There is, and has always been, a somewhat strange, romantic notion surrounding the food and wine industry – owning your own restaurant, or perhaps having a wine with your name on the label is actually a very fashionable idea, or so it would seem.

There are a growing number of Hollywood stars that are putting their names to a wine or vineyard – Francis Ford-Coppola, Dan Ackroyd and Antonio Banderas, to name but a few. Indeed, our very own Cliff Richard (an English pop star from the 60′s), has also put down roots in the Portuguese Algarve, if you’ll pardon the pun. His property, Adega do Cantor, also boasts an English wine maker, Max Birch.

Then only today I discover that the one and only Lady Gaga is thinking of branching out into wine production too (sorry, that pun was not really intended), surveying wine properties in Sonoma, California. In the very same article they mention that actress Drew Barrymore, and pop star Fergie have also purchased vineyards. Now I doubt very much if any one of these will be rolling their sleeves up to do the pruning, or drive the tractors, but they will no doubt, be looking forward to sampling the fruit of their labours. I should mention by the way, that Drew Barrymore’s wine is actually a Pinot Grigio from the Trentino region of Northern Italy, and is described as “fresh, dynamic and fun” reflecting her own style and personality!

If these wines are truly a reflection of the people who make them, then my own wine would have to be old, tired and grumpy!

I think that I made a post a long time ago about the virtues of researching your brand name before putting it on the market, and more especially if you are choosing a name that is not in your own native tongue. I say this because there is an increasing fashion, perhaps not only in Spain, to give your product or service an English name, which I imagine must be seen as being more trendy. (This is quite apart from the slogans that I see appearing on t-shirts in the street, supposedly making some statement or witticism in English, but which are in fact written in total gibberish and make no sense whatsoever!)

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me and my distorted sense of humour, but I received a mail shot a couple of days ago for a new gourmet magazine – and the name? Clap & Wine! Perhaps someone can explain to me exactly what this is supposed to mean, before my imagination runs away with me completely. The only explanation I can think of is that the authors believe that wine should be ‘applauded’, hence the use of the word clap? On the other hand, and more negative side, there is of course another colloquial meaning for the word clap (Google ‘clap’ in English and see what I mean). Maybe someone should have a quiet word with them and explain?

Many people think that weather is quite a boring subject (myself included), but as we are essentially fruit farmers, it obviously has an enormous influence on the quality of our end product, and we are therefore obliged to pay attention.

The month of May so far, has been cool and wet, following the same pattern as the last three weeks of April. However, in the last 48hours the sun has finally re-emerged, sending our tractors scurrying to the vineyards to give the first treatment of the season (protection against mildew after all the rain). It also gives us the time to appreciate a splash of colour at the front door of the Bodega.

Time to break out the Speedos perhaps?!

Did you know that this Wednesday, 9th May, is Albariño Day? Well no, neither did I…. Apparently it has been organised by a marketing company in the United States, which is great – hats off to them. It just seems a shame that this initiative only applies to the U.S. market, and then to only a handful of Bodegas (represented by this particular company). Personally I would have thought it more appropriate for such a celebration to be organised here in the region of origin, especially when the Spanish are so great at holding Fiestas for more or less any reason. Of course we do have our local Albariño Festival held on the first Sunday of August, so why didn’t we attempt to export this idea around the world, and invite the planet to drink albariño at the beginning of August?

Anyway, I’ll climb down of my soap box for a moment to ask if anyone knows the significance of this date? In other words, why was the 9th May chosen specifically for this celebration? This is the first time that albariño day has been held, so I just wondered why they would pick a Wednesday? (I have asked this question on their Facebook page, let’s just see if I get a response).

Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s a fab idea, and I will join them in my own private party at home, following their advice:

How to Participate in Albariño Day?

It’s easy! Open a bottle of cool, crisp Albariño and share your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. What do you love most about Albariño? What are your favorite pairings? Where do you enjoy Albariño in your area? Albarino Day is all about spreading the love and also learning (or trying) something new.

