I now have reached a ‘certain age’ whereby an annual check-up with my local doctor is strongly advised. After a recent blood test came the almost inevitable speech, cut down on fats, cut down on sugar, cut down on salt etc., etc…. This was accompanied by a diet sheet – three columns of food types from ‘healthy’ to ‘don’t even think about it’!

Don’t get me wrong, my results were marginal and in most cases my blood didn’t actually exceed any dangerous levels, it was more a case of take care with what you eat (which I do, more or less, as a matter of course). Indeed I follow the same mantra for food as we recommend for our wines…. eat/drink in moderation.

On a subsequent visit to my local supermarket I actually did shop with a bit more caution than usual, trying to read some of the (very) small print on the packaging highlighting the nutritional values. One of my weaknesses is a sweet tooth, and I do like an occasional biscuit with my mug of tea. (Usually only one or two a day). On the shelf my eye was drawn to a packet of oat biscuits strategically placed very near to the vegetarian/health food section. With a green packet and a small medallion highlighting the use of sunflower oil (instead of palm oil), I picked up a pack and dropped them in my basket – assuming that I had done the right thing. It seems that I was wrong.

At home, under closer inspection, I realised that these ‘pseudo health biscuits’ actually had an identical sugar content to my normal brand, and so, apart from the sunflower oil, there was almost no health benefit at all. What’s the phrase? “Caveat emptor” (buyer beware).

At the end of May I wrote that our weather conditions so far this year have not exactly been ideal for growing fruit. We always try to explain that in our location, immediately adjacent to the Ocean, conditions are often unpredictable, to say the least, and can change very quickly. Until today, I’m afraid to say that the month of June has been pretty much the same – on some days alternating from rain to warm sunshine perhaps three or four times within a 24 hour period. As illustrated last month, every bodega now have their tractors working overtime (giving treatments). Indeed, only this morning I was following a couple along the road as I entered our village of Barrantes. The other downside of having to treat our vines so much is quite simply the cost. For example, we have already used our entire quota for this summer within the space of a couple of months (some six or seven weeks before our normal cut-off point, after which time we are obliged to stop, regardless of the weather). We are now hoping that the summer solstice might have introduced a change in our fortunes, at least in the short-term, as the forecast is now set fair for the coming days. We shall see!

With the ‘vine vigour’ that this weather brings our people are now hard at work thinning the canopy (stripping all the unwanted, thick foliage in order that the small bunches get the sun exposure that they will require to eventually ripen. At the same time this work opens up the canopy allowing it to ‘breath’ so that humidity does not get trapped underneath. Today’s picture shows the result of that work which is both slow and painstaking.

Yesterday we welcomed a small, but important group of UK journalists to our bodega (as part of their two day tour of our denomination). Arriving at 9.30am, we were the very first bodega on their itinerary and at that time in the morning there can be nothing better to rinse the coffee and toothpaste from your palate than a refreshing glass of albariño! As I think I may have mentioned before, the first sample of any tasting can often be a tough one, as it often takes the palate a little time to adjust. Having said that, after an hour and a half of chatting and tasting I would like to think that our wines were well received and that they left Castro Martin with a favourable impression of what we do.

When they eventually left our bodega the weather was not only sunny, but it was also quite warm and humid, and so it remained for much of the day. This morning, however, as we opened our shutters, it was raining, and the temperature had dropped by nearly 10°C from the previous day’s high. As our UK friends started their second day I was thinking that perhaps this experience will give them a greater understanding of the vagaries of our climate, albeit that from our point of view, this is really not the way that we would want people to learn. As a result, I have no doubt we will be obliged to treat our vineyards (yet again) within the coming days.

We are almost at the end of May, and what a month it has been (for weather)! OK, we have not suffered any of the extremes so frequently faced in other parts of the world these days, but from a fruit growing perspective it has not been ideal. Not a total disaster, but simply not ideal.

Our problem has been the erratic conditions, with some days of sun, interspersed with days of rain. Despite enjoying a comparatively dry, sunny spell in the middle of the month the temperatures were tempered somewhat by a cold and very persistent wind from the north. The only upshot of this dry spell was that the flowering did at least pass of relatively smoothly.

The weather today is only 15°C (about 60°F), which for this time of year is cold, and the grey sky is filled with low hanging cloud, almost in the form of a mist. It is very unseasonal to say the least.

The consequence of these conditions is the return of disease – mildew to be precise, which is a simple illustration of why it is (or would be), so difficult for us to produce completely organic wines in our region. Our climate makes it difficult, if not impossible. Over the last few days the local spacemen have been scrambling around on their tractors with their spraying equipment in tow, as the pressure to protect our vines in never ending. (I say spacemen simply as the protective suits and helmets frequently worn these days can resemble NASA spacesuits!)

As from December 2023 we will be obliged to add nutritional information to our labels. Of course, with the amount of information already appearing on labels (including government health warnings etc.), there is a danger that the label might eventually cover most of the bottle! This leaves us with two options, either produce bigger bottles, or add a QR code to the label linking consumers directly to the information. (The first option of bigger bottles was very much tongue-in-cheek and we have used option two).

