you say that this sounds like a completely ridiculous idea, but the logic is, if it can work for a discount airline, then why not for me?

A week or two ago I mentioned the saga of booking our flights – trying to get to the wine fair ‘Prowein’ in Dusseldorf, and the fact that we have to fly through Barcelona as there is no direct flight from Galicia (despite having three “International” airports). To do this we also have to use two separate airlines, Iberia and Lufthansa, with two separate bookings.

Yesterday, in a conversation with a work colleague, she told us that she was flying direct to Dusseldorf from Oporto (Oporto being only a 1½ hour drive from us). On face value this would seem like a good idea…. until you look more closely. In this case ‘Dusseldorf’ airport turns out to be Dusseldorf (Weeze), which isn’t located in Dusseldorf at all. It’s actually nearly 100km from Dusseldorf, so I guess that you might need to hire a car, or take a bus – it’s certainly more than a taxi ride away!

As if you haven’t guessed already I am, of course, talking about our most famous rip-off airline Ryanair. (It would be easy to write a book about their misleading advertising, let alone a few lines in a blog.) I can easily think if a few instances where they use these misleading airport locations: Barcelona (Girona), Dusseldorf (Weeze), Paris (Vatry) to name but a few. I believe that the last one, Vatry, is actually about 160km from the centre of Paris (more than two hours by car).

So my question today is quite simple – at what distance should an airline no longer be able to use the name of a distant city to lure unsuspecting customers? Imagine the confusion if airlines started to link the airports of adjacent cities – today we will be landing in Liverpool/Manchester, London/Birmingham or perhaps even Glasgow/Edinburgh……. well, near enough!

Ever thought that you don’t like the name of your home town, or that you’d like to live in another town nearby? Then simply change your address. No, I don’t mean move house, simply tell people that your address has changed, even though you live in the same place!

Now, I can hear you say that this sounds like a completely ridiculous idea, but the logic is, if it can work for a discount airline, then why not for me?

A week or two ago I mentioned the saga of booking our flights – trying to get to the wine fair ‘Prowein’ in Dusseldorf, and the fact that we have to fly through Barcelona as there is no direct flight from Galicia (despite having three “International” airports). To do this we also have to use two separate airlines, Iberia and Lufthansa, with two separate bookings.

Yesterday, in a conversation with a work colleague, she told us that she was flying direct to Dusseldorf from Oporto (Oporto being only a 1½ hour drive from us). On face value this would seem like a good idea…. until you look more closely. In this case ‘Dusseldorf’ airport turns out to be Dusseldorf (Weeze), which isn’t located in Dusseldorf at all. It’s actually nearly 100km from Dusseldorf, so I guess that you might need to hire a car, or take a bus – it’s certainly more than a taxi ride away!

As if you haven’t guessed already I am, of course, talking about our most famous rip-off airline Ryanair. (It would be easy to write a book about their misleading advertising, let alone a few lines in a blog.) I can easily think if a few instances where they use these misleading airport locations: Barcelona (Girona), Dusseldorf (Weeze), Paris (Vatry) to name but a few. I believe that the last one, Vatry, is actually about 160km from the centre of Paris (more than two hours by car).

So my question today is quite simple – at what distance should an airline no longer be able to use the name of a distant city to lure unsuspecting customers? Imagine the confusion if airlines started to link the airports of adjacent cities – today we will be landing in Liverpool/Manchester, London/Birmingham or perhaps even Glasgow/Edinburgh……. well, near enough!

No sooner had we made reservations for our flights to Dusseldorf for the annual Prowein wine fair, than the airline that we had booked on suddenly went out of business.

Despite living in an area with three regional airports, all vying for the same business, there are actually very few international flights, and so to get to Dusseldorf from Galicia entails two flights on two different airlines. Our second flight booked from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on Spanair (albeit ironically, the flight is actually operated by Deutsche Lufthansa).

A day or two after booking Spanair suddenly disappeared from our radar, leaving passengers stranded around Europe, and us holding flight tickets that were absolutely worthless (Lufthansa would not honour them as our payment had been made to Spanair).

After much scrambling around on the internet we finally re-booked with Lufthansa (at a premium price), leaving Angela making claims through our credit card company in an attempt to recover the money from our lost flight……

No sooner had we made reservations for our flights to Dusseldorf for the annual Prowein wine fair, than the airline that we had booked on suddenly went out of business.

Despite living in an area with three regional airports, all vying for the same business, there are actually very few international flights, and so to get to Dusseldorf from Galicia entails two flights on two different airlines. Our second flight booked from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on Spanair (albeit ironically, the flight is actually operated by Deutsche Lufthansa).

A day or two after booking Spanair suddenly disappeared from our radar, leaving passengers stranded around Europe, and us holding flight tickets that were absolutely worthless (Lufthansa would not honour them as our payment had been made to Spanair).

After much scrambling around on the internet we finally re-booked with Lufthansa (at a premium price), leaving Angela making claims through our credit card company in an attempt to recover the money from our lost flight……

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!

Amongst our list of esteemed customers you will find Carnival Cruises – a member of the exclusive World’s Leading Cruise Lines alliance that also includes Cunard Line, Princess Cruises and the now infamous Costa Cruises.

Whilst we do know where some of our wine is served, we don’t know if we were actually listed on any of the Costa Cruise ships.

It’s actually a very sobering thought to even contemplate that some of our bottles might now be submerged in the Mediterranean Sea……

Amongst our list of esteemed customers you will find Carnival Cruises – a member of the exclusive World’s Leading Cruise Lines alliance that also includes Cunard Line, Princess Cruises and the now infamous Costa Cruises.

Whilst we do know where some of our wine is served, we don’t know if we were actually listed on any of the Costa Cruise ships.