They say that customer satisfaction is paramount in any business, and certainly I wouldn’t disagree with that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re offering a product or a service, we all want the people who pay us their hard-earned cash to be happy. In the case of our wine business the aim is always to make the best product that we can, and offer it at an attractive price, but our commitment does not stop there. How we interact with our customers is equally as important, and we always strive to give importers exactly what they want, and when they want it. We pride ourselves in turning orders around quickly and efficiently, whilst always keeping our customers informed of what’s going on (which may sound obvious, but I’m afraid does not always happen).

In these days of recession and perhaps in the face of fierce competition, I have noticed recently that an increasing number of websites are asking their visitors for their opinion. Now, I am not sure if this is borne out of some sense of insecurity, or possibly an increased number of complaints as they reduce staffing, but it is certainly happening on a much more regular basis.

In the case of Castro Martin, we will not be sending out any surveys, but instead we are always open to suggestion, and invite our consumers to contact us at any time with their opinions.

One small, related anecdote before I sign off. Many, many years ago I visited a restaurant in the South of France. On the bottom of the menu in wonderful pigeon English they wrote “If you are satisfied please tell your friends, but if you are not satisfied please warn the waitress”. Now I’m not sure if this is just my twisted sense of humour, or indeed if many people will find this funny, but I always swore that if I ever owned my own restaurant, that this ‘warning’ would be printed at the foot of every menu!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that, after a very dry winter, it had finally started to rain. Well, as I look out of my window today (on this cold, grey holiday morning), the rain continues to come down. At this point it’s not really a bad thing for our vineyards, albeit that after such a dry spell, much of the initial rainfall simply runs off the surface and makes little impression. It will take some time before the water table is restored. With temperatures forecast for no more than 13/14°C (55/60°F) this week, it occurs to me that our calendar seems to have fallen out of sequence this year. Reversing the months of March and April would make far more sense as far as a logical progression is concerned – March being much dryer and warmer than April. Anyway, whatever happens next the only thing we ask for is a period of warm, dry weather for the flowering.

As an aside, and in the wake or the recent Titanic centenary, I just wanted to pass on a bit of useless information for the next time that you’re playing Trivial Pursuit. Did you know that the International Distress Signal Mayday, Mayday, Mayday actually has nothing to do with 1st of May (or any other day in May for that matter)? It quite simply originates from the French phrase “m’aider”, which means “help me”. Perhaps slightly oddly, the phrase was the idea of an English air traffic controller based at Croydon Airport near London, when, back in the 1920′s much of the air traffic flew between London and Paris.

The Mayday signal was (and still is) used on VHF radio, and therefore was never used on Titanic, which relied on Morse code for signalling. At that time there were however, two different distress codes used by Morse operators – ‘CDQ’ used by the Marconi company – CQ again derived from the French word “Secours” (Help). The letter D, stood for Distress. The second code (subsequently adopted by all) was SOS, created by the German Government in the early 1900′s. The letters were chosen as they were simple, both to recognise and remember - ’Save Our Souls’ is simply a mnemonic and is not the reason that they are used.

There is already a good deal of doom and gloom surrounding the Spanish economy at the moment, even before the latest news that the country has lost its A credit rating, downgraded two notches to BBB+. The assessment, made by the Standard & Poor rating service, bases its evaluation on the future ability and willingness of sovereign governments to service their debt obligations.

Whilst there remains a distinct danger that things could get worse, and Spain be downgraded even further, the S&P did at least acknowledge that some of the severe measures taken by the new government, are at least a step in the right direction. They have announced reforms to the labour market, including cutting back on severance pay and restricting inflation-linked salary increases, that it hopes will ease the problem.. Unfortunately, these measures are, in the sort term at least, likely to make things worse rather than better, as Spain’s crippling unemployment continues its truly painful, inexorable rise. Indeed, only today, official figures reveal a figure of some 5.6 million people out of work, some 24.4%, compared to only 7.9% back in April 2007.

One chief economist is quoted as saying ”In Spain today, a cycle similar to Greece is starting to develop”…….we sincerely hope not.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the most famous thing about the village of Barrantes are its traffic lights (about 5 sets in the space of 200 metres – not synchronised), but you’d be wrong. Excluding Bodegas Castro Martin (that is not actually located in the village itself), there is a small family restaurant called O Tìo Benito, which loosely translated means With Uncle Benito, or perhaps At the table of Uncle Benito. Described in our local press recently as a ‘temple of cooking with a common touch’.

