Don't get your Castros in a twist....

I'm wearing a lovely new tracksuit, what are you wearing?.....

Following the recent retirement of Cuba's infamous leader, I thought it quite an appropriate moment to clear up and misunderstandings that there might be relating to our name.

Firstly, I should say that there is of course no connection whatsoever between our Bodega and the aforementioned Cuban gentleman! The name 'Castro' relates to a former partner of Angela's father who left the business many years ago (for some reason, of which I am not clear, his name remained).

OK, so now the real point of my story...... In the Rias Baixas denomination there are at least three other Bodegas that carry the name 'Castro' in their title. Only today I passed one of the others on my way to work and remarked upon the shiny new logo attached to the front of the building - suspiciously like our own lettering, I thought to myself!

Now, I don't wish to blow our own trumpet (well, actually I do) but we are certainly the best known of all the Castros around these parts, so I guess that it might just be possible that the others are trying to cash in on our success by using their similar name, and linking it to a similar logo? Certainly, many, many years ago I knew some consumers who used to think that anything with Mouton or Latour in the name must be a great quality wine..... as if they could somehow confuse Mouton Cadet with Mouton Rothschild for example!

So, whilst we acknowledge that imitation is really the most sincere form of flattery, there is, and only ever will be, one Bodegas Castro Martin.

We thank you for your Fidel-ity...... (sorry)!

A good year?

Angela and I (in our dreams!)

The other day I had occasion to contact our local denomination office to ask them for some information about recent vintages. In reply, they sent me a sheet listing all the statistics of every vintage since the creation of the Rias Baixas D.O. (back in 1987).

The information that I actually needed was the number of kilos picked and the number of litres produced, but alongside each vintage they also listed the official D.O. quality rating, which made absolutely fascinating reading.....

In the 20 vintages since the creation of the D. O. there have been no fewer than 10 officially 'Good' vintages, 6 'Very Good' vintages and 4 'Excellent' vintages. Significantly, the last three consecutive vintages have all been categorised as 'Excellent'.

As I have said before, such sweepingly generalised ratings serve of little use to us, and even less to the average consumer (not even taking into account that I disagree with some of their assessments). For example, the top-quality 2001 vintage has only been officially rated as good, whilst 2006 appears as excellent. OK, so our 2006 wine was pretty good, but I certainly think that in our bodega the 2001 wine was superior.

In addition, not one single vintage since the creation of the D.O. is listed as poor, or even mediocre quality - I have to question whether this is entirely truthful?

Whilst it is clearly not in the interest of our local denomination office to shoot themselves in the foot by saying that any particular vintage is poor, there is a train of thought that says it might be better to be honest with the consumer, rather than giving them a false impression.

Perhaps the answer is to introduce some new official categories? How about 'Nice' or 'Interesting'?!

Castro Martin @ Alimentaria 2008

ALIMENTARIA, BARCELONA 10TH–14TH MARCH 2008

For those of you who don’t know, Alimentaria is probably the biggest and best wine fair in Spain, and is held only once every two years. Certainly if you’re looking to add Spanish wines to your portfolio, then this is the place to be. As usual, Angela and I will be attending, and have a booth on the stand of our Catalan distributor, Escolà Distribution (but you will also be able to find our stand in the Alimentaria catalogue listed under our own name).

Please note our exact coordinates:

INTERVIN – GRAND VIA PAVILLION 3

STAND D688

We look forward to seeing you next month

Sleeping on the job!

Tastings can often be hard work - long hours on your feet pouring wine can easily put a strain on your enthusiasm. Not so last month when we attended the annual tasting of one of our biggest importers.....

Every year the venue is decorated around a highly original theme - this year based on the different rooms of a house. Producers found themselves in some fairly unfamiliar surroundings for tasting - France, for example, in the kitchen, Italy, in the bathroom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa sharing the garden etc.

