After a brief visit to our ‘El Pazo’ vineyard yesterday evening, Angela confirmed that our fruit there was ripe and ready for picking. Traditionally, Sunday had always been a quiet day, when we either reduced the number of pickers, or perhaps worked a half day, but this year it has been treated as a normal working day. Of course the main reason behind this is the weather – we are in one of those horrible, unpredictable periods where the weather forecasts changes on almost an hourly basis. At these times my own method for prediction is to open the shutters in the morning and look out of the window!

Yesterday evening also provided our first, thankfully minor, hiccup in the bodega. We discovered that one of our presses was malfunctioning and not reaching the required pressure during its working cycle. Further investigation revealed that a small piece of wire had been loaded among the grapes and punctured the membrane of the press. It is this membrane that inflates and squeezes the fruit, and obviously, even a small hole causes a loss of pressure, meaning that the grapes are not properly crushed. The last time this happened was in 2002, but the solution was just the same – one phone call, one hour, one over-sized bicycle repair kit. Et voila! Repaired!

Sunday provided us with another bright, sunny morning, giving us excellent conditions in which to work. Our well-organised team wasted no time in taking full advantage, and yet again the presses were working prior to lunch. (The maximum length of time from vine to press is probably less than 2 hours). Apart from the juice being slightly thicker than the last couple of vintages we have also noticed a much more prominent smell of fruit in the pressing room itself – All very promising signs for a good wine….. 

After a brief visit to our ‘El Pazo’ vineyard yesterday evening, Angela confirmed that our fruit there was ripe and ready for picking. Traditionally, Sunday had always been a quiet day, when we either reduced the number of pickers, or perhaps worked a half day, but this year it has been treated as a normal working day. Of course the main reason behind this is the weather – we are in one of those horrible, unpredictable periods where the weather forecasts changes on almost an hourly basis. At these times my own method for prediction is to open the shutters in the morning and look out of the window!

Yesterday evening also provided our first, thankfully minor, hiccup in the bodega. We discovered that one of our presses was malfunctioning and not reaching the required pressure during its working cycle. Further investigation revealed that a small piece of wire had been loaded among the grapes and punctured the membrane of the press. It is this membrane that inflates and squeezes the fruit, and obviously, even a small hole causes a loss of pressure, meaning that the grapes are not properly crushed. The last time this happened was in 2002, but the solution was just the same – one phone call, one hour, one over-sized bicycle repair kit. Et voila! Repaired!

Sunday provided us with another bright, sunny morning, giving us excellent conditions in which to work. Our well-organised team wasted no time in taking full advantage, and yet again the presses were working prior to lunch. (The maximum length of time from vine to press is probably less than 2 hours). Apart from the juice being slightly thicker than the last couple of vintages we have also noticed a much more prominent smell of fruit in the pressing room itself – All very promising signs for a good wine….. .