Last year, whilst explaining why we chose to opt out of the annual Albariño Festival (see August 2006), I mentioned a worrying phenomena that continues to grow here in Spain – The Botellón. Basically these are organised street-drinking parties that take place every weekend in nearly every city, town and village throughout Spain.

Young people take to the off-licences and supermarkets to stock up on spirits and mixers, on the pretext that they cannot afford to drink in bars and discos. The result being that public areas in cities, towns and villages throng with drunken young people well into the early hours of the morning as they openly swig from their bottles. (And when I say young, they start as young as 11, 12 and 13, simply asking their elders to buy the alcohol for them). The areas that they frequent are left littered with debris and empty bottles, and I will not detail some of the other sights and smells! I guess that the only saving grace might be that they do not appear to resort to any violence (as yet).

The Spanish Government has acted by printing the brochure above, stating that one in every three children between the ages of 14 and 18 gets drunk at least once a month, and then it goes on to warn parents that excessive alcohol can cause irreversable brain damage. Bravo! I may hear you say, there is at least one initiative….. but wait, how does Local government chose to back this National scheme?

Reported, quite incredibly, in the local Galician press, is a meeting between a member of the local Xunta and representatives of the young people. Their agenda? To discuss ways to prevent this under age street-drinking? Well, no, but actually to find alternative locations around the city of Pontevedra where they might re-locate their Botellón to create a little less disturbance!!!

You may recall that immediately after our 2006 harvest (in the middle of September), it started to rain. Well, I can tell you now that it almost didn’t stop raining until the end of July 2007! Hardly a complete week passed without some form of precipitation, and this included many days of torrential rain, at times reminiscent of the tropics. Indeed the month of October 2006 recorded the equivalent of six months of the annual rainfall in just three weeks! Suffice to say that I guess we had what you could honestly describe as a wet winter, spring and early summer….

Of course, such humidity levels are not ideal for grape cultivation, and it is only fair to admit that we were obliged to spray against mildew and oidium a little more than usual. Having said that, the many hours that we spent in our vineyards during the early part of the summer certainly paid dividends. By using radical ‘canopy management’ techniques imported from the ‘new world’ (yet rarely seen here in Galicia), we were able to give our fruit the best possible exposure, effectively minimising the levels of treatment needed.

This year, we should certainly make special mention of David (our vineyard manager) who worked tirelessly under Angela’s supervision, to keep our vineyards in tip-top condition – even sacrificing weekends and days of his annual leave to ensure that essential work was carried out at the optimum moment.

The month of August, as we would anticipate, provided a much-needed break from the wet conditions, although temperatures remained fairly modest. However, the character of the 2007 vintage was probably defined during the final two weeks before the grapes were actually collected. The beginning of September witnessed a welcome increase in daytime temperatures, pushing towards 30°C (86°F). Under these conditions the grape sugars received a final boost, but perhaps more significantly, the acidity was reduced to a more manageable level.

Inevitably the actual harvest date was decided by a combination of the physiology of the fruit, and the Galician weather. And so, by Saturday 15th September, with all the boxes ticked, the 2007 harvest kicked off in perfect conditions.

I always believe that the secret of any successful ‘event’ is in the forward planning, and with each passing vintage, we implement the lessons learned from previous years. In this way we hope that each campaign might be a little easier than the last! In 2007 it would appear that this philosophy paid some dividends as our well drilled team went about their business. David and Juan in charge of grape collection, Luisa in charge of grape reception, Fran in charge of the presses, and Angela and I, swanning around trying to look important…..

Actually, I lied about the last part – During the harvest my task is to stay on top of the logistics and planning, making sure that that we have people in the right places when they are needed, and also ensuring that the grapes flow through the cellar in a timely fashion. Angela, meanwhile, can be found in her lab coat, recording the quality of every single grape that enters the Bodega.

The first weekend passed off without major incident, although it soon became clear that the yields of 2007 would be well down on those of 2006. It should be remembered however, that 2006 was a record year, and so this shortfall was only to be expected, and could perhaps equate to a better concentration, and therefore superior quality. We shall see…..

In the early hours of Monday morning as we left the Bodega to grab a few hours sleep, it started to rain (exactly as had been forecast). When we woke up it had stopped, the pavements had dried, but the sky was pretty dull and overcast, with not a breath of wind. In these conditions, having looked at the water retention in the canopy, we decided to suspend picking for the day.

By Tuesday morning the sun had returned, together with a fresh breeze, so naturally we returned to the fray. Fortunately, such a small amount of water had made no difference whatsoever to the quality of the fruit, and this proved to be the only small weather hiccup of the whole vintage.

And so, after one week of picking, all the grapes had been safely gathered in, and we moved into the cellar for the more complex process of the winemaking. The next few weeks will see virtually non-stop activity as we first allow the must to settle, before racking it into clean tanks to begin fermentation. Unfortunately the natural yeasts on the Albariño grape cannot sustain fermentation by themselves, so we stimulate the process by seeding with carefully selected yeasts. After trials with several different yeast strains conducted over the last few years, we have deliberately selected a very neutral variety that allows the delicate flavour of the grape itself to dominate on the palate.

Before fermentation our first view of this year’s ‘must’ reveals a greater concentration than last year – unctuous and with a thicker consistency. The nose and palate both share aromas of peach, pear and apricot (and not as floral as we sometimes see). This rich, generous mouthfeel that originates from the high level of grape sugar, will probably produce an Albariño of around 12.5% alcohol – the same as our 2006 wine. So, despite the reduced quantity that we have produced, we have high hopes for the quality of our 2007 wine.

Today is yet another sunny day, but without the breeze, and consequently warmer than yesterday. One of the big problems that we face in these conditions is the risk of catching colds and flu – perhaps I should explain……

It’s quite simple really – one minute you find yourself working in a warm sunny reception area checking in grapes as they arrive, and the next you are down in the bowels of the cellar racking ‘musts’, where the ambient temperature is usually between 12°C and 14°C. Alternating between a sweatshirt and a t-shirt there is naturally the risk of catching a chill – a sore throat is pretty much an occupational hazard (although this could be caused by the presence of suphur that is used to protect the fresh juice).

Today’s only real problem is a shortage of electricity! It would seem that the recent upgrade of our cooling system (which obviously works overtime during the harvest), has overloaded the circuit a little. You would think that the electricians might have thought of this before now! But no matter, a few adjustments and a bit of sticky tape appears to have done the trick and everything is working again.