When it comes to wine styles and the ‘typicity’ of an appellation or denomination, then I confess that I am a bit (or probably a lot) of a purist. I like my wines to taste as they should, and to be a true representation of both the grape variety and the region that they are supposed to represent. For example, I have never been a great lover of Chablis with oak, over-ripe, over-extracted Bordeaux wines, or even Albariño with oak for that matter….. but then that’s just my personal taste.

On the subject of purists, I discovered only quite recently that the German beer brewers association wants a five-century-old law governing how German beer is made to become part of the UNESCO world heritage list. Written by Bavarian noblemen in 1516, the law says only water, barley and hops may be used to brew beer. Yeast was added to the list, known as the ‘beer purity law’ or Reinheitsgebot, when scientists discovered the fermenting agent centuries later.

Some brewers however, do not support this idea, as they want to be more creative, introducing aromatic hops, berries, or even spices and herbs to their beer. This is, in some ways, quite reminiscent of modern winemaking…..

Our denomination rules prevent us from adding artificial flavourings or additives to our wines (not that we would ever want to), but it is however, still possible to modify the flavour of a wine by using some of the more recently developed strains of yeast. Reading a catalogue of the yeasts available these days can be quite enlightening – some yeasts claim to enhance or perhaps exaggerate certain fruit characteristics in your grape, whilst others might even add certain a-typical flavours. Of course there is always the temptation to stray a little from the ‘norm’ and to make styles that are a touch more ‘commercial’ as I call it. Such wines might end up being easier to drink, but on the other hand, they could simply lack the real character of the grape variety and the area in which they are grown. In the end there’s quite a thin line between improving a wine, and making something that is unrecognisable and not representative of what it is supposed to be.

And that quite simply is why I will always be a purist!

When it comes to wine styles and the ‘typicity’ of an appellation or denomination, then I confess that I am a bit (or probably a lot) of a purist. I like my wines to taste as they should, and to be a true representation of both the grape variety and the region that they are supposed to represent. For example, I have never been a great lover of Chablis with oak, over-ripe, over-extracted Bordeaux wines, or even Albariño with oak for that matter….. but then that’s just my personal taste.

On the subject of purists, I discovered only quite recently that the German beer brewers association wants a five-century-old law governing how German beer is made to become part of the UNESCO world heritage list. Written by Bavarian noblemen in 1516, the law says only water, barley and hops may be used to brew beer. Yeast was added to the list, known as the ‘beer purity law’ or Reinheitsgebot, when scientists discovered the fermenting agent centuries later.

Some brewers however, do not support this idea, as they want to be more creative, introducing aromatic hops, berries, or even spices and herbs to their beer. This is, in some ways, quite reminiscent of modern winemaking…..

Our denomination rules prevent us from adding artificial flavourings or additives to our wines (not that we would ever want to), but it is however, still possible to modify the flavour of a wine by using some of the more recently developed strains of yeast. Reading a catalogue of the yeasts available these days can be quite enlightening – some yeasts claim to enhance or perhaps exaggerate certain fruit characteristics in your grape, whilst others might even add certain a-typical flavours. Of course there is always the temptation to stray a little from the ‘norm’ and to make styles that are a touch more ‘commercial’ as I call it. Such wines might end up being easier to drink, but on the other hand, they could simply lack the real character of the grape variety and the area in which they are grown. In the end there’s quite a thin line between improving a wine, and making something that is unrecognisable and not representative of what it is supposed to be.

And that quite simply is why I will always be a purist!

2013 turns out to be a year of anniversaries – it is the 25th anniversary of our own denomination, Rias Baixas, created in 1988, but more importantly Bodegas Castro Martin is celebrating its own special date. The bodega that we use today was built in 1981, so nothing significant there, however our first vintage was produced in 1982, which is actually much more relevant…. Although the grapes of our most recent vintage were picked in 2012, and will carry that vintage on the label, the wine itself (after its period of lees ageing) is not actually released until now – the spring of 2013.

