Latest News from Castro Martin

The last post!....... on Blogger

2011-07-15T06:56:00.002+02:00

After more than 5 years as loyal Bloggers we have finally closed up shop and defected to WordPress.

For those of you who don't know, WordPress is actually quite similar to Blogger, except that we are now able to fully integrate our blog with our main website.

The real beauty of this is that not only are we able to regularly update the blog, but we can also easily update our main website too - adding new information, updating and adding new photos etc. Indeed our new website now includes a page of downloads, where you can find pdf files of Vintage Reports, Tech Sheets, Bottle Shots, Labels etc, etc.

The new site will eventually carry a selection local recipes on our food and wine page, but for now it simply includes some great food shots (actually taken using a small pocket digital camera).

We can now be found at www.castromartin.com - simply click Blog on the main menu.

Many thanks to our loyal followers, we hope that we will enjoy your continued support in our new home!

So, it's goodnight from me, and goodnight from her indoors....

Rain at last!

2011-07-10T11:24:00.000+02:00

It's probably quite fitting that one of my last few posts on Blogger (we will hopefully launch our completely new, all singing, all dancing website later this week), should be about the weather.

So far, the month of July has been cool and cloudy. Lots of overcast days, odd spots of sunshine, but also quite a lot of mist and drizzle - just in time for the Galician tourist season that starts to gather momentum at the beginning of the month. The significant point is that, despite the drizzle that we have had, it's hardly been enough to penetrate the canopy in our vineyards, and the soil has remained mostly dry.

Thursday and Friday of this last week, has however, provided us with the first real rain since February/March. Not torrential rain, but steady rain that persisted throughout the two day period. Of course now that the sun has returned, the damp will be trapped at ground level and the humidity will provide an excellent breeding ground for disease. My guess is that we will probably be spraying at some point in the next few days.

Bearing in mind that we are obliged to occasionally treat our vines, prolonged periods of dry weather obviously mean that we spray less, saving time, money and the environment. Every cloud has a silver lining, if you'll pardon the pun.

The correct temperature?

2011-07-06T19:19:00.000+02:00

I very rarely eat grapes, probably because we making a living out of growing them. (I guess it's like the people who work in chocolate factories that eventually give up eating chocolate).

The other day, for some unknown reason, I bought a few grapes and popped them in the bottom of my fridge. When I tasted them later I remember thinking to myself that they were a bit acid - I left the remainder of the bunch on my kitchen counter. A little later I picked at a few more, but this time they tasted somewhat sweeter and generally more flavourful. One simple but important difference - they were warmer!

Of course this one of the fundamentals of wine tasting too - how your perception of wine is altered by the temperature at which you drink it.

Obviously I'm not suggesting that you should drink your albariño warm (albeit that this is the best way to expose many potential faults), but conversely, if you drink it too cold, not only will it exaggerate the acidity, but will also help to mask the true character of your wine.

If you find yourself being offered a tooth-shatteringly cold white wine in a restaurant, then cup the bowl of the glass in your two hands, and gently swirl it around until the temperature recovers a little - then, and only then, should you taste and pass your judgement.

Most red wine is served at 'room temperature', which to be honest is a little vague. So if your room is a little too warm, your red wine might also be adversely affected. An over heated bottle will throw all the alcohol to the forefront, perhaps giving your glass a bit of alcoholic 'burn' - not literally, but just a sensation of heat in the back of your throat. This, quite naturally, is more exaggerated in heavy, alcoholic red wines, and is quite easily remedied by chilling the bottle just a little - but not too much!
If you chill a red wine too much, this will simply exaggerate the tannins and could make your wine taste hard, harsh and maybe even a bit metallic.

As you will gather, temperature can make a bit difference to your enjoyment of any wine.

Sneak preview

2011-07-04T08:55:00.000+02:00

You may have noticed that our blog has been a little abandoned recently, and as always, there is a perfectly good excuse.....

The screen capture above is a sneak preview of the homepage of our new website, which has been under construction for the last couple of months.

The framework is done, the pages are set up, and now I am just going through the painfully slow part of adding the text and selecting the photographs that we are going to use. Any spare moment that I have had in front of my computer over the last couple of weeks has been occupied by this task - hence the fact that our blog has been a bit overlooked. Sorry about that.

We hope to have the full new site up and running in the next week or so. As they say, watch this space!

Tea and toast

2011-06-28T20:39:00.003+02:00

There is an old saying that goes "a little of what you fancy does you good", and to prove a point I woke up the other day with a craving for some thick cut marmalade on a slice of hot buttered toast. Fortunately I had all the ingredients in my fridge and cupboards, and savoured every mouthful, accompanied by a mug of piping hot Yorkshire tea. It's sometimes the really simple pleasures that manage to hit the spot. Another such example - a rare fillet steak with a thick, freshly-made bearnaise sauce. Simple, but truly a match made in heaven....

Fortunately we are all have different tastes and enjoy different things, so when I used to get asked "which wine should I drink?" my reply was always the same - drink the wine that you enjoy.

Referring back to my post of a week or two ago about food and wine matching, I was lucky enough to dine in a good restaurant in Vigo yesterday. They had a special French promotion, which is highly unusual in Spain and so I jumped at the chance of eating (and drinking) some old, familiar favourites. An excellent Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2008 from probably the best co-operative that I know (anywhere in the world) - La Chablisienne, and a drop of Sauternes, Chateau d'Arche, with dessert.

The Chablis was super dry, racy and stylish, with a shot of steely gunflint running through it. People often talk about the influence of the soil on wine, and I swear that in this case, I could actually taste the calcareous kimmerigian clay and chalk that dominates the region. An absolute joy with the shellfish that I was eating. It's really easy to get excited about wine when a humble meal somehow becomes more memorable for all the right reasons.

The next new thing - Château Trump!

2011-06-23T12:11:00.002+02:00

Trump Las Vegas (in a lovely part of town)

You may not be aware, that our favourite business entrepreneur Donald Trump recently seized upon the misfortune of a pair of embattled socialites to buy their winery at a knock-down price. The 776 acre Kluge winery in Virginia has been under new ownership since April, and it should come as no surprise that the folically challenged Mr Trump has no intention of becoming winemaker. Indeed, the former owner Patricia Kluge will stay on - "She has a great instinct for wine, which I don't," Mr Trump said. Forgive me for being a bit cynical at this point, but if she had such a great instinct then why was her entire Estate sold to Trump for one tenth of its pre-recession value?

Those in the know say it won't be too long before the new brand of Château Trump appears on the market, no doubt with a label design smothered in gold (which appears to the trade mark of all his businesses).

P.S. I will confess now that have never tasted a wine made in Virginia.

The longest day, but the shortest summer

2011-06-22T08:23:00.004+02:00

Please don't get me wrong, I am not announcing that summer is over already, but having just celebrated the longest day of the year (21st June in the Northern Hemisphere), we now look forward to possibly our shortest summer.

Our calendar for summer 2011 will have to be altered dramatically, as we plan for the early harvest. The first thing to disappear will be the planned closure of the Bodega for one week in August. Indeed, the week that we wanted to close may well end up being the week that we start to pick, so I guess that I might have to ask our team to work instead!

But the preparations for harvest actually start much earlier than that....

Not only do we have to order all the materials that we need, but obviously we have to ensure that we have enough space in our tanks to receive the new wine, and this usually involves a programme of bottling to create a bit of spare capacity.

As the wine has to pass through cold stabilisation, filtration etc. before it is bottled this also takes time and forward planning, and so working backwards from the anticipated harvest date, it means that we will probably have a very short summer indeed.

To finish on a more positive note, at least I will save on a bit of sun cream this year!

Never stand still!

2011-06-21T15:42:00.004+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Oxygen Transfer Rate (OTR), and how the type of closure can influence the quality of our wine long after it leaves the cellar. Of course the conditions chosen for bottle storage will also determine its evolution, meaning that the loft (attic) of your house is really not an ideal location, but then that's another story.....

We have already established that Nomacorc is the best closure for our wine, and select the most suitable quality for our products no matter what the cost (synthetic is by no means cheaper than natural cork). However, in our constant quest for improvement, and with the help and advice from our friends at Nomacorc, we are now taking our cork expertise to the next level.

The new Nomacorc Select Series is available in three categories - not based on quality, but based on the density of the material. The differing densities have a significant influence on OTR, and therefore have a direct effect on how the bottled wine will evolve.

It would be easy for us to simply read the published statistics and to follow the recommendations of Nomacorc, but for such an important decision we have decided to make an analysis based on our own test bottlings. Under controlled conditions we have bottled three batches of the same wine, using the three different examples of the Select Series. Over the next 6 to 12 months we will pull corks at regular intervals, and then taste and analyse each bottle to determine how the three different corks influence the development of our wines.

If we discover that any one of the three works better than our current quality, then we will make the change. If there is no improvment then we will simply continue as we are, thus applying one of my favourite philosophies - if it ain't broken, don't fix it!

Mist, mizzle, drizzle, but no real rain....

2011-06-17T08:17:00.001+02:00

And now time for a quick weather update...... (admit it, you've been dying to know!)

A day or two before my friends arrived for a long anticpated visit from New Zealand, quite inevitably, our weather changed. After weeks, nay, months, of warm sunny weather, the temperature suddenly dropped by around 8°C, and the skies filled with cloud.

To be perfectly honest we could have done with a good soaking of rain, but so far we have had nothing more than a week of low cloud, the horrible 'hanging' mizzle that somehow just sticks to your clothes, and a few light showers.

Once our vineyards dry out, then I will be the first to admit that a bit of treatment is going to be needed - I have said it once, and I will say it again - the Galician climate is simply too unpredictable for us not to intervene at some point.

Having said all that, we are still anticipating an early harvest. My guess is still the end of August.

Adagio for Albariño

2011-06-12T10:28:00.002+02:00

Ever wished your glass of malbec was more musical or that your sauvignon sings? No, of course not. But we all grew up knowing that our mothers' glassware could make sweet music. The glasses pictured above have been made to satisfy that kid inside. Each glass is marked with musical notations to denote the exact amount of albariño required to create the perfect pitch (we assure you that albariño is by far the best wine for this purpose).

Unfortunately these glasses don't come cheap, so start saving up so you can play that sonata. And at least if you don't succeed in creating musical magic, you can always console yourself with a decent glass of Castro Martin!

Wine transformed

2011-06-10T13:13:00.005+02:00

I sometimes write about wine and food pairing, quite simply as I am fascinated by the subject. It's true that there is a lot of snobbery associated with this subject, and quite rightly so. Some of the old fashioned, traditional views just don't stack up, such as drinking red wine with fish, which can be perfectly acceptable given the right combination..... And thereby lies the secret.... the right combination.

There is no doubt that some of the old rules do still apply, and using them simply as a general guideline can sometimes help steer you towards finding new food and wine matches - it's just a matter of trial and error, and believe me there will be a lot of errors along the way!

Some combinations just don't work, and can clash very badly, but the most important thing to remember is that it is actually your perception of the wine that will be modified, and doesn't necessarily mean that the wine by itself is poor. I read only a day or so ago about a serious taster who assessed some wines at a tasting, marked them down as being pretty mediocre, but then had to amend his score when he enjoyed the very same wines with food - the wines had been transformed.

I can quote a very good example of my own from many years ago. I was lucky enough to be eating at the Restaurant Beaugraviere in Mondragon, near Orange at the southern end of the Rhone Valley. It's a restaurant that specialises in truffles, and in those days was not quite as expensive as it is now (the dining room, shown in my picture has also been upgraded quite a lot). We selected one of their speciality dishes of scrambled egg with truffle, and had pretty much given up on the idea of finding a suitable wine - eggs as we know are notoriously difficult to match. The sommelier however, suggested that we try an old white Chateauneuf-du-Pape (from my fading memory I think it might have been a Chateau Rayas Blanc 1983, but I could be wrong). When we were invited to sample the wine before serving, it came out of the bottle as a heavily coloured rather tired looking wine, that was seriously starting to lose it's fruit. We were not really impressed, but opted to persevere - and boy, what a transformation! With the eggs the wine was just sensational, which obviously explains why this experience has been etched into my memory.

Just to finish, I once had the very opposite experience with a beef dish, that I decided to enjoy with a good Red Burgundy. The beef was served with a jus, a reduction of the beef stock made with a drop of red wine, giving it a very strong umami flavour. In theory it should have worked - so why was I getting such a harsh, bitter, metallic sensation in my mouth? When I made a few enquiries I finally discovered that the pureed potatoes had been made with a touch of horseradish sauce! Once again my wine had been transformed, but this time not in a good way.

We live and learn.

Change your point of view

2011-06-07T08:37:00.001+02:00

If you are new to our blog, or maybe just bored with the way it looks, then I have just discovered a completely new and pretty dynamic way that you can view it (it's an especially good way to look back through our archives, and to view some of my lovely pics!)

Simply add the word 'view' to the end of our normal URL - in other words try http://castromartin.blogspot.com/view
Once you are there you will find a drop down menu in the top right hand corner of the page, which offers you several different options of how you change the layout.

Try it! It's a bit of fun.....

Height Cuisine or Haute Cuisine?

2011-06-02T12:15:00.001+02:00

I'm sure that we have all had some widely varying experiences when it comes to in-flight dining on aircraft, from the sublime to the downright inedible (ever tried Ainsley Harriott's cup-a-soup on Iberia?) But when did you last stop to consider the amount of work that goes into selecting the food and wines that are served during your flight?

Of course many airlines boast Michelin starred chefs to select and design their menus, and indeed I have heard rumours of regular transatlantic flyers being persuaded to a particular carrier based on the quality of in-flight catering on offer.... and why not?

At Castro Martin we are lucky enough to have had our wine selected for service at high altitude, but did you know that how you perceive your glass will be determined by the length of time that you spend in the air? Cabin pressure can play havoc with your tastebuds over time, and the wine that you adore on the ground might taste tough and bitter after several hours cooped up on a plane.

