As if our recent problems with the weather, more specifically hail, weren’t bad enough, we have now suffered a failure in the bodega infrastructure.  A broken underground pipe. There was no apparent reason for this to happen but was probably simply down to it’s age. The problem was that rather than bursting upwards in a fountain, the water was actually seeping out below ground. Unfortunately, because the pipe was just outside our grape reception (at the top of the building), the water eventually appeared in the ceiling of the bodega, dripping into the tank room. (No damage was caused to any wine, as of course, all tanks are tightly sealed). The difficulty, as with many leaks, was that it took some time to find the source, especially as it was well concealed. The only clue we had was that it appeared to be worse when we used a certain tap (that we use for adding water to our treatment tanks). We simply had to start digging! Eventually, we discovered the source and now, having made the appropriate repairs, we wait with baited breath to see if this issue is behind us.

Returning briefly to the hail damage, it would seem that 3 or 4 of our smaller vineyards were hit, with varying amounts of damage. As I mentioned before we will now have to simply wait to see what the flowering and fruit set will yield for 2026. It will certainly be less than usual in some locations, but by how much we don’t yet know.