News from Jerez 4.10.12

Growers at last see some profit

After years of ruinous prices, the 2012 harvest has seen growers return to profit with 40% increases in grape prices due to the 30% harvest shortfall in Jerez - and elsewhere. A butt of must has increased from last year’s 210 euros to 300 euros, an increase of 42%. The shortfall left some bodegas short of raw material, and they have either had to pay higher prices or buy in from the Cooperatives.

Bodegas are having to rethink future supplies including the possibility of replanting vineyard lost through abandonment or uprooting leaving only 7,000 hectares compared with 10,000 last year. The growers are not in a mood to cooperate however and return to the loss-making past. They wish to keep the supply and demand situation as it now is, but are aware that another drought and a 4% drop in sales (due to the German market) as well as the end of EU planting subsidies might force the bodegas’ hand.

News from Jerez 30.8.12

The 2012 harvest is nearly half way through. According to Juan Fernando Bernal vineyard manager of Gonzalez Byass, who as of today have finished the harvest in their own vineyards, there hasn’t been such a short harvest in 40 years. In only 9 days they have picked 2.5 million kilos to which will be added grapes from contracted suppliers.

Sr Bernal said that because of the drought the grapes arrived at the presses small but in excellent condition, the yield was down between 25-30% on last year, however. It is interesting to note the variations in ripeness in the different areas of the area; in Jerez the Beaume levels are over 11.65, in Trebujena up to 11.22 and elsewhere (nearer the coast) less than that. In Sanlucar they are picking at 10.82. One advantage of high Beaume (sugar) readings is of course that less spirit will be needed to fortify the wines, representing a small saving.

News from Jerez 28.8.12

The biggest of the Jerez cooperatives, Nuestra Senora de las Angustias, known generally as the Jerez Cooperative, has begun harvesting in earnest. Between its 200 members the coop owns some 800 hectares of vineyard, making it the biggest vineyard owner in the region, followed by Grupo Estevez with about 750 hectares. From their 800 hectares the coop predicts a yield of between 6 and 7 million kilos of grapes, or about 7,000 kilos per hectare.

This year’s yield is well down on last year since only about 300 litres of rain per square metre fell – less than half the average – where a normal year would have produced a yield of about 10,000 kilos per hectare. Nonetheless, the coop is expecting 200 lorries a day discharging 700,000 – 800,000 kilos of grapes into the presses, until the end of the harvest next Thursday or Friday.

This year about 40% of the harvest will be picked by machine, though most of the mechanical picking is done by the vineyard-owning bodegas, rather than small growers whose holdings average some 3 hectares each. The quality is very good, very healthy, but the quantity is down due to smaller grapes.

News from Jerez 21.8.12

As the 2012 harvest gets underway the growers' organisation Asevi-Asaja is forecasting a drop in production of about 30%, due more than anything else to the severe drought, and 5-10% more of a drop than predicted. These figures are averages, and some areas are worse affected than others, meaning the drop could be as high as 50% in some places. At least the quality looks to be good with high sugar levels - already 11.5 Beaume  inland - and no signs of rot on the grapes. It is reckoned about 50,000 butts of must will be produced - 20,000 fewer than last year.

The first musts will be used for the "pie de cuba" - an easily controlled small fermentation which will help with the main one, and also for the many Palomino table wines. It is a horrendous year for the pickers who start at 07.30 and by 11.00 the temperature is already 40C, so that by 14.30 they cannot work any more that day. Also when the grapes arrive at the presses so hot they can oxidise and lose water - or weight by which the growers are paid. There are plenty machines however, which can work at night and bring in cooler grapes, destemming as they go.

News from Jerez 8.8.12

This year's harvest estimates keep coming in but don't get any better. Growers in Trebujena and inland areas of Sanlucar fear a loss of up to 50% on last year. The severe drought has not allowed the grapes to bulk out. The picture for the Sherry zone as a whole still looks to be down some 20%. At least with the drought there have been no rot problems, and the vines have been treated for insects. Currently sugar readings in the grapes are around 9 degrees Beaume, still 1.5 degrees short of the level required by the Consejo for picking, which will be about a fortnight late. And another heatwave with record temperatures is forecast......