NUMBER 12, 2022
www.vintae.com IF WE WERE TO STOP DREAMING, WE WOULD NOT BE VINTAE
INTERVIEW RAUL ACHA
“Never in my life have I seen grapes as healthy as this year” 2022 has been a year in which drought and high temperatures have had wine growers on alert. Finally, the vines planted in good soils suitable for their cultivation have produced a shorter harvest than usual, with near-perfect health, slightly less acidity and the promise of well-balanced, high-quality wines. We learn about the specifics with Raul Acha, technical director of Vintae. 1. What has the vine’s vegetative cycle been like this year? The vegetative cycle has been challenging or atypical in the sense that it has been quite rapid; we had a spring that was nearly nonexistent, and we moved from a wintery April to a summery May. In May, everything took off like a rocket, and the summer has continued unabated. May, June, July, August, September... in the end we had almost five months of summer. Moreover, there has been a shortage of water; it has rained a little, but not everywhere to the same extent. There have been areas where it rained more in November and December, and this has been noticeable, particularly in vineyards planted in cool soils as compared to vineyards planted in less suitable soils. In all areas there has been an abnormally large thermal integral, with substantially greater temperature accumulation than usual; this is a widespread pattern in all our areas. In addition, all of the precipitation accumulated from the end of April to the present has been extremely meager, resulting in water stress and improved plant health in all of our regions. Fungal infections have been conspicuously absent. 2. How has the drought and heat affected us? Our vines have survived the most devastating year in history, according to the media, with extreme drought and heat. Perhaps we are fortunate because all of our vineyards are located in high altitude areas. In Rioja, in Alto Najerilla and Sonsierra, and in Ribera the same thing happens, the area of Soria and Moradillo de Roa are high and cool. Also, in Toro and Navarra, these excesses are somewhat mitigated, and the same is true for Garnacha. Consequently, we have been fortunate to have evaded the scourge of heat and water shortage, which has been a reality.
3. How has the harvest evolved? The harvest has been unusual; it has been one of the earliest in recorded history, and in some locations it has been the earliest; for example, in Cárdenas, the harvest was completed on September 20, which is more than 20 days earlier than typical years. However, in warmer areas, the vines reached a point where they exposed to the sun and were unable to work because of the heat. This pause, which lasted many days, meant that the grapes did not ripen at the same speed. In other words, the greatest advance has been observed in the late, cooler areas, whereas in the warmer areas, the advance has been limited and the dates have been closer to the norm. 4. How do you evaluate the season in terms of both quantity and quality? In terms of quantity, it has been a scarce vintage in general, a tendency that extends from Galicia to Catalonia to all the vineyards in the north, and I believe it is the same in the south as well; the harvest is scarce. There may be some plots that have had a normal yield but the average will be lower than in previous years, we are speaking in general about low production, not extremely low, but less than usual. And in terms of quality, there will be considerable variation. On the one hand, there will be high-quality
vineyards in these cool areas where the grapes have ripened well. In other warmer regions and on tougher, more clayey soils that are less appropriate for vineyards, I believe the grapes have not ripened as well, they halted the vegetative cycle because they were unable to continue working with such high temperatures and a shortage of water, and probably the phenolic or sugar ripening in those vineyards may not have been so good. In all of the regions where we work, the health of the grapes is excellent. This is true from Galicia to Catalonia. Never in my life have I seen such healthy grapes. Today, towards the end of October, we can still visit a vineyard and observe completely healthy grapes without a trace of botrytis. Due to the extremely dry conditions from May to September, the grapes have been fully free of fungal attack and have displayed exceptional plant health. 5. What will the 2022 vintage wines be like? In our case, I am very happy with the vintage, with the ripening, I think we are going to have healthy wines, with clean, clear nuances, and no oxidation issues due to the absence of botrytis. In some situations, there will be a lack of acidity, but due to the fact we have vineyards in higher and cooler regions and have advanced the harvest dates, I believe we have reached an almost ideal acidity balance. In short, we will have wines of exceptional quality.
2/2022
OUR WINEMAKERS SPEAK 1. How did the harvest develop, and what impact did the weather have? 2. What was the harvest like in terms of quantity and quality? 3. What is expected from the wines of this vintage?
GALICIA
RIOJA
TORO
ATLANTIS
HACIENDA LÓPEZ DE HARO
MATSU
IRIA OTERO “We are already seeing some highly aromatic wines, very clean, floral, complex, and wellstructured.” 1. In Galicia this year has been spectacular. The most important rains of the summer ended around mid-June. The months of July and August were extremely dry, and while there were no fungus issues, there was a brief halt in growth owing to water stress. Towards the beginning of September, it began to rain again and the vines recovered quickly. 2. The grapes entered the winery in perfect health Due to the excessive heat, there is less acidity than in past years, but overall the wines are quite well-balanced, and the alcohol content did not rise beyond what was necessary due to this vegetative standstill. 3. We are already observing exceptionally fragrant wines that are very clean, floral, complex with good structure... Perhaps they will be somewhat less Atlantic, because they have less acidity than other years, but in general they will be very balanced and of spectacular quality.
