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!

After a few weeks of good weather the last week or so has been very unsettled…. again. The rain we have had has not been particularly heavy, but certainly enough to penetrate the canopy, thereby creating the conditions that we dread the most – humidity!

The well-known British journalist Tim Atkin MW was visiting our region last week (we shared a very nice dinner with him), and so he was able to witness first hand the weather conditions that I had described to him over our meal. It certainly has not been easy for us so far this year, and at this point we probably only have about one month left to run before harvest.

It is a little strange, considering the conditions, that the harvest will be so early (probably the first week of September), as the sunshine has not been particularly hot, rarely exceeding 25°C (77°F). Nights have also been quite cool.

As we move into the final month, preparations are now under way in the bodega too. As always, we have to ensure that all our equipment is clean, serviced and working properly. Of course, much of this equipment such as the presses (pictured) are only used once a year, and so we clearly can’t risk leaving it until the last moment to uncover any potential problems.

With tanks now well into their fermentations, all work is now fully focused inside the bodega. After every harvest our second highest priority, after winemaking, is deep cleaning. Every floor and surface has to be cleaned and scrubbed, to eliminate the stubborn, sticky grape juice, and every piece of equipment has to be stripped and completely serviced ready for next year. The sooner that this can be done the better, because once dry, the grape must can set hard like varnish!

The warehouse space shown in today’s photo is the very same that, some weeks ago, appeared in my posts full of pallets (or sometimes bottle stock). Today it is not. There are many areas that have to be emptied completely during harvest to allow free access, and also to ensure that stock does not get stained or damaged in any way. Suffice to say that space is always at a premium at this time of year.

In the meantime, samples of this year’s must have now been analysed by an official laboratory, rather than just our own small facility in the bodega. The results are slightly different to ours, but in a favourable way. According to this lab the acidity of this year’s wines should be at a normal level for our region (higher than we thought initially), and also the alcohol should be slightly lower, probably a bit nearer 12.5%. Of course, these results are still not definitive, until the wine is completely finished, but they do indicate that we should be producing a very typical, Salnés Valley, Atlantic albariño in 2022.

Picking started on Thursday under bright, clear blue skies. Of course, we hope that this sun might continue for a while, but the forecasts are very uncertain to say the least. Our plan for today is to bring our own grapes in on large trucks, with our cases already loaded onto pallets in the vineyard. In this way they can be quickly forklifted on and forklifted off. Less journeys too and from the vineyard (14 pallets per truck), and less labour in the bodega to offload cases. Historically, cases have been unloaded by hand, one by one, and with many of our smaller grape suppliers, this is still the system that we have to use!

Beautiful weather aside, our first day was not without incident. A few technical difficulties with equipment, which, despite having been tested, decided to play up on us. Firstly the machine for cooling the tanks would not start up (we needed to change a digital thermostat). Later, our case washing machine kept cutting out, but then eventually, and quite mysteriously, it decided to work again! (It might have been the moment when I threatened it with a hammer!)

Apart from that, there was no easing gently into the first day – from lunch time we were inundated, and spent virtually the whole day playing catch up, just managing to keep our heads above the water. It was a bit tiring to say the least.

I will write more tomorrow about the grapes, and the quality of our 2021 harvest.

We are always working hard, not only to retain our status as sustainable producers, but also to move as close as we can to being classed as organic. Of course, our humid, unstable climate prevents us (and every other Rias Baixas producer) from being officially certified as organic, but nevertheless, it doesn’t stop us from trying.

Obviously we do not use herbicides in our vineyards to control the grass, but have always opted for the more laborious task of simply cutting. Between the rows of vines this is not too difficult, but then, between the vines themselves, that has always been a bit more complicated…. until now.

We have invested in a new attachment for our tractors, which has a special, spring loaded arm that extends out to cut between the vines. This is best demonstrated by the video (please bear in mind that this was only our first test run, and that we still had to make quite a few adjustments to make it more efficient and effective).

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!

In Spanish, if you want to encourage someone to ‘get a move on’, one of the expressions that is used is “ponte las pilas”, which translated means ‘put the batteries’. Today at Castro Martin, we were, quite literally, putting the batteries!

We have a small, electric pallet truck that we use for stacking our stock in the bodega. Technically, I think it is known as a pedestrian operated pallet truck, simply as it is not a model that you can actually sit on. Like all re-chargeable electric vehicles, it’s battery has a limited ‘shelf-life’ which, not unlike your mobile phone, will eventually stop holding a charge (or at least charge for such a short time that it becomes almost redundant). Our pallet truck has now reached that point.

The replacement battery was sent in advance, so that it would be ready, in situ, for the technician to simply come and install. Although, as often happens, things are never quite that simple…. Firstly, we had to use a second forklift just to hmanoeuvre the super-heavy battery in and out of our small machine. Then, having taken out the old one, we lowered the new one into position, only to discover that the manufacturer had sent the wrong size (and capacity) for the model we have!

At the end of all this time and effort, we eventually ended up exactly where we started – with a battery that doesn’t hold its charge.

When people in the UK mention the ‘hole in the wall’, they are usually referring to a cash machine or ATM. Unfortunately the hole that we have just made in the wall of our grape reception does not dispense cash, but it will still serve an important purpose during the harvest.

The questions we now ask ourselves are – is it at the correct height, is it the correct size, will it work?

So, what is it for? I can hear you asking. Well, unfortunately I’m not going to tell you…. not today at least. I will only say that it will accommodate a new piece of kit (due to arrive any day now), that will significantly improve the efficiency of our harvest (we hope!).

Vamos a ver – Let’s wait and see!

Today did not start as expected. We arrived at the front door of the bodega to find our electrical junction box on fire! (Fortunately it is located on a wall outside the building). If you can use the word lucky in these circumstances, it seems that the fire had started only minutes before, and so we were able to quickly grab an extinguisher (the powder in the photo), and kill the flames within minutes.

Of course, with the junction box virtually destroyed, there was no power at all in the building. Pretty much a disaster at harvest time, when we rely on refrigeration to keep our tanks cool during fermentation. Having no light, computers, telephones etc., was of secondary importance at this critical moment of the wine making process.

Thankfully we have very reliable electrical contractors, and within 30 minutes of the fire they were already on site. Within an hour or so, we had all the replacement parts, and by 12.30 (three and a half hours after the initial disaster), power was restored… Very, very impressive in the circumstances.

As soon as the power came back on, we quite naturally, rushed to look at the tank thermostats. Fantastic! The temperatures had only increased by 0.2 or 0.3°C, almost nothing at all, and certainly not enough to do any damage to our fermenting wines.

I guess this serves me right for claiming that it had been an uneventful campaign!