Spain was located in the bedroom, complete with double bed and staff dressed in pyjamas and nightgowns! (Imagine being paid for lounging around in bed all day!).

Despite the light-hearted surroundings the tasting itself is always deadly serious, and is attended by up to three thousand customers over a period of ten hours.

We wait with bated breath to learn more about next year's theme.....

Green Issues

These days we are asked with increasing frequency whether any of our wines are either organic or biodynamic. I thought it was about time therefore, that I post some sort of statement that explains our approach to these 'green issues'.

As I have written many times before, we live in a very green part of Spain and have more than our fair share of rainfall. We are officially categorised as having an Atlantic Maritime climate, which means quite simply that our weather is damp and humid. Despite all the precautions that we take there is not a single vintage that goes by where we do not have to intervene at some point, and therefore we cannot honestly say that our wine is completely biodynamic. I would actually go so far as to say that it would almost be impossible to produce a genuinely biodynamic wine in the Rias Baixas denomination, and any producer who claims that he does should perhaps be treated with some suspicion!

As a reference for all our customers Angela has compiled a list of the practices that we follow in order to keep our Albariño as 'ecologically friendly' as possible. You will see that most of the procedures that we apply in our vineyards are preventive, to avoid disease and consequently minimise the use of chemical treatments.

1). Soil management: We do not use herbicides - we use the traditional system of ploughing the soil 2 or 3 times a year, especially when the vines are dormant (doing this in summer can damage the roots of the vines)

2). We have natural grass cover between the vines that is cut manually. In this way we can also use the natural organic material (mulch) to help replenish the soil.

3). We use natural worm humus, especially when planting new vines.

4). We use sheep and horse “manure” to add nutrients to the soil when required.

5). Plagues and Diseases: Mainly preventive strategies are used, such green pruning and thinning the canopy to avoid excessive humidity under the pergolas. This of course allows a better circulation of air and thus helps to prevent fungus attacks.

Sometimes these attacks cannot be prevented and so we are obliged to use some products (all approved in ecological viticulture), such as:

a). Copper in different combinations in the case of mildew attacks.

b). Soluble and powdered sulphur for the control of excoriosis and oidium.

c). Anti-botrytis (following insect attack or hail damage) when fungus may enter and create rot.

6). To reduce the possible spread of fungus spores in the following harvest we collect and burn all the vine cuttings after pruning.

7). We use pheromone traps that cause sexual confusion to control the polilla de la uva (grape moth) or lobesia botrana. In the case of an attack we treat with bacillus thuringiensis (which is a biological treatment)

8). Harvest : manual collection of grapes to avoid damaged bunches and premature oxidation.

This is also perhaps the time to mention that our Albariño is suitable for vegetarians as we do not use any meat derived products during handling or vinification.

In addition to these vineyard practices there are also routines that we follow in the wine cellar, relating to other environmental issues that I will write about in future posts.

BEST VALUE IN SPAIN!

Tom Stevenson has been writing about wine for nearly thirty years and is the author of more than 20 books. He's been nominated on three occasions as Wine Writer of the Year and received the coveted Wine Literary Award, America's lifetime achievement award for wine writing.

Every year he invites a team of specialised journalists to help him compile a handbook of the best wines that the world has to offer. These fall under numerous different categories, from best newcomer to the best bargain wine.

In the case of Spain, Tom handed responsibility to John Radford, author of the award winning New Spain, winner of the Livre Gormand Best European Wine Book and the Premio Especial Alimentos de España from the Spanish Government. John is also chairman of the Spanish committee of the Decanter World Wine Awards.

We are therefore delighted to reveal that Bodegas Castro Martin is now listed as one of the Top 10 'Best Value' producers in the whole of Spain.

As a former buyer I am truly delighted to receive the accolade of 'best value wine', which for me is the most significant of all the different categories in this report - quality and value is, after all, the Holy Grail of any worthwhile wine buyer......

