Day three (Sunday) started very overcast, with the ground wet from overnight rain. After two pretty busy days for our picking team, we decided to delay our start until the early afternoon, affording them a short respite and some hours with their families. By 2pm the clouds had  cleared a little and and our fruit had dried completely, and so our harvest was underway once more.

Inside the bodega is was time to start racking the grape must from our first day, drawing off the clean, settled juice into new tanks (leaving any residues (fangos) at the bottom of the original tank). At this point the must is still quite cold from settling and will take a day or two before it reaches a temperature suitable for starting fermentation.

By comparison to our first two days, Sunday appeared to be much less intense, but perhaps this was more because it was a half-day, rather than our grape pickers working more slowly. We are still, of course, very conscious that the rain is approaching and that we could end up with a ‘harvest of two halves’! Apart from causing complications with the picking itself, a split harvest can also cause gaps in the wine making process, as different tanks can be at completely different stages of their development during the fermentation process.

The day started well enough, slightly grey skies, but still dry for the time being. Having said that, the race was still on to gather everything as quickly as possible. In a way, our second day was almost a repeat of the day before; a steady stream of grapes arriving throughout the afternoon feeding the presses with just about the perfect frequency. It wasn’t really until the very end of the day that we had a bit of a glitch. It was due to a problem with transport whereby we had agreed to collect cases from one of our producers, but didn’t have any vehicle available to make the run. By the time our first vehicle became available it was already quite late, meaning that there was a certain amount of waiting around for the final grapes to arrive. Not really a big issue, but just the sort of delay that we want at the end of a long, busy day. The very end of the day also saw the first drops of predicted rain, although really just a few drops (with our fruit already safe inside the cellar)

The only other slight issue with 2025 so far, is a problem that we have been facing for the last vintage or two…. finding enough good, reliable to meet our needs. This is not just a Galician issue, as fruit pickers around the country constantly battle the same problem. Of course, the problem with a grape harvest is that we need a large group of (preferably) experienced people, for just a reasonably short period. This is compounded by the fact that there are maybe 50-100 other large bodegas in Rias Baixas all looking the the same time.

Activity inside the bodega will start tomorrow, as we start to rack the first tanks after 48 hours settling.

After one of the driest summers for years, the weather finally broke during the last week of August. Since then we have had a few days of rain; not excessively heavy, but enough to have some impact. Under normal circumstances we would be cursing wet weather at this time, but after such a long, dry spell this actually helps. Over time the bunches become a little dusty, and so this rain will help to clean the fruit before picking. Also, the small amounts that will have been absorbed into the soil will help to fill-out the fruit a little. The berries were quite small and almost a little dehydrated, so this should help to plump them up without being too detrimental to the quality.

The long and short of it is that we will start picking this Friday, 5th September (it had been my opinion for a month or two that we would start in the first week of September). The cellar is now almost completely ready, all equipment thoroughly cleaned and all machines serviced and (hopefully) ready to go. In the next few days the cellar will be filled with the constant drone of the presses, which is always the sign that harvest is upon us!

Whilst it might seem pretty boring, banging on about the weather in every post, we are still farmers, and weather is a critical factor in determining the final quality of our crop. I can probably sum up the summer of 2025 in three words – hot and dry! I think the last time that we had any real precipitation was probably June, and in the last month, not only zero rain, but many, many days around the 30°C mark (86°F), and a number even higher than this – last week up to 36°C (96°F). The lack of water means that the bunches are there, and starting to ripen, but the berries have not really expanded in size; bunches are still small and tightly packed. It is likely that this will have an impact on our yields, and we will have to monitor the acidity and sugars in the fruit very closely. Of course there are still a few weeks before harvest, but the long range weather forecast is not too promising…. just more of the same.

The only respite has come from the Ocean, with a few breezes to at least lower the ‘perceived’ temperature by a degree or two, and lately, a few days of sea fog. Today, for example, we have quite a thick fog (more than just a mist), and thankfully the temperature has dropped to around 22°C. There is also a very fine mist of moisture hanging in the air, but I am sad to say that this might be the nearest we come to rain before we start picking.

Inside the bodega, we are already starting to prepare tanks, before we enjoy a short summer break later this week. I still believe that we will pick during the first week of September, so we have to move quickly.

Well, it would be true to say that our blog has been a little abandoned this winter, but actually this is mainly because once the holidays are behind us, there is really not too much to write about! Apart from sending out orders, the only main activity has been pruning (although I feel that this subject has been pretty much exhausted over the years!) Anyway, this is thankfully now behind us for another year and our vineyards are primed and now ready for some warm spring sunshine (see today’s photo).

The month of February was quite cold and damp, but although it rained on quite a number of days, there didn’t appear to be too many days that produced heavy, saturating rain. Many days of light rain and drizzle, and also the fine ‘mizzle’ that hangs in the air and sticks to your clothes. Yes, we had some stormy days, with high winds and driving rain, but overall I wouldn’t classify this winter as being overly wet (perhaps the stats will prove me wrong?). March has started with a number of bright, sunny days, but with deceptively chilly breezes and temperatures not much higher that 15° or 16°C (almost 60°F). As a result, there is no real sign of budding just yet, but probably starting very soon.

Our 2024 wines are, of course, still sitting quietly on their lees, and have been subject to regular tasting by Angela and myself. They still look quite promising, and we will soon have to plan the different permutations of tanks for blending. (Yes, we do blend tanks, even with just one single varietal, to give our customers some ‘uniformity of style’ across the coming year, each tank being slightly different to the next).

Well, it’s been a few weeks since the last grapes were picked, and we have reached a point where all fermentations have finally been completed too. It is now simply a question of allowing the new wine to sit quietly on it’s lees until the Spring of new year. We can almost start to relax a little! Having said that, he big job (underway at the moment), is a deep clean of the inside of the tank room, where we actually make the wine. The pressing area (including presses), grape reception and all working areas have already been completed, but the tank room itself could not even be started until every tank is completely closed and tightly sealed.

Outside the bodega (apart from cleaning every plastic case used for collecting grapes) we have also been doing a bit of building work. One night during the harvest, I took a ‘romantic’ picture of the Cambados sunset reflected in a small stream. The reality is that this ‘stream’ was actually an overflow from cleaning the bodega that the ‘water ditch’ simply couldn’t handle. It really needed a big clean-up and an upgrade!

Today’s photo shows the before and after. Clearly the sunset picture is more attractive, but unfortunately the ‘stream’ was actually a blockage that really needed sorting out. The concrete drain that has replaced the ditch is not beautiful, by any stretch if the imagination, but it had to be done…. simply meaning no ‘sunset reflections’ next year!

On Thursday evening I suffered a problem with my computer – at first it was simply a problem in uploading pictures to our social media, and then, by Friday, I had no access to social media at all, and needed to wait until today for IT support. Whatever the problem it has now been resolved and so I will make a quick summary of the last few days.

Friday 20th – Day 9

Not the best day weather wise. We started the morning with a heavy fog/sea mist which, during the morning deteriorated into a fine drizzle of rain. As we were nearing the finish line, and the rain was barely enough to penetrate the canopy, we decided to continue. In the end it proved to be a good decision, in that, as the day progressed, the weather dried up completely. Despite these slightly complicated conditions, the fruit was still good quality, and was not affected by the recent downturn in conditions.

Saturday 21st – Day 10

A washout! The morning started with rain, albeit not heavy. As our teams were all beginning to tire, we decided not to pick at all. During the afternoon the rain stopped and the sky cleared, meaning that the last fruit would at least be dry for the following day.

Sunday 22nd – Day 11

Our last day, collecting the final grapes of our 2024 harvest, and thankfully the weather is dry and sunny! (Just as well, the forecast for the coming days is rain, rain and more rain!). It seems that this year we will probably end up with a slightly larger harvest than last year, and despite all the difficulties earlier in the year (and in the final days before we started), it seems that we will probably end up with a good quantity of good quality fruit (albeit that I never like to pre-judge at this early stage). Clearly, with our tanks now rapidly filling, or already full, the balance of our workload is now shifting indoors, towards the bodega itself.

In the coming days I will comment more about our winemaking, as the grapes finally start to reveal their 2024 character and potential.

Today started off a little bit brighter and got progressively more sunny as the day went on. I can only assume that the fires have subsided a little (we hope), or perhaps it was simply a change of wind direction. Actually, on the subject of the Portuguese fires, I have since discovered that there are serious fires in the North of Portugal, near Braga, and much nearer to the Galician border, and so maybe the smoke didn’t travel quite as far as I thought yesterday (but still around 150km).

We are now picking in ‘El Pazo’ vineyard (as I mentioned yesterday), where many of the vines are very old (70 years+). Of course, this is why we consider it to be one of our very best sites, the fruit being used in our ‘Family Estate’ wine. So why are old vines considered better? Well, it’s almost counter-intuitive really, but the simple explanation is that the older a vine get, the less fruit it produces, but with this lower yield so comes a much higher quality with better concentration of flavours. This also explains why, sometimes, in July, we will make a ‘green harvest’ (when the vine produces too many bunches we remove some of the excess). At the same time we may also remove some of the excess foliage in the ‘canopy’ of the vineyard. By cutting away these leaves and bunches the plant than then simply direct more energy towards the remaining bunches, which, in turn, will produce better quality, more flavourful fruit. Of course, removing bunches will remove the overall amount of wine produced, but we are re-assured in that the fruit we have remaining will be better. This is also the reason that a D.O. in Spain, or an A.O.C. in France will control the maximum yield in their rules and regulations – to stop overproduction of mediocre quality wines. This is measured in Hectolitres per Hectare – the maximum amount of fruit is calculated for each vineyard site by surface area.

I digress, again! The point is the bigger volume is by no means better quality – quite the reverse in fact, which is why old vines are so revered (and often sold as a separate, premium wine). Having said that, there does come a point when the are no longer really viable, and little by little, over time, they will be replaced.

Today, we picked until daylight faded as the predicted threat of rain loomed large.

(Posted one day late, picture added later owing to a technical issue)

Wednesday started with what looked like a cloudy, overcast day. Later we were to discover that it wasn’t actually cloud, but smoke generated by the terrible forest fires raging in Portugal (see today’s photo). Perhaps the most shocking consideration is that these fires are actually located south of Lisbon, more than 600km south of our location! Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Portugal at this terrible time.

Yesterday I mentioned yeasts, which is significant in that seeding of the tanks is already underway. The choice of yeast is interesting, as there are so many different products available, each claiming to be more suitable that the other. Certainly the choice of yeast can, and does change the profile of the finished wine, and so the choice is very much down to the individual winemaker, and the style of albariño that they want to produce. At Castro Martin we always tend use the most ‘neutral’ yeasts, in other words a yeast that does not dominate or change the flavour of the albariño grape. On it’s own, our variety is so fresh and has such a piercing fruit, that we have no reason to want to modify it. That is not to say that we are closed minded, as every year we do make one or two small tanks using a different alternative, to see if the suppliers claim has any legitimacy. In the end, we nearly always come back to our old faithfuls.

Meanwhile, back at the harvest it was yet another uneventful day, a steady flow of quality grapes and a team well versed in how to process them efficiently.

Although the forecast said that today would be partly cloudy, they were wrong! Wall-to-wall hot sunshine! As mentioned yesterday today we are working in our ‘Caeiro’ vineyard that surrounds the bodega. Effectively this means that the grapes are moved from vine to press sometimes in a matter of minutes, and the flow is constant. OK, many of our vineyards are located within a few kilometres, but picking alongside the bodega is really a luxury that makes life so much easier. Instead of being loaded on trucks or vans, the tractors deliver straight to the cellar door.

Meanwhile, in the bodega, there is also a lot of movement as tanks that were filled a day or two ago with fresh grape must are now moved to clean tanks (after cold settling) where they will await seeding and fermentation. We are often asked about yeast, and whether, for example, we can ferment simply using the natural yeast that exists on the skin of the fruit. Much as we would like to do this, the wild yeast would be enough to provoke a spontaneous fermentation, but unfortunately not enough to complete the whole fermentation, which therefore means that these wild yeasts need some assistance. To an extent this is again down to our climate. If we were able to grow fully organic fruit, then it is possible that the population of wild yeast would be greater, and could possibly do the job on it’s own (albeit I would still have a few doubts). A ‘stuck fermentation’ would probably mean that a tank of wine would still need to be seeded in order to help it fully ferment, and so by seeding from the offset the final result is simply a bit more predictable.

At the end of the day, with our bodega vineyard all but finished, tomorrow we will move on to one our best, and oldest vineyards – ‘El Pazo’ (also in our home village of Barrantes).