Well, after a spring and summer of variable and sometimes unexpected weather the 2018 harvest is finally upon us. Despite all these fluctuations the start date is pretty much as we anticipated – we had always predicted around the third week of September, and here we are, 19th September…

The great news is that the weather is being kind to us, in the morning there was a slight autumnal chill in the air, but with a clear blue sky. As the day progressed the temperature both inside and outside the bodega started to rise, and by midday the first grapes were already in the cellar. The familiar droning noise of the presses (that will continue unabated for the next 7 days or so), started to fill the air.

Unfortunately, owing to a slight (transport) miscalculation on my part the grapes did not arrive as quickly as we would have hoped, indeed the last grapes to arrive were rather late….. mea culpa! The good news is that they were all quite healthy, the only difference being that we have noticed that they are not yielding quite as much juice as we would normally expect when we press them – more on that as the days progress.

(Today’s video showing the first delivery of 2018 grapes is probably the shortest ever made – I really must learn how to control my new mobile phone!)