Yet another bright sunny day here in Galicia (although this is never a given at this time of year, and can sometimes change in the blink of an eye). Today our picking team moved on to some of our smaller, more local vineyards here in the village of Barrantes. This move was soon evident as our grapes started to arrive much quicker than over the two previous days working in Castrelo. (Castrelo vineyard is actually the furthest from the bodega that we own, albeit still only about 10km).

We have noticed that the quality of the grapes appears to be fairly consistent from all locations this year, and actually quite high quality. Earlier in the summer we were not overly optimistic for this year’s harvest, but the three or four weeks of hot sunshine that extended from the end of July more or less until the end of August appears to have changed the outcome somewhat. Also, with a forecast for fine weather over the coming days it is likely that the quality that we have now will remain largely unaffected.

An unexpected feature of this year’s crop is the potential alcohol originating from the high concentration of fruit sugar. It would appear (albeit it still early days) that we could have a finished wine somewhere in the region of about 13% alc. Having said that, this level has become much more the ‘norm’ over recent years, but as our fruit still retains a good level of acidity, we are now more confident that we should be able to produce quite a good wine in 2024.

Over the day the flow of grapes remained steady, all moved with some efficiency through the cellar, and so from a harvest point of view our third day was quite uneventful.

I make no apologies for writing about the weather again, as, for all winemakers, this is perhaps the single most important factor in determining the quality of everything that they do. It’s much easier to make a poor wine from good grapes than it is making a good wine from poor quality grapes. Although not totally impossible, it is certainly much more of a challenge.

It was only a week or so I posted that the weather had been kind to us, and had virtually saved the flowering, just as things were starting to look ominous. Now I find myself complaining that we do really need some summer weather to kick in. Whilst parts of the world are baking (including the UK as I write this), Galicia has been quite chilly to say the least. One of the main factors behind this has been the wind, persistently blowing from the north, and adding a chill to even some of the sunniest days.

On Monday we did have at least one summer’s day, with blue skies and temperatures actually pushing 30°C (86°F), but that was very short lived. Yesterday, Tuesday, it was misty, damp and cold probably not even reaching 20°C (68°F). I suppose that this is part of the frustration, the continued cool temperatures and our summer never really getting any foothold as yet.

Having said all this, I did have a sneaking suspicion that in a few weeks I might actually be begging for some cooler weather… such is the way of our changing climate.

We have now just passed the Spring Equinox and this weekend it will be time to change our clocks to ‘summertime’.

Having said that, as the Easter weekend approaches, our spring weather continues to be erratic. After a couple of day of warm sunshine, we have now returned to our more usual grey skies, showers and much colder temperatures. The forecast for this holiday week is for rain and more cold weather, which is not great for local tourism as some visitors may well be discouraged from even coming at all.

Of course, Galicia is known as being a part of ‘Green Spain’ where we have far more rainfall than other regions. I truly believe that many foreign visitors to Spain (and also this verdant corner of Spain) come with the preconception that Spain is always hot, that it is the land of “sun, sand and sangria”. As I look out of my window at this moment, I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth!

From a wine producing point of view, our hope now is that this combination of very cold, wet conditions does not produce hail, as the new buds of this year’s new growth have already appeared in our vineyards. As always, we simply have to keep our fingers crossed.

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%.

The name of our district, where the bodega is located is Ribadumia, a name that derives from our local river, the Umia.

Yesterday, we had a famous visitor (or should I say visitors), to the Estuary of our river; namely Gordon Ramsay (the Michelin *** chef and his two companions). They were filming a TV series for HBO called Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip, where this group of three travel around various countries (in a campervan) exploring local culture and cuisine. Gordon and Gino are both chefs, whilst Frenchman Fred Sirieix is a well-known restaurateur.

On a cold, grey Galician morning they donned their boots, grabbed their rakes and waded into the river to collect clams with a group of local women from Cambados.

After a couple of hours filming came the serious business of cooking – a simple dish of clams cooked in white wine (albariño, of course), with garlic, onions and lemon juice, served on a bed of spaghetti. Actually more of an Italian dish, than Galician, pasta alle vongole!

I’m sure that I have mentioned the increase in grape prices in Rias Baixas. We are now seeing one kilo of grapes having double the value that it did only two years ago. In the end it comes down to two things, firstly, supply and demand and secondly those who can afford (or are willing) to pay these wildly exaggerated price. As if this isn’t enough, the other market that is under a huge amount of pressure this year is the labour market. There is an acute shortage of people to gather the fruit. Yet again, the larger, richer bodegas can afford to pay higher rates than the smaller, family bodegas – it seems that when it comes to paying grapes and attracting pickers, then money is no object for these big companies. I have no doubt, that once the money is paid, and they have the wine that they need, then the bottle price itself will probably be heavily and artificially subsidised too!

I wrote back in July I wrote about one particularly unscrupulous bodega that was at the epicentre of the surge in grape prices. Well, it appears that the very same cellar might have been employing some rather creative ways of producing more wine, such as bringing in grapes from other wine regions. I should add that this is, as yet, unproved, but that the Xunta of Galicia, the office of Fraudes (fraud) and our own D.O. are taking this very seriously, so much so that extensive investigations have been taking place. The result of this is that our D.O. office have released new, stricter guidelines for the 2022 harvest. Not only that, but there has been a much greater and more visible police presence on the streets, stopping trucks and tractors to check the origins of their loads. Only yesterday we had a group of police at the front of our very own bodega (although we have absolutely nothing to hide)!

