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°.
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| 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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