It’s actually a very sobering thought to even contemplate that some of our bottles might now be submerged in the Mediterranean Sea……

As consumers discover more and more about the world of wine and wine production, so the interest in wine tourism increases. Indeed, in some parts of the world, such as Australia for example, visits and cellar door sales represent an important part of the business. Of course they are completely geared up for it, and many of the larger wineries offer organised tours, complete with tour guide, plus the obligatory wine shop as you exit! Naturally with this type of organised set up the throughput of visitors (especially during the summer months), makes this oenotourism a very worthwhile operation.

In our part of the wine world our aspirations are much more modest, and certainly not as highly organised. Yes, our denomination offers maps to tourists highlighting the various wine routes around Galicia, but to be honest, that’s about as far as it goes……

Don’t get me wrong, we love to meet our end consumers, but in this instance we have opted not to appear on any of these tourist maps for several different reasons.

Firstly and most importantly, we simply do not have the resources. The job of escorting visitors around our cellar would fall to either Angela or myself  (depending on the language), and over the period of a year we already have an important number of importers, professional wine buyers and journalists visting our Bodega. Obviously these are all by appointment and we can arrange our diaries accordingly, and even possibly refuse if we are not available or out of the country.

In summer, even without appearing on the maps, we still have a huge number of casual visitors knocking on our door (especially when the weather is poor and they cannot go to the beach!) Unfortunately, 99% of the time it is impossible to accomodate these visits, as, if we said yes, we would simply spend a huge part of the summer months making guided tours. And, we don’t have a shop!!

As consumers discover more and more about the world of wine and wine production, so the interest in wine tourism increases. Indeed, in some parts of the world, such as Australia for example, visits and cellar door sales represent an important part of the business. Of course they are completely geared up for it, and many of the larger wineries offer organised tours, complete with tour guide, plus the obligatory wine shop as you exit! Naturally with this type of organised set up the throughput of visitors (especially during the summer months), makes this oenotourism a very worthwhile operation.

In our part of the wine world our aspirations are much more modest, and certainly not as highly organised. Yes, our denomination offers maps to tourists highlighting the various wine routes around Galicia, but to be honest, that’s about as far as it goes……

Don’t get me wrong, we love to meet our end consumers, but in this instance we have opted not to appear on any of these tourist maps for several different reasons.

Firstly and most importantly, we simply do not have the resources. The job of escorting visitors around our cellar would fall to either Angela or myself  (depending on the language), and over the period of a year we already have an important number of importers, professional wine buyers and journalists visting our Bodega. Obviously these are all by appointment and we can arrange our diaries accordingly, and even possibly refuse if we are not available or out of the country.

In summer, even without appearing on the maps, we still have a huge number of casual visitors knocking on our door (especially when the weather is poor and they cannot go to the beach!) Unfortunately, 99% of the time it is impossible to accomodate these visits, as, if we said yes, we would simply spend a huge part of the summer months making guided tours. And, we don’t have a shop!!

Having completed the harvest (or at least most of it), I had to make a quick dash accross the Atlantic for a meeting and tasting with our U.S. importer. Of course, under normal circumstances, Angela and I would travel together, but naturally one of us had to stay behind to take care of the wine making, and unfortunately Angela drew the short straw. She did however compensate by giving me a shopping list, to take advantage of any spare moment that I may have had during my short stay in the Big Apple!

The morning after my arrival I woke up in the early hours as my body clock attempted to adjust, and so decided to take a trip downtown to the site of the World Trade Centre. In the year and a half since our last visit the progress was quite astounding with the new Tower One already dominating the lower Manhattan skyline. Only two days before, on Sunday 11th September 2011, the site had been the centre of attention as the world remembered those who had tragically lost their lives exactly ten years earlier. The focal point of the site is now the 9/11 memorial itself, opened in an emotional ceremony – two huge square cascading waterfalls built within the footprints of the original twin towers. Access to the memorial is currently restricted to ticket holders only, and had been fully subscribed for months in advance – it seemed that I would have little chance of gaining entry. I was wrong……

By pure chance, being in the right place at the right time, I was gifted an entry ticket and soon found myself standing on hallowed ground. The two huge pools are spectacular and are bordered with the names of every person that died on 9/11 carved into beautiful bronze panels. In my own opinion the memorial is a very fitting tribute, a very sombre place, but still well worth a visit the next time you find yourself in NYC.

Having completed the harvest (or at least most of it), I had to make a quick dash accross the Atlantic for a meeting and tasting with our U.S. importer. Of course, under normal circumstances, Angela and I would travel together, but naturally one of us had to stay behind to take care of the wine making, and unfortunately Angela drew the short straw. She did however compensate by giving me a shopping list, to take advantage of any spare moment that I may have had during my short stay in the Big Apple!

The morning after my arrival I woke up in the early hours as my body clock attempted to adjust, and so decided to take a trip downtown to the site of the World Trade Centre. In the year and a half since our last visit the progress was quite astounding with the new Tower One already dominating the lower Manhattan skyline. Only two days before, on Sunday 11th September 2011, the site had been the centre of attention as the world remembered those who had tragically lost their lives exactly ten years earlier. The focal point of the site is now the 9/11 memorial itself, opened in an emotional ceremony – two huge square cascading waterfalls built within the footprints of the original twin towers. Access to the memorial was restricted to ticket holders only, and had been fully subscribed for months in advance – it seemed that I would have little chance of gaining entry. I was wrong……

By pure chance, being in the right place at the right time, I was gifted an entry ticket and soon found myself standing on hallowed ground. The two huge pools are spectacular and are bordered with the names of every person that died on 9/11 carved into beautiful bronze. In my own opinion the memorial is a very fitting tribute, a very sombre place, but still well worth a visit the next time you find yourself in NYC.