Now, I am never quite sure what people expect to see when they visit our vineyards at flowering time. If they anticipate seeing a display of colour to rival the famous Chelsea flower show, then they should simply stay at home! Indeed, I remember my own reaction many many years ago, thinking to myself ‘but where are all the flowers?’ (saying nothing to the French vigneron who was showing me for fear of seeming ignorant).

I think that I have probably incorporated photos of the actual flowering on this blog in previous years, but quite honestly there’s not really that much to see, and it makes a rather boring header for the top of my page.

The important thing is that we have the right weather, and I’m pleased to report that the last week has been sensational – it would appear that the flowering for 2009 has passed off successfully. In the period leading up to this the weather had been cool and damp and we feared that we could have a poor flowering that would inevitably lead to uneven bunches. The French call this millerandage, but I am not sure if the Spanish actually have a word for it. When I looked it up in my LexiVin the translation was ‘granos muy pequeños’, which quite literally means very small berries…. hardly an apt description.

I have not posted for the last week or so, as I have been away in the UK. Now, I am not saying that the English are perfect drivers, but I was very soon reminded that I was ‘home’ again when after only 400 metres of my journey to work, the first would-be Fernando Alonso pulled out of a side road in front of me without even looking. Having said that, I am often shocked that many of the fast and aggressive drivers here in Spain are actually the young women! Sorry girls……

I am not sure which amuses me more – the fact that the senders of Spam and Phishing mails think that you are stupid enough to believe them, or the fact that there are actually people who do believe them. (Of course there those who respond just out of mischief, with websites dedicated to the humorous exchanges of correspondence between them, but this is not my point).

If you, or someone you know, suddenly inherits $30 million, would you seriously send out blanket e-mails on the internet inviting complete strangers to share in your good fortune? I think not. It’s as good as saying “you don’t know me from Adam but I want to give you lots of money, and all you have to do is send me all your bank account details”!

On top of this you have the strange use of English (even though the sender has an English name, claims to be a native speaker, but oddly enough lives in Nigeria), not to mention the dodgy addresses and peculiar arrangements for tranferring money. It’s all just a bit too far fetched.

I must confess that I am very often tempted to reply myself, but merely to ask if they really think that I am terminally stupid!

Recently, I have received a new variation on the $30 million mail, which is perhaps a little less ambitious. It claims that the sender has tasted our wine and is desperate to buy some for his or her forthcoming wedding/birthday/barmitzvah or whatever. They start by saying that they are currently on holiday, which I guess might be to disguise the fact that their e-mail address does not match with the fact that they claim to be American. (All of the versions I have seen so far claim to be American, but usually with a very odd or suspicious name, coupled with an appalling grasp of the English language). Despite being ‘private’ individuals they tell us that they have all the shipping and documentation organised, and that all we have to do is leave $30,000 cash in a brown envelope, behind the dustbins outside Kings Cross railway station……

OK, so the last part is not true, but as you can imagine, the payment method that they suggest is never straightforward, and I rather suspect would entail sending them all my bank account details.

Sure – no problem!

So, after months of heartbreak, anguish and general disruption, we are finally almost 100% fully operational again. Trying hard to look at the positive side for just one moment I believe that we have probably emerged from this catastrophe slightly better equipped than we were before.

In repairing the tanks we have taken advantage of the opportunity to upgrade our equipment slightly, all of the modifications designed to benefit our wine both in the short and long term.

Firstly, the new cooling jackets (the original cause of the accident) have been improved, and we are told that they should now give us better and more efficient control of the temperature in our tanks. It is difficult to see from this photograph, but the ribs of each jacket have a greater circumference than before, thus allowing a more efficient flow of cooling fluid around the cellar. This claim is as yet untested as we still await for the tanks to be connected…. so fingers crossed.

In addition, we have also completely replaced the lid of each tank with a brand new closure that is apparently more airtight than the previous version (those removed were the originals from 25 years ago).