Of course this means that we now in the process of preparing the wine of our 30th vintage, or to be more accurate the 30th vintage of Casal Caeiro (other labels were not created until much later). By way of a reminder to our customers we have modified the current label, which for the next 12 months will carry a new motif to highlight this special anniversary.

You may have noticed that our bodega is actually several years older than the denomination itself, and if you have read our website you will know that this is purely due to the foresight of our founder, Domingo Martin. Angela’s father was one of the very first to invest financially in the local wine industry, thereby proving his belief and commitment to the future of the albariño grape variety. We are very proud to be counted as one of the founding bodegas of the D.O. Rias Baixas and hope that you will join in our celebration by cracking open one of our 30th anniversary bottles.

2013 turns out to be a year of anniversaries – it is the 25th anniversary of our own denomination, Rias Baixas, created in 1988, but more importantly Bodegas Castro Martin is celebrating its own special date. The bodega that we use today was built in 1981, so nothing significant there, however our first vintage was produced in 1982, which is actually much more relevant…. Although the grapes of our most recent vintage were picked in 2012, and will carry that vintage on the label, the wine itself (after its period of lees ageing) is not actually released until now – the spring of 2013.

Of course this means that we now in the process of preparing the wine of our 30th vintage, or to be more accurate the 30th vintage of Casal Caeiro (other labels were not created until much later). By way of a reminder to our customers we have modified the current label, which for the next 12 months will carry a new motif to highlight this special anniversary.

You may have noticed that our bodega is actually several years older than the denomination itself, and if you have read our website you will know that this is purely due to the foresight of our founder, Domingo Martin. Angela’s father was one of the very first to invest financially in the local wine industry, thereby proving his belief and commitment to the future of the albariño grape variety. We are very proud to be counted as one of the founding bodegas of the D.O. Rias Baixas and hope that you will join in our celebration by cracking open one of our 30th anniversary bottles.

As many of you will know one of my big passions is photography, and by way of personal education I often participate in webcasts of the various software suppliers. The reality of a webcast is that it’s pretty much like watching a video, with the exception that there is (in theory) the opportunity to interact and ask questions. It’s a nice idea but pans out rather like a radio phone-in whereby the chances of getting your own questions answered are fairly remote. You do however, feel like you are at least participating first hand, almost like you are part of some exclusive club – it works pretty well.

So my point? Well, only yesterday I received an invitation from an office, financed by the Spanish government (that will remain nameless), to take part in a video conference about selling wine abroad. Fantastic I thought, we are finally moving forward as an industry and coming up with some creative, original ideas….. so let me take a closer look I thought to myself.

OK, so the first downside, we are required to pay 20 Euros to participate (all the other webcasts I have joined have been free), and then comes the agenda. The whole conference/video link is less than two hours in total, but then the first 15 minutes is taken up by ‘Reception & Coffee’!!! So, if you’re an online participant what exactly are you supposed to do? Sit around and watch people drinking coffee? Or maybe you’re expected to nip out to your nearest Starbucks and buy a cup so that you can join in with the reception! Whatever the answer I just found it a bit odd that an online conference (webcast) should start with a coffee break.

As many of you will know one of my big passions is photography, and by way of personal education I often participate in webcasts of the various software suppliers. The reality of a webcast is that it’s pretty much like watching a video, with the exception that there is (in theory) the opportunity to interact and ask questions. It’s a nice idea but pans out rather like a radio phone-in whereby the chances of getting your own questions answered are fairly remote. You do however, feel like you are at least participating first hand, almost like you are part of some exclusive club – it works pretty well.

So my point? Well, only yesterday I received an invitation from an office, financed by the Spanish government (that will remain nameless), to take part in a video conference about selling wine abroad. Fantastic I thought, we are finally moving forward as an industry and coming up with some creative, original ideas….. so let me take a closer look I thought to myself.