During the forthcoming 'Taste of London' event later this month, our friends at British Airways will be showcasing their experiences on how food and wine works in the air, and explaining the science behind some of their menu and wine selections.

Personally, I find this subject truly fascinating, and by way of a 'taster' would highly recommend taking a look at this video of an in-flight wine tasting.

Perhaps the worst timed mailshot of all time?

2011-06-01T14:14:00.002+02:00

You would think that someone may have had the sense to either postpone this mailshot, or at the very least, change one of the photos.

At the very height of the E. coli scandal in Germany, with people allegedly dying from eating Spanish cucumbers, would you send out a mailshot effectively saying "we have a safer way of transporting your produce", and then include a photo of a sliced cucumber? Perhaps they are implying that the produce might have been sabotaged whilst in transit? Whatever the intention I am not quite sure whether this is an example of very opportunistic marketing or it is just plain stupid!

Spain is now faced with a huge problem (regardless or not as to whether the outbreak did originate from these shores). The speculation alone has done untold damage to the export of a large proportion of fresh Spanish produce around Europe, in a typical knee-jerk backlash. Millions of euros are being lost on a daily basis, and in the midst of an enormous economic crisis, Spain can ill afford it.

I must say that I find it uncharacteristically irresponsible of the Germans to point the finger at Spain without conclusive, irrefutable evidence. Talk about kicking a country when it's down....

Summer Harvest?

2011-05-28T09:28:00.002+02:00

I mentioned a week or two ago that our flowering had been extraordinarily early this year, and the recent weather has only served to perpetuate the problem - daytime temperatures of mid to upper 20's (75° - 85°F). Using the traditional calculation often used by growers, 100 days between the time of flowering and the harvest, this would, in theory at least, give us a date for picking of week commencing 23rd August.... Looks like there might be less sunbathing time this summer!

Althought we 'enjoyed' a wet winter here in Galicia, and the water tables were well replenished, we have not had any rain at all for some weeks now and certainly surface soils are getting pretty dehydrated. We will therefore have to take this into account when we start our work on the canopies. Certainly 'green harvesting' will not cause any problems, and indeed, should only serve to enhance the quality of the fruit left on the vines, but leaf thinning is a different matter.

Leaves, as we know, are the powerhouse of any plant and provide all the sugar and nutrients required for growth. During the summer we actively remove a percentage of the leaves, not only to provide the fruit with better exposure to the sun, but also to ensure that not all the energy is consumed by thick foliage. The trick is to find the correct density of leaves, and the exact amount that we eventually remove will therefore be determined by how our weather evolves over the next couple of months.

Trucks of convenience?

2011-05-26T07:46:00.002+02:00

In the early part of the 20th century American ship owners, frustrated with increased regulation and high labour costs, initiated the practice of registering their vessels in Panama. The practice later became known as 'flags of convenience', and these days nearly half the world's merchant fleet are registered in lands foreign to their country of ownership.

Now, I could be completely wrong, but I rather have the impression that a similar practice has been adopted by the international road haulage industry. With increasing regularity collections made at our bodega are made by trucks, very often registered in Ireland, and nearly always with an eastern European driver.

I often rush outside hoping to enjoy a bit of conversation in English, only to realise that the driver's English is even worse than my Spanish (which I'm ashamed to admit is still not that good).

So, what's the story behind this I wonder? Almost certainly a method for cutting costs?

Footnote: This post was based on a collection made at the bodega yesterday, and we have since had another collection this morning. Today's odd combination is as follows:

Tractor unit: Dutch
Trailer unit: Belgium
Driver: Ukrainian
Wine: Spanish
English speakers: None

Another month, another city

2011-05-25T07:29:00.001+02:00

Let's get one thing clear - Angela and I both love travelling (not that we can always afford it). For the last couple of years we have managed to include one or two customer tastings during our annual holiday, which might seem above and beyond the call of duty, but there is also a plus side....

Often, when we are obliged to travel to tastings, we try to include a spare day in our itinerary to take in the local sights, and perhaps a bit of shoe shopping for Angela - the Imelda Marcos of the wine industry.

Our recent trip to Northern Ireland was actually an exception to this rule, as just getting there and back was so complicated that we restricted ourselves to just a short hop, in and out, with precious little time for sightseeing. We did however learn one valuable piece of information for our next visit - in future we will try to fly to Belfast City airport rather than Belfast International - the latter is a long, long way from the city centre.

The tasting itself was a huge success for us as the customers of our importer could not have been more appreciative of our wine. Castro Martin was one of the stars of the show, yet again, and totally justified the time and effort in getting there. It's just so great to meet our end consumers.

O.T.R. not O.T.T.

2011-05-20T10:42:00.000+02:00

Angela measures oxygen in the head space

The care and attention that we take in making the best wine that we can does not stop at the cellar door when pallets are shipped out to our customers, we obviously try to guarantee (as far as we can) that our customers will enjoy our albariño once they pull the cork.

You may have heard me comment on previous occasions that one of the biggest enemies of the winemaker (and possibly more especially white wine makers) is that of oxidation. Now, oxidation can and does occur at every stage of the wine making process, and so we make it our goal in life to ensure that it is kept to the absolute minimum, thereby ensuring the freshest possible wine that we can.

Fruit oxidation starts from the first moment that the skin of the grape is broken, and quite obviously is exacerbated every time the grape must or finished wine is exposed to the air. It is also made worse by the use of pumps that serve to agitate the wine as they force our precious liquid through the pipework. In the case of Castro Martin the need for pumping is largely offset by the very design of the building itself. Our vinification takes place over three different levels and we can therefore simply move our wine around by gravity.

Once the wine is actually made there are three further opportunities for oxidation to take place. The first is during the tank storage period, which is why we ensure that our wine is kept under a 'blanket' of nitrogen, and also explains why we store in tank, and only bottle as and when floor stock is required.

The second is at the time of bottling, where we do our very best to ensure that all possible oxygen is removed from the empty bottle and that nitrogen is added once again, a split second before the cork is put in. The small gap in your bottle between the cork and liquid (known as the head space) can perhaps unbelieveably account for up to 80% of the total oxygen contained within the bottle - the rest being present in the wine itself.

The third opportunity for oxidation is after bottling, when the cork finally seals the package. Over the years we have spent a lot of time studying this, and run many tests on different types of wine closure. The best and most expensive natural corks are of course very good, but will always be subject to a small percentage of spoilage caused by TCA (cork taint). The secret therefore is to find something that behaves like a cork, but does not allow a wine to become tainted. Our own solution is Nomacorc, a synthetic closure that provides a very good (and consistent) seal, whilst at the same time allowing an almost microscopic transfer of oxygen, measured by OTR - the oxygen transfer rate. Believe it or not a closure that provides a completely hermetic seal can also cause problems. The sulphur that is added to protect wine needs to escape slowly over time, and if it becomes trapped it will eventually be absorbed back into the wine. This can actually cause a different type of 'off' flavour (sometimes similar to burnt rubber).

Oxygen readings taken in tank

Wine as a weapon?

2011-05-19T08:39:00.000+02:00

We have just travelled back from a very successful tasting in Ireland, carrying a few gifts in our bags as we passed through the airport. Amongst our hand luggage we had some pieces of glassware, and this action served to rekindled a thought that I had a long time ago concerning airport security.

No doubt we have all heard many a tale of wine producers (and others) losing their corkscrews to over-zealous security guards. Nail files, pen knives, nail scissors and the like, no matter how small, have also fallen victim to the ever tightening restrictions. On our flight today one poor Expat returning to the USA even had his precious Heinz salad cream and HP Sauce confiscated as it was somehow deemed a threat. I know from experience as I once lost two jars of peanut butter in exactly the same way!

I'm sure that you have already guessed where I'm going with this..... I find it incomprehensible that passengers can still shop for glass bottles in duty free and then happily carry them on to the aircraft. Surely a broken bottle would constitute more of a serious threat to the cabin crew than some poor winemaker's corkscrew?

First New Zealand, then Japan, and now Spain!

2011-05-19T08:35:00.000+02:00

These days we are so used to watching big budget disaster movies, and news footage from distant shores on our TV screens , that it has become all to easy to detach ourselves from the reality of life. That is, until the disaster unfolds on your very own doorstep.

After earth quake disaster in New Zealand and the utter devastation of Japan's huge quake and tsunami, we now have death and destruction in Murcia, Southern Spain (only 120km from Alicante). Although the quake measured only 5,2 on the Richter scale it occured only 1km below the earth's surface, and was therefore more damaging. At the time of writing it is reported that 10 people have lost their lives, mostly crushed by falling buildings. It is more than 50 years since Spain experienced a quake of this magnitude, and it was neither predicted, nor expected.

Well, perhaps that is not completely true....

Very, very strangely an earthquake was predicted on 11th May 2011, but in Italy. Many Italians fled Rome amid fears of a pending earthquake! In 1915 the late Italian self-styled seismologist Raffaele Bendandi predicted that the "the big one" would strike Rome on this exact date. Panic developed as rumors spread across social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, and some Italians actually evacuated the city.

Unfortunately for all concerned, right date, but simply the wrong country.

(Very) early flowering

2011-05-10T16:44:00.002+02:00

Angela surveying the flowering

Around this time last year I seem to recall posting a picture of some highly coloured blooms as a representation of the flowering in our vineyards, and this year is no exception. Nothing to do with our vines, but at least a bit more colourful to look at!

On a more serious note, we have an extremely early flowering just starting here in Galicia. The temperature as I write is about 27°C (just over 80°F) and the forecast for the rest of the week is set fair, so all looks quite rosey in our garden (if you'll pardon the pun). The number of bunches per vine appears to indicate a big harvest, albeit that this is no guarantee of real quality, and so I rather suspect that there will be a good deal of 'green harvesting' during the summer months.

Naturally this early flowering (probably at least two weeks earlier than normal), will mean that the 2011 harvest will be premature too. If the fine weather continues I would estimate picking at the very beginning of September, similar to our 2006 vintage. Only time will tell.

Black sheep of the Castro Martin family

2011-05-06T11:39:00.005+02:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we have been keeping sheep in our Pazo vineyard, which is proving to be a much more efficient, not to mention ecologically friendly, method of keeping the grass under control. Absolutely no use of herbicides (as always), and also greatly reduced fuel use by our tractors - normally employed in summer to cut the grass.

About a week ago Angela's sister visited the sheep to give them a few treats (fresh oats and a little bread), and was horrified to discover that a couple of cats had invaded the sheep's small shelter..... until she looked more closely.

It turns out that they were not cats at all, but instead were a couple of completely black lambs. Clearly their mother had spent too much time in the sun!

Early warning system

2011-05-01T08:34:00.005+02:00

Before you start thinking that the roof of our bodega is bristling with antennae and satellite dishes, that is not exactly what I mean. Yes, I do have a small Oregon Scientific weather station sitting on my desk, but I am actually talking about something much more low-tech, but nonetheless effective..... rose bushes.

I am convinced that the vast majority of people believe that roses are present in many a vineyard simply to add a splash of colour, but perhaps I should explain that this is not the only reason. Of course it's true they do add a touch of colour, but their function is actually much more important - they act as an early warning system to the vigneron.

Rose bushes are susceptible to many of the same diseases as grape vines, and in most cases are actually more sensitive. The indicators for oidium, mildew etc are more likely to appear on the roses before our vines become infected, and we can therefore leap into action with the appropriate preventative measures pretty much before the problem takes hold.

The picture above was taken a day or so ago in our El Pazo vineyard - not only do you notice the advanced years of our vines, but you can also clearly see the vigorous growth for the time of year. Could be another early harvest.

A Royal Toast

2011-04-27T11:35:00.005+02:00

I don't suppose that I could really let this week pass without making some comment about the Royal Wedding - and don't try to pretend that you don't know which wedding I'm talking about.... The coverage here in Spain has been almost as extensive as that in the UK, and I was actually quite amused to see the infamous TV movie of Kate and William on our screens yesterday evening. Of course it was made doubly funny as, not only did the actors bear little resemblance to our Royal couple, but on top of that they were dubbed into Spanish. Will I get locked in the Tower of London if I say that it was hilarious?

Anyway, to date I have not heard any mention of the type of wines they will be drinking with the Royal Wedding Buffet, but I dare say that there might be the odd bottle of Liebfraumilch floating about (which is apparently the Queen's favourite tipple). Perhaps I should write to the Palace and tell Her Majesty that our Albariño is not wildly different from her beloved Riesling (or perhaps Muller-Thürgau). I use the word 'beloved' because the literal translation of Liebfraumilch is 'beloved ladies milk'.

Of course the last time we had a Royal Wedding in Spain, we know for a fact that they did enjoy a bottle or two of Albariño with their meal, although for some odd reason we were not allowed to mention who the producers were (no Royal Warrants this time then).

Post Wedding Footnote:
One thing that I have noticed which always puzzles me, is the Spanish obsession to translate people's names. For example, the happy couple are now officially known as Guillermo y Catalina, our Queen is Isabel, our Prince is Carlos, and his sister is Ana. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can never remember the King of Spain being referred to as King John Charles, and his wife Queen Sophie......

For £2.99 a bottle it ain't Albariño!

2011-04-22T11:53:00.001+02:00

There has been a lot of press recently about the price of wine and the ability of consumers to distinguish between good wine and cheap 'plonk'. As a wine professional I do hope that my own palate allows me to separate the wheat from the chaff, and my personal guideline to doing this is quite simple - you look for the 3 S's, in other words structure, structure and structure.

By this I mean the way in which a wine is put together, whether all its component parts are in balance - fruit, tannin, acidity, alcohol etc. For example, wines that are very well constructed might be described as having a fine structure, or in the case of a young wine that is not very forthcoming, a tight stucture. It's really the degree of harmony between these different elements that determines whether a wine is just average, or perhaps something really special .

The only thing I can say, is that the best wines (in my opinion) are not always the most obvious, they do not necessarily hit you between the eyes and yield themselves to you the moment you pull the cork. They often need time to 'open up' either in the bottle or in the glass, but boy, when they eventually do deliver you will know immediately, and the very best will have the ability to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end!