OCTAVIO MADURGA “This season’s grapes have been in exceptional health, which facilitates winemaking at the winery and reduces oxidative concerns in the wines.”
“The phenolic and alcoholic ripening was very balanced. It has been a year of exceptional quality because the grapes came in very healthy.”
1. In general, it has been a somewhat atypical vintage, starting early (at Hacienda López de Haro we started fifteen days earlier than in 2021) and long, as a result of the drought. The areas that have suffered the most are those which are hot and dry. The harvest started early, but slowed down as temperatures dropped slightly during those weeks and the grapes gained more and more with each passing day, balancing phenolic and alcoholic ripening and achieving a good balance.
1. It has been a very warm year and there has been almost no rain throughout the summer so it was believed that the harvest would come early. However, the heat halted the plant’s growth, and we ultimately had to wait for the grapes to ripen appropriately. At the beginning of September there was rain and a drop in temperatures, with differences of up to 20 degrees between day and night, which favored ripening. Beginning in mid-September, the year was finally normal.
2. The quantity was less than that of 2021, mainly due to the drought, as the berries were small, but in spectacular sanitary condition due to the dry, hot year.
2. In terms of quality, the phenolic and alcoholic ripening was finally very balanced, although the acidity was a little less balanced. But in general terms, it has been a year of great quality because the grapes came in very healthy.
3. The white wines of this vintage are expected to be pale in color, i.e. without any oxidation due largely to good health. They will be aromatic and slightly more alcoholic. Red wines are expected to have a good balance between alcoholic and phenolic maturity and acidity, i.e. balanced in terms of alcohol, and structure, color and freshness.
LA RIOJA
VICTORIA GARCÍA
SPARKLING WINES AT ALTITUDE
1. This was the warmest vintage in history. We began harvesting on September 4, very early compared to previous vintages The increase in temperatures and the absence of rain caused significant water stress in the vines, which led to a decline in the vigor of the vine, especially in the youngest plantations. 2. Production has been significantly lower as a result. But these climatic factors have also led to spectacular health; no grapes have been lost in the field and cluster integrity has been complete. 3. The wines of this vintage are expected to be less fresh than in previous vintages, as acid degradation due to heat has been significant. Even so, thanks to the intrinsic freshness of growing a high altitude vineyard in the mountains, we will see outstanding wines. It is too early to anticipate, especially for sparkling wines, but the base wines look very good today. However, we have only just begun our journey with this new vintage.
3. Now we will see how the wines develop, although at the beginning of the season we feared they would be very warm wines but finally we will have quite a bit of freshness.
VALLES DE SADACIA
PEDRO BALDA
“Thanks to the intrinsic freshness of growing a high altitude vineyard in the mountains, we will see outstanding wines.”
MARTÍN PADÍN
LIBALIS NAVARRA
IÑAKI OLABERRI AROA
“Because there has not been sufficient humidity for fungus to thrive, we have not had to worry about infections.” 1. The harvest has been greatly affected by the drought, which has accelerated it by 15 days compared to a normal harvest and by one month compared to last year’s crop, which was late. Diseases were not a concern as there was insufficient humidity for fungi to flourish. 2. In terms of quantity, we expected a lot of loss and, although the harvest was shorter than in previous years, it was not as much as expected. In terms of quality, the grapes were very healthy thanks to the absence of humidity 3. The wines are expected to be of great quality and always following the line of freshness that we have maintained for years with both Le Naturel and Aroa wines.
“It has been an orderly harvest with impeccable progress both in alcohol content evolution and the entry of the varieties.” 1. The harvest was 12 days earlier than last year, due to the weather, which has been the determining factor of this campaign, due to the scarcity of water with high temperatures and the lack of rain forecast in the short to medium term. The experience of the field manager and technical director resulted in an orderly harvest and impeccable progression in both alcohol content and variety evolution, facilitating the entry into the winery and subsequent work. 2. Expectations versus technical results have been most satisfactory. The lack of humidity made it possible to harvest healthy grapes with no health or quality issues. In terms of quantity, the harvest has been somewhat reduced with respect to previous vintages, but not significantly. 3. The wines have the characteristic bouquet and freshness of Maetierra wines due to the high quality of the grapes and a simple, natural vinification process that gives the raw material the respect it deserves.
2022/3
Amancio Moyano in his Toro vineyards with Richi Arambarri.
In addition to this love and admiration for the vineyard, our growers also agree on how special the harvest period is. It is a magical moment that translates into “nervousness, excitement, impatience to start, tingling... perhaps we’re transported back to our youth?” asks José Manuel Gómez.
THE WINEGROWERS SPEAK
The year in which the vines taught us yet another lesson It does not matter whether you are speaking with winegrowers in Toro, Rioja, or Ribera del Duero, the engineer who supervises Vintae’s vines, or our winemakers. There is a recurring word in any conversation about the grape harvest: endurance. And they are not talking to their grueling days picking grapes, but rather to the courageous and tenacious vines that, year after year and regardless of the weather, offer their all.
