During these difficult times it can be really difficult to find something positive and upbeat to write about. The television news has become somewhat boring and repetitive, as there is clearly only one story that people want to talk about… I will not mention it by name for the sake of my own sanity!

Meanwhile, the good news is that in Spain we are now enjoying our increased levels of freedom, and together with a bit a warm sunshine, this is certainly helping to lift our spirits. Work is of course, continuing in our vineyards, and recent  periods of rain and sunshine have served to provoke some quite vigorous growth. The downside of these the warm and humid conditions is that some spraying has been necessary in order to reduce the risk of potential disease.

Finally, on a more positive note, pallets have been packed and dispatched to the U.S.A.! Of course, they will take some time to cross the Atlantic and so we can only assume that our importer feels that the re-opening of their market is imminent. We hope that this level of renewed optimism might be contagious, not only in the U.S., but also in our other export markets around the world. Having said that, for the moment at least,we all need to remain patient.

As one or two countries slowly start to emerge from this horrific pandemic, world leaders are now scratching their heads trying to figure out what the next safe step out of lockdown might be. They are all searching for the elusive road map that will lead us towards what has now become known as the “new normal” (whatever that might be). It seems that every Government is waiting to see who will make the first move, and when they do, what the result/consequence might be. Suffice to say that there is a lot of indecision and procrastination, and in many cases, where guidelines have be set out, regrettably they can still be ambiguous and are not always clear.

Of course, certain industries have been particularly hard hit, the restaurant sector being just one of them. In many markets the re-opening of restaurants is perhaps still a month or two away, and when they eventually do, there will be crippling restrictions applied as to how they can operate.

For example, the problem with a reduced-capacity opening (especially in cities with high rent areas), is that unless places are say, perhaps 80% full, then they will probably be making a loss. Therefore, if restaurants do get the green light to re-open, but with distancing in place (and Government support withdrawn), then many outlets will be forced to stay closed to avoid racking up massive losses. It’s a real conundrum…

After no less than 7 weeks in confinement, without any opportunity to exercise or take fresh air (unless visits to the supermarket are included), Spain was finally opened up – albeit just a little. The government has now produced a timetable to allow outdoor exercise, but for limited hours and separated by age group. Under 14’s and over 70’s are able to enjoy freedom during the middle of the day, from 1oam until 8pm, whilst everyone between these ages are limited to two periods – from 6am to 10am and then between 8pm to 11pm. In a system that seems to be overly complicated, the first couple of days has seen considerable congestion during the early period and late periods. During the middle of the day, the streets are, by contrast, relatively quiet. However, as soon as the clock turns 8pm then the evening ‘rush hour’ begins and the streets are soon thronging (certainly when compared to how they have been).

Meanwhile, in the bodega, the pandemic has perhaps thrown up one small benefit. Our online business is doing better than ever before! I have a feeling that Spanish people have always been a little reluctant to shop on the internet, but maybe, owing to the limited choices they have faced over recent weeks, they have decided to give it a try. Of course, we have our fingers crossed that this trend will continue long after the current crisis is over…

By the way, today’s photo shows a dedicated walker who managed to find a little solitude on the beach early this morning.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all!

I’ve talked about food and wine pairings many times before, but never anything like this. I have recently read an article about pairing wine with crisps (or as our American friends call them, potato chips)! Not only does the article make a comparison with generic salted crisps, but actually considers a number of different flavours, and recommends a different wine, or wines, with each one!

Now you can call me a wine snob, but pairing wine with different flavours of potato chips? Really?

For me, the only valuable thing that this comparison will highlight, is how the flavour of any wine can be altered completely by different foods (albeit that in this case we are actually talking about artificial food flavourings). Of course, it would not be uncommon to perhaps nibble a few crisps with a glass of wine as a pre-dinner aperitif, but I would never dream as to go as far as trying to make a ‘food’ and wine pairing! Perhaps if we were talking about tapas with wine, that would be more understandable, but a bag of sour cream and onion, or barbecue flavoured crisps? Well, for me that’s just a step too far.

By the way, albariño is recommended with salt & vinegar crisps!

OK, so the subject of lock down has nothing to do with wine, but it is still a topic of interest to almost everybody, everywhere at the moment.

How is it defined, and what should it mean? Certainly it seems that during this crisis, there are some widely differing ideas of how it is adopted, and perhaps more importantly, how it should be enforced.

