So let’s start with Peñin 2007 and his comment for our Castro Martin 2005 (this is lifted verbatim from the English version of the guide).

“Bright yellow with greenish streaks. Intense nose, green fruit, traces of citrus fruit flesh and fine herbs. Fresh palate, fruity, excellent structure, spicy background, good fruit/acidity balance.”

Translating a taste into words must be one of the most difficult things ever, and everyone has (and should have) their own vocabulary for doing this – one man’s cat’s pee is possibly another man’s freshly cut grass! The reason I say this is that I am always puzzled when an expression like fine herbs is used to describe our wine – personally this idea has never entered my head, which all goes to prove that all tasting is subjective and very personal.

As a former wine buyer Mr Peñin’s words that please me the most are “excellent structure”, as for me structure is probably the single most important factor in finding a good wine – having said that good fruit/acidity balance also helps!