HOW do you get your hands on up-market wine from a producer on the other side of the Atlantic, without leaving your house or reaching for your purse?
Ask an 82-year-old lady whose handwritten window message crossed to another continent and language, and was answered in the shape of full bottles.
Annette Muller, who lives in the province of Ontario, is also proof that age is no barrier to becoming a social media influencer.
Having not left her house, even to go shopping, since Canada went into lockdown at around the same time as most of the western world, Annette became one of millions who coped with her confinement by popping a cork, and by putting messages in her window.
And when she stood at the glass holding up an empty bottle and a huge poster reading, 'Need more wine' – to tell her daughter Kelly to do the honours – a photograph of her desperate communication went viral.
Such is the power of modern technology that it reached drinks merchants Lucas Laguens and Hugo Valero, from Zaragoza, who sell local wine online via their website enbotella.com.
In response to her plea, they sent her some bottles directly to her home.
Not only that, but Hugo and Lucas joined Annette and Kelly for a drink – via Zoom – and explained to them how their wines were made.
“How lovely! I can't believe it!” Annette reportedly said when the wine arrived.
“I had my doubts about whether they'd get here, but they did and I'm delighted.
“They're much better than the wine we get in Canada. It's like a sci-fi film!”
The two women enjoyed it so much that they have ordered some more.
“Annette is thrilled to have become an influencer for Spanish wines,” said Hugo.
He and Lucas have arranged with Annette and Kelly to 'meet up' for a meal – each cooking typical dishes from Canada and from Spain and eating them from their homes whilst online.
Lucas, an IT manager, and Hugo, an MBA student in International Management at the ICEX Institute, say it is 'not easy' sending wine to Canada, 'especially to Ontario'.
“For that reason, we want to thank my Logistics tutor Alejandro Molins, wine merchant José Carlos Llopart who acted as middleman, and the export company Eurovintage,” says Hugo.
Their delivery parcels carry the slogan, 'This box contains bottled happiness' – and Annette says she agrees with that and has kept it as a souvenir.
She has recreated her 'window picture' by adding another one next to it (first photograph above), making a thumbs-up sign and posing next to the 'bottled happiness' box.
Annette also had her picture taken with a bottle in each hand, Canadian flag brooches, and a big smile on her face (second photograph).
Both pictures were supplied by Kelly and Annette, via Lucas and Hugo at Enbotella.com.