Saturday is always one of our busiest days (a popular day for picking), and so the grapes flowed thick, fast but thankfully at quite an even pace. As mentioned before the grapes this year are ripe and healthy albeit that the alcohol is probably slightly higher than we would have liked.

Today’s drama with machinery was our case washing machine, which decided to work only intermittently. Absolutely not a problem on a busy day when cases have to be washed and re-cycled quickly!

A few days ago I was a guest on a ‘digital tasting’ organised by Tim Atkin MW. Tim had visited our bodega a couple of weeks earlier, and during our conversation I had described our recent weather as a bit topsy-turvy (upside down, or in a state of confusion). Little did I know that Tim would quote me on this during his introduction.

In the last couple of days, since this Zoom tasting (all the participants were sent sample bottles), there has been yet another example of the extremes of our recent, crazy weather. On Saturday temperatures hit about 36°C (97°F) and our local beaches were packed (for those who could stand the heat). On Sunday the cloud rolled in, and by Sunday afternoon, through until Monday, the thermometer never hit much more that 16°C (61°F) – less than half of the previous days temperature. This was accompanied  by a very fine ‘mizzle’ hanging in the air (a cross between a light drizzle and mist from the Ocean).

Today, Tuesday, we are bracing ourselves, with a forecast high of more that 40°C (104°F). This temperature is expected to continue at least until the weekend. Having said that, a week of two ago most of Spain was affected by these high temperatures, but luckily, our small, isolated corner of northwest Spain had pretty much escaped. This week it appears that we are not quite so lucky.

Back in April the process for selecting Galicia’s best wines was launched by the Xunta de Galicia. Wineries from every Denomination Ribeiro, Valdeorras, Rías Baixas, Monterrei and Ribeira Sacra, were invited to submit their wines, as well as the ‘Viños da Terra’ from other Galician communities. There were special categories for small, boutique wineries, oak-aged wines, sparkling wines, ecological wines and even ‘toasted’ wines (although I have to admit that I am not entirely clear as to what that last category actually represents, I usually associate this with oak-aged).

A blind tasting of the 405 entries was held in Santiago de Compostela last week, judged by a panel of some 20 experts, including our very own winemaker, Angela. As a member of the official tasting panel of the D.O. Rias Baixas Angela was invited to adjudicate at the event, over a period of 4 days. Naturally each session was divided into regions and categories, and each session comprised of between 20 and 30 samples.

Tastings like this might sound like a fairly glamorous experience, but I can tell you, from my previous life as a buyer, intense tastings like this is actually very demanding, both physically and mentally. To do the job well, and professionally, requires total concentration from the very first wine, to the very last – every wine must be given a fair and equal opportunity, even if your palate starts to feel a little jaded.

Historically, Spanish people tend to take their summer holidays is fortnight blocks, often on fixed dates. In other words visitors to Galicia might arrive for the first two weeks of July, and then a second, new group might arrive for the second two weeks (extending throughout August in exactly the same way). These blocks are known, and referred to, as ‘quincenas’ and I must say that it continues to amaze me how many people still follow these very rigid patterns (although this is likely dictated by business summer closedowns).

A day or two ago was a big changeover weekend, as the calendar ticked over from July into August. Unfortunately for us,  with this changeover came yet another change – to the weather!

The first few days of the month have been dreadful, with leaden grey skies, rain, drizzle and cool temperatures. This is not good news for our vineyards. The grape bunches themselves are now fully formed, and normally, during the heat of August, we would hope that the vibrant green berries would be transformed into luscious, ripe, golden fruit. However, in these cool temperatures, and with the level of damp, cool air that we have, it’s fair to say that the overall quality of our 2021 harvest now hangs in the balance and could go either way.

People who drink albariño may already know that our denomination gets its name from the ‘Rias’ (River Estuaries) of Galicia. The Rias Altas (Upper Estuaries) in the North, between La Coruña and Santiago de Compostela, and the Rias Baixas (Lower Estuaries), between Santiago and the Portuguese border in the south.

Within the denomination there are five sub-zones and Castro Martin can be found in the Salnés Valley. Salnés is often described as the heart, the birthplace, or the cradle of albariño. It’s true to say that the wine region evolved with Salnés at it’s very core and even today our zone still accounts for more than 65% of all albariño production in the demonination.

Salnés itself is bordered in the south by the Ría of Pontevedra, and in the north by the Ría de Arousa. Naturally, you would be forgiven for asking, “so what about the Salnés river?”. If Castro Martin is located in the Salnés Valley, then surely there should be a river of that name? But no…. the name is actually a ‘comarca’, which is simply a group of municipalities lying within the province of Pontevedra. Pontevedra itself being one of the provinces that makes up the autonomy of Galicia. To make this even more complicated our own village of Barrantes is in the municipality of Ribadumia (which is in the province of Pontevedra, in the autonomy of Galicia… in Spain!) Simple!

I am happy to say that Ribadumia actually does get it’s name from a small river – the River Umia, which runs through the valley of Salnés, and flows into the Ría de Arousa near the town of Cambados. Geography lesson now over, I leave you with a beautiful picture of the Umia.