Thursday morning started sunny enough, with wall-to-wall blue sky, but by early afternoon it had evolved into a somewhat ‘milky’ sky – still warm but with slightly opaque sunshine.

So, today we will talk a little about the grapes themselves. On first impression it looks like we will be in for another very good quality harvest. Now, I am aware that everyone says that, and that our own Consello Regulador has never admitted to one bad harvest during the entire existence of our denomination, but believe me, this vintage has real potential. The grapes are healthy, the bunches are a good size, they are yielding the perfect amount of juice, and most importantly, the juice is thick and concentrated but with a very good balancing acidity. I guess my only surprise is that we have a good vintage with a year ending in the number 7. Speaking VERY generally, when you look back at the history of wine vintages, there are not too many great vintages when the year ends with a 7 – or maybe it’s just my imagination? Of course there are, and always will be, some exceptions.

Today’s video is really an experiment with time-lapse video (I have never tried it before). It shows our guys unloading one of our tractor-trailers. I have calculated that if we could really work at this speed we could complete our entire harvest in just under 3 hours!