Yesterday we welcomed a small, but important group of UK journalists to our bodega (as part of their two day tour of our denomination). Arriving at 9.30am, we were the very first bodega on their itinerary and at that time in the morning there can be nothing better to rinse the coffee and toothpaste from your palate than a refreshing glass of albariño! As I think I may have mentioned before, the first sample of any tasting can often be a tough one, as it often takes the palate a little time to adjust. Having said that, after an hour and a half of chatting and tasting I would like to think that our wines were well received and that they left Castro Martin with a favourable impression of what we do.

When they eventually left our bodega the weather was not only sunny, but it was also quite warm and humid, and so it remained for much of the day. This morning, however, as we opened our shutters, it was raining, and the temperature had dropped by nearly 10°C from the previous day’s high. As our UK friends started their second day I was thinking that perhaps this experience will give them a greater understanding of the vagaries of our climate, albeit that from our point of view, this is really not the way that we would want people to learn. As a result, I have no doubt we will be obliged to treat our vineyards (yet again) within the coming days.

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!

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.

As of today, everyone at Castro Martin has had at least one Covid vaccination – not because the rollout in Spain has suddenly become super-efficient, but mostly because our team are a bunch of geriatrics!! Actually, that’s a little unkind, the last in our group to be vaccinated are still mere babies, in their 40’s.

Angela (who had a Pfizer jab) has already had her second dose, and the rest of our team (who also had Pfizer), will have their second injection within the next week or two. I am the only exception! I had Astra Zeneca, and therefore my second dose will not be for another month or so.

Despite all this, life goes on pretty much as before – masks are still compulsory, and we still have social distancing regulations in public places. Moreover, my hands are also chaffed from washing!

On the bright side (literally) the weather has picked up. The last week of May and the first couple of weeks of June have been warm and sunny. In the last day or so we have actually reached 28°C (82°F) on the thermometer, although this brief heatwave is forecast to end after the coming weekend. Well, at least we enjoyed good weather for our flowering period.

新年快乐 / 新年快樂 (Xīnnián kuàilè) – Happy New Year! Today is the start of the Year of the Ox, and of course, we all hope that it will be an improvement on the Year of the Rat that preceded it. I guess that like all other celebrations at the moment, the 2021 party will be somewhat subdued.

In the meantime I am happy to report that after our first Covid victim, that the Castro Martin team is now back to full strength, and work continues on the pruning (albeit now just a little delayed). Of course, we are simply happy that this was a fairly mild case of the virus and there don’t appear to be any long term side-effects.

Out in the vineyards the weather has been quite miserable – grey, cold and with intermittent rain, some quite torrential. Not a great start to February.

Rest in Peace – Captain Sir Tom Moore

At Castro Martin we have only a small staff of full-time employees – a few in the offices (including ourselves) and a few in the vineyards. Apart from during the harvest, we can normally cope with just these few people to keep things ticking over.

At the end of last week our small team suffered its first confirmed case of Covid-19, apparently confined to our vineyards and with no clear channel of transmission to the bodega itself. (Our vineyard team works independently of the bodega during pruning). It since appears, however, that we might now have a second victim, albeit at this time we are not quite sure if this is Covid or simply a case of flu (symptoms, we think, point to the latter). Of course, symptoms do vary from person to person and so our second potential victim, also from our vineyard team, is being tested today. We have our fingers crossed for a negative result.

For such a small enterprise we think that we have been quite unlucky with the virus to date. The only upside is that those affected are apparently not too serious, and so we wish them both a speedy recovery. As a direct result work on this year’s pruning has all but stopped, and so, like everyone on the planet, we simply can’t wait to get this crisis behind us.

Depending upon your personal politics the brightest point of 2021 so far might be the inauguration of a new President in the United States. Meanwhile, here in Spain, things are not quite so good…

For the last couple of weeks the weather has been completely miserable – a combination of heavy rain and days of low cloud, mist and yet more rain. Fortunately, temperatures have risen just a little since the frost at the beginning of the month.

At Castro Martin, not only is it very quiet on the business front (which is quite normal for early January), but also we have had our first Covid victim! The wife of one of our vineyard guys has tested positive. Fortunately, our man has been working outside pruning for the last few weeks, and has hardly set foot inside the main building of the bodega (quite apart from the fact that he himself has not shown any signs of the virus, as yet). Of course, he will now stay at home, in isolation, and be tested before he is allowed to return.

Meanwhile, our local lockdown rules are getting tighter, and once again, we are only allowed out for essential shopping, work or exercise. The wearing of masks in public is obligatory, and failure to comply is an immediate €600 non-negotiable fine!

(My picture today is intended to offset the doom and gloom just a little).

FOOTNOTE: Since posting we have been informed that David, our vineyard guy, has now been tested positive.

Earlier this week there were two tastings in the Canary Islands, the first in Gran Canaria and the second in Tenerife. The special significance for us is that Gran Canaria was the birthplace and home city of Angela’s father, Don Domingo Martin, the man responsible for building our current wine cellar, and also the creator of our original brand ‘Casal Caeiro’.

Of course the family still has connections there, and so it was only natural that invitations were sent to friends and contacts, to give them the opportunity to sample the very best albariños of Rias Baixas (Castro Martin and Casal Caeiro).

I should mention that even now, many years after the sad death of Don Domingo, our bodega is still known as the bodega of ‘El Canario’…..

It’s quite a well-known fact that Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister is Galician, and spends much of his vacation time here in Galicia – or Sanxenxo to be more specific, about 12km from our Bodega. Indeed, when we are there in summer it is not uncommon to see groups of rather sinister looking security guys hanging round on the street corners adjacent to his building.

However, another more closely guarded secret is that U.S. President Donald Trump also spends some time here (although it can be quite difficult to hide the huge outline of Air Force One as it touches down on the tiny Vigo airstrip).

In today’s photo we can see Donald (clearly in some sort of hi-tech disguise) as he breaks ground on his new golf resort in our Province.

(Fake News Alert!)

Addendum: I forgot to mention that this is not a ‘shopped’ photo, but is actually a real Galician woman called Dolores Leis.