I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record, as I’m sure I repeat the same story every year – please forgive me, I’m just going a bit senile….

It’s that time of year when I start to follow a number of different weather forecasts to see what the final pre-harvest days will bring, and also to look for a window of opportunity to start picking.

I mention ‘different’ weather sites, and that, I’m afraid, is the significant part – all the different sites that I follow are all giving me conflicting information. In their defence I would say that the summer of 2011 has been very unsettled to date, and it must be a bit of a nightmare trying to forecast accurately what is going to happen, but unfortunately that doesn’t help me too much.

Indeed, the picture that I have included here is a ‘screen grab’ from the CNN site that shows fabulous, settled, sunny weather for the coming days. This was in contrast to other sites that indicated odd days of cloud and rain, and so in the end it simply becomes a question of who to believe.

Me? I will just stick my head out of the window and see what’s happening – a system that never fails!

I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record, as I’m sure I repeat the same story every year – please forgive me, I’m just going a bit senile….

It’s that time of year when I start to follow a number of different weather forecasts to see what the final pre-harvest days will bring, and also to look for a window of opportunity to start picking.

I mention ‘different’ weather sites, and that, I’m afraid, is the significant part – all the different sites that I follow are all giving me conflicting information. In their defence I would say that the summer of 2011 has been very unsettled to date, and it must be a bit of a nightmare trying to forecast accurately what is going to happen, but unfortunately that doesn’t help me too much.

Indeed, the picture that I have included here is a ‘screen grab’ from the CNN site that shows fabulous, settled, sunny weather for the coming days. This was in contrast to other sites that indicated odd days of cloud and rain, and so in the end it simply becomes a question of who to believe.

Me? I will just stick my head out of the window and see what’s happening – a system that never fails!

After a very dry spring, and dry summer, with very changeable weather during July and August, we now have storms! Not really the sort of thing we need with only a few days left to run before the harvest. It seems ironic that having prayed for a bit of rain earlier in the year, that we now have rain when we could really do with a bit more sunshine and warmth – just to give the grapes one last push and to reduce the acidity just a touch. So far there has been less than 24 hours of rainfall, enough to wash the fruit, but we really don’t need any more at this stage.

The only real consolation is that this break in the weather gives us time to complete final preparations inside the wine cellar, making sure that all the equipment is clean, polished and ready for action.The empty tanks are waiting, the motors are lubricated, and our bodega staff are like finely honed atheletes waiting at the start line…. (well, maybe a slight exaggeration).

After a very dry spring, and dry summer, with very changeable weather during July and August, we now have storms! Not really the sort of thing we need with only a few days left to run before the harvest. It seems ironic that having prayed for a bit of rain earlier in the year, that we now have rain when we could really do with a bit more sunshine and warmth – just to give the grapes one last push and to reduce the acidity just a touch. So far there has been less than 24 hours of rainfall, enough to wash the fruit, but we really don’t need any more at this stage.

The only real consolation is that this break in the weather gives us time to complete final preparations inside the wine cellar, making sure that all the equipment is clean, polished and ready for action.The empty tanks are waiting, the motors are lubricated, and our bodega staff are like finely honed atheletes waiting at the start line…. (well, maybe a slight exaggeration).

As we arrive closer to harvest time with every day that passes, so we spend our days collecting and analysing grape samples. Of course the objective of this exercise is quite simple – to decide the optimum time to start picking.

On face value this might appear to be a very simple, straightforward task, but the reality is actually quite different. Apart from calculating the best balance between sugar (potential alcohol), acidity and pH, we have to take into account that that ripening is not necessarily even. The variations do not only appear between different geographical vineyard locations, but also between the different blocks or rows within each vineyard. Every year these subtle differences help us to determine which vineyard we will pick first, and also how we should best approach the picking within that site. It could even be that we will pick only a fraction of one location on a certain day, and then go back for the rest maybe two or three days later.

Of course the other major variable is that if it takes more than a week to gather in our entire harvest, then the fruit will still maturing over that period –  at the very end of the growing cycle the changes in sugar and acidity can be extremely rapid and will evolve on a daily basis.

All these calculations are however, tempered by the weather – hot sun will certainly change the physiology of the fruit, as will rain during the harvest period. So not such a simple calculation after all…..

As we arrive closer to harvest