Every tank now has a ‘manhole’ to allow full access for cleaning, and the final touch is a new ‘non-drip’ tasting tap on the front.

I am not saying for one second that we are happy with what happened at the end of last summer (the logistical problems of moving wine around have given us both sleepless nights), but at least we have reaped a few small benefits from the whole experience.

Hello, Mr Angry here! Well, where do I start?

I deliberately used this photograph to remind you that food served as an appetiser, amuse-bouche, tapas or whatever you chose to call it can just as easily influence the taste of your aperitif wine.

Simple salted foods including cashew or peanuts will certainly modify flavour, as will olives (except that a nice glass of a bone-dry chilled sherry, such as a fresh Manzanilla, might save the day). Cooked olives however, as part of casserole or sauce will probably require a full bodied red wine, such as a good Rhone to support the richness.

In a similar way, artichokes have to be treated with great caution – the bitter, phenolic flavours of globe artichokes can and will make many wines taste decidedly odd, although a clean white wine with fresh acidity, such as an albariño, is a possible option (dependent on how the dish is prepared). I mention preparation simply by way of a reminder that it is not always the raw ingredient on it’s own that will decide the suitability of the wine you have selected, but just as importantly, the way that the dish is cooked i.e. the sauce or seasoning that has been added.

Also pay particular attention to oily or smoked fish – fresh, aromatic white wine should certainly help to give a lift, but please be aware that a good wine might be ‘tainted’ by a strong smoky flavour.

Cooking with fruit (fresh or dried) may once again play tricks with your wine. Fruit used in savoury dishes does run the possibility of making a dry wine taste thin, tart or even completely flat. So take care, and if in doubt, experiment at home before you invite your guests to dinner (a good excuse for a tasting, as if it were needed).

Dessert is a whole different subject….. There are many obviously good selections that can be made – sweet, fortified wine such as Australian muscat is the perfect choice with chocolate, in the same way that it can stand up to a palate-numbing ice cream pudding. I am sure that I have also seen Albariño as a recommendation for dessert, but this was probably made by someone desperate to sell wine (no, it wasn’t me!)

Finally, I will mention cheese. Now the traditionalists will say that you need a good Bordeaux to go with your cheese, or possibly a port with your Stilton, and who am I to argue? The only thing that I would say is that there are many styles of cheese, in the same way that there are many styles of wine – some work, and some don’t.

Sauternes with your Roquefort should be delicious, and a Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé will go very nicely with a goat’s cheese. Indeed, I once ate in a restaurant in Sancerre where the menu was made up entirely of goat’s cheese dishes, and by the end of the meal I had grown a small beard and developed the ability to balance on tree branches. OK, so the latter part is not true, but the wine suggestion does work. And last but not least, Albariño can also be served with goat’s cheese, more especially those with a tart, sharp flavour.

I have been threatening for some time now to write about food and wine recommendations and/or parings etc, and today is the ‘first in the series’. I thought I would start by highlighting some of the more difficult foods to match, that are perhaps best avoided, not just with Albariño, but possibly with any type of wine.

The Rias Baixas denomination is pretty much unique in Spain, as it is probably the only DO in which the name of the grape variety is better known than the name of the denomination itself. For example, nearly every wine consumer will know Rioja or Ribero del Duero, but how many would dream of asking for them by using their varietal name – tempranillo or tinto fino?

Of course one advantage is that Albariño is perhaps a little easier to remember than the rather complicated DO name of ‘Rias Baixas’ (plus slightly more staightforward to pronounce). It also ties in more closely with the concept of ‘new world’ wines where wine selection is simplified by use of the varietal name.

Now, growers around the world have not been slow to latch on to this opening, and as Albarino becomes more fashionable, so we have witnessed new plantings popping up all over the globe. Undoubtedly it is not simply a question of plonking the vines wherever you think fit, as there are many other considerations to take into account, not least of all climate and soil (each single factor having a considerable influence on the quality and style of the end product). Then, of course, there is the actual clone of the Albarino vine itself, as in keeping with many other grape varieties, there are quite literally hundreds of variants available.

