Wines from La Palma have improved enormously in the 20 years since I came here. Partly this is because they’ve created a “Denominación de Origen” which is much the same as the French “Appellation d’origine contrôlée” – you have to pass quality standards to be able to put the words on your bottle. And partly the local wine producers have just plain worked hard. Still, there’s an element of luck…
Ravens on La Palma
Common Ravens live all over Europe, Asia and North America, but we have a different sub-species here. Some biologists group our raven in with the North African sub-species (Corvus corax tingitanus) and others think the Canaries have their own sub-species (Corvus corax canariensis). Like other members of the rook-and-crow family, they’ll eat whatever’s available: carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste. And they’re pretty intelligent about…
Tobacco in La Palma
I don’t smoke, so everything I know about Palmeran cigars is from hearsay. But they seem to have a very good reputation. Certainly Winston Churchill was known to be a fan, and certainly they get shipped off to the Spanish royal family. Most of the tobacco farms on the island are in Santa Cruz, Breña Baja, and especially Breña Alta. Typically, the crop is grown in tiny fields and given…
What’s On
Well I wellied. I thought Tazacorte would have its procession of Fufo horses tonight, but it was last night. Sorry. Tonight they have a special mass at 7:30 pm, followed by a procession and fireworks. On Friday there’s a concert in Casa Massieu (an old manor house) at 9:30 pm, and on Saturday the pop group “Pereza” will give a concert in the sports centre at 10 pm. San Miguel…
Travel writing
The travel writing gig took a little longer than expected, but the site is now up at http://www.lapalma.co.uk/ I don’t own the site: I just did all the “Insider Expert” bits.