Sydney. Arrived last night from Fiji.

Been with David Thomas on his boat. Talking wine with my old Guru. Barbara and I had quite a reasonable wine business back in the early eighties. Then one day I got a call from David at the Tasmanian Embassy saying he'd like to start a similar business in Australia, would I help? Well yes. He copied it. Worked OK.

Then he introduced his own ideas and it all took off. Made us look shabby. Had to spend a decade or so catching up. Thank God he retired. To sit with Dave and his Barb on 'Adagio', swimming the reefs, eating the fish. With a big wine fridge on the boat!

The life! (I did try Fiji's 'wine'; the famous Kava drink made from Kave roots. Mmm. I don't think the rest of the world is quite ready for Kava just yet!) Anyway here's Laithwaites today selling wine in Australia in competition with David's old Company. 

We visit our new Sydney office. Small - though vast compared to the tiny old terraced house they were crammed into last year. Talked to the people on the phone, the buyers, the writers, the logistics (not easy getting wine to the remote north west, apparently) the accounts and all.

Want to see what our lot do in Oz? Try http://www.winepeople.com.au/ and tell your Aussie 'rellys' to give us a try. We're good.

Visit laithwaites.co.uk