OK, so the first downside, we are required to pay 20 Euros to participate (all the other webcasts I have joined have been free), and then comes the agenda. The whole conference/video link is less than two hours in total, but then the first 15 minutes is taken up by ‘Reception & Coffee’!!! So, if you’re an online participant what exactly are you supposed to do? Sit around and watch people drinking coffee? Or maybe you’re expected to nip out to your nearest Starbucks and buy a cup so that you can join in with the reception! Whatever the answer I just found it a bit odd that an online conference (webcast) should start with a coffee break.

A week or so ago we had our annual Albariño Festival a few km from our cellar in the local town of Cambados. As some of you may already know from previous posts I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the festival, as there are parts of it I like, and parts where I think we have lost our way a bit. I will explain…..

Of course the idea of any festival is to celebrate something – in this case our fantastic wines. We invite visitors, not only from our own region, but from around the world to come and taste our wines. Indeed, we have even added a ‘Taste Tunnel’ where people can buy a ticket to pass through and sample many of the best wines of the region, in an organised and civilised fashion. For me, I believe that this is the way that it should be done – an opportunity to taste, and to get to know the wines of Rias Baixas. During the day and early evening the festival retains this calm, orderly atmosphere, where visitors stroll around and enjoy an odd glass of wine or two – a great advertisement for our region.

However, after dark and during the night, the atmosphere changes, where to be honest our celebration becomes more of a drunken ‘free-for-all’, or perhaps an organised botellon (as I have described it in the past). Selling huge amounts of wine to young people might be considered a good way of moving a bit of stock, but does it really send out the right signals? In other countries they try to promote the consumption of alcohol ‘in moderation’, often with health warnings printed on the bottles – here it would appear, that as a region, we are quite simply endorsing the abuse of alcohol. It is after all, an ‘official’ festival. It is for this reason alone that we have chosen not to take a booth at the fair for the last four or five years.

Certainly, I do not wish to be seen as a ‘killjoy’, to stop young people having fun, but it is just that in my opinion any serious wine tasting festival should at least be seen to distance itself from encouraging drunken behavior…..

If the official statistics for the festival to be believed, this might give you a clearer picture. It is claimed that over a 4 day period (bearing in mind that there is very little activity during the day, and that some booths do not even open), some 85,000 bottles of albariño were consumed. More than 7,000 twelve bottle cases, or the equivalent of more than 4½ 40ft containers of wine. In the small seaside town of Cambados, that is an awful lot of wine to sell in just 4 days, and perhaps not a statistic to be proud of?

A week or so ago we had our annual Albariño Festival a few km from our cellar in the local town of Cambados. As some of you may already know from previous posts I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the festival, as there are parts of it I like, and parts where I think we have lost our way a bit. I will explain…..

Of course the idea of any festival is to celebrate something – in this case our fantastic wines. We invite visitors, not only from our own region, but from around the world to come and taste our wines. Indeed, we have even added a ‘Taste Tunnel’ where people can buy a ticket to pass through and sample many of the best wines of the region, in an organised and civilised fashion. For me, I believe that this is the way that it should be done – an opportunity to taste, and to get to know the wines of Rias Baixas. During the day and early evening the festival retains this calm, orderly atmosphere, where visitors stroll around and enjoy an odd glass of wine or two – a great advertisement for our region.

However, after dark and during the night, the atmosphere changes, where to be honest our celebration becomes more of a drunken ‘free-for-all’, or perhaps an organised botellon (as I have described it in the past). Selling huge amounts of wine to young people might be considered a good way of moving a bit of stock, but does it really send out the right signals? In other countries they try to promote the consumption of alcohol ‘in moderation’, often with health warnings printed on the bottles – here it would appear, that as a region, we are quite simply endorsing the abuse of alcohol. It is after all, an ‘official’ festival. It is for this reason alone that we have chosen not to take a booth at the fair for the last four or five years.

Certainly, I do not wish to be seen as a ‘killjoy’, to stop young people having fun, but it is just that in my opinion any serious wine tasting festival should at least be seen to distance itself from encouraging drunken behavior…..

