Today, and most of this week, it’s all about Albariño. Not only are we celebrating the first truly co-ordinated International Albariño Day, but we also have the Annual Albariño Festival here in Cambados (the acknowledged capital of the Albariño producing region).

The reason that I say “co-ordinated” is because last year there were actually two in the United States – one at this time of year, to coincide with the Cambados Festival, the other in May, which was simply selected as a day that we should all enjoy albariño. (Actually, the truth is that we shouldn’t really need a reason, or a special day to drink our wines, we should simply enjoy them for 365 days of the year!)

As always, my favourite part of the Albariño Festival is the ‘tunnel of wine’ – an opportunity to taste the vast majority of wines from the latest vintage (or as many as your palate can take). For me this is simply an opportunity to formulate my own personal impression of the vintage, and to taste some of the best wines, made by Castro Martin and some of our close associates from the region. I think it’s fair to say that the best winemakers are always the most consistent and so it’s usual quite easy to predict which bodegas will emerge on top.

At the tasting I think I was the only person making notes (and also one of the very few spitting as I tasted). Making copious notes is something that I was trained to do, and as a result has become something of a habit. For some reason the practice of writing appeared to attract some attention, as I became the target of local newspaper and radio. One guy from the local radio station could not believe that I was making dozens of tasting notes simply for my own reference, he was convinced that they must be for publication….. My 15 minutes of fame at last!

Today, and most of this week, it’s all about Albariño. Not only are we celebrating the first truly co-ordinated International Albariño Day, but we also have the Annual Albariño Festival here in Cambados (the acknowledged capital of the Albariño producing region).

The reason that I say “co-ordinated” is because last year there were actually two in the United States – one at this time of year, to coincide with the Cambados Festival, the other in May, which was simply selected as a day that we should all enjoy albariño. (Actually, the truth is that we shouldn’t really need a reason, or a special day to drink our wines, we should simply enjoy them for 365 days of the year!)

As always, my favourite part of the Albariño Festival is the ‘tunnel of wine’ – an opportunity to taste the vast majority of wines from the latest vintage (or as many as your palate can take). For me this is simply an opportunity to formulate my own personal impression of the vintage, and to taste some of the best wines, made by Castro Martin and some of our close associates from the region. I think it’s fair to say that the best winemakers are always the most consistent and so it’s usual quite easy to predict which bodegas will emerge on top.

At the tasting I think I was the only person making notes (and also one of the very few spitting as I tasted). Making copious notes is something that I was trained to do, and as a result has become something of a habit. For some reason the practice of writing appeared to attract some attention, as I became the target of local newspaper and radio. One guy from the local radio station could not believe that I was making dozens of tasting notes simply for my own reference, he was convinced that they must be for publication….. My 15 minutes of fame at last!