Indeed, there are many adjectives that you can use to describe a very fine wine, and journalists are much more adept at painting a picture than I am (they are, after all, attempting to translate the sensation of taste into words). I have never really been gifted when it comes to waxing lyrical about wines, but instead consider myself more of a technical taster, focusing on the component parts and how they might evolve and marry together, either now or sometime in the future. This is after all, the fundamental role of the buyer - to possess that special crystal ball.......

As always I digress. The original subject of today's post is the price of wine, and in particular a selection that I saw advertised on my TV at £2.99 a bottle. How do they do it (and do I really want to know)?

If you actually start to analyse the cost of getting a bottle to your supermarket shelf you might begin to understand what I mean.

By simply deducting the UK duty and VAT from your £2.99 bottle you are immediately reduced to a mere pittance of 69p! Then take into account, that this 69p has to include warehousing and shipping costs, the cost of the bottle, label, cork, capsule and carton - Oh! and by the way, the cost of the wine itself AND any profit for the wine producer and UK retailer.

Just a minute, my calculator has blown a fuse, it's trying to tell me that this simply doesn't add up! It's right, it doesn't add up. I think it's what they call a 'loss leader' - a product that sells below it's actual production cost.

I end by asking myself the inevitable question - can a wine at this price point really be any good?

Time for wine

2011-04-14T08:57:00.004+02:00

Over the last couple of months we have been 'tarting up' the entrance hall to our wine cellar, and you my recall my post about a huge photo montage that I set up on one of the walls.

Perhaps inspired by my wife Angela, and the fact that she is always late for everything (a woman's prerogative I think they call it), I have now created a huge clock on one of the other walls!

But this is no ordinary clock lifted out of a box - it is my very own creation. To be honest I don't recall where the idea came from, but the concept is really quite simple. The numbers are replaced by wine bottles. This apparently 'simple' concept was however, much more difficult to translate into reality.... To begin with cutting the bottles in half proved to be almost impossible, and then sticking them to the wall was also quite a problem. It's possibly not until you actually cut a bottle in half and see its profile, that you realise how fragile it really is, and suffice to say that applying glue to a thin, sharp rim of glass is no easy task either, requiring the patience of a saint (I have to admit, not one of my greatest virtues).

So, after a couple of hours with a glue gun, not to mention my very sticky fingers, you can now see the result.

I wonder if this will mean that Angela will be on time in the future? Probably not!

Bogus Castro Martin 2012

2011-04-13T11:02:00.001+02:00

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - this being the case, then it has to be said that the Chinese have been 'flattering' a lot of products over the years! Their latest target, wine.....

You may recall that a few months ago I was writing about Gallo's famous 'Red Bicyclette' Pinot Noir, whereby they were found guilty of passing off a blended wine as a single varietal. At least, in this particular Gallo case, the wine was actually produced in the country of origin - being made from French grapes, albeit not 100% Pinot Noir.

However, in this latest fraud it is the famous Jacob's Creek brand that is being ripped off ; an Australian Chardonnay that was actually produced in China! Hundreds of cases have been seized in London, where perhaps surprisingly, it was the consumers themselves who brought it to the attention of authorities. Customers complained to Pernot Ricard (the owners) that their beloved Aussie Chardonnay tasted 'unusual' or perhaps even 'diluted', it simply had 'a different taste and colour'. Of course a quick glance at the label might also have given the game away, as it boldly declared 'Wine of Austrlia' - presumably these sophisticated wine fraudsters did not have spellcheck on their computers.

Whatever next? Perhaps Castro Martin - Made in Taiwan?

R.I.P. Oddbins

2011-04-05T15:23:00.002+02:00

Last Thursday must be viewed as a very sad day in the UK wine trade when the announcement was made that the Oddbins chain of wine shops was going into administration with debts of more than £20 million.

It is not that many years ago that Oddbins was regarded as the most avant garde of all wine retailers, and to be present on their shelves was one of the greatest accolades for any serious producer.

In those days not only did they have the most cutting-edge selection of wines, but they also boasted a highly original catalogue illustrated by the artist Ralph Steadman. By far their greatest asset at that time however, was one of the most highly respected buyers in the UK wine trade. No, not me, but a chap called Steve Daniel, who from personal experience I can tell you, had a very fine palate. It was Steve's exciting selection of new and original wines that put Oddbins at the forefront of the UK retail trade, and on the customer 'wishlist' of every wine producer.

To quote my journalist friend Tim Atkin, Oddbins were "quirky, audacious, arrogant and bloody good at what they did"..... long may they be remembered for their contibution in helping to make London (and the UK) the 'shop window of the wine world'.

Beer for dogs! What next, wine for cats?

2011-04-01T09:58:00.003+02:00

In the difficult economic climate that exists at the moment we are always looking for new ways to develop our sales.

We recently saw a beef flavoured beer especially developed for dogs, in a glass bottle with a picture of a weimaraner on the label. Imported from Holland it is called Kwispelbier, which literally translated means 'tail-wagging beer'. Made using a traditional beer brewing technique, it contains malted barley extract and absolutely nothing harmful - consequently the dogs are really lapping it up (in every sense of the word!)

So, if they can make a beer for dogs, then why not a wine for cats? We are so near the sea that consumers often say that they can taste the salt air in our Albariño, so how about enhancing this flavour with a bit of fish or seafood? It would be quite a simple process to macerate some fish or seafood in the tanks - et voila! A new product for cats, opening a whole new world of possibilities for our bodega.

Any suggestions for a suitable name? How about 'CataPesca' - which loosely translated would mean 'tasting of fish'?

Oh, the irony!

2011-03-31T16:35:00.002+02:00

No sooner do I open my big mouth, questioning the accuracy (and therefore validity) of tastings for wine awards, magazines, wine guides etc., and the very next day we go and appear in one - with a very good review! In my defence however, I should point out that this latest incident only serves to strengthen the point of my argument - that the same wine can be judged very differently according to the individual palate of a particular journalist or tasting panel.... A poor review in a Spanish wine guide is somehow translated into a very good review in the world-renowned Decanter wine magazine.

(Of course we acknowledge that there is such a thing as bottle variation, and whilst we know that this does happen, we work very hard at Castro Martin to produce wines of consistent (high) quality throughout. These days we rarely send samples to guides or competitions, but conversely we very often send bottles to importers or potential customers who want to judge the quality of our wine or perhaps simply try a new vintage. In doing so we always make sure that the sample we send is truly representative of the stock that this customer will eventually receive, thereby helping to establish both trust and credibility for our business).

Finally, here is the Decanter review of one of our fab 2009 wines:

"Textbook offering from this Atlantic-facing region in Galicia. With the vim and vigour of youth, it delivers tangy, citrus sherbet fruit, herbal edging and a tasty, refreshing finish with a squeeze of lime juice in its tail."

New site on the way

2011-03-30T08:52:00.001+02:00

I am very aware that our blog has been a bit quiet recently, and of course, this is partly due to the amount of travelling that we have been doing during the last two months.

There is however, another important reason...... Behind the scenes (and with the help of our new friends in Christchurch, New Zealand), we are just starting work on a new website/blog. Not only will the new site be modernised and updated, but it will also mean that our blog and main website will eventually be integrated under one single web address.

But don't panic! All the old blog post will still be accessible for those (if any) who have difficulty sleeping and feel the need to check back on my previous, ~~hysterical~~ historical blog entries.

To use yet another well-worn phrase - Watch this space!

The tasting lottery

2011-03-23T11:22:00.009+01:00

It's always been a bit of a conundrum to me, and I have written about it many times before, but there are times when I really do question the value of submitting wines to wine guides and competitions etc. At best these types of tastings are inconsistent, and at worst they are simply a complete lottery.

The reason that I chose to say this now is because over the last month or two we have travelled the world showing our wines to some very knowledgeable professionals in several different cities and countries. The general consensus has been that the 2009 wines that we are selling now are outstanding, and possibly some of the best we have ever made. (Not just our opinion, but an opinion shared by the huge majority of people that tasted, including some top journalists).

Imagine our surprise therefore to discover that the very same wines were rated with some of the lowest scores of the region in a new Spanish wine guide (which shall remain nameless).

Those of you who know me will know that I am often brutally honest, and sometimes get myself into trouble with my outspoken views, but to say that this story does not make any sense is probably something of an understatement. The problem now is that this review has been printed in black and white and will be circulating in book shops over the coming year.

I must say however, that I am not convinced that these wine guides actually have too much influence when it comes to selling our wines, and the real measure of our success or otherwise, is determined much more by our importers and their customers who actually buy, consume and enjoy our wines.

Just to finish, I thought I was honest, but here's a tasting note written by a proprietor about his own wine that might be just a bit close to the bone. I have deleted the name of the wine, but the rest is verbatim.....

****** is not exactly an elegant wine, but it’s not over-extracted either. At first sight, it looks like a “rough soul” with hairs all over his chest, which goes straight to the point, but without dismissing subtleties and a gentleman’s good manners while it bombards your senses with an array of well polished exaggerations – it’s like an iron hand in a glove of soft velvet. A wine for those moments when we are tired of everything and won’t have “more of the same”

Home made

2011-03-20T08:47:00.002+01:00

Our recently refurbished out building used to be accessed by a pair of old wooden doors, which, quite frankly, were falling apart.

We asked one of guys, Fran, if he could come up with something better, and the picture above shows what he made. Please bear in mind that this door was not bought from some Do-It-Yourself warehouse, but was made completely by hand, from scratch!

To be honest, if it was me, I wouldn't know where to begin, but some of our guys have a natural talent when it comes to this type of thing and I think that this effort proves exactly what I mean.

Obviously Fran is quite skilled with a welding torch, so perhaps if I buy him a few pieces of scrap metal and give him a picture of an Aston Martin he just might be able to come up with something......

Home from the sea

2011-03-17T15:34:00.002+01:00

Just in case you were wondering what this photo is - it's the funnel of a rather large ferry taken at a 'jaunty' angle. The Pont Aven plies its trade between Santander on Spain's northern coast and the UK (either Plymouth or Portsmouth) crossing the rather notorious Bay of Biscay.

On my outward journey about 10 days ago the sea state was officially described as 'moderate' (whatever that means), but suffice to say that it was enough to keep me awake most of the night on my 24 hour crossing. Heaven only knows what it would be like on a rough sea (some friends of mine did experience a rough sea last year, and I think their expression was 'never again', or words to that effect)

Spending 24 hours on a gently swaying ship does however, create a rather interesting sensation by playing tricks on your brain. For about a day after you eventually reach terra firma you still have the sensation that the ground is moving - or at least I did. I believe it must be something to do with your inner ear that incorporates the balance senors of your body..... mine is obviously all at sea!

So, I'm finally back in the office after about a month of travelling, so it's time to get my head down, catch up, and press ahead with some of my new spring projects...... watch this space.

It's official - bad timekeeping is acceptable!

2011-03-01T18:02:00.001+01:00

It's clear that all the recent instability in the Middle East has caused chaos, not only on the streets of the countries concerned, but also in the crude oil market. Wild specualtion has predicted that prices could reach as much as US$200 a barrel (remembering that until recently we complained bitterly when the US$100 threshold was breached).

In an attempt to reduce consumption the Spanish Government has today implemented a new national speed limit of 110kph (68mph), reduced from 120kph. This is just one of several measures that will be introduced in the next year or two deisgned to reduce energy consumption around the country. Other schemes include the use of low energy bulbs in the home, air conditioning in public buildings will be subject to a minimum acceptable temperature in summer, and street lighting will be reduced by up to 50%, to name but a few.

Whilst this action is highly commendable - a public statement by Spain's premier Jose Luis Zapatero, is not. In a very losely worded speech he defended the new speed limit by saying, in not so many words, "who cares if you're ten minutes late for an appointment if you can save fuel"? The Spanish mentality dictates that you wouldn't necessarily consider leaving home ten minutes earlier in order to compensate!

No doubt if I'm a little late for my long distance boat trip on Thursday the ferry will be obliged to wait for me (using the logic of Sr Zapatero)....

Mind your language!

2011-02-28T15:19:00.001+01:00

A couple of years ago I wrote about the effect of using 'Google translate' on a restaurant menu - it did not sound quite as appetising once the old software had got to work on it:

Brandada of codfish, cream of sprocket wheels with apple emulsion

Vieiras cleaning rods with apple and files

Even nearly two years later the same software doesn't appear to be doing any better, as it appears to fail quite seriously with certain words by taking completely the wrong meaning. For example a local wine that appeared on a local website called Señor da Folla Verde - which should, strictly speaking, translate as Señor of the Green Leaf. Google, however, has made a real hash of it, and I can't even begin to repeat the translation that it came up with. Perhaps if you click on the picture above you will be able to see the shocking result......

What the flock?

2011-02-24T13:12:00.002+01:00

This winter's best kept secret at Castro Martin.... sheep! We have decided to kill two or three birds with one stone by taking advantage of the fact that our 'Pazo' vineyard is completely enclosed by walls. We have been grazing a flock of sheep for the last few months.

Not only does this help to keep the grass down, but it also help to provide additional nutrients to the soil (excuse me if I do not elaborate on the detail). Finally, there is the subsistence side of the equation - people here keep cattle to eat, and not simply as pets. Now, being a city boy myself I am not so sure about this, I am more accustomed to getting my lamb from the butcher and not from a field at the end of my garden!

In the course of the last month or two nature has also taken its course, and we now have a few new offspring hopping around the place. Perhaps if we ever fall on hard times, and the wine business takes a dive, we could become sheep farmers instead?

I think not.

No matter how far you travel....

2011-02-23T13:58:00.000+01:00

I'm never quite sure about long-haul holidays, certainly it's great to encounter new countries and cultures, but then there's the dreaded jet lag when you get back. To be honest I actually felt quite refreshed when I woke up this morning, the only problem being that my bedside clock was telling me that it was only 4.50am. By 5am I was at my computer sorting through the photos of our trip, and making sure that I look like Brad Pitt in every shot (thanks to Photoshop and Portrait Pro)! In fairness Angela now looks like Angelina Jolie in our holiday pics too, so what the hell.....