And so, finally, I have come to the point of my story – Australia.

The Australians have been showing great enthusiasm for Albarino for some time now, as witnessed first hand on our recent trip to Sydney and Melbourne. Not only are they importing wine in the finished, bottled form, but many local winemakers have been avidly planting vineyards with what they believed to be Albarino grapes……. and thereby lies the problem.

Before the days of DNA testing, vines were more or less distinguished by their physical attributes, leaf shape etc, and for the taste of the wine that they produced. However recent DNA analysis has revealed that the original vines imported, screened and sold by the Australian CSIRO (government research organisation) are not in fact Albarino, but are actually the less fashionable Savagnin grape from the Jura region of France – and also identical to the Traminer grape variety. Confusing?

This is a disaster for the Australian growers who have invested in this work, as part of the very reason for embarking down this road was simply to capitalise, quite understandably, on the growing market for the Albarino grape. Now they are banned completely from using the name.

For a slightly more informed explanation of the story, try this link to Jancis Robinson’s article in last weekends Financial Times.

I have always believed that a good website or blog is essential in this day and age as people spend an increasing amount of time surfing the web, in chat rooms (or maybe these have been replaced by twit rooms?), and shopping online for their groceries.

Without being too critical I think it is fair to say that the website of our denomination (Rias Baixas) was a little outdated, and not very functional. However, I am pleased to announce that a brand new website has now been launched. It’s not that you will find too much new, cutting edge information, but at least the new site is a little easier to navigate and more pleasant to look at (apart from the rather annoying banner at the top of the page which is constantly moving about, distracting the eye, rather like an ad for free bingo!) Anyway, if you have a second, then do take a look.

Secondly, in this small ‘housekeeping’ blog, I just wanted to mention that we have changed our bottle slightly…… same shape, same size, same weight, just a slightly different colour. You may recall a long time ago I had a little moan about the difficulty of sourcing the exact colour and quality of bottle that I wanted – well, this new bottle is not quite perfect, but it is a small step closer. Don’t panic though, it is not a dramatic difference, but if compare you the two together you will notice that the new bottle is a shade more dark green than the dark brown of the current one.

Lost in translation:
Nothing to do with these posts, but just something that made me smile. I was reading the Spanish blog of my favourite local restaurant Pepe Vieira, and, feeling a little lazy on a Friday afternoon, ran the blog entry through some translation software….. I really have to go and eat there, the menu sounds delicious:

Brandada of codfish, cream of sprocket wheels with apple emulsion
Vieiras cleaning rods with apple and files

Yum, yum!

It is a little while since I last updated progress on our tank repairs, especially as we have just enjoyed (?) a five day Easter break here in Ribadumia. I say Ribadumia because, in keeping with the vagaries of Spanish holidays, not everyone in Galicia had the same length of break. Indeed, we once again experienced the rather odd situation in Pontevedra, when one side of the river (that divides the city where we live) was on holiday, whereas the other side of the river was not. Anyway, as usual I digress….

To be honest I have stayed away from our tank room (perhaps more than I should), as it is simply heartbreaking to see the absolute chaos that exists in our normally well-ordered cellar. Fortunately, the cellar is divided into three seperate tank rooms, and as the work is only taking place in one of the three, we are more or less able to contain the amount of dirt and dust generated by the work.

In the last couple of days however, we seem to be making real progress as the new/repaired tanks are re-assembled (the top half, and cooling jackets are completely new – see photo). My own estimate is that nearly three quarters of the work is now complete, and order is slowly being restored. Indeed, on one side of the cellar we now have a complete row of restored and rejuvenated tanks, which I have to say look rather resplendent.

Hopefully, within the next few weeks I will be posting a photo of the completed work, or at least once our own guys have had an opportunity to give the place a serious deep-clean.