A couple of weeks ago the late spring weather was still pretty bleak, too much rain and unseasonably cool temperatures, really not the best conditions for flowering. Then, suddenly, almost in answer to our prayers, the rain stopped, the sun came out and we enjoyed just over a week of warm weather. It was (quite literally), the right weather at exactly the time that we needed it. We must have some friends in high places! Finally, the long and short of it is that the flowering was saved, and passed off better than we had dared hope just a week or two earlier.

This spell of fine weather came to a fairly abrupt end, and was marked by thunderstorms, albeit more in the south of our denomination (Condado and Rosal). Some of these storms were accompanied by our worst enemy – hail. Usually hailstorms are very localised, and despite today’s video having been shot the the Condado region, I have not heard any reports of damage to vineyards. The Salnés Valley did have rain, but luckily we seem to have escaped the dreaded hail (he says, touching wood!).

Now that flowering is finally over we can calculate, more or less, the timing of this year’s harvest. At this point in time we are looking at the very middle of September for our ’24 vendimia.