I am only back in the office for a week before I'm off again, this time to the UK, on a boat! After a six hour drive to Santander I have a 24 hour crossing to Portsmouth which traverses the notoriously rough Bay of Biscay. I'm not a bad sailor but I still have my fingers crossed that the weather Gods will be kind to me.

Meanwhile back at the Bodega, there is still nothing out of the ordinary going on. The orders are thankfully still arriving which keeps our bottling machine occupied, and out in the vineyards the pruning is actually finished - it is only the tying that remains (another neck and back breaking job that I happily leave to the younger men on our team).

Out of the office

2011-01-23T13:21:00.002+01:00

Traditionally the months of January and February are pretty quiet in our Bodega, and it's therefore usually quite a good time to sqeeze in a little R&R (I don't mean rock & roll, but rest and relaxation!)

Obviously travelling costs money, so when times are tough we try to encompass a bit of work in our travels, as if to justify our time out of the office. This year we will incorporate two tastings in different cities across the world, and a few customer visits in a third.

As soon as we return, I have to attend to a bit of urgent family business in the UK, that will probably mean that the whole month of February will be lost to me. I am resisting the temptation to travel with a laptop, but will still have my trusty Blackberry at my side (there's no such thing as a real escape these days).

The big project upon my return is a complete re-hash of our main website and blog, indeed they will soon be one and the same, as our blog eventually becomes an integral part of the Castro Martin site.

By the way, I don't really have a view of downtown Los Angeles from my office, but on a clear day.....

Our 2010 albariño - still under wraps

2011-01-20T12:47:00.001+01:00

OK, so it's yet another very bad play on words...... The fact is that we are currently having the tank rooms repainted in our bodega, and as you can see, all the tanks have been covered with plastic sheeting. There's not too much action in our cellar at the moment as we leave the wine to relax slowly on it's lees. It might be April or May before we finally start to 'disturb' the tanks again, so what better time to take advantage and give the place a fresh lick of paint?

If you have seen any previous posts relating to our tank room, you will already know that the walls were previously a sort of loud, orangey-yellow colour, which I guess you could argue brightened up the place a bit. However, the choice of colours on the special humidity/mould resistant paint chart is probably even more conservative than that of the Mercedes-Benz range, so inevitably we have opted for grey.

At least you won't need to wear sun glasses inside the wine cellar when you visit us in future!

Hats off to a Basque chef

2011-01-14T12:18:00.004+01:00

When you stop to think how many wine bottles are opened during the course of a year, and how many different shapes, sizes and colours there are, you have to ask yourself why does it take a Spanish chef to come up with a creative, and innovative design?

The three-starred Michelin chef Martin Berasategui has won the packaging equivalent of an Oscar for his new bottle at a presentation in Paris.

Unfortunately this innovative new bottle shape that is designed to capture wine sediment deposited at the bottom of some red wines, and therefore is of little use to us - if our albariño started to leave a sediment in the bottle then we really would have a serious wine-making problem on our hands.

It is a little difficult to see from this particular photograph but the bottle has a second 'neck' at the bottom that simply stops any deposit from flowing through (assuming of course that the bottle is handled carefully). Whilst I have to admit that this is a great idea, I am not so sure about the second part of the 'Martin Berasategui System', as it is known. Apparently to reap the full benefit of the system the bottle should ideally be transported and stored in an inclined position - not upright, nor laying down. Obviously, in order to acheive this position special cases and wine racks are also required, and I therefore ask myself, if the wine is not fully inclined for long-term storage is there a possibility that corks could dry out, thus leading to possible oxidation?

By the way, when I mentioned the presence of deposits in albariño, it is of course possible that white wines such as ours could precipitate tartrate crystals. In order to prevent this we cold-treat the wine (chill it very rapidly to -5°C and hold it for a week) which ensures that tartrates are removed before bottling. Personally I think that cold treatment is detrimental to our wine as it removes a little character, and in an ideal world I would not do it. The problem is that the majority of consumers see the presence of any tartrate crystals as undesirable, whereas in fact they are in reality, completely harmless. Pity.

Birds die of alcohol poisoning!

2011-01-13T14:42:00.003+01:00

In the last few months there have been several reports of dead birds falling from the skies, which quite understandably, have been followed by investigations and conjecture as to the cause of each tragedy (including one or two conspiracy theories).

In Arkansas the deaths were blamed on New Year's Eve fireworks that caused the birds severe trauma, effectively scaring them to death. However, and alternative theory suggests that it could have been something to do with a tornado that killed three people in the same area earlier in the day.

On 3rd and 4th January dead birds were then discovered both in Louisiana and Falkoping, Southeastern Sweden, closely followed by several hundred more in Western Kentucky and Texas.

The lack of apparent detail for the reasons behind this avian carnage has generated countless theories, ranging from the changing of the earth’s magnetic poles to, a governmental plot and, naturally, aliens!

The very latest incident in Romania has, however, been fully explained.... it has been put down to alcohol. Birds that were originally thought to have died from Avian flu, instead apparently, drank themselves to death!

Romanian officials decided the starlings had died after eating grape 'marc' - the leftovers from the wine-making process. The head of the local veterinary authority said that analysis of the starlings' gizzards showed they had died from alcohol poisoning.

Food flavours

2011-01-05T15:15:00.006+01:00

A few days ago I wrote about a cheese and wine paring website I had discovered on the web which was both well presented and reasonably informative. Today it is the turn of a book I bought from Amazon that covers the concept of pairing different foods and discusses how various flavour combinations may or may not work together.

It is obviously true to say that there is a very close relationship between food and wine that probably goes a long way towards explaining why nearly every person that I know in the wine trade is also a quite serious 'foodie'. Indeed, if I look at my own collection of books it is probably split 50/50 between wine and food.

This new book is quite simply named The Flavour Thesaurus (by Niki Segnit), and attempts, quite successfully, to do exactly what is says on the cover, providing an extensive reference of foods and their flavours.

By way of a first step to simplify and organise, the book starts by grouping flavours together under headings such as citrus, woodland, meaty, earthy, marine etc., (and you might not always agree with them as taste is always so subjective). One of the things that I still find the most difficult despite my many years in the wine business is trying to express different flavours and taste sensations in words, using vocabulary that people will understand. Fortunately, I was rarely writing my tasting notes for the literary masses, but usually only for my own personal reference, so if I decided to use an obscure turn of phrase I would always know exactly what it meant. For example, I would sometimes write 'spangled fruit' in my notes, which is a reference to the fruit spangle sweets that I used to eat as a child - it is a particular type of slightly tart, piercing, boiled sweet fruit, the important thing being that it was a description that I always understood...... sorry, I digress.

Under each food heading comes the actual pairing, where for example, black pudding might be paired with bacon or chocolate - sounds bizarre? Well, perhaps, but the thing that this book really attempts to do is to stimulate and open your mind to new and untried possibilities. Throw away the old culinary crutches of Delia Smith and Robert Carrier and enter the new and exciting world of endless flavour combinations. For instance, we have all been dazzled in recent years by the audacious food pairings of contemporary chefs such as Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal, so why not buy this book and use it as your inspiration to go a bit wild in the confines of your own kitchen?!

By the way this is strictly a reference book, and so if you only like food books with lots of glossy pictures then forget it, this book is not for you!

Happy New (smoke free) Year!

2011-01-04T12:32:00.003+01:00

Firstly, a very Happy New Year to all our customers, followers, readers and even casual or accidental vistors to our blog!

The turn of a new year is often used by governments around the world as the time to introduce new legislation/taxes etc., perhaps in the hope that it might be forgotten or overlooked admist all the celebration and goodwill. Of course this depends on the type of change to be introduced, as some are simply too big, or too important to be suppressed. In the UK for example, it must be the 2.5% increase in the Value Added Tax, although I'm not entirely convinced that consumers really believe that it really does "add to the value" of their purchases! Here in Spain the new law is, once again, smoking....

I say again, simply because January 2nd sees the second phase of Spain's no smoking law coming into effect. Until now, it has been only a partial ban which had so many loopholes and grey areas that it was mostly ineffective, and seemingly rarely enforced. To be honest it was more or less a complete waste of time, and the vast majority of people treated it, quite deservedly, with almost complete contempt.

The second phase which started two days ago is a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places (which of course includes bars and restaurants, and can therefore have a knock-on effect on our own trade). It is argued of course, that the ban will have a devastating effect on businesses, as the possible penalties are fairly hefty (on paper at least).

Minor infringement will incur fines from 30 Euros up to 600 Euros, while very serious breaches may cost up to €600,000. How many will actually receive and/or pay these fines is another matter. Only time will tell.

More cheese Gromit?

2010-12-30T11:09:00.003+01:00

I 'stumbled' across an entertaining new website the other day, strangely named Wisconsin cheese cupid - the name alone is enough to make you curious, or perhaps that's the idea.

Obviously you can take a look yourself, but the site is all about matching cheese and wine. Unfortunately they don't list albariño, but they do have riesling, which is similar when it comes to paring with cheese. They recommend a dozen cheeses to go with that particular wine, including many with very strong flavours which sounds about right, but interestingly they do not include the strong goat's cheese that many people think goes perfectly.

This actually reminds me of an amusing story from my wine buying days. I was once visiting the famous village of Chavignol in the Loire Valley of France, looking for some decent Sancerre to buy for my company - it was lunch time. Crottin de Chavignol is a well known goat's cheese with its very own AOC, and as the name implies, can only be made in that very place. It was therefore not difficult to find a restaurant with cheese on the menu, and indeed, I actually selected one which had a special Crottin menu....

To cut a long story short, I think the only thing that didn't include cheese were the salt and pepper pots on the table (although they may have been tainted). To be very frank it was a slight case of 'overkill', and in the end I was actually glad to leave and get back to some normal, non-cheese food! If it's possible to have a goat's cheese nightmare, then that was probably it.

Having said all that, try it with your albariño some time!

Ashes to ashes

2010-12-29T16:48:00.002+01:00

Very few people that do not play, understand the rules of cricket, and even fewer will understand why England and Australia get so excited every couple of years when they compete for a trophy no bigger than an egg cup.

The 'Ashes' series dates back to 1882 and is named after a satirical obituary published in the Sporting Times newspaper after a match in which Australia beat England on English soil for the very first time. The obituary suggested that English cricket had died, the body cremated, and the ashes would be taken to Australia. The English media dubbed the next English tour to Australia as 'the quest to regain the ashes'.

On that following tour a small terracotta urn was presented to the England captain by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, a bail (the top part of the stumps).

Of course no one outside the two participating countries could possibly be expected to understand the intense rivalry of this series, especially when we consider that cricket is usually regarded as a game for gentlemen.

The reason that I write about this now is that England have today retained the ashes in Australia (the first time they have won over there for some 24 years), and it is making headline news in the UK.

In view of its perceived importance perhaps we should call it 'the ashes world series', despite the matches being played between only two countries (but still one more than participates in the baseball world series in the USA)!

Time off in lieu

2010-12-27T11:34:00.005+01:00

I often comment about the number of public holidays that Spain enjoys during the course of a year. Indeed, it was only a week or two ago that we had a working week of only two days owing to local and national breaks.

Today is, however, pretty much the contrary....... as Christmas day fell on a Saturday this year, many Spanish businesses were already closed and enjoying their normal weekend break - meaning that the national holiday was simply lost. In many other countries (such as the UK for example), when a public holiday falls during the weekend, a lieu day is added to the calendar by way of compensation.

And so today we find ourselves at our desks whilst many of our European neighbours enjoy additonal time off to recover from their Christmas excesses.

P.S. My apologies for the very feeble joke about loos, obviously too much brandy in my Christmas pudding!

Where did December go?

2010-12-23T16:55:00.004+01:00

Well, another year has flown by and we find ourselves already preparing for the 2011 campaign. For me at least it doesn't seem so long ago that we were all panicking about the 'millenium bug' as we moved into the year 2000 - more than a decade has passed since then!

Anyway, enough of my reminiscences (put it down to old age), the real purpose of today's post is simply to send all our friends, customers and blog readers around the world our very best wishes for the holiday season. We hope that 2011 will bring you everything that you wish for - peace, happiness and prosperity in whatever you do.....

As ever, we encourage you to partake in the wine of your choice over the holidays, as long as it's Castro Martin albariño!

Got cold feet?

2010-12-22T11:19:00.002+01:00

Now here's a very curious phenomenon, or should I say, question. (This can be my Christmas quiz question for 2010)....... Do birds get cold feet??

The reason I mention this is that in the cold weather I have noticed huge numbers of birds congregating on the electricity cables, and always seemingly adjacent to the pylons. Now, I am not 100% certain but I think I am correct in saying that these high tension cables do actually generate some heat as the current passes through them - so the question remains, is it just a coincidence that our feathered friends appear to use them when the temperature falls?

More riveting conundrums tomorrow!

Under the microscope

2010-12-17T11:56:00.001+01:00

Now here's a picture with a bit more 'Christmas sparkle' to it, and there should be a prize for guessing what it is. There is no real explanation behind the idea except to say that someone has decided to view different alcoholic drinks under a microscope, the results of which form an impressive and highly colourful piece of art.

Each image is created by taking a pipette of the selected drink and squeezing a single drop of it onto a slide. The alcohol droplets are then allowed to dry out completely, which can take up to four weeks in an airtight container (the whole process can take up to three months). Simply using a standard microscope with a camera attached, the light source is polarized and passed through the crystal, and the photo is taken.

All I need now is a microscope for Christmas!

Now I really am depressed.....

2010-12-16T12:56:00.003+01:00

It seems like only yesterday that I was commenting about the lack of festive spirit in this year's Christmas advertising campaign for our D.O. (Oh, just a minute, it was yesterday!) Little did I imagine when I was writing that post, that it could be superceded the very same day by something even less seasonal!

