There is a certain irony to this weeks weather.

For the last couple of weeks we have been experiencing unseasonably warm, sunny weather with daytime temperatures of around 20°C (68°F). Far too high for the month of February, and not that great for our vines either.

This week we have moved into Carnival season that extends (officially) from 28th February until 5th March (albeit that today is still a Carnival holiday in Pontevedra). It varies from town to town and from village to village, and as you may gather from this comment, many towns and villages hold their own distinct Carnival processions on different days.

The problem is that, from the very day that the calendar changed from February to March, so the weather changed too. Stormy, torrential rain and high winds swept in from the Atlantic, putting a bit of a damper on the normal Carnival spirit… Oh, to be in Brazil!!

So, the 2018 holiday season started last Thursday in the United States with Thanksgiving, quickly followed by the inescapable ‘shopping’ holidays of Black Friday and then Cyber Monday. Of course, these shopping events are no longer limited to within U.S. shores as Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now a worldwide phenomenon (even if people have no clue, and really don’t care where they originate from). The other feature is, of course, that these ‘sales’ are quite protracted, and not simply limited to the Friday and the Monday. Offers often extend for a fortnight or more, encompassing every possible type of business – hotels, travel, pharmacies, bed linen, food stores – you name it and there’s an offer on the table. A great opportunity for early Christmas shopping!

Locally, it appears that at least one of our local mayors has also been swept up in the fervour of Christmas. The streets of Vigo are now adorned with a Christmas light show costing more than one million Euros! When he announced the lights, the mayor said that Vigo would surpass Christmas in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Berlin (a bold claim indeed for a small provincial city)! His apparent extravagance has certainly raised a few eyebrows, but at Sunday’s inauguration (when the mayor inexplicably attempted to make his speech in English), he claimed that local businesses would benefit hugely from local tourism. Judging by the crowds, he might actually have a point!

There is something a little less savoury that they don’t tell you in the guidebooks about Galicia – that it is a major entry point for drugs, not only for Spain, but for the whole of Europe. The same little idyllic beaches, hidden coves and inviting ‘Rias’ also provide the perfect landing grounds for the small boats of the international drugs trade. To the naked eye there is very little evidence of this, apart from the occasional road blocks on our local roads and motorways. Traffic is filtered down to a walking pace as you are obliged to weave your way through hoards of police vehicles, whilst being surveyed by heavily armed police (some wearing face masks). All a bit sinister….

This local ‘trade’ is so widely acknowledged that the Spanish TV channel Antenna 3 actually makes a highly acclaimed drama series about it – Fariña (which means ‘flour’ in Gallego – the slang word for cocaine). Obviously it is set, and filmed in Galicia, using almost exclusively Galician actors. In fact, it is so local that they were actually filming in our own street last Friday. The road was closed intermittently for periods of the day, and to be honest it was a bit of a struggle to stop them filling our bodega car park with their vehicles.

Unfortunately, they did not film immediately in front of our building, and so the hours that I spent applying make-up were completely wasted!

The other day Angela’s younger sister Duliana, who works in a dog refuge in Cambados, kindly sent us a photo of their latest summer window display. As you might be able to make out, it features our Casal Caiero label wine that we still supply to them (with all profits, of course, going to this charity). I should add that for the purposes of the window display, our bottles do not contain wine, but rather water, and they are clearly marked on the back of the bottle as such (so that they don’t get sold by accident – which actually happened once!).

Of course, we are not advocating for one second that dogs should be drinking albariño – after all, we already recognise that dogs very much prefer a good Beaune![:es]The other day Angela’s younger sister Duliana, who works in the dog refuge in Cambados, kindly sent us a photo of their latest summer window display. As you might be able to make out, it features our Casal Caiero label wine that we still supply to them (with all profits, of course, going to this charity). I should add that for the purposes of the window display, our bottles do not contain wine, but rather water, and they are clearly marked on the back of the bottle as such (so that they don’t get sold by accident – which actually happened once!).

Of course, we are not advocating for one second that dogs should be drinking albariño – after all, we already recognise that dogs very much prefer a good Beaune!

I mentioned the other day that the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, likes to spend his summers here in Galicia (being born and raised in Pontevedra). Well, that might not be the case much longer – assuming that he has good taste.

The mayor of local seaside town Sanxenxo (where Sr Rajoy has his apartment), has decided that he wants to paint the town red – together with several other colours of the rainbow. Apparently this has something to do with art, and is the “brainchild” of a local art student (who apparently wants to transform the town into some sort of circus).

Translated, the artist claims that we can “walk alongside a rainbow full of reminiscences and stimulate our senses with this chromatic circle (it will be painted on a long curved wall), filling our steps harmoniously”. Translated, I still don’t know what it means, but my own translation would be “ugly and tasteless”….. but then, that’s art!

