After a long, hot summer, concluding with about one week of rain, we finally started to pick on Friday 5th September. The blue skies that we enjoyed might, however, be short lived, as a forecast of rain has suddenly appeared on the horizon. Normally we would try to ease ourselves into the routine, but now it has become more a mad scramble to pick as much fruit as possible, from all sources. By mid-afternoon vans, tractors and trailers were queuing at our doors.

Despite the rush, all the different vehicles appeared to arrive as if by prior arrangement – one after another, but quite evenly spaced, leaving just enough time to discharge their precious cargo, and then move on to the next. This steady stream also provided us with a perfect flow of fruit for our presses – no sooner was one press emptied, than we had just enough fruit to re-fill it. Purely by chance it was like a well synchronised ‘ballet’. This pattern continued throughout the afternoon and evening until it was finally time to leave, exhausted but strangely satisfied by a busy but successful first day.

Our tasting of the first must revealed the usual, floral perfumed fruit character, with quite a good concentration. Our only slight concern would be that the acidity might be slightly lower than we would normally expect (obviously due to the heat), but of course we will need to make a full analysis of the must before we draw too many conclusions.

With the forecast of another dry for tomorrow, our race to gather fruit will continue.

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.

The weather in Rias Baixas has been largely dry since the middle of May. Yes, there have been odd days of rain, but nothing very significant. In mid-June we experienced the first real heat, with temperatures into the low 30’s°C (86°F) and apart from one cooler, grey week during July, the hot summer weather has continued. The protracted wet conditions during spring 2025 has meant that our vines are not showing any signs of stress as yet, but if these 30°+ temperatures continue unabated, then we might start to have a few problems. Small berries, high sugar (alcohol) and low acidity.

In the meantime, this extended dry spell, with little moisture at all, means that Galicia’s extensive forests are tinder dry, and only need on small spark to set them off. About 30% of our forests are actually eucalyptus (which is not indigenous to this part of the world, and was only introduced in the 19th Century). The big problem with eucalyptus is that it is a ‘pyrophyte’ species, and needs fire to survive and reproduce. They grow very quickly, survive fire (which many other species do not) and the vegetation, bark and branches that fall provide perfect fuel for any flame or spark. The oil in the eucalyptus trees mean that fires can burn and spread twice as fast as those burning in other forests. They are now so prevalent (and durable), that it would be quite impossible to replant and replace them.

In the last few days we have seen a significant fire burning break out in the Meano area, only a few kilometres from our bodega, shrouding some local towns and villages in smoke… thankfully it was contained reasonably quickly, but still serves as a warning.

Pretty much the whole of Europe has been experiencing extreme temperatures for the last few weeks. Having said that, the Galician coast is usually a bit cooler than the rest of the continent, being moderated by the effects of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite this, we have still experienced a prolonged period with temperatures hovering around the 30°C (86°F) mark. At the moment our grapes are thriving, but if this hot, dry weather persists, then it could well have a detrimental effect on the fruit. In these extreme conditions we could potentially see small, thick skinned berries giving us a much lower yield. Some time ago, I had also predicted quite an early harvest, perhaps the first week of September, but if we start to see excessive ripeness and acidity dropping, there is an outside chance that our harvest date could be a bit nearer to the end of August. As always we are in the lap of the weather Gods…

Today’s picture highlights a promotion recently held in the Candida Restaurant near Malaga, which is not only famous for it’s use of local produce, including fish, but most especially it’s fresh tuna. Unfortunately, just too far to go for lunch!

After a cool, wet and very changeable spring, we are finally enjoying a settled period of warm, dry, sunny weather (touch wood!) Since more or less the middle of May we have experienced blue skies and much warmer temperatures as it finally feels like summer might be on the way.

During the last couple of months we have had a few sunny days, but until now the temperatures had always remained stubbornly low, mostly in the mid-high teens °C (mid 60’s°F). This week, however, the thermometer has climbed by several degrees and we are now experiencing temperatures between 25° and 30°C (77° – 86°F).

The result of this sudden  burst of good weather is that flowering has more or less happened in a flash; from flowers first appearing in the last week or two, there are now a number of areas where we already have fruit set, when the tiny pea-like grapes first appear. If this carries on over the next week (which it is forecast to do), then it is likely that we will have an early harvest. If the rest of the season progresses normally (whatever that is these days!) we are looking at probably around the first week of September to start picking. It is actually a little daunting to be thinking of harvest already, it seems to arrive more and more quickly every 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).