Coming to a hotel lobby near you: an essential oils bar

What happens first in the US tends to happen next in Europe and Australia, so get ready for an essential oils bar in your hotel lobby sooner rather than later. 

Filament Hospitality - a San Francisco-based hospitality management company - recently launched Shoreline Hotel Waikiki's Essential Oils Lobby Bar in collaboration with Oahu-based Oil Miracles Hawaii. 

The new facility features herbal essences that are "specially blended for island life" and offers a range of potions aimed at "improving the guest experience and with holistic wellness in mind".

The oils include a headache helper, muscle reliever, allergy relief and a sleep aid - all of which can be sampled at the essential oils bar and purchased at the front desk or online. 

While "try before you buy" is a great idea, and impulse buying could be high, I have a couple of problems with this. 

1. The lines at many hotel desks are long and annoying. I'm not sure how many guests will stand in line to buy essential oils. 

2. Some of the oils have such ridiculous names that sensible adults would feel stupid ordering a Buggy Begone, Sleepytime or Vog Relief (apparently vog is smog caused by volcanic ash). 

Useful, perhaps, are Muscle Relief, Sunburn Soother and Ditch the Itch. 

All told, Shoreline’s Essential Oils Bar offers over 18 essential oil blends on offer (sprays and rollers) and guests who book VIP rooms will be treated to complimentary oils in their rooms. 

For details see www.filamenthospitality.com and www.shorelinehotelwaikiki.com

Chateau Tanunda now even more of a family wine business

Château Tanunda is one of the leading wine producers in the Barossa Valley - established 1890 and now producing around 130,000 cases a year, much of it exported. 

South African-born John Geber purchased the business 18 years ago and has increased sales from 50,000 cases over that time with a major focus on sales in Europe.

Geber this week announced the appointment of his daughter Michelle Geber to the position of general manager of Château Tanunda and related businesses, effective immediately.

It is a huge role, with Château Tanunda is an icon and Australia’s largest and oldest château.

"After looking high and low in a long recruitment process we found that the best candidate was within our own organisation," Geber said. 

"The appointment of this position of great responsibility is impressive for Michelle at 32 years old, and it was not taken lightly. 

"She has an extensive background in marketing and operations over the last eight years and was responsible for launching Château Tanunda’s brand internationally during a lengthy stint in the United States from 2009."

Geber says he has taken the position as executive chairman and will continue to dedicate his time to markets in the US and Europe. 

Former long-term general manager Matt McCulloch has moved on to Langmeil Wines as CEO, while Matt Fitz-Gerald has joined Château Tanunda as global sales manager. 

For details visit www.chateautanunda.com. 

How Yalumba helped save a grape variety that was dying

Just 35 years ago, the white grape variety viognier was in danger of extinction. There were just 14 acres planted in the Northern Rhône and a distinct lack of interest from producers and consumers. 

Today, viognier production is booming around the world, with family-owned Australian winery Yalumba a global flag bearer. 

Yalumba now releases no fewer than six different varietals labelled as viognier and also uses the grape in several red blends, using tiny co-fermented amounts to add colour and aromas to shiraz grapes, as was traditional in the Côte-Rôtie. 

Chief winemaker Louisa Rose has championed the variety in Australia, saying: "Of all the grape varieties I deal with, viognier has relatively no flavour until it is ripe. You've got to be patient and then one day you'll taste apricots and honeysuckle. Gorgeous." 

Yalumba planted 1.2 hectares in 1980 and today has close to 60 hectares in the Eden Valley. It is regarded as the most influential producer of viognier, a tricky grape to vinify, in the world. 

The company's flagship white wine, ahead of riesling and chardonnay, the Virgilius Viognier, was first released in 1998. 

Surprisingly little is known of viognier's history. It is the only permitted grape for the Condrieu appellation the Rhône, where is generally is used in sweeter wines, but its renaissance now sees it grown in North and South America as well as Australia, New Zealand and the Cape. 

Aromatic, with stone fruit character, particularly apricots, it produces full-bodied whites across a range of sugar levels. It is believed to have originated in Dalmatia, part of Croatia. and to have been brought to Rhône by the Romans. 

Yalumba has pioneered the growing and making of viognier in Australia since 1980 and now has 35 years of viticultural and winemaking experience working with what Rose calls "this alluring variety". 

"Viognier is a wine like no other," she says. "It offers a wonderful sensory experience full of vast nuances of flavour. Viognier is seductive, luscious and unctuous. A veritable flavour bomb of exotic musk, rose petal, apricot, white peach, ginger, citrus blossoms and a rich and unctuous, silky texture."

The current releases are: 

Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2016 $15

Yalumba Organic Viognier 2016 $19

Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2015 $24

Yalumba The Virgilius Viognier 2015 $45

Yalumba FSW8B Botrytis Viognier 2015 $29

Yalumba NV Vie de V $63 

For full details visit www.yalumba.com

If you have not yet been to Cuba it may be too late

The arrival of American tourists en masse changes a destination forever. Americans tend to be loud, demanding and want all the comforts of home wherever they may be.  

That means that Cuba is about to be changed as a holiday destination - and sooner rather than later. 

Small groups of Americans have long managed to evade the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba, but the American trickle is about to become a tidal wave. 