First post, first review

After a few celebrations and a brief norovirus (don't ask), I finally find the time to wish you all a very Happy New Year - a healthy, safe and prosperous 2008.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, we have just received our copy of a new guide, produced by Wines from Spain and distributed throughout the United States. Our entry is for Castro Martin 2005, and the tasting note, written by Doug Frost (Master Sommelier and MW), reads as follows:

"The aromas show both red and green apple, white peach, apple blossom, and some honey; dusty rocks and minerals are prevalent in the nose as well. The mouth is a bit fleshier, with sweet peach skin, apple, lots of ripe citrus, and a stony finish. I'm sure there are other combinations, but this wine just loves seared scallops."

Who are we to argue?

Happy Christmas 2007

Tomorrow we will be heading off to colder climes (the North of England, not Aspen) to celebrate Christmas.

May I take this opportunity to wish all our friends and customers around the world, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.

Drinking at Christmas

The UK government is having a bit of a crackdown on excessive alcohol consumption - and probably not before time. It's a little depressing to see some UK town centres regularly filled with hoards of young drinkers sprawled about the place in a drunken stupor (unfortunately a sight not exclusively reserved to Christmas time).

However, when it comes to excessive drinking I am not sure that the wine industry is entirely to blame, as I rather suspect that many offenders who stagger the streets on a Saturday night are more likely to be filled with beer and spirits, rather than bottles of Albariño!

At Castro Martin we always try to promote wine consumption in moderation, and I am sure that it will not be too long before we will include a message on our labels to that effect.

One of the other trends that we have also noticed recently are the increased levels of alcohol in wine. It is now quite common to see some new world wines reaching nearly 15% alcohol (the level of fortified wine). This is not intended as a criticism of the new world, as this higher alcohol simply results from the natural process:

Warm climate = more sugar = more alcohol

Until now, this has never been a concern in Rias Baixas - the anticipated alcohol range for Albariño would normally be between 11,5% and 12,5%. Having said that, for the last two years at least, we have seen wines at the upper end of this band, and we are left wondering if this is the effect of global warming on our verdant little corner of Spain.

As a positive selling point I always mention to our customers that Albariño is a 'drinking' (food and/or aperitif) wine, where two people can sit down, share, and easily finish the bottle, without feeling too many adverse side effects..... in other words, enjoyable, easy drinking.

So, enjoy your Christmas holidays, and try not to overdo it on the turkey either!

(For more information about the UK drink awareness campaign click here.)

Autumn in Galicia

After weeks of sunshine, the cool, damp mists of Autumn that we would normally expect, have finally arrived here in Galicia. As vines start to shed their leaves and we experience a real chill in the air, this is natures way of telling us that it's time to reach for the secateurs.

I have to say that I am never really sure whether the act of pruning signals the end of the 2007 cycle, or actually represents the first step in preparation for 2008. Whichever way, it is a long, tough job, and often in very unpleasant conditions.

By complete coincidence the 'Word of the Day' on my Google homepage yesterday was Pergola! The definition was as follows:

Pergola: (noun) An arbor or a passageway of columns supporting a roof of trellis work on which climbing plants are trained to grow.
Synonyms: arbor, bower
Usage: The thick vegetation met overhead, interlacing into a natural pergola

There are actually two theories why the Pergola system is used extensively in Rias Baixas. The first, and more popular theory is that it allows better circulation of air around the canopy, suspending the fruit high above the cool, damp Galician soils.

The second theory is that Galicia was (and to an extent still is) a poor, rural part of Spain where many people exist on subsistence farming. It is still quite common for Galicians to raise pigs, poultry, sheep and even cattle for home consumption, and growing your own vegetables is taken for granted outside the towns and cities. Land for farming is therefore a precious commodity that has to be exploited to the full, and for this reason using the overhead Pergola system allows people to grow a second crop, or even graze animals at 'ground level'.

I am sorry to confess that as a 'City Boy' I opt for the local supermarket (where much of the fresh produce originates from our region anyway)!