I make no apologies for writing about the weather again, as, for all winemakers, this is perhaps the single most important factor in determining the quality of everything that they do. It’s much easier to make a poor wine from good grapes than it is making a good wine from poor quality grapes. Although not totally impossible, it is certainly much more of a challenge.

It was only a week or so I posted that the weather had been kind to us, and had virtually saved the flowering, just as things were starting to look ominous. Now I find myself complaining that we do really need some summer weather to kick in. Whilst parts of the world are baking (including the UK as I write this), Galicia has been quite chilly to say the least. One of the main factors behind this has been the wind, persistently blowing from the north, and adding a chill to even some of the sunniest days.

On Monday we did have at least one summer’s day, with blue skies and temperatures actually pushing 30°C (86°F), but that was very short lived. Yesterday, Tuesday, it was misty, damp and cold probably not even reaching 20°C (68°F). I suppose that this is part of the frustration, the continued cool temperatures and our summer never really getting any foothold as yet.

Having said all this, I did have a sneaking suspicion that in a few weeks I might actually be begging for some cooler weather… such is the way of our changing climate.