Monday 14th September – The day started more or less exactly as it did yesterday with one slight difference, it had been raining during the night, but by the time we arrived at the bodega it had stopped. Within an hour or two, the vineyards had dried out, and by about 11am we were actually bathed in warm sunshine. It was time to pick as quickly as possible, not only to collect fruit whilst it was still completely healthy, but also because of the looming storm forecast for Tuesday – the tail end of Hurricane Henri approaching from the Atlantic.

On our part, every man and his dog was sent to the ‘Pazo’ vineyard in an attempt to gather all the best fruit whilst it remained dry. By late afternoon the grape reception was filling up, and there was an visible sense of relief on the faces of many a grape suppliers as they recognised that had safely gathered their crop before the inclement weather arrived. It turned out to be yet another day of high volumes passing through our presses, not quite a record day, but certainly much higher than the average of recent years. Our bodega and picking teams were working like heros!

Unfortunately, one of the unplanned consequences of this high volume was that our distillery simply could not keep up with the pace. When our presses are emptied the pomace or ‘bagazo’ as it is called here (grape seeds, skins and stems), are sent down a shoot to the floor below, and collected in large containers ready to be sent to the distillery. During the harvest they run a shuttle of lorries, on a daily basis, collecting the full, and delivering empties ready to be refilled. With the higher than normal daily volumes that we were generating, they eventually fell behind, and consequently we eventually ran out of containers. There was no option, but to create a ‘bagazo’ mountain on the floor, inside the bodega (see today’s photo).

The amazing fact was, that by the end of this fourth day, our 2015 harvest was almost complete! Now we can only wait, and see what transpires over the coming days, but if the forecasts are correct, then we will almost certainly not be picking for the next two or three days.Monday 14th September – The day started more or less exactly as it did yesterday with one slight difference, it had been raining during the night, but by the time we arrived at the bodega it had stopped. Within an hour or two, the vineyards had dried out, and by about 11am we were actually bathed in warm sunshine. It was time to pick as quickly as possible, not only to collect fruit whilst it was still completely healthy, but also because of the looming storm forecast for Tuesday – the tail end of Hurricane Henri approaching from the Atlantic.

On our part, every man and his dog was sent to the ‘Pazo’ vineyard in an attempt to gather all the best fruit whilst it remained dry. By late afternoon the grape reception was filling up, and there was an visible sense of relief on the faces of many a grape suppliers as they recognised that they had safely gathered their crop before the inclement weather arrived. It turned out to be yet another day of high volumes passing through our presses, not quite a record day, but certainly much higher than the average of recent years. Our bodega and picking teams were working like heros!

Unfortunately, one of the unplanned consequences of this high volume was that our distillery simply could not keep up with the pace. When our presses are emptied the pomace or ‘bagazo’ as it is called here (grape seeds, skins and stems), are sent down a shoot to the floor below, and collected in large containers ready to be sent to the distillery. During the harvest they run a shuttle of lorries, on a daily basis, collecting the full, and delivering empties ready to be refilled. With the higher than normal daily volumes that we were generating, they eventually fell behind, and consequently we eventually ran out of containers. There was no option, but to create a ‘bagazo’ mountain on the floor, inside the bodega (see today’s photo).

The amazing fact was, that by the end of this fourth day, our 2015 harvest was almost complete! Now we can only wait, and see what transpires over the coming days, but if the forecasts are correct, then we will almost certainly not be picking for the next two or three days.