At the end of August the vast majority of tourists packed up and left Galicia, back to their homes in Madrid or other parts of Spain. Perhaps if they had seen the weather forecast they might have stayed, or maybe postponed their holidays for a week or two. After a fairly miserable summer we have finally witnessed a period of dry, settled weather – indeed, by far the best we have seen this year. Blue skies and temperatures regularly in the high 20’s C (80’s F). For the grapes that survived the ravages of mildew and oidium earlier in the year this late sun has certainly provided a helping hand, raising the sugar levels higher than we dared hope only a month or two before. On the other hand some vineyards had already been decimated by disease (fortunately not our own), and for them this late sun arrived far too late to save the crop. The success of growing healthy grapes in 2012 rested firmly on giving preventative treatments at the right time. Never an ideal scenario, but sometimes desperate measures are required in order to save the fruit. I have always maintained that with the exception of one or two vintages, it would be almost impossible to make a completely organic or biodynamic wine in our climate.

The rest of this week will be dedicated to gathering grape samples, and then my annual weather watch will begin as we search for the optimum moment to start picking.

At the end of August the vast majority of tourists packed up and left Galicia, back to their homes in Madrid or other parts of Spain. Perhaps if they had seen the weather forecast they might have stayed, or maybe postponed their holidays for a week or two. After a fairly miserable summer we have finally witnessed a period of dry, settled weather – indeed, by far the best we have seen this year. Blue skies and temperatures regularly in the high 20’s C (80’s F). For the grapes that survived the ravages of mildew and oidium earlier in the year this late sun has certainly provided a helping hand, raising the sugar levels higher than we dared hope only a month or two before. On the other hand some vineyards had already been decimated by disease (fortunately not our own), and for them this late sun arrived far too late to save the crop. The success of growing healthy grapes in 2012 rested firmly on giving preventative treatments at the right time. Never an ideal scenario, but sometimes desperate measures are required in order to save the fruit. I have always maintained that with the exception of one or two vintages, it would be almost impossible to make a completely organic or biodynamic wine in our climate.

The rest of this week will be dedicated to gathering grape samples, and then my annual weather watch will begin as we search for the optimum moment to start picking.