With the 2012 fruit safely gathered in our focus of attention now moves inside, with the small matter of trying to make some decent wine. As you may have read in my harvest posts, despite a relatively poor summer, we are more than satisfied with the quality of our grapes, and believe that this year might yield a very good wine. There is certainly quite a contrast between this and last year’s harvest, not only in terms of the grape quality, but also relating to the actual volume produced. However, before we start to make any comparison we should not forget that 2011 was a record harvest by some distance, yielding 10 million kilos more than the next biggest vintages of 2010 and 2006 – a huge difference for our tiny denomination (currently standing at around 4,000 hectares in total). Taking this into account, the fact that at our own volume this year is roughly half that of 2011, should not come as too much of a surprise.

Now that the tanks have been ‘racked’, separating the clean juice from the ‘fangos’ (residue of skins, pips, stalks etc.), it’s finally time to seed the tanks. Seeding is quite an interesting term, as of course, there are actually no seeds involved as such. In this case we are actually referring to the process of adding our selected yeasts to the grape must in order to initiate the fermentation. My guess is that we use the term ‘seeding’ simply because we are supplying the nutrients required to help our new wine evolve. Also, I have deliberately used the term ‘selected’ yeast as there are so many to chose from. These days wine makers can select from a catalogue of different strains, each imparting their own characteristics and flavour profile. It’s a matter of experience and personal taste…. we deliberately select very neutral yeasts so that the character of our own fantastic grape variety will dominate the finished wine.

Finally, I am pleased to tell you that our 2012 vintage report is now complete and already posted on this website (click on our download menu).

With the 2012 fruit safely gathered in our focus of attention now moves inside, with the small matter of trying to make some decent wine. As you may have read in my harvest posts, despite a relatively poor summer, we are more than satisfied with the quality of our grapes, and believe that this year might yield a very good wine. There is certainly quite a contrast between this and last year’s harvest, not only in terms of the grape quality, but also relating to the actual volume produced. However, before we start to make any comparison we should not forget that 2011 was a record harvest by some distance, yielding 10 million kilos more than the next biggest vintages of 2010 and 2006 – a huge difference for our tiny denomination (currently standing at around 4,000 hectares in total). Taking this into account, the fact that at our own volume this year is roughly half that of 2011, should not come as too much of a surprise.

Now that the tanks have been ‘racked’, separating the clean juice from the ‘fangos’ (residue of skins, pips, stalks etc.), it’s finally time to seed the tanks. Seeding is quite an interesting term, as of course, there are actually no seeds involved as such. In this case we are actually referring to the process of adding our selected yeasts to the grape must in order to initiate the fermentation. My guess is that we use the term ‘seeding’ simply because we are supplying the nutrients required to help our new wine evolve. Also, I have deliberately used the term ‘selected’ yeast as there are so many to chose from. These days wine makers can select from a catalogue of different strains, each imparting their own characteristics and flavour profile. It’s a matter of experience and personal taste…. we deliberately select very neutral yeasts so that the character of our own fantastic grape variety will dominate the finished wine.

Finally, I am pleased to tell you that our 2012 vintage report is now complete and already posted on this website (click on our download menu).

I need to research the origin of the expression ‘Indian Summer’, but in the meantime I can tell you that we are having one. It’s kind of ironic that after a poor summer here in Galicia, we now find ourselves bathed in warm sunshine – in October! Average daytime temperatures so far this month have been around 25-27°C (77-80°F), with not one single drop of rain in sight – to be honest, we’ve barely even seen a cloud.

Meanwhile, back in the bodega, we can almost start to relax a little, as the last few tanks reach the end of their alcoholic fermentation. As always it’s been a long, slow process, with monitoring on a daily basis – 7 days a week (unfortunately the yeast doesn’t take weekends off). We have yet to make the final analysis, but it looks like there will be no malolactic required in 2011.

The other development is that I have finished our annual vintage report, and this can now be found on the download page of this website. Great bedtime reading!

I need to research the origin of the expression ‘Indian Summer’, but in the meantime I can tell you that we are having one. It’s kind of ironic that after a poor summer here in Galicia, we now find ourselves bathed in warm sunshine – in October! Average daytime temperatures so far this month have been around 25-27°C (77-80°F), with not one single drop of rain in sight – to be honest, we’ve barely even seen a cloud.

Meanwhile, back in the bodega, we can almost start to relax a little, as the last few tanks reach the end of their alcoholic fermentation. As always it’s been a long, slow process, with monitoring on a daily basis – 7 days a week (unfortunately the yeast doesn’t take weekends off). We have yet to make the final analysis, but it looks like there will be no malolactic required in 2011.

The other development is that I have finished our annual vintage report, and this can now be found on the download page of this website. Great bedtime reading!

Having been absent in New York for a few days I am now playing catch-up. As I have said many times before, there is still a lot of hard work to do following the actual picking before Angela and I can even think about putting our feet up for a while.

The cellar is a very cool place to be at the moment, and I mean that quite literally. With our temperature control system working over time it is actually quite a chilly place to work, and despite the sun outside, you will often find us walking around in jackets and fleeces.

Although we still firmly believe in true quality being derived from the vineyard, the wine making itself certainly has a big influence in the style of wine that we create. Our objective is to always to make a wine that is typical of our denomination, but at the same time giving the wine a structure that will stand the test of time. Now, I’m not saying for one moment that our albariño will keep for ten years in bottle, but we certainly don’t want to make something that will fall apart after six months either. This is all determined by our vinification,  that gives our different wines their distinctive Castro Martin character – known and loved by all who drink them! 

Angela would kill me if I started to give away her wine making secrets, but suffice to say that quality is not created by accident, but by people who are obsessed by what they do.

Having been absent in New York for a few days I am now playing catch-up. As I have said many times before, there is still a lot of hard work to do following the actual picking before Angela and I can even think about putting our feet up for a while.

The cellar is a very cool place to be at the moment, and I mean that quite literally. With our temperature control system working over time it is actually quite a chilly place to work, and despite the sun outside, you will often find us walking around in jackets and fleeces.

Although we still firmly believe in true quality being derived from the vineyard, the wine making itself certainly has a big influence in the style of wine that we create. Our objective is to always to make a wine that is typical of our denomination, but at the same time giving the wine a structure that will stand the test of time. Now, I’m not saying for one moment that our albariño will keep for ten years in bottle, but we certainly don’t want to make something that will fall apart after six months either. This is all determined by our vinification,  that gives our different wines their distinctive Castro Martin character – known and loved by all who drink them! 

Angela would kill me if I started to give away her wine making secrets, but suffice to say that quality is not created by accident, but by people who are obsessed by what they do.