Harvest Reports from Spain

09.06.11

Harvest is officially underway! Reports are coming in from across Spain and so far things are looking quite good! In the last few days of August, we got some great photographs from Bodegas Valdesil including picking at the historic, amazing Pedrouzos vineyard and some action shots from the sorting table. It begs the question, where can WE get a Valdesil apron?

Bodegas Eidosela posted a video of the Albariño coming in to their winery, located in the Condado do Tea subregion of Rías Baixas. Twenty seven seconds of truly riveting material.

On the opposite coast, in Catalonia, Tomàs Cusiné writes from the Costers del Segre (on September 2): High temperatures in August meant an early harvest. Most of the whites are finished and we expect to begin with the reds next week. It looks like a nice harvest!

Further north, in fact, the very northeast corner of Spain, Josep Serra of La Vinyeta reports in: We had a cold July and it was raining a little bit, but not too much! This kind of weather is really good to mantain the aromas and the acidity of the grapes which is something really nice for the white wines. Until the 15th of August the weather was still cloudy, but the end the month was really sunny and warm. So the concentration of sugar has increased easily and the tannins of the skins and the seeds have ripened. If the weather keeps warm and dry we expect one of the best harvests of last years: fresh aromas, good acidity, ripe tanins and moderate content of alcohol. Cheers to that!

Finally, from Navarra, we got some great photos from the team at Azul y Garanza. Here, Maria and Dani are welcoming the harvest (August 31) and we see Maria hard at work on top of the tanks.

Here's to a great harvest for all of our fantastic producers!