Each year we receive a greetings card from our local community office - very kind of them to take the time and trouble (not to mention the money in these times of austerity). Well, all I can say is that this year's card left me cold, and I don't mean in the weather sense of the word - judge for yourself from the picture above. Can someone please explain to me how a tinted photograph of a granite staircase and balustrade should remind us of the birth of Christ.... I feel almost compelled to go and ask them.

Now I don't want to appear ungrateful as we really do appreciate the gesture of their card, but the picture did leave me asking the question, is this some sort of political correctness gone mad? Certainly in the UK it would appear that we are slowly starting to erase the 'Christ' from Christmas for fear of offending somebody. Could Spain be heading down the same road? I sincerely hope not.....

Not very Christmassy.....

2010-12-14T13:34:00.003+01:00

We recently received an e-mail from our local D.O. office highlighting the marketing campaign for our denomination this Christmas. The only comment that I can make is that it isn't very Christmassy!

Now, I'm not saying that we should have pictures of Santa Claus sliding down a chimney clutching a bottle of Albariño, but the posters that they are using (see above) don't appear to carry any Christmas message whatsoever. Indeed, the only message that they carry is written in Galician "Pídeo polo seu nome", which I believe translates as "Order only by name". I have to say that this slogan has a very familiar ring to it, and is not particularly original - it somehow feels like it must have been used in at least 1001 other advertising campaigns in the past, but then that's only my personal opinion.

I am 100% certain (although this is not actually clarified in the message), that they are really trying to encourage consumers to use the name Rias Baixas, rather than the name of the grape variety - Albariño. I get the feeling that the D.O. office are unfortunately losing an uphill battle in this respect. I think it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to establish the Rias Baixas name in favour of Albariño. Sad but true.

What's in a name?

2010-12-10T11:31:00.000+01:00

We are sometimes asked about 'own label' or 'white label' brands - in other words creating a new brand for one specific customer or market. We have done it before, but only very reluctantly, for one or two very good reasons. Firstly, it does not benefit your own brand, and indeed might even detract from your sales, as you are effectively competing against yourself. Then even if you are lucky enough to pick up one or two accolades for the own label wine, it does nothing to enhance the reputation of your own bodega if your name is not mentioned.

On the other hand it is of course an alternative way to sell wine, and in tough times we all need to look at different options. However, in the long term it might not be the best solution for every business and really depends on your overall marketing plan.

Anyway, this leads me on to the real reason for writing today - brand names. It always amuses me to see products with funny names. What I really mean by this is a name that gets lost in translation. In your own language it can be something pretty innocuous and inoffensive, but then translated it can take on a whole different meaning - take the photo above for example, snapped on my cell phone at a local airport.

Indeed there are entire websites dedicated to these unwitting marketing gaffs, but it still makes me wonder why the producers simply don't do a bit more careful research before they launch their brand? It's a small world after all......

Spain's On-Off working week

2010-12-05T16:43:00.004+01:00

No, this is not a reference to the Spanish air traffic controllers who have wreaked havoc in and around the country this weekend, but actually relates to the forthcoming working week - or should I say, non-working week to be a bit more accurate.

The first week in December is riddled with public holidays - two National, on 6th and 8th December, and one local on 10th December. Translated this means that we work only Tuesday and Thursday and have the rest of the week at leisure! Hardly the most appropriate respite for an already ailing economy....

Whilst on the subject of the highly unpopular air traffic controllers, here are a few facts to help you understand why they do not garner much public sympathy over here. Out of the total 2,300 Spanish controllers, ten were paid between €810,000 (£725,000) and €900,000 last year. A further 226 were paid between €450,000 and €540,000 and 701 were paid between €270,000 and €360,000.

Their average basic salary is €200,000 but most double or triple this amount by working overtime, that contrasts quite dramatically with the average salary in Spain, which is a miserly €18,087, according to government figures.

Our new "up to" 75cl bottle

2010-11-29T13:03:00.012+01:00

Always trying to remain at the forefront of fashion and innovation Castro Martin have now decided to follow the example set by our Spanish broadband provider - in future all bottles will be "up to" 75cl in capacity.

Working at the 'current acceptable averages' this will mean that in future your bottle will probably contain somewhere between 25cl and 50cl of albariño, whilst the price you pay will remain completely unaltered!

Imagine what might happen if other industries were able to escape by giving such vague assurances to their customers..... For example, you might pay €120,000 for a new Aston Martin car which the manufacturer claims has a top speed of "up to" 240 km per hour, whereas in reality its best speed might only be around 100 km per hour. What they have failed to tell you is that the maximum speed can only be achieved in exceptional circumstances, going down a steep hill with a hurricane blowing directly behind you - in other words, in conditions that you are hardly ever likely to encounter.

I am sure that no Aston Martin driver would ever accept this, so why do we accept it with our broadband? I pay for 6MB, so why do I only get an average of around 1.6MB?

I understand that this worldwide phenomena now appears to be the accepted standard, and so I have to ask myself why other industries don't simply follow suit (apart from the fact that they would never get away with it)!

Caught by the Paparazzi

2010-11-26T16:28:00.002+01:00

Angela recently attended a tasting in La Coruña showcasing the wines of Galicia. It was just as well she told me that she was going because the following day her picture appeared in a local newspaper.

There is no escaping 'big brother' these days - if it's not getting caught at a tasting, it could be walking in your local town centre, or perhaps even on a traffic speed camera......

I will make no comment about Angela's police record!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T22:30:00.003+01:00

Unfortunately Thanksgiving is not a holiday that is shared around the world, but only within the borders of the USA (for obvious reasons).

Here in Europe there is no Thanksgiving turkey, nor pumpkin pie, and life carries on pretty much as normal. Perhaps the only noticeable difference is to be found in the TV schedule where we can enjoy the traditional NFL games played on this holiday (assuming that you follow American football).

And so, all that remains is to wish all our American friends and customers a very Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

Normal service is resumed

2010-11-24T13:12:00.001+01:00

Ironically the sun is shining today..... I say ironically because for the last few days it hasn't been shining at all, and on the day that I chose to write about all the rain we've had, the sun has come out!

You may recall that we had a very dry summer, from the month of June until well after the harvest we hardly saw a cloud, and you could count the number of rainy days that we had on one hand. Finally it would appear that normality has been restored, the rainfall simply demonstrating why Galicia is the most verdant corner of Spain.

I really just wanted to write so that I could post this picture of our new pool at the front of the Bodega - for a few moments it seemed like a monsoon was sweeping over our area leaving our roads momentarily more like rivers.

New uniforms

2010-11-23T07:35:00.003+01:00

As you may have seen over the summer the uniforms of our guys have taken a bit of a pounding, not only with all the vineyard and bodega work that they do, but also with the building work that we have completed this year. Poor old David started the year with his improvised ¾ length trousers, which by mid-summer had shrunk to a pair of Bermuda shorts. Our fear was that by the autumn he would be working in a tanga!

Joking aside, we are in the process of buying some new uniforms, and believe it or not the big discussion has been about the colour. There are of course some traditional colours here in Spain, whereby specific professions can be identified by the colour of the uniform that they wear. For example, professions such as electricians and plumbers tend to wear blue, people who work on the land (including Bodegas) tend to prefer green, and so on.

The most practical colour for our guys might, for example, be black (which I think would also look quite smart), but then again this would not be very practical. Imagine working out in the vineyards in the heat of summer wearing a nice black, heat absorbing uniform - I doubt if they would thank me for this, no matter how smart it may or may not look.

In the meantime I have been browsing a couple of old catalogues from the 60's, 70's and 80's to get some ideas, and as you can see the possibilities are endless....

Our Bodega Stegosaurus

2010-11-20T08:58:00.003+01:00

Are your sitting comfortably? Today I have a rather convoluted tale to tell.....

OK, so all of our wines are now classified as 'sobre lias', which means that we usually allow them between 5 and 6 months ageing on the lees. Under normal circumstances this would mean that they are not racked (clean wine drawn off ), until around April or May. That is of course, except for the tanks that we have to rack now - a contradiction perhaps, but please allow me to explain.

During the alcoholic fermentation the tanks are never filled to the top, simply because we need to allow space in each tank with which to work. When making additions to the fermenting wine, such as the bentonite that we use for fining, they have to be 'pumped over' in order to mix the product thoroughly with the juice. I can tell you from experience that when some of these additions combine with the carbon dioxide suspended in the new wine, the reaction can be quite violent and generate a huge amount of foam. If we do not allow the extra 'head space' at the top of the tank then a lot of new wine will quite simply end up on the floor!

When the fermentation finally finishes we seal the tanks and allow them to settle, but at this point they are still not filled to capacity. They do not oxidise because of the trapped carbon dioxide, and indeed we have to release the trapped gas every couple of days to more or less stop the tanks from exploding under the additional pressure.

Eventually the partially filled tanks have to be topped up - hence the reason that we have to rack some of the tanks now.

My picture today (apologies for the poor quality) shows the racking pipe at the bottom of one of the tanks, where the lees have come to settle. As you can see it looks like a row of mini stalagmites, or perhaps on the extreme left of the picture, the spine of a stegosaurus.....

Clearly I have been watching to many Jurassic Park movies!

Let's do business

2010-11-18T19:24:00.001+01:00

Forget the phishing e-mails from Nigerian philanthropists anxious to share their millions, there is one e-mail that I enjoy receiving above all others..... from the anonymous wine buyer.

All too often we are approached by individuals posing as prospective buyers, claiming impressive international customer base, extensive sales team and all the trappings of an established business. Of course they are looking for exclusive representation of our wine, no doubt in return for a healthy commission.

Closer examination however reveals something a little closer to the truth - no fixed contact address, no website, a mobile phone number and a hotmail address - in complete contradiction to their claimed business credentials.

Suffice to say that I do not send samples!

Royal wine for a Royal wedding

2010-11-17T13:34:00.005+01:00

Less than 24 hours after the anouncement the UK is already being swept by Royal Wedding fever! Within hours the television channels were filled with royal engagement specials, and this morning every newspaper is crammed with details (not to mention a good deal of speculation), about the wedding itself - the date, the venue, what the dress will be like, what they will eat etc., etc. In addition, there is also the complete story of the latest branch to be added to the royal family tree, which to be honest, sounds rather like a TV mini-series in the making...."Meet the Middletons".

I could go on, but suffice to say that the coverage is already breathtaking, so heaven only know what it will be like by next year when the wedding actually takes place.

Of course, the announcement of the engagement came as no real surprise, and had been expected for some time, so much so that a few commemorative plates and tea towels are already on the market - but this did get me thinking.....

Who will be the official supplier of wine to the wedding banquet, and will they select an albariño to go with their food? There are already labels on the market such as "Great with Meat" and "Great with Fish", but what about "Great with Swan" - my guess is that it has never been done before!

We also know that the Queen is partial to a glass of German riesling (no mention of the Saxe-Coburg connection please), and let's be honest, albariño is quite a similar wine style. I have to admit that being awarded a Royal Warrant would make a nice addition to our label.

Just as a quick footnote, I did a bit of research this morning, and you would be astonished to note how many albariño producers have claimed to be suppliers to the last Spanish Royal Wedding back in 2004. Apart from the fact that all the official suppliers were sworn to secrecy (they produced a special wedding label), if the number of bodegas making claims were true then it must have been one hell of a party - perhaps even a Royal Botellon!

Wonder Wall

2010-11-11T15:14:00.005+01:00

The front of our Bodega is south facing, and during the peak summer months is not only one of the hottest places on earth, but is also one of the brightest. I think that to call it a 'sun trap' would be something of an understatement, and I'm surprised that my car tyres have not melted before now..... you get the general idea - it's hot and very sunny.

One of the downsides of this used to be that the minute you stepped in through our front door, you were immediately faced with a very stark contrast (and not only in temperature). I think it would be fair to say that our entrance hall was a little bit dull, with not too much much natural light, and also a style of decor was just a little bit dated and on the drab side. Entering from the very bright sunlight it did not exactly lift your spirits!

Of course, all that has changed. A lick of fresh white paint, some drastically improved lighting, and a huge montage of brightly coloured photos on our wall, now add a bit of sunshine to our interior too.

This new selection of photos actually serves two purposes; not only does it add to the colour, but it also includes various pictures of the cellar and vineyards at work. So if you happen to be visting on a dark day in the middle of November, you can still get an impression of how Castro Martin looks at brighter and busier times of year.

Just as a footnote for any budding photographers amongst our readers - my pictures were actually printed and mounted in Germany, using a company called Whitewall. They offer a very wide selection of frames and mountings using only top quality materials. For example, we opted for original photo prints with aluminium backing (Lambda print on Fujicolor crystal archive paper with UV foil protection). Whitewall also provide their customers with a very efficient professional colour management service, and all at a very reasonable cost.

And no, before you ask, they are not paying me any commission!

From shed to warehouse

2010-11-08T11:07:00.003+01:00

We live a very dull and sheltered life here in Galicia, where simple things (such as renovating an old outbuilding), become just a little more exciting and important than they probably should. To give you an example, the highlight of our weekend could be a visit the town centre of Barrantes to watch the traffic lights change or perhaps a visit to the local supermarket...... as you may surmise, not much happens here in this quiet corner of Spain, and more especially in winter!

What I guess I am trying to say is that you're probably all quite bored with my story of rebuilding our 'garden shed', but I did at least felt compelled to bring this tale to some sort of logical conclusion.

Above, you can see the rather dramatic transformation - from a pretty run down, delapidated storage area, with old wooden beams, exposed brick walls and a leaky roof, into something altogether a bit more modern, weatherproof and presentable.

It all goes to show that our work here is not always as glamourous as you might think!

Castro Martin - the mother of all bodegas

2010-11-05T16:50:00.002+01:00

A few years ago Bodegas Castro Martin celebrated 25 years in it's current location (built in 1981, first vintage in 1982), although Angela's family had been vinifying albariño for generations before that.