Clearly, when we’re working, we usually don’t have time to take lunch outside the bodega, but if we did, this would certainly be at the top of our list for local dining. Now, I’m not suggesting that this is a Michelin starred restaurant, but when it comes to honest, down-to-earth, great home cooking, then this is certainly the place to go. Run by Camilo Lojo, his wife Saladina and daughter Irene, this local landmark was established almost 40 years ago, and I swear that people have been queuing to get in ever since! I should tell you that the place is always packed (with locals rather than tourists), which is always the true indicator of good quality and value. Indeed, in my many years travelling the world as a buyer, I would always make a point of actively seeking out the small local restaurants that were overflowing with local people….. I have rarely had a bad meal working on this basis.

Tìo Benito is a place that we use to take visitors for lunch, so that they can savor the village atmosphere as well as it’s typical food. Famed for it’s Cod, Octopus, Cocido and other local dishes it has a fixed menu, and several other dishes that are rotated on a daily basis. It is also well-known for its award winning Tinto de Barrantes – the local wine that is guaranteed to stain you teeth a deep red colour. I’m afraid to admit that this is not my favourite tipple. On the other hand however, my personal recommendation is the selection of freshly homemade desserts, most especially the oven baked cheesecake, which is often still warm from the oven when it is served – heaven! I love this so much that Angela will often buy a whole one for me in place of a birthday cake. I don’t eat it in one sitting, but it certainly doesn’t last too long, and I only share it with others very grudgingly (typical old git that I am!)

We are currently slotting an oven and hotplate into our tiny kitchen in the Bodega, and I will write more about this later, but in the meantime we will have to settle for the table of our Uncle Benito.

I’m not quite sure how all these International Days are supposed to work, or how you’re supposed to know about them, but suffice to say that somehow I keep missing them. It’s not that I don’t use the internet or follow the news, but it’s becoming quite clear to me that many of these special days are simply not as well publicised as perhaps they should be.

Apparently, yesterday was Earth Day, which was organised by the ‘Green’ movement. It is claimed that more than one billion* people around the world voiced their appreciation for the planet and demanded its protection (*give or take an odd million). They are standing for a sustainable future and calling upon individuals, organizations, and governments to do their part. 

Today is International Book Day, organised by UNESCO, and is a day when we should promote reading, publishing and copyright. The 23rd April is selected for book day as it is often quoted as the anniversary of the deaths of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. At least one official celebration of this day is the reading of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (actually a two-day “readathon”).

In England it is also St George’s Day, as we honour the life of England’s very own Patron Saint (albeit that there is no public holiday). I think it’s probably fair to say that St George’s Day, St Andrew’s Day (Scotland) and St David’s Day (Wales) are not celebrated as much as St Patrick’s Day in Ireland, but apparently many people are now working to get these days re-established on the calendar for all British people.

So today, by way of recognition, I will be reading a book, made from re-cycled paper, about the life and times of St George (I think that covers all the bases).

If we lived in the south of Spain, and it was summer, it might be quite understandable to welcome a period of rain – but it’s winter, and we’re here in Galicia, and so this idea is probably not quite so normal. When I am explaining to people about the lack of rain that we’ve experienced, I try very hard not to exaggerate, but I think I am correct in saying, that up until Easter we had suffered a period of between 2½ and 3 months with virtually no rain whatsoever (perhaps 2 or 3 hours of light rain in total). I don’t have the actual statistics, but suffice to say that it’s been dry!

Immediately following the Easter holidays the skies turned their more usual winter shade of grey, and some very welcome, more persistent rain arrived. Now, I’m not suggesting by any means that our period of drought is behind us, but the last week of rain will certainly do no harm – it would probably require several weeks more to return the water table to normal levels.

The other significant factor is the temperature, whilst our nights have largely remained cool, daytime temperatures before Easter were regularly pushing over 20°C (68°F), and often into the mid 20′s. However, this last week has seen the thermometer fall to the low teens during the day, perhaps averaging only 12/13°C (54/56°F).

Of course by now our vines are already well advanced and vineyards all around us are turning green as the growing season gets under way. There is no doubt that this period of wet weather will help, and I do hope that it will continue at least for another few weeks, or at least until the flowering.