I need to research the origin of the expression ‘Indian Summer’, but in the meantime I can tell you that we are having one. It’s kind of ironic that after a poor summer here in Galicia, we now find ourselves bathed in warm sunshine – in October! Average daytime temperatures so far this month have been around 25-27°C (77-80°F), with not one single drop of rain in sight – to be honest, we’ve barely even seen a cloud.

Meanwhile, back in the bodega, we can almost start to relax a little, as the last few tanks reach the end of their alcoholic fermentation. As always it’s been a long, slow process, with monitoring on a daily basis – 7 days a week (unfortunately the yeast doesn’t take weekends off). We have yet to make the final analysis, but it looks like there will be no malolactic required in 2011.

The other development is that I have finished our annual vintage report, and this can now be found on the download page of this website. Great bedtime reading!

Having been absent in New York for a few days I am now playing catch-up. As I have said many times before, there is still a lot of hard work to do following the actual picking before Angela and I can even think about putting our feet up for a while.

The cellar is a very cool place to be at the moment, and I mean that quite literally. With our temperature control system working over time it is actually quite a chilly place to work, and despite the sun outside, you will often find us walking around in jackets and fleeces.

Although we still firmly believe in true quality being derived from the vineyard, the wine making itself certainly has a big influence in the style of wine that we create. Our objective is to always to make a wine that is typical of our denomination, but at the same time giving the wine a structure that will stand the test of time. Now, I’m not saying for one moment that our albariño will keep for ten years in bottle, but we certainly don’t want to make something that will fall apart after six months either. This is all determined by our vinification,  that gives our different wines their distinctive Castro Martin character – known and loved by all who drink them! 

Angela would kill me if I started to give away her wine making secrets, but suffice to say that quality is not created by accident, but by people who are obsessed by what they do.