In 2010 Galicia's largest and best known co-operative Martin Codax also celebrated 25 years since their foundation, back in the year 1985. To celebrate this special anniversary they published a magazine which included a lengthy article written by the co-op's first President - Manuel Noya Figueroa.

Imagine our delight to read in this article an acknowledgement of the help given by Castro Martin in the birth of Martin Codax, and therefore in the development of the denomination as a whole.

We have always been very proud of the foresight shown by Angela's father Domingo Martin Morales in building one of the first 'industrial' sized bodegas in the area - also the first to incorporate stainless steel tanks for wine storage in Rias Baixas. Very few people will realise however, that these futuristic facilities were also utilized by what was to become, the regions biggest co-operative.

Before the building of Martin Codax was completed, their first vintage was bottled by hand and then transported to Castro Martin in cars and small trucks to be corked (obviously the prevention of oxidation was less of a priority at that time)!

I should also mention that in 1985 Castro Martin was already an established name in the area, and Angela believes that it was not a co-incidence that this new co-operative decided to incorporate the name Martin in their brand......

Construcciones Castro Martin S.L.

2010-11-04T15:17:00.003+01:00

Yet more building work..... if it isn't laying concrete or adding a new roof, then it might be putting up a new cattle shed - you can't say that our work is not varied!

Yes, this week our guys are busy building yet another shed, but this time in the corner of our Pazo vineyard. It's not for keeping our tractor, but it is for housing our new grass cutting equipment - a small flock of sheep.

I often make mention of the fact that we do not use herbicides, preferring instead to let the grass grow between the vines and cutting it manually (keeping our practices as eco-friendly as possible). Now we are taking this a step further, by introducing a handful of sheep to graze under the pergolas during the winter months. Not only will this help to keep the grass down, but it may also add a little natural fertilizer to the soil!

There are other bodegas that already do this, but then one of the fundamental pre-requisites is that you need a fully enclosed vineyard. Naturally our 'Pazo' vineyard qualifies admirably and is completely 'walled' as its name implies (similar to 'Clos' in French), making a perfect pasture. There is another bodega, local to us, that uses geese instead of sheep, and this seems to work pretty well, so we shall see....

No doubt I will keep you informed as to how this experiment works out.

The view from my roof

2010-10-29T15:37:00.002+02:00

Click to enlarge

It occured to me the other day that although I had written about our "Sobre Lias" wines I hadn't taken too many pictures of the subtly amended labels. With this in mind I rushed home yesterday afternoon to take a few snaps before the sun disappeared - the forecast had correctly predicted that it would be raining today (which in reality turned our to be something of an understatement).

Whilst the pictures were not actually taken on a roof per say, they were taken on a roof terrace overlooking the local town, and if you look carefully you can see a reflection of this on the shoulder of each bottle.

On the subject of roofs (or should that be rooves?), our outbuilding that has been undergoing renovation is now nearing completion, and thank goodness the new roof was fully in place before today's torrential rain. Next week I will post a couple of before and after photos..... the transformation is quite dramatic.

And the roof goes on....

2010-10-27T15:08:00.000+02:00

Last week we removed the roof from one of our outbuildings, and replaced all the lintels with something a bit more substantial, as you can see from my photo. The concrete looks a bit more secure than the old tree trunks that we took down!

Being on the Atlantic coast as we are, there can be some pretty fierce storms during the winter, not to mention the high winds that accompany them. The previous roof was very much on its last legs, and was already supported by a couple of jacks, and so its replacement was pretty much imperative before the onset of winter.

And speaking of weather (as I always do), the sky over Galicia is still blue and the amount of rain since June remains as truly minimal. Not that I'm wishing it upon us, but it really does have to change soon.

Great with Turkey!

2010-10-25T15:40:00.001+02:00

With only 30 days left until Thanksgiving it just gives you enough time to place your order for some Albariño (and a bit longer if you want to drink it with your Christmas turkey)!

OK, so it may be a bit of a ploy to boost our sales a little, but I am really not joking when I say that our wine is particularly good with poultry. Obviously it depends on the type of trimmings that you are planning to serve with your bird, whether you decide to make a traditional turkey gravy using the giblets and the neck, or whether you decide to 'spice it up' a little, as I often do. Now when I say spice it up, I don't mean spice in the sense of pepper, chillis or anything hot, I mean spice it up by perhaps introducing a few less traditional flavours. For example, one that I use quite a lot with chicken or turkey is a lemon and tarragon gravy - simply adding a sprig or two of tarragon and the juice of half a lemon to my sauce. This just gives the gravy a nice tangy 'lift', and adds a bit of an unconventional twist to the traditional recipe.

It goes without saying that your tender, juicy turkey meat with just a hint of tarragon and lemon makes an ideal partner for our albariño..... don't just take my word for it, try it and see for yourself!

Albariño très, très nouveau est arrivé!

2010-10-22T15:12:00.002+02:00

Well, yes, technically our new albariño has arrived, but not really in a state that you would want to drink it. (My picture shows a glass drawn from the tank earlier today)

After a long, slow alcoholic fermentation the wine is finally "made", in the sense that all the sugar has now been converted to alcohol, and as there will be no malolactic fermentation this year (owing to the must having perfect acidity), there is not really much left to do, except wait.....

The wine has now been sulphured to protect it from oxidation, and the only thing that remains is an extended period of lees contact, and lots of tasting along the way. The moment that we chose to remove the wine from the lees is almost like knowing the optimum time to start picking the grapes - it is a question of experience and professional judgement and not to mention, personal taste. The length of time on the lees will ultimately determine the character of the finished wine, and we assess this by trying to replicate our 'house style'. In other words, we look for the individual personality to which our customers have become accustomed - rather like they do in Champagne. Each Champagne house has it's own distinctive style, which is not only a part of their tradition, but is also a tribute to the skill of the winemaker, who produces the taste that their regular followers will recognise, and appreciate. In our case you may call it the 'personalised signature' of Angela Martin.

As I have said many times before every wine is different, not just within our denomination, but in every wine region of the world. For example, I have mentioned that our 2010 wine will not be ready for release for several months, whereas, at the other extreme, some other bodegas are already about to start bottling their new vintage. Hence the title of today's blog - some albariños will actually be beating Beaujolais into the nouveau market of 2010!

Roofless, but not toothless....

2010-10-19T11:55:00.000+02:00

I was going to try to attract some additional attention to our blog by putting in a title such as 'Castro Martin goes topless', but then I discovered that I had already used it (a couple of years ago when we had our tanks repaired, and the workmen had to cut all the tops off ). Believe it or not, it does, temporarily at least, increase the traffic to our site as web surfers use their search engines to look for more interesting pictures. Imagine their disappointment when all they get is a wide angle shot of one of our old storage sheds with no roof!

Now, speaking of old sheds (or perhaps I should call it an out-building) the one that we are currently re-building looks like it could easily date from biblical times. It is in such a poor state of repair, which is why we decided to work on it before it fell down. Joking apart, the roof beams (made from bare tree trunks), have been supported by jacks for some time now, and although the building is only used for storage, it had actually become a little dangerous. It is doubtful that it would have survived another stormy Galician winter.

As you will see from the photo, we decided to take advantage of the continued good weather, by ripping the old roof off before some new concrete beams are delivered later this week. Once the roof is back on, we can then make the interior a bit more presentable by slapping a bit of plaster on the inside walls. Of course, this old building is tucked away at the back of the bodega, and will never receive visitors, but even so, it will give us an excuse to keep the place a bit more tidy in the future.....

Albariño going global?

2010-10-15T15:43:00.003+02:00

New plantings are springing up around the world

Having said a couple of days ago that Albariño is in decline, the press are now dramatically declaring that it is "on the brinkof International Stardom"!

It would seem that plantings have been made in a couple of new areas, in different countries, which whilst being quite exciting, hardly constitutes an explosion of new plantings as implied in the article.

We already know that albariño is being grown in California, Oregon and Australia to name but a few, but it is now apparently taking root in Corbières and the Languedoc of south-west France. In Corbières these new plantings will not produce until around 2015, and the growers in question have suggested that their new wine could possibly be blended with other varietals such as viognier, grenache gris and grenache blanc. Hmmm, very interesting.

Perhaps another, even more interesting new area is to be found in the Lebanon - not the Bekaa Valley, but in a different area, unfortunately not specified in the article.

To be honest I do not consider this as competition to albariño from Rias Baixas, mainly owing to the fact that the different soils and climates will inevitably give these new wines their own distinctive character. On the contrary, I will actually be very keen to taste some of these new examples when they eventually come to market.

Finally, the article included one very interesting comment that I would like to quote as follows: "We are seeing a trend with consumers at the moment towards lighter, fresh and aromatic styles - albariño clearly fits this profile".

I couldn't agree more.....

National Holiday for CC

2010-10-12T13:26:00.001+02:00

Most of you will be thinking that today is a National holiday in Spain, the United States and many South American countries to celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas - and that, of course, is quite true.

However, here at Castro Martin we don't normally associate the abbreviation CC with Christopher Columbus, but more with Casal Caeiro, our original, and still our biggest selling albariño here in Spain. Unfortunately it has not as yet acheived such cult status that it is commemorated with its own public holiday, but we can live in hope......

So for now, just sit back, enjoy the holiday, and drink a toast to CC with a glass of CC!

Autumn is here

2010-10-11T23:44:00.002+02:00

After such a warm, dry summer, Autumn 2010 has come as a bit of a shock to the system - cloud, rain and much cooler temperatures. Time to pack away the swimming trunks until next year (not that I ever venture into the Atlantic Ocean which is freezing at any time of year).

Immediately after the harvest we find ourselves in a state of limbo - most of the hard physical work of the harvest is completed, but it is still far too early to start pruning in the vineyards. This gives us time to catch up on a few outstanding jobs, that will quite simply be dictated by the weather. If it stays dry we will replace the roof on one of our outbuildings, but if it continues to rain, we will probably renovate the entry hall of the bodega.

I should add that when I say that the harvest is completed, this of course does not mean that the fermentation is finished. It is still ticking over in the background. All we can do now is monitor the density (measuring the amount of residual sugar still to be converted to alcohol), and adjust the temperature of each tank accordingly. If we did not use strict temperature control the fermentation process would race out of control, perhaps finishing within a week, and the resulting wine would be pretty dreadful - fat, flabby and lacking in any real varietal character. Not at all what we want.....

The demise of Albariño?

2010-10-06T15:32:00.004+02:00

Does climate change spell the end for Albariño? Apparently so, according to recent research carried out by famous winemakers from other regions of Spain. They sensationally predict that our beloved grape variety will fall into deep decline as the planet warms up......"The temperature increase caused by climate change will affect Albariño in the coming years as it will tend to lose flavor and acidity. Alternative solutions will be needed to maintain the character of the wine, such as farming in cooler mountain areas".

Now, anyone who knows anything about wine will tell you that the warmer the climate, the lower the acidity, and that in extreme conditions the end result will be a very bland wine as the grapes lose their aromatics. This is a fundamental rule in grape cultivation that has been known and understood for many centuries, so why this should come as a startling new revelation is anybody's guess.

Having said that, it is very interesting to learn that one of the main protagonists behind this new theory is the famous house of Miguel Torres from Catalunya, and you will never guess how they conclude their report. " In the Mediterranean we have high mountain areas where Albariño could be grown with good results, benefiting from cooler nights and slower maturation". Enough said.....

By the way, does this now mean that Bodeaux Chateaux will have to re-locate to the foothills of the Alps and Burgundy Domaines to the Massif Central in order to remain viable?

Busy, busy

2010-10-04T13:16:00.008+02:00

I am very aware that I have not made any posts for several days. After all the activity and numerous posts during the harvest, our blog has fallen silent. There is only one reason for this, and that is quite simply that we have been mega-busy in the bodega with the wine making process.

I am fairly sure that I have already mentioned we have more grapes this year, and this leads us to one simple equation. More grapes = more grape must, more grape must = more tanks, more tanks = more work. Every single tank has to undergo exactly the same number of processes - settling, racking, seeding, tank additions etc., etc., and this is all very time consuming. Of course I should also mention that wine making is no respecter of weekends either, and we often find ourselves here for several hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Now, I just want to make it clear that I am not looking for sympathy here, but simply want to emphasise to our friends and customers that when I say that Angela and I are very "hands-on", we mean quite literally that - we always seem to have our hands in the must - after all, these are our babies.......

The work itself is often very physical, and nearly always messy - going home each day, clothes splashed with grape juice and other wine-making related materials (most of which are usually quite sticky too). Our washing machine also works overtime during the harvest!

So when we talk about "hand-made" and "family estate", you need to know that our wine is exactly what is says on the label - made with lots of TLC.

By the way, just in case you were wondering, the picture shows a very unusual pattern created on the top of one of our tanks during fermentation. Whilst I am sure that there must be some reason why the foam has formed such a pattern, I have to confess that I don't know what it is - perhaps I will ask Angela if she has an explanation........... maybe they are the wine equivalent of crop circles?

Case mountain

2010-09-27T14:18:00.007+02:00

Not so much Disney's famous Space Mountain, but actually Castro Martin's Case Mountain!

Once the bodega has had its first post-harvest clean we turn our attention to the cases that we use for collecting grapes. Like everything else in the cellar they are coated with a layer of sticky grape juice, which if allowed to dry, ends up like a coat of solid lacquer.

We subsequently spend about 4 days, with two pressure washers, cleaning each case individually (about 2,000 cases in total). Once dried they remain untouched for the next 51 weeks in our grape reception, awaiting the following harvest. Actually, when I stop and think about it, we actually have a lot of equipment that is only used once a year at harvest time. Not forgetting that there are also huge sections of the bodega itself that are used only once a year - the grape reception and pressing room, for example. Not exactly the most efficient use of our resources.

If only we could work out a way to share these facilities with our counterparts in the southern hemisphere, or perhaps have two harvests a year as I believe they do in some parts of India......

On second thoughts, no thanks, one harvest a year is more than enough!