Suffice to say that in the very near future we will start to print labels with this new QR code included. (We do already include QR codes that links to the product page of the wine being consumed). The new QR will replace this, but this new link will still include information about the wine itself, so not all will be technical information.

In the meantime, we have already posted nutritional information on our website. On each product page (English and Spanish) there is a link under the downloads (descargas) section. The same link also appears under the general ‘downloads’ header on our homepage. All of these links are clearly marked ‘Nutritional Information’.

As if tempting fate I mentioned the possibility of disease in our vineyards in my very last post…. little did I know! Since the extended of sunny, warm weather over the Easter break, April has certainly lived up to its reputation – stop, start showers over the majority of days, interspersed with sporadic sunshine and reasonably mild temperatures.

At this time of year we would normally be giving our first treatments in the vineyards anyway, but this year it has been very tricky to say the least. No sooner have we administered a treatment, than the showers have started and washed off the ‘contact’ treatments that we now use. I use the term ‘contact’, because there are two types of treatments normally available:

‘Contact’ means exactly as it says, it is sprayed onto the vine and dries on the surface, it does not actually penetrate the plant, making it more widely acceptable for use in sustainable vineyards. The downside of contact treatments is that they are simply washed off by rain, especially if not given time to dry completely.

The second type of treatment is ‘systemic’, which works rather like an injection given to human beings, it actually penetrates the plant and gives protection to prevent disease from even appearing. This sounds almost to good to be true, but the downside of this is that over time the immunity of the plant can diminish as it eventually builds up a resistance to the treatment. Apart from this many systemic products are not considered eco-friendly, and certainly are no longer used by sustainable producers, such as Castro Martin.

The long and short of the story, is that, despite our careful vigilance, we have, regrettably suffered an attack of powdery mildew (one of the most common problems faced by vineyards). The only thing we can do now is to remove the diseased vegetation and continue to treat where we can, all the time hoping that our loses will not be too great.

After the outrageously wet weather of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, Easter provided us with quite a contrast. Warm, sunny weather for the duration of the extended weekend. After a long, quiet winter, almost bereft of visitors, our coastal towns were bursting at the seams with people flocking from Madrid, Spain and many others from Portugal. Our local bars and restaurants were pretty much overwhelmed after months of relative inactivity.

On Easter Monday, just as our visitors were packing their bags, the clouds returned, as did the rain – ‘April Showers’ I think we call them in English (‘Abril aguas mil’ in Spanish).

The pruning is now behind us, which is just as well, as today’s photo shows the vigorous new growth in our vineyards. Of course, the combination of sun and showers is always a big stimulant, whilst on the other hand, alternate periods of warmth and humidity can also help to promote disease. At this time we always have to remain vigilant, as damage sustained now can sometimes be irretrievable.

As I have explained many times to friends and visitors alike, Galician weather is actually quite similar to UK weather, with the difference being that it is perhaps 4° or 5°C warmer at most times of year. One of the reasons for this similarity are the Atlantic weather systems which often clip the northwest corner of Spain on their way to the UK.

The other day I captured an image from a BBC weather forecast in which they showed a rain system tracking from southwest to northeast across the North Atlantic. (A direction from which much of our weather develops, and one of the main reasons that we have the amount of rainfall that we do). If you take a look at today’s picture you will notice one small patch of rain, stationed, almost perfectly, over Galicia, whist the rest of Spain remains completely untouched.

Of course, being located in this cool, green corner of Spain is not always such a bad thing. During recent summers whilst much of Spain has been sweltering in record temperatures, Galicia has often come out of this largely unscathed. Having said that we have had experienced some extended dry spells which helps to explain why three out of lour last four vintages have attained an alcohol level of 13%.

At Castro Martin you may have noticed the term ‘Sobre Lías’ on our labels, which translated means ‘on the lees’. The lees ageing of our wine forms an important part of our wine making process. The lees themselves are the exhausted or dead yeast cells that fall to the bottom of the tank once the alcoholic fermentation is finished. They are loaded with mannoproteins, which, when left in contact, can have a number of beneficial effects on our wines (assuming of course, that they are monitored regularly, mostly by tasting). Firstly, they release flavour and aroma compounds, as well as adding texture. They produce proteins that reduce tannins, which is helpful as tannin is not really required in white wines. Finally, the ‘reductive’ properties of the lees can also provide protection against oxidation, thus giving the final wine an extended shelf life.

So what is batonnage? This is really just a posh way of saying that we stir the lees from time to time, which helps them to stay suspended in the wine and increase the benefit of the lees contact. (It is a little like stirring your tea after you have added sugar – you don’t want the sugar to just sink and settle on the bottom of your cup). On the downside, lees left undisturbed can also start to produce some ‘off’ flavours and aromas, usually in the form of a stink of reduced sulphur (hydrogen sulphide). Batonnage can actually help to prevent these flavours and aromas from developing in the first place.

The decision of when, and how often to stir is a decision based on the evolution and development of the wine itself, combined with the experience and knowledge of the wine maker.

(Note: Photo is only to illustrate, we do not use barrels in our cellar)