Here in Spain we have been under a full lock down for more than a month. Opportunities to leave home are few, and these are strictly controlled – there are both police and army patrols, and fines are issued to transgressors, as simple as that. No latitude is afforded for exercise, except for those with dogs, and only essential shopping is allowed – food and pharmacy.

By contrast, lock down in the UK appears to be much softer, albeit that recent guidelines issued by the police have, if anything, confused the definition even more. It seems that there are now so many potential loopholes that it could make the thorny issue of enforcement even more complicated.

Of course, as no one has any previous experience of this particular pandemic, it is difficult to say which approach can, or will be the most effective. The problem is that whilst we are all still desperate to learn, the number of victims is growing day-by-day and only history will reveal who has made the most beneficial choices.

After more than a month of complete lockdown, life in Spain is a very long way from anything that resembles normality. Although we are, technically, allowed to continue working, there is really not too much happening in the bodega – with the exception of the vineyards, where work continues as normal. With the hotel and restaurant industry at a complete standstill, not only in Spain, but around the world, there is almost no turnover of stock. I guess the fortunate part is that, in the short term, our wine will not deteriorate and will still be available to sell once the markets recover. Perhaps the only significant consequence could be that, depending on how long our sales are curtailed, that we might need to adjust the volume of wine that we make in 2020. This is more to do with tank space than anything else.

In the wine cellar itself we are constantly reminded about how quickly the lockdown took effect. Shortly before it all started we had just embarked on a programme of upgrades to our equipment and infrastructure. For example, replacing all windows in the bodega was put on hold, as was work on an upgrade to our temperature control system. In the tank cooling system were are adding digital sensors and touch screen controls (with remote access), to give us greater control and the potential to monitor temperatures from home during fermentation. (I should quickly add that we do not work from home during the harvest, but we do occasionally go home to sleep!) Suffice to say that tools were quite literally ‘downed’ as we more or less abandoned the cellar, and we can only hope that work will be resumed, and completed in time for the next harvest!

Despite business grinding to a halt, there are some elements of what we do that carry on as normal. Our vines, for example, continue to grow, pandemic or no pandemic.

With the pruning and attaching to the wires now complete, we start on general vineyard maintenance – small, but yet, significant chores. These include removing any unwanted growth (for example, small shoots that start to grow out of the main trunk of the vine), removing snails (that climb and devour the new shoots), and attaching new pheromone traps (this eco-friendly trap uses synthetic pheromones to cause confusion and diverting mating insects away from the vines). In addition to this, and largely depending on what the weather does over the next week or two, will also determine if any treatments are needed, but clearly we still have to monitor the vineyards closely to assess what is needed.

(Today’s photo not only shows the current vine development, but also shows one of our pheromone traps)

Whilst Spain is almost at the end of its second week of lock down, the news is still very grim – in the last 48 hours we have seen the death toll increase to nearly 700 per day. Obviously it is the most populous areas, such as Madrid, that have been hit the worst, and locals were very worried when, shortly prior to the lock down, hundreds of Madridlenos decided to flee the city to seek refuge out in their Galician summer homes. Apart from the obvious health risk, the infrastructure (now in winter mode), was, and is, simply not geared up for this sudden influx of visitors. Supermarkets were stripped bare (in a country where panic buying hasn’t really been an issue at all).

Our streets are completely deserted, but today they were frequented by a rather unusual type of vehicle; a farm tractor with treatment tank being used for spraying the streets – presumably with disinfectant, and not a treatment for protecting grapes! Probably just as well there were no pedestrians….

Since last weekend Spain has been on total lockdown, everything is closed and the streets are deserted. It’s actually very eerie! Supermarkets are still operating, but as you will see from today’s photo, the public are carefully observing the rules of ‘social distancing’ as shops allow only a few people at a time to enter.

As a comparatively small business, we are already beginning to feel the impact, but all we can do in these difficult circumstances, is to continue monitoring government advice and react accordingly.

In the meantime, our primary thoughts are with our customers, staff, family and friends.

It seems that we now have our first cases of coronavirus within a few km of our bodega! A young man, recently returned from Madrid, has been admitted to a local hospital.

Of course, we will take every precaution that we can to stop it entering our business, but the reality is that there is a limit to what we can do. We can thoroughly wash our hands, and disinfect some surfaces, but there are just so many ways that the virus can be transmitted. Short of a complete lock-down, all we can really do is to minimise the risk.

As restaurants and hotels empty, as consumers stay at home, it is inevitable that consumption of our wines will be reduced. We can only hope, for everyone’s sake, that the whole episode will be behind us sooner rather than later.