After a dry winter, April is living up to it’s reputation – periods of sun interspersed by short, sharp showers. Whilst the rainfall is quite welcome, it has not really been enough to replenish our depleted water table, so far. Similar to last year, one of the characteristics of spring so far have been the cool temperatures. Even in the sunshine, winter jackets are often still required, the clear blue skies are quite deceptive. Of course, from a vineyard point of view these cool temperatures are no bad thing, as the worst possible scenario would be showers and sun accompanied by warm temperatures – an ideal combination for disease in the young vine shoots. The other effect of this persistent cold temperature is that development of the vegetation so far, has been a little slow. It’s still early days, so we shall see how things evolve.

Meanwhile, back in the world of Covid, about a week ago, Spain dropped it’s rules for the compulsory use of masks inside public locations. Individual businesses are still allowed to ask people to wear them, and it is very interesting to note that the majority of people still do, both indoors and outdoors. The Spanish (quite correctly in my view), are still very cautious.

By the way, can you spot our bodega in today’s photo? It is just visible!