Wednesday 8 August 2018

8.8.18 Table Wine Harvest Begins


Last night the pickers and harvesting machines were out collecting the first white table wine grapes of 2018 and the quality is good. Cortijo de Jara has been picking Gewürztraminer and Barbadillo have been picking the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc they use in their Blanco de Blancos and the sparkling Beta Brut. The Palomino harvest looks like being a couple of weeks away still, but it can’t really be described as late, since last year was the earliest on record. What is needed for the table wine grapes is freshness and acidity when they reach optimum ripeness, and in the case of the Gewürztraminer they are getting readings of 12.5° Beaumé while Chardonnay is 11.5°.

Picking Gewurztraminer at Cortijo de Jara (foto:MAGonzalez/diariodejerez)

The important decision as to when to pick has been more difficult this year as ripening has been uneven due to the atypical spring and summer weather causing excess humidity and thus delay in ripening. The recent heatwave has been a great boost in ripening the grapes and stopping cryptogamic problems without much evaporation loss due to a low incidence of the Levante. But from today temperatures have gone down and the nights might bring dewfall slowing ripening down again but possibly adding weight to the grapes. All that can be done is to wait and see and hope, and take constant sugar readings.

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