Our small tribute to Arthur Guiness

2010-09-23T18:38:00.004+02:00

Did you know that today, 23rd September, is offically Arthur Guiness day? No? Well, neither did I.... To be honest I am still not quite sure what it celebrates but I believe that it is a 'follow-on' from last year's 250th anniversary.

Purely by co-incidence we were seeding some tanks this morning when I looked at the foam being generated by the re-hydrating yeast. It reminded me of a pint of Guiness (actually 200 litres of Guiness to be more accurate).

Now that's what I call a head!

As you may have gathered from these comments we are now busy in the cellar transforming our wonderful grape must into even more wonderful albariño. This year we have already calculated that no malolactic fermentation will be necessary as the acidity level of our grapes at harvest was pretty much perfect.

Nearly one week after we finished picking at Castro Martin, there is still much activity in many of the vineyards of our denomination. I would be very interested to see the analysis of the grapes being gathered today and to find out whether the cellars concerned will feel the need to artificially acidify at a later date....

A minor gong

2010-09-21T15:23:00.006+02:00

In all the excitement of the harvest I forgot to mention that one of our wines picked up first prize in a local Galician competition for Albariño. As you may know if you read my blog regularly, we do not actively enter too many wine concourses, but now and again an odd bottle slips in, and this is usually the result! In this particular case one of the plus points of winning the competition is this rather attractive trophy, which I think is actually quite tasteful - much better than any cheap-looking silver cup that we sometimes receive......

Meanwhile, back in the bodega, the post-harvest deep cleaning programme is well under way, and we have pressure washers working everywhere to remove the sticky, dried grape juice. As you enter certain parts of the bodega you have to be careful when you open the door that you don't get a blast of water in your face, as nearly happened to me this morning (or perhaps it was on purpose?).

All the musts have now been racked, and we are about to start seeding the tanks, but before we do, I made one last, comprehensive taste of the juice. 2010 has produced a light, fragrant must, with a slightly lower acidity than last year (probably a slightly better balance). In the mouth there are floral overtones with hints of lime blossom, fresh apple, stone pears and as always, a very piercing fruit - very typical of the Albariño grape variety.

Of course we are a very long way off the finished article, but I am pretty confident that our customers will not be disappointed with the resulting wine. Now over to Angela to work her magic.....

Harvest 2010 Day 7½ - The sun sets on yet another harvest

2010-09-17T18:01:00.003+02:00

Sunset at the rear of the bodega

In one way the 2010 harvest was similar to last year - mopping up the last few grapes on the morning of an eigth day, but that is where the similarity ends..... This year we have more fruit than last year; not necessarily because of higher yields, but simply that we have found some great new grape suppliers. As our sales grow, so we need to keep pace.

As always, the final day is a bit of an anti-climax, especially when there are so few grapes coming in. The adrenaline that has been supporting the whole team throughout the last week has finally stopped pumping, and the tiredness has started to hit home - we are finally on our knees (or perhaps I am just speaking for myself, and the younger members of our team will be out on the town tonight).

I have to make a special mention this year to Angela's sister Elizabeth (or Bebe to her friends). For the first time this year Bebe took over responsibility for organising our picking team of around 50 people. I have to say that everything went like clockwork - grapes arriving faster than ever from our vineyards, all the pickers happy and smiling, and most importantly the vineyards left clean and tidy - not a plastic water bottle, nor one coke tin in sight.

So, a big thank you to Bebe and her team, and also to our Bodega team - Fran working as hard as ever on the presses, Luisa on her computer (recording every single basket of grapes), and not forgetting David & Juan charged with transporting all the grapes from our own vineyards. A great vintage for many different reasons.

Thank you and good night!

Harvest 2010 Day 7 - Wrong again!

2010-09-17T10:41:00.000+02:00

There are more than 40 people picking under this canopy - can you spot any of them?

Suffice to say that the weather forecasters were wrong again, with nearly every website forecasting rain for today. For once I am really happy that they miscalculated as it opened the way for us to make one last charge at the vineyards.

Strangely, the climate within the bodega itself is probably more changeable than outside at the moment - the grape reception and pressing room can certainly get quite warm, not just because of the ambient temperature, but also because of the nature of the work itself.... enough to make a gentleman perspire. In stark contrast to this we have the tank room, where the temperature control system is working flat out to keep the tanks well and truly chilled. My guess is that there must be a variation of up to 15°C (I have to measure this). This is why we always keep a warm jacket handy just inside the tank room door!

By about 7pm our own vineyards were finished for this year, but as always there are still one or two stragglers to come. Indeed, we already know that there is still one small vinyeard to be picked tomorrow morning - hopefully just enough to fill one last press.

2010 has certainly yielded a big harvest of good quality fruit, and as always, we are very thankful for this. I am also given to believe that the denomination of Rias Baixas itself is anticipating a record year, with more than 30 million kilos predicted for the whole area. If this figure is correct, it will beat the previous record of 29 million kilos in 2006.

The other official news is that our Consello (Rias Baixas) have increased the maximum permitted yield per hectare by 8.33%. Personally I think that is probably because of pressure from the 'big boys' (co-operatives)to squeeze every last drop out of the vineyards. To be extremely honest I have always been vehemently against this approach to wine making. It is quite clear that the best wines are always produced by the lowest yields, so for me this is very much a step in the wrong direction. Having said that, our customers should rest assured that we will not be changing our policy at Castro Martin..... Low yield = Better wine

Harvest 2010 Day 5 - Groundhog Day

2010-09-16T08:38:00.002+02:00

Our pickers take a break after lunch (I know how they feel)

Of course the truth is that it is really Day 6, but it just seems like we are repeating the same day, over and over again.... it's never ending!

So, just after I pushed the button on my computer to post my blog last night, claiming that we had harvested the same amount each day, it appears that I might have been a little premature. In fact we have created another new record. Now, I'm not quite sure if it's an all-time record, but it's certainly the most grapes that we have pressed in a single day since I arrived here 8 years ago - a great team effort all-round.

The last few days have been fairly manic for those working in the bodega (including me!), not only have we been handling record amounts of grapes, but also, as I mentioned yesterday, we are busy racking wines too. The greatest motivating factor for all our hard work is the excellent quality of the fruit coming in through our door, which is yielding an intensely sweet, clean must. It would appear that we might have some good raw materials to work with in the cellar this year. Only time will tell on this score.

As the afternoon wore on, so the cloud cover started to increase, and we even felt a few drops of rain on the wind, but nothing more than that - for now.

By 6.30pm, just as the pace was picking up for the evening, we suddenly lost one phase of our three phase electricity supply, together with our presses and the temperature control system..... Disaster!

After one frantic phonecall, and a delay of only 20 minutes, help arrived in the shape of the local electricians that do all our work, and remain on 24 hour standby (for all bodegas) during the harvest period. As quickly as they had arrived, they assesed the situation, changed one rather large fuse, and within one hour we were back up and running! An impressive result that averted complete meltdown in the bodega.

Who ya gonna call?....

With only one day left to go (weather permitting) and tank space in the cellar diminishing rapidly, we headed home to try and grab a decent nights sleep.

Harvest 2010 Day 5 - Alone again

2010-09-14T22:28:00.002+02:00

Today's picture is not quite so glamorous - it shows the 'fangos' left at the bottom of the tank after settling. Following a gentle pressing, the grape juice (or 'must') flows by gravity into our tank room and is then left for a period of time to allow it to settle. During this time all the debris, that may include pips, skins, stems and even a little soil (or dust from the grape skins) will slowly fall to the bottom of the tank, after which we do our first racking. We simply draw the clean liquid off the top of the fangos using the rather odd-looking bent pipe that you can see in the picture. What's left on the tank floor is not necessarily very pretty, but it's better than allowing it to reach your glass!

I mention the fact that we are alone, simply because I have noticed that there are many bodegas in our area that have still not started to pick. Of course what other people decide to do is not really of concern to us, and I guess that the decision of when to pick is one of the elements that helps create variation in the style of wine between different bodegas (and long may that difference continue). For example, the grapes coming in today from our largest 'El Pazo' vineyard are perfectly balanced (sugar, pH and acidity) for our own style of albariño, and that's all we need to know. To make a very crude analogy, it's possibly a bit like roasting a chicken.... you leave your grapes on the vine until you consider them 'done', in the same way that you would leave your chicken in the oven. The only thing that I can say is that I prefer my roast chicken juicy and not dried out!

I should also comment that the pace of this year's harvest has been relentless - from the moment we started the flow has been non-stop (pretty much the way we planned it). Obviously the more we do, the quicker we finish, and then we can breath that sigh of relief when all the grapes are safely gathered in. In fact, in the last four days the amount of grapes that we have processed has only varied very slightly, by as little as 3,000 or 4,000 kilos, and so you could say that the flow has been unwavering.

Until now, weather has not been an issue, but there is a possibility that the dry spell could break before the end of this week - we shall see.

Harvest 2010 Day 4 - Little boxes

2010-09-13T22:22:00.000+02:00

I made a very casual comment on Saturday about the fact that it had been a busy day, without realising that it had been our busiest day since the huge 2006 harvest. It is a real tribute to our team, both in the vineyards and the bodega, that the day passed so smoothly - processing a huge amount of grapes in a well-ordered and timely fashion.

So, after one day of inactivity on Sunday (we decided that certain vineyards might actually benefit from one further day of sun), we re-launched the campaign on a bright, sunny Monday morning.

Picking normally starts at around 9.30am in our vineyards, despite the sun coming up at 8am - and the reason? Well, at this time of year there can be a bit of dew in the early morning, so we simply allow a little time for the grapes to dry off. Apart from this our people pick until 7.30pm, so even with a leisurely lunch break, it is still a very long day out in the sun.

Of course the secret of a successful harvest is logistics, and today we got off to a great start. By mid-morning we were loading the first press, and managed to get a couple done even before our short lunch break (the break in the bodega is usually much shorter, and I'm not quite sure why). This makes an enormous difference to our whole day, especially if we can keep this early momentum going. There is never a queue of grapes waiting to be loaded, and they pretty much go straight from the delivery vehicle into the presses. Of course this can make a huge difference to a fresh, fruity white wine like ours as any possible fruit oxidation is our enemy!

Ah! Now I remember, the subject of today's post, my little boxes..... The boxes that you see neatly lined up outside the bodega are full of 'bagazo' (grape skins and stems from the presses). These are collected on a daily basis, not by the refuse men, but by the distillery who covert it into aguardiente for us (grappa or eau-de-vie, depending on where you live). Until a few years ago we used to do this on site, but a change in the law now prohibits us from doing this under the same roof as our wine making - again, don't ask me why!

Harvest 2010 Day 3 - 9/11

2010-09-12T09:34:00.000+02:00

Today, just a short moment of reflection as we remember the terrible events of 9/11 in New York City, back in 2001 - one of my favourite cities of the world.......

As you may recall from my long history of posts concerning the weather, like all Brits, I am a little obsessed with the subject (it must be something in the English DNA). Anyway, to cut a long story short, today's picture shows a photo of my computer screen taken yesterday - and the reason? Well, a very localised forecast taken from Spain's National Weather Service AEMET, indicated that yesterday and today would be completely cloudy, but as you can clearly see, the sun is streaming in through my office window. Hardly a cloud yesterday, and hardly a cloud today - perhaps AEMET would be better served by employing someone to simply look out of the window! At this time of year, when we rely heavily on weather predictions, this hardly inspires any confidence.

Our first Saturday appears to be passing with peaks and troughs of activity - one minute hands in pockets, the next like headless chickens, as trucks of grapes seem to arrive in unison. There is an old adage in England - that you can wait an hour for a bus, and then suddenly three buses arrive at the same time. This is certainly the pattern that we are experiencing today....

Any Saturday, during any harvest is always the most frantic day of the week. Many of our grape suppliers are only part-time, in other words they hold down full-time jobs and only grow grapes in their spare time. (Of course many of the vineyards in Galicia are so small that this income alone could not support a family). The result being that Saturday is always the most popular day for harvesting, as the family and friends of our growers provide abundant cheap labour.

After a busy day, with presses working flat out throughout the night, it's time to catch up on a little sleep.

Harvest 2010 Day 2 - Working at home

2010-09-11T10:18:00.002+02:00

Our car park runneth over

Often the lack of sleep that we endure during the harvest is not necessarily to do with the number of hours that we physically spend in the bodega, but can, more often, be attributed to the dreaded nocturnal 'to do' list. That horrible feeling that you get in the middle of an (already truncated) night's sleep when you either think that you have forgotten to do something important, or that you must remember to do something important the following day. The body might be desperate to rest, but the brain is still clocking up the overtime - hence the 'to do' list..... a piece of paper strategically placed at your bedside on which you can make notes in the faint glow of your digital alarm clock. I have to admit that this is a phonomena that seems to get worse with age, and boy, do I feel old this morning!

Anyway, back at the harvest, we have another bright sunny day as you can see from my photo. You can also see that our car park is full, which can only mean one thing; today we are playing at home - picking our one hectare vineyard that surrounds the bodega. With a team of around 50 experienced pickers this year, we expect to have this done within a few hours, when the whole team will then relocate to our much bigger Castrelo vineyard. It goes without saying that the order in which we decide to pick is 100% determined by the ripeness of the fruit in each site. Indeed, in our larger sites ripeness even determines the route in which we work our way around the vineyard.

Of course one of the great advantages of working on home soil is that the cases of grapes are removed from the vineyard immediately - they are in the grape reception within minutes, and pressed within the hour. You can't get fresher than that!

As the day progressed, so the momentum started to build and by the middle of the evening we experienced the usual 'sunset rush'. The sunset rush is simply caused by the sun dropping in the sky - as the gloom gathers, people stop picking, load up their truck or tractors, and make a beeline for the bodega.

Harvest 2010 Day 1 - A misty start

2010-09-09T23:09:00.002+02:00

One of the first grape suppliers to collect cases on day one

When I opened the shutters at home this morning I doubt if I could see more than 100 metres as a heavy sea fog rolled in from the Atlantic, but by the time I had shaved and showered the sun was already beginning to penetrate. By around 10.30am the sun had done its job, and was now dominating the sky over Galicia.