New flights have been added from US airports to Havana and Oceania Cruises last week revealed its first three inaugural voyages from Miami to Cuba, announcing it has received official government approval from the Republic of Cuba to operate cruises to the island beginning in March 2017. 

The cruise line announced it will inaugurate its calls in Cuba with one 14-day and two 10-day Caribbean cruises from Miami aboard Marina. Each of these voyages will call on the city of Havana with two of the voyages staying overnight and offering guests two full days in the iconic and beautiful, albeit crumbling, city.

All voyages will fully comply with existing U.S. Federal Regulations and the most recent pronouncements from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

"The voyages will provide guests with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover not only the rich culture, history and natural beauty found throughout Cuba, but more importantly experience the warmth and hospitality of its people," Oceania Cruises said in a statement.

“We are tremendously excited to have received approval by Cuban authorities to offer cruises to Cuba from the United States aboard our acclaimed Marina. I believe there is no better way to experience the unique culture, beauty and diversity of Cuba than by cruise,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Oceania Cruises.

In Havana, guests will have a selection of shore excursions to choose from, all of which offer an authentic Cuban experience that explores the people, music, art, history and culture of the island in compliance with OFAC regulations. 

That means the cruise will be regarded as a cultural experience by U.S. authorities - and up to 1,250 Americans will be flooding into Havana Viejo for a mojito (and likely complaining how small the Bodeguita de Medio is), strolling the Malecon (boardwalk) and demanding KFC for lunch.

For more information about Oceania Cruises to Cuba, call 
1300 355 200. 

Are you ready to spend 17 hours in the one aircraft seat?

Are you ready to spend 17 hours in the same economy class seat; travelling from Perth to London without a stop? 

Qantas has just announced the shortest and fastest version of the Kangaroo Route in its 70-year history, using a Qantas Dreamliner with Western Australia as a hub. 

The Australian flag carrier says the flights are "designed to offer improved comfort on long haul flights" from March 2018 and the flights will be among the longest in the world. 

Many flyers like to break up their journeys in either an Asian port like Singapore or Hong Kong, or, increasingly, in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. The new service will cater for those wanting to get to London in the quickest way possible. 

The flights from Perth to London will use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner over the 14,498 kilometre route.  

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the history-making route would be a watershed for travel, tourism and trade.

“When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops. Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop," he said.

“This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Australians have never had a direct link to Europe before, so the opportunities this opens up are huge.

“It’s great news for travellers because it will make it easier to get to London. It’s great news for Western Australia because it will bring jobs and tourism. And it’s great news for the nation, because it will bring us closer to one of our biggest trade partners and sources of visitors.”

Joyce said passenger comfort on the long flight was a key consideration.

“When we designed the interior of our 787s, we wanted to make sure passengers would be comfortable on the extended missions the aircraft was capable of.

“That’s why we have features in our economy seats that other airlines reserve for premium economy. Our business suite has been nicknamed ‘mini first class’ by many of our frequent flyers. And we’re redesigning our on-board service to help reduce jetlag.” 

The enhanced Qantas cabin design is in addition to the comfort factors that Boeing built in to the Dreamliner – improved air quality, lower cabin noise and technology to reduce turbulence.

Mr Joyce said the direct route is expected to appeal to travellers on the East Coast as well as West Australians, helping to deliver a tourism boost.

“A direct flight makes travelling to Australia a much more attractive proposition to millions of people. We expect many travellers from Europe will start their time in Australia with a visit to Perth before going on to see other parts of the country.

“Our modelling shows that people from the East Coast, as well as South Australia, would fly domestically to Perth to connect to our non-stop London service. Some will take the opportunity to break their journey, whether it’s for business meetings in Perth, to holiday or to visit family.”

The new flight will operate through Qantas’ existing domestic terminals (T3/4), which will be upgraded to accommodate international flights. The airline’s current international services from Perth (to Singapore and to Auckland) will also move to this terminal, helping to simplify the journey for thousands of people every year. Qantas will move its operations to an expanded Terminal 1 at Perth Airport by 2025, pending a commercial agreement.

Flights will carry 236 passengers across business, premium economy and economy cabins.

All change: a new look for MONA for the summer season

It is all change at MONA where owner David Walsh considers On the Origin of Art to be the most ambitious exhibition staged in his spectacular space on the banks of the River Derwent in Hobart.

“This one exhibition continues out from how I see the world, it rarefies how I see the world … that’s why I built the gallery — to essentially be an anti-museum and to look at art a little bit differently,” he told The Australian newspaper.

The six-month exhibition, which opened in November and will run until April 17, 2017, is actually four exhibitions by four guest curators.

It features more than 234 objects sourced from MONA’s collection as well as from other Australian galleries, private collections and 58 institutions around the world.

More items have been borrowed for this show than for all MONA's previous exhibitions put together.

Linguist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi, evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller and Professor of Literature Brian Boyd are the curators.

Throw in summer markets, jazz concerts, winery and brewery tours and the Don't Waste New Year's Day Party on January 1 and MONA is certainly a must for anyone visiting Hobart this summer. 

Off-site, meanwhile, the MONA FOMA festival runs from January 18-22 at various locations in Hobart. See https://mona.net.au