“We are fortunate to live with such a hardy and resilient species as the vine,” comments José Manuel Gómez, director of viticulture at Vintae. “It is astonishing how the plant has survived this dry summer and produced such exquisite grapes,” he adds. Agronomist engineer José Manuel has been in charge of Vintae’s vines for nearly two decades. “It has been a complicated vintage, but this is no longer an exception, but rather the norm for the last few seasons,” he affirms. “This year the vineyards have given us winegrowers another lesson,” says Amancio Moyano from Toro. “In places similar to ours, it has occasionally been questioned whether we should irrigate or engage in methods that have never been implemented here... This year, the vines that were planted on suitable terrain and had the necessary maintenance were able to yield as much as the previous year,” demonstrating “how fortunate we are with this crop here.”
“For my family, the grape harvest is the best time of the year, it feels like one big party, the worst thing is when it’s over, it’s like a tragedy,” says Fernando. And no wonder, because what he says sounds so good: “those lunches, those eggs with peppers, the stews, the potatoes Rioja style, the lamb chops... and always accompanied by “our Antonia”, a wineskin used for drinking, without which no party is complete”. “The satisfaction of harvesting the work of the whole year, after making decisions throughout the campaign, is what I take with me”, says Eva, who confesses that in her case “whenever I return from the winery after unloading the last trip, I remember who is no longer there and that is when I consider the harvest to be over.” And it is time to begin preparations for next year’s harvest.
Eva de Diego, a winegrower from Moradillo de Roa in Burgos’ Ribera del Duero, offers similar praise for her vineyards. “Last year we had a pretty strong hail here and the plots that were caught could not be harvested, it was disastrous” This year there was uncertainty about these plants, “we were not sure how they would react”, but to our astonishment, “they did react! We should learn from them, no matter what happens to them, they are capable of rising from the ashes, they keep going forward with even more strength,” she says. Rioja’s Fernando García Navaridas states, “the summer has been so scorching that we almost feared the vines would wither away.” Even during the harvest “we had so much heat that there were afternoons when we couldn’t harvest because the grapes were so hot”. Despite this, his old vines in the Alto Najerilla have produced a very healthy harvest. “The grapes are the healthiest they’ve ever been, it’s been a record year for treatments, and we haven’t had to treat for mildew, powdery mildew, or botrytis,” he says, in a year that has also been the earliest in this region’s recorded history.
Fernando Garcia with “la Antonia”.
Eva de Diego during the harvest.
4/2022
PEDRO BALDA
DROUGHT AND HEAT, PROTAGONISTS OF 2022: THE DATA As Pedro Balda, R&D Director at Vintae, explains, “the data collected by the weather station at our experimental vineyard in Villaverde de Rioja, at an altitude of over 800 meters, allow us to accurately compare the different vintages”. The thermal integral for the date of harvest was 1,240 °C, well above that for the same date the previous year (896 °C) or even in 2020 (1,003 °C). If we examine the graph, we can see that the 2020 and 2021 vintages did not reach
a thermal integral of 1,250 °C until November. The usual temperature at the end of the cycle for these mountain vineyards at a height of 800 meters is between 1,200 and 1,250 °C; however, this year the temperature will exceed 1,500 °C. This can be extrapolated to other regions, as evidenced by the extraordinary facts that demonstrate how dry this vintage has been, “especially in certain
Dignifying work in the Countryside By Richi Arambarri, Vintae CEO Every harvest season, we are faced with the same obstacle: a lack of hands. We, as well as the winegrowers in each of the areas where we produce wine, tell us how difficult it is to recruit employees to pick the grapes. The problem is not limited to this type of seasonal tasks; it is also practically impossible to find qualified tractor drivers or supervisors for longterm contracts. Despite this situation, Vintae remains committed to the quality afforded by traditional viticulture, with goblet-trained plantings and totally manual methods across the entire production cycle. We require labor to maintain our vineyards, but despite a double-digit unemployment rate at national level, no one wants to live and work in the countryside.
regions,” explains José Manuel Gómez, Director of Viticulture. “We have had to provide additional irrigation to the newly planted vines this year in San Vicente de La Sonsierra and Badarán, which is a completely unprecedented occurrence here,” he assures. Throughout the whole growing season in the Villaverde de Rioja region, Balda explains, “the average temperature has been 2 °C above average, which is the scenario anticipated by numerous scientific studies for the year 2050.” Therefore, it has been an atypical harvest “which helps us to predict what will normally occur in 30 years”.
Empty Spain dominates the news, and there is no end to stories about the difficulty of living with dignity in the major cities, the poor salaries, the escalating rents, and gentrification. So what does it take to repopulate our towns with all those unhappy city dwellers? Probably the first and most important thing is to honor the hard work of the countryside, which allows people to live in harmony with nature and provides far higher income than a clerk’s post in value-added jobs in large cities. On the other hand, it is vital to convey the village or provincial city’s quality of life and infinitely cheaper cost of living. Housing costs are much lower than those of the regional capital cities, no need for daily transportation and many job opportunities. Valuing life and work in rural areas is a shared obligation of the firms that reside there as well as the institutions, which should not only consider the problems of the overpopulated cities, but also the enormous prospects and the future of the rural environment.
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