By mid-afternoon the first grapes arrived and the temperature had risen considerably, both inside and outside the bodega - the first signs of stress.... Despite our the careful plans and preparation we always find some small detail left undone. This year, for example, we have altered the concentration of sulphur that we add to the unfermented grape must, and the exact amount that we use is calculated automatically by a computer spreadsheet. As the first grapes entered the press we were still re-calibrating the whole sheet, and finished just in the nick of time. So much for being prepared!

As the first grape must emerged from the press, we were obviously anxious to taste the juice, and we were not disappointed. Fresh, clean, zesty, and as always, an intense, piercing fruit, everything we have come to expect from our vineyards. Of course the first real tasting of our finished product is still some months away.

We ended the first day on a high by creating a new record in the bodega - receiving more than 6,000 kilos on one truck from one single vineyard - as you can guess, it was a pretty big truck, full of really good quality fruit. A good first day all 'round.

Follow the yellow brick road

2010-09-08T10:25:00.000+02:00

Well, maybe not so much yellow brick, more a bit of brown cardboard really, but 'follow the brown carton road' doesn't have quite the same ring to it. (At least we do have yellow walls!)

When I was writing about my old harvest shoes the other day I mentioned that when any spilt grape juice starts to dry it becomes really sticky and gets everywhere, well, we do at least take a few precautions in an attempt to minimise the effect. One such effort is to simply stick a bit of carton to the floor and make a walkway between the cellar and the offices.... it may not look very pretty, but it does save a bit of scrubbing when it comes to the big clean-up after the harvest.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, the early part of this week has been wet (as predicted), but a return to warmer weather looks like it's on the way. We only need a couple more weeks of dry weather and we should enjoy quite a good vintage. The grapes that we have tasted so far are quite sweet, and already have good potential alcohol. As always we are just waiting for the acidity to drop a little more in a few of our vineyard sites. For those that already have a good balance, we will start picking tomorrow, so watch this space.....

Preparing for the big 'Kick Off'

2010-09-05T12:03:00.005+02:00

This will almost certainly be the last quiet weekend at home before the 2010 campaign gets under way, but even so our thoughts never stray too far from the enormous task to come. Ensuring that everything, and everybody is organised, knows their place, and knows exactly what to do - it's all a question of detail.

For me it was time to dig around in the back of my wardrobe and drag out my old faithful 'harvest shoes', (complete with go-faster stripes).The shoes in question were originally purchased many years ago as football boots made especially for all-weather surfaces - as you may see they have a number of small rubber studs, designed to give a good grip on slippery surfaces.

At harvest time, the grape juice that inevitably ends up on the floor is thick and viscose, that makes it extremely slippery. By contrast, when it starts to dry, its properties change completely and it becomes more like glue, horribly sticky and finding its way into every small corner of the bodega on the bottom of your feet.

Quite naturally, strong and appropriate footwear is essential at all times in the cellar (as the health and safety guys would tell you), but my experience in recent years always leads me back to the same old harvest shoes. Heaven only knows what I will do when they are eventually forced to retire!

First cases of 2010

2010-09-03T15:51:00.000+02:00

My photo, taken only this morning, shows the first cases being delivered to a vineyard site, in anticipation of the 2010 vintage.

For the last week or so Angela has been busy in her ~~hovel~~ laboratory analysing grape samples from different locations - it would appear from her analysis that some of the southern most vineyards might be picked as early as next week. Time and weather will determine exactly when....

After a long, dry summer our focus on the weather forecast becomes more intense - some weather sites are predicting rain at the beginning of next week, but with a return to fine weather by the end of the week. If this is correct, and the rain is not too heavy, then this will serve to clean the fruit, which may actually be a little dusty after the prolonged dry spell.

No ifs, no butts..... please

2010-09-02T11:04:00.002+02:00

A pretty disgusting picture, which to be honest, turns my stomach - I have never smoked in my life, nor do I ever wish to. Thankfully I have never understood the need.

So why have I turned to cigarettes today? Well, actually, I haven't, but our local government and police have, and believe it or not it is related to the weather. Having experienced virtually zero rainfall for the last two or three months, it is not only our vineyards that are dry, but it is also our local forests and vegetation that are suffering too. This of course equates to an acute fire risk, such as those we experienced in 2006. Indeed, only about 60 or 70 kilometers south of here, just across the Miño river in Northern Portugal, severe forest fires have now been raging for some time.

Therefore, one of the precautions taken by the authorities is to remind motorists, using the matrix signs on our motorways, that disgarding cigarette butts (or is it cigarette ends?) from your car window can lead to a penalty of four points on your driving licence if you are caught - and in this case points do not lead to prizes!

Following on with my drought theme, if you look carefully at this photo you might think that the lady in the white uniform is watering some plants..... not so, she is washing the ground. This is a daily ritual, come rain or shine, whereby two ladies with hosepipes spend about half an hour washing the entrance and pavement area outside a local hotel (which I will not name simply because this is not the point of my story). There does not appear to be any such thing as a 'hosepipe ban' over here in Spain, and in this way the Spanish appear to be neither considerate nor concerned when it comes to the waste of water.

It was only a day or two ago that Angela's uncle Fernando (a local plumber), was telling us that his most frequent call-out at the moment is from consumers who rely on underground wells to draw their water..... the wells are starting to dry up, and so we have to assume that the situation must be pretty serious in some places.

Just as a footnote, I have always rather suspected that the Spanish may suffer a little from what I call "escobaphobia" - a morbid fear of brushes or brushing. The reason I say this is that if they see a few leaves or a bit of dirt on the ground, their automatic reaction is to reach for the hosepipe rather than simply taking out a brush - as I mentioned before , a serious mis-use of water in my opinion.

Last minute chores

2010-09-01T19:04:00.000+02:00

With only a week or two to go now we continue with our programme of pre-harvest chores - sometimes catching up with a few of the jobs you have been planning to do, but never quite got around too. One such job is laying a bit of concrete......

There's actually something quite satisfying about putting down concrete, adding a new part to the building and its surroundings that will hopefully be around for years to come. This time we have made a small improvement to the entrance of our grape reception, making it just a shade easier for the grape-laiden vehicles to enter during the coming weeks.

As you may notice, our fashion conscious vineyard manager David is modelling this autumn's latest uniform, incorporating some rather fetching 3/4 length pants, revealing just a modest amount of bare ankle (either that of he is growing rather too quickly for his age). Actually, the truth is probably more to do with the prolonged period of baking weather that we have been experiencing over the last couple of months - it's hot work out in the finca!

The harvest looms in very dry conditions

2010-08-30T13:07:00.001+02:00

Galicia remains one of the driest places in Spain at the moment, and despite our prayers we have only enjoyed one day of light rain in the last couple of months. As I write this post the temperature remains up around 30°C (86°F), and whilst we normally require a good deal of sunshine during the growing season, in 2010 it has simply been a bit excessive.

With our vines showing signs of stress, it now looks like we might start to pick around the middle of September, rather than at the end of the month as we had originally anticipated (you may recall that we had a fairly late flowering). Some other denominations in the south of Galicia are predicting a start date as early as the 6th September.

One of the few upsides of a summer without rain has been the reduced number of treatments required in the vineyard, obviously the dry conditions have not been supportive to diseases such as mildew, and as a result there has been little or no intervention needed.

This week we embark on a major cleaning programme in the bodega as all the equipment used only once a year at harvest time, needs a good scrub down in preparation for the big 'kick-off'.

Galicia goes bilingual

2010-08-25T18:52:00.004+02:00

Here in Galicia it is quite normal to see our matrix motorway signs in two languages, but usually they would be alternating between Spanish and Galician.

Yesterday, for the first time since I arrived here in Galicia I noticed an overhead gantry, not only written in English, but with a very polite request too - "Respect speed limits please". I can't ever remember seeing a sign in England saying please, it would probably be more likely to say "Respect speed limits or else hand over your cash!"

Although we are still in August (technically the peak of the holiday season), we still do not welcome too many British visitors to our remote corner of Spain, which is really what makes this latest development so unexpected.

Perhaps as this sign is on my daily route between the Bodega and our home, it has been introduced purely for my benefit - not that you would ever find me speeding, honestly officer.....

We're back!

2010-08-23T10:29:00.002+02:00

OK, so I acknowledge that I am the 'king of corny jokes', and probably leave many people wincing when they discover my twisted sense of humour for the first time, but I can assure you that my story this morning was not in any way staged or planned in advance......

I always intended to write something witty about our return to work with 'batteries fully charged' and ready for the forthcoming harvest, but then one of my batteries went and died on me!

It seems like my car (that I had barely used last week) decided to take an extended break, and so my eagerness to get back to work was curtailed slightly when my engine failed to start this morning. Fortunately I have a set of jump leads and was able to make my way to the Bodega with only the minimum of delay. Suffice to say that my car is now charging, albeit that I had to dismantle half of the boot (trunk) to get to the battery.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, we still have a little bottling and labelling to finish before we start on the pre-harvest deep clean, and the other news is that today we have our first real rain for several weeks. We have had a little 'mizzle' in the last day or two, but today we are enjoying a good shower of rain. One or two days of gentle rain at this point will not go amiss, as this will only benefit the vines that have been suffering during the extended hot period - a return to fine weather in a couple of days would then be perfect......

We have our fingers crossed.

Steam power - the green option?

2010-08-17T10:38:00.003+02:00

Without too much to do except wait for the grapes to ripen in the vineyards we decided to have a clear out in one of the buildings at the back of the Bodega.

Hidden in a corner we discovered an old pump, which had probably been earmarked for the scrapyard - but we have since decided to give it a new lease of life....

At the front of the bodega we used to have a couple of old barrels, intended purely as a bit of decoration. Unfortunately, the ravages of the Galician weather have taken their toll on the wood, and eventually they simply started to fall apart. It was my original intention just to prepare a couple of replacements, but then we came across this old engine which seemed like a much more attractive and permanent solution.

A couple of coats of paint later it has now been installed in its new home immediately adjacent to our front door, not exactly restored to its former glory, but looking rather resplendent nonetheless.

I have to confess that as the front area of our bodega is open to the road, we have taken the precaution of bolting and welding this new addition to a rather large piece of concrete!

Is there anybody out there?

2010-08-13T08:12:00.003+02:00

The annual Microsoft Office outing!

Yesterday my e-mail was so quiet I almost contacted my provider to see if my connection was working properly - I got so desperate that I was almost praying for junk mail!

We must have reached one of the peak holiday weeks, when we receive more out-of-office replies than we do answers.

Please don't forget that it's our turn next week, and that the Bodega will be closed for one week. I'm so excited I've already packed my bucket and spade!

Have a great holiday wherever you are......

Autumn Leaves

2010-08-10T14:15:00.000+02:00

If you look at today's photo, you might have a bit of a problem working it out - the reason is that I have deliberately loaded it upside-down!

It just stuck me when I took this snap, that there were almost as many leaves on the ground as there were on the pergolas overhead. The reason? Well, we believe quite simply that quality is created in the vineyard, and so during the summer months we spend a lot of time working on the canopy, making sure that our fruit gets the best possible exposure. Not only that, but we have also done some 'green harvesting' this year, which, as I'm sure you know, means removing any excess bunches from the vine before they mature. Of course this simply has the effect of concentrating all the efforts of the plant into the optimum number of bunches.

The hot weather continues, there is no rain on the horizon, and the harvest looms ever closer.

Wilting in the heat

2010-08-05T13:12:00.002+02:00

Wouldn't argriculture be boring if our weather was predictable? There's a sort of irony in the fact that just a couple of months ago Galicia was awash with rain, whereas now......

Certainly for large parts of June and nearly the whole of July, we have barely seen a drop of rain. With the exception of a thunderstorm at the beginning of the month, July can only be described as hot and windy. For several weeks now, daytime temperatures have been pushing 30°C (86°F) or more, and have only been moderated by winds blowing from the north and the west. The problem is that whilst the breeze is very welcome, it is also very drying and our vineyards are just starting to suffer as a result. The roof of the canopy is showing signs of stress - leaves are wilting a little and are not as verdant as they might normally be in our temperate maritime climate.

For the fruit to evolve properly, we could actually do with a few days of rain just to put us back on track - imagine, an Englishman, praying for a bit of rain!

Did I speak too soon?

2010-08-02T18:45:00.002+02:00

This weekend the LVIII Albariño Festival was held in the local town of Cambados. Some 43 bodegas set up shop in the town square, selling Albariño, either by the glass or by the bottle to the general public. If you look back to my posts of previous years you will see that Castro Martin actively avoids attending, mostly because the whole event demands a huge amount of work, for little or no return. Most of the 'tasting' is conducted at night, and extends well into the early hours, by which time the atmosphere is extremely animated and highly charged to say the least.

Unfortunately this year, possibly for the first time as far as I am aware, the festival was marred by violence, as fighting broke out amongst the crowd - I quote from our local paper as follows:

"El día grande de la Festa do Albariño en Cambados tuvo otra vertiente al margen de la festiva, ya que la jornada de ayer se saldó con varias peleas en las calles de la localidad que acabaron con un joven detenido por agresión. Sobre las once de la mañana se registró una reyerta multitudinaria en un local de copas de la calle de la movida cambadesa, pelea que finalizó con varios heridos por contusiones, y al menos uno de ellos tuvo que ser trasladado al Hospital do Salnés."

"Un joven de Lugo, Bruno J.S., tuvo que ser trasladado al hospital con una herida en el abdomen por la que sangraba y que, al parecer, se había hecho con un cristal. Por estos hechos fue detenido Cristian C. C., al que los agentes arrestaron acusado de un delito de lesiones."

To summarise, a "massive brawl" broke out resulting in several people suffering bruises, and one poor man from Lugo admitted to hospital with bleeding from the abdomen, apparently caused by glass.

I do hope that this is not the shape of things to come.