I know how annoying it can be to read about other folks frolicking in the sunshine while we are still in winter, so I shall leave the delights of the Canary Islands behind and simply mention one of the Research trips I went on during the week.

Wine growing in Lanzarote is truly remarkable and as soon as I read about the challenges the winemakers face I knew that I had to learn more for myself.

Why challenges?

* The island is mainly volcanic – over 250 volcanoes, so the surface is made up of a thick layer of lava or volcanic ash.

* It is an exposed fairly flat small island facing the Atlantic with serious westerly gales blowing, plus two other wind systems from the north and the Sahara to the east. It is windy. And when I was there – positively hold onto your hat windy. And it is hot with very little rain.

So how so wine growers cultivate their vines? By building small semi-circular wind breaks or walls around each vine so that there is a microclimate around each vine.

I shall leave these pics to demonstrate how labour intensive this is. More in the next post.