Friday 18th September – First thing this morning it felt like autumn had arrived. A beautiful clear blue sky, mist hanging over the valley (as in yesterday’s photo), and only 10°C or 50°F. Good conditions for mopping up our last few thousand kilos.

When the first grapes entered at the end of the morning, it quickly became apparent that the quality was not the same as those we had already collected. In our first pressing the grape must was much thinner and just not as rich as the first four days (just as well that we had gathered nearly all of our fruit in the four days prior to the rain). Of course we do compensate for this slight dilution in the cellar, by using a much, much shorter and more gentle pressing cycle – not quite ‘first run’ juice, but pretty close to this. Also, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, there is no way that this juice will be blended with the rest of our crop.

The really incredible fact is that the vast majority of other bodegas decided to wait, and had not gathered one single grape before the storm. I believe that our Consello revealed that only 10% of the denominations wine had been gathered in, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why. Whilst it is true that our alcohol might be a bit lower this year (probably just under 12%), at least our own wine should have a good concentration and balance – in my book far better than a thin, acidic albariño.

By early evening the final grapes were in, and very soon loaded into the presses. The curtain had finally fallen on yet another vintage – a healthy volume taken in record time. I have to say that at Castro Martin we are extremely happy with the fruits of our labour this year (every pun intended), but buyer beware, it will certainly be a vintage of two halves – those who picked before the rain, and those who picked after.Friday 18th September – First thing this morning it felt like autumn had arrived. A beautiful clear blue sky, mist hanging over the valley (as in yesterday’s photo), and only 10°C or 50°F. Good conditions for mopping up our last few thousand kilos.

When the first grapes entered at the end of the morning, it quickly became apparent that the quality was not the same as those we had already collected. In our first pressing the grape must was much thinner and just not as rich as the first four days (just as well that we had gathered nearly all of our fruit in the four days prior to the rain). Of course we do compensate for this slight dilution in the cellar, by using a much, much shorter and more gentle pressing cycle – not quite ‘first run’ juice, but pretty close to this. Also, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, there is no way that this juice will be blended with the rest of our crop.

The really incredible fact is that the vast majority of other bodegas decided to wait, and had not gathered one single grape before the storm. I believe that our Consello revealed that only 10% of the denominations wine had been gathered in, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why. Whilst it is true that our alcohol might be a bit lower this year (probably just under 12%), at least our own wine should have a good concentration and balance – in my book far better than a thin, acidic albariño.

By early evening the final grapes were in, and very soon loaded into the presses. The curtain had finally fallen on yet another vintage – a healthy volume taken in record time. I have to say that at Castro Martin we are extremely happy with the fruits of our labour this year (every pun intended), but buyer beware, it will certainly be a vintage of two halves – those who picked before the rain, and those who picked after.