Apart from my early childhood, I have lived nearly all my adult life in cities. Of course, I now live in the small provincial ‘city’ of Pontevedra, and when I first moved here some 16 years ago, the change was quite a shock to my system. For example, the difference between London, where I worked, and the village of Barrantes, where I work now, was…. well, like being on a different planet. It was not simply a question of size, or the conveniences that you take for granted in a big city, but it was actually more to do with the ‘culture’ of village life.

London can be a very impersonal place, where you might not even know the person living next door to you. People could be crammed onto public transport, almost face-to-face and never speak, and to be honest it’s not really the easiest place for making new friends.

Barrantes is the polar opposite! Even people you have never met know who you are, and even personal details about your life. The thing is that people talk – in fact, a few that I know never stop talking. Perhaps even unwittingly they disclose information about themselves, their families, their neighbours and their friends, I think it’s what some might call ‘village gossip’. Perhaps it’s because I’m English, and already stand out from the crowd, but I have introduced myself to many people who actually already know who I am. My fame goes before me.

Behind the scenes in certain Galician offices there have been some, more or less, secret discussions. Apparently, for the last couple of years, our denomination have been discussing the idea of renaming our very own wine region – Rias Baixas. Their concern has been that many consumers outside Spain are a bit intimidated by the name, especially when it comes to the pronunciation. Of course, the word Albariño is comparatively simple for most people to wrap their tongue around, but when it come to our ‘lower estuaries’, then it becomes more of a problem.

Their solution, apparently, is a slight revamping, which at first glace, I have to admit, looks a bit odd. The reason is that the new name is pretty much what you might describe as being ‘Spanglish’ – half Spanish and half English (but rolls much more easily off the tongue). In the near future an official announcement will be made, no doubt involving huge wine press coverage and some fanfare.

I do not have the official date, but I can tell you (even though I’m not exactly sure that I’m supposed to), that very soon we will know as the ‘Low Rias’ wine region – complete with brand new logo.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but in the long term, if it makes it easier for the consumer, then it does make some sense.

It’s at this time of year when charity is often at the forefront of our minds, and Castro Martin is no exception. We are now supporting a local animal refuge in Cambados (about 5km from the bodega), but not only at Christmas time, this is a cause that we support throughout the year.

The refuge not only provides temporary homes for lost and abandoned animals, but also has it’s own veterinary service, and a pet shop (the income from which also helps to fund the enterprise). So not only do we support the centre financially, but they also sell our albariño in the shop, any profit also going directly to the charity. Each bottle of our Casal Caeiro brand (sold widely in Spain), carries a special booklet, highlighting our backing of this deserving charity.

So, of all the charities around why would we select this one to support? The answer is quite simple – Angela’s sister Duliana is one of the people who helped to set up the refuge, and now spends her time managing the shop.

As always, the message here in Spain, is very much the same as that in the UK – “a dog (or any pet) is for life, and not just for Christmas”.

Yesterday was a black day in Galicia – when forest fires suddenly sprung up in nearly every corner of our Province. It was almost as though they had been orchestrated, and indeed, Police are already saying that many had been started deliberately. 

Meteor-logically Sunday was already quite odd, in that by 8.30am on this mid-October day, the outside temperature was 23°C / 74°F (even before the sun had appeared over the horizon). The wind had picked up, blowing directly from the south, which after a summer of very little rainfall, had created the perfect environment for forest fires. (These warm winds had long been forecast, which is why I suspected that perhaps the pyromaniacs had chosen this particular moment to strike).

Three people died during the night, many homes and some businesses were destroyed, and one petrol station exploded in the inferno. Local people were rushing around with buckets, forming human chains, in a futile attempt to protect their homes. Of course, this was nothing on the scale of the catastrophe in California, but when people die, it is still a very serious event. The only positive note to this story is that it did start to rain, and I believe that this has helped to bring at least some of the fires under control. Today is still damp, so hopefully relief will come quite quickly.

For the last couple of months I have been hinting in my posts about something new coming to Castro Martin – and finally it’s here – a new label!

A label? Is that all? So why all the fuss? I hear you ask. Well, the answer is quite simple –  the fuss is because this is something of an historic change.

The very first, and original brand of the new era (since the current bodega was built in 1981), is Casal Caeiro, created by Angela’s father some 35 years ago. (The Martin Family had been making albariño long before this, but mainly for local consumption, without labels, before labels were a legal requirement). Since it’s inception the Casal Caeiro label has slowly evolved and appeared in many different guises, but until now they have always had one thing in common – the Pazo vineyard had always appeared on the label.

In a break with tradition we decided to employ the services of local artist Elena Gomez Dahlgren to come up with something different (and original), and I think that her new design idea is both unique and spectacular. A quadriptych – a set of four labels that when displayed side-by-side join to form one larger picture.

The new 2016 vintage, using this presentation, is available from this week (albeit that our website will take a little time to catch up). New photos already appear on our webpages, and updated fiche and bottle shots are also available. In addition to this, we will eventually add more information about the inspiration behind the design, and also about our artist, but in the meantime you will simply need to buy some wine to see this work of art first hand. Oh, and by the way, you will need to buy at least four bottles to see the complete design!