The vineyards of Rias Baixas are very fragmented – there are 23,400 different locations, divided between more than 6,700 registered grape growers. Consequently this means that there are not very many Bodegas that are completely self-sufficient in grapes, and the vast majority buy at least some of their crop from the growers. One of the big problems is that, believe it or not, there are very few contracts in existence, and whilst there is some degree of loyalty between Bodegas and growers, it is still very much an open market. Of course the downside of this arrangement is that, in years of shortage, there can be a lot of pressure on supply, and therefore on prices. Such variations make it difficult to always offer a stable bottle price.

A couple of big harvests in recent years have helped to keep our grape prices down, but even in the most expensive vintages they are nothing when compared to the price recently paid for 800g (28oz) of Ruby Roman grapes in Japan. A single bunch of only 30 of these juicy red grapes was bought at auction for $5,400 dollars, the equivalent of about $180 per grape to you and me! OK, so each grape can be as much as 3cm (1.2in) in diameter, but even so, that’s quite a lot of money for a single grape…..

There is no real explanation as to why these particular grapes are so expensive, except to say that only 16,000 bunches are expected to be sold this season, and only in the prefecture of Ishikawa in central Japan. The Japanese are known to present top-quality fruits such as melons as gifts, and the first batches of carefully grown fruit often fetch extraordinary prices, making headlines in newspapers.

Suffice to say that next week we will be grubbing up all our Albariño grapes and re-planting with Ruby Red!

The vineyards of Rias Baixas are very fragmented – there are 23,400 different locations, divided between more than 6,700 registered grape growers. Consequently this means that there are not very many Bodegas that are completely self-sufficient in grapes, and the vast majority buy at least some of their crop from the growers. One of the big problems is that, believe it or not, there are very few contracts in existence, and whilst there is some degree of loyalty between Bodegas and growers, it is still very much an open market. Of course the downside of this arrangement is that, in years of shortage, there can be a lot of pressure on supply, and therefore on prices. Such variations make it difficult to always offer a stable bottle price.

A couple of big harvests in recent years have helped to keep our grape prices down, but even in the most expensive vintages they are nothing when compared to the price recently paid for 800g (28oz) of Ruby Roman grapes in Japan. A single bunch of only 30 of these juicy red grapes was bought at auction for $5,400 dollars, the equivalent of about $180 per grape to you and me! OK, so each grape can be as much as 3cm (1.2in) in diameter, but even so, that’s quite a lot of money for a single grape…..

There is no real explanation as to why these particular grapes are so expensive, except to say that only 16,000 bunches are expected to be sold this season, and only in the prefecture of Ishikawa in central Japan. The Japanese are known to present top-quality fruits such as melons as gifts, and the first batches of carefully grown fruit often fetch extraordinary prices, making headlines in newspapers.

Suffice to say that next week we will be grubbing up all our Albariño grapes and re-planting with Ruby Red!