If the official statistics for the festival to be believed, this might give you a clearer picture. It is claimed that over a 4 day period (bearing in mind that there is very little activity during the day, and that some booths do not even open), some 85,000 bottles of albariño were consumed. More than 7,000 twelve bottle cases, or the equivalent of more than 4½ 40ft containers of wine. In the small seaside town of Cambados, that is an awful lot of wine to sell in just 4 days, and perhaps not a statistic to be proud of?

You may notice that in the title of this post I have put the words “very good” in inverted commas, in the same way as you might make a gesture in the air with four curled fingers, implying that it is a quote that you don’t really believe. The reason I say this is because I was slightly astonished by this generous rating. If you consider that the global classification of a vintage has to encompass the good, the bad and the ugly, it really should be an indication of the average quality for the region. Good bodegas and good winemakers will always be able to achieve a pretty good result, even if the wine Gods chose not to work in their favour, but unfortunately this will not necessarily apply across the board, and an objective viewpoint is therefore required.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 2011 is a disaster, and indeed I have to admit that I am quite pleasantly surprised by what we have produced for this, our current vintage.

I am sure that this is not the first time I have said this, but looking back at the official classification of our last 24 vintages, the only three ratings that have ever been used are Good, Very Good and Excellent. I will say no more.

You may notice that in the title of this post I have put the words “very good” in inverted commas, in the same way as you might make a gesture in the air with four curled fingers, implying that it is a quote that you don’t really believe. The reason I say this is because I was slightly astonished by this generous rating. If you consider that the global classification of a vintage has to encompass the good, the bad and the ugly, it really should be an indication of the average quality for the region. Good bodegas and good winemakers will always be able to achieve a pretty good result, even if the wine Gods chose not to work in their favour, but unfortunately this will not necessarily apply across the board, and an objective viewpoint is therefore required.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 2011 is a disaster, and indeed I have to admit that I am quite pleasantly surprised by what we have produced for this, our current vintage.

I am sure that this is not the first time I have said this, but looking back at the official classification of our last 24 vintages, the only three ratings that have ever been used are Good, Very Good and Excellent. I will say no more.

Only a day or so ago our local denomination office announced that the official yield for the 2011 vintage will be increased from 12,000 kilos per hectare to 13,900 kilos – an increment of some 15.8%

I am happy to tell you that our own yields fall far below this, for one simple reason. I was always taught that the lower the yield, the better the concentration, and therefore the better the finished wine. Indeed, as I travelled the world as a buyer I clearly remember many growers proudly telling me how low there yields were, thus implying that thay made a superior quality wine. In many instances this was due to the age of their vines. As the vine plant passes its peak production, so the yield gets progressively smaller with each vintage. Conversely, the concentration and quality of the grape juice increases and this is usually refected in the bottle.

If you stop and think about it for a second the same rule applies to the majority of fruit and veggies that we buy. Stretched, over-produced fruit will never have the same depth of flavour as that produced with more restrained yields.

Of course this latest announcement will not affect anything that we do in our own vineyards, and I can assure you that your glass of Castro Martin will never taste thin or watered down.

Only a day or so ago our local denomination office announced that the official yield for the 2011 vintage will be increased from 12,000 kilos per hectare to 13,900 kilos – an increment of some 15.8%

I am happy to tell you that our own yields fall far below this, for one simple reason. I was always taught that the lower the yield, the better the concentration, and therefore the better the finished wine. Indeed, as I travelled the world as a buyer I clearly remember many growers proudly telling me how low there yields were, thus implying that thay made a superior quality wine. In many instances this was due to the age of their vines. As the vine plant passes its peak production, so the yield gets progressively smaller with each vintage. Conversely, the concentration and quality of the grape juice increases and this is usually reflected in the bottle.

If you stop and think about it for a second the same rule applies to the majority of fruit and veggies that we buy. Stretched, over-produced fruit will never have the same depth of flavour as that produced with more restrained yields.

Of course this latest announcement will not affect anything that we do in our own vineyards, and I can assure you that your glass of Castro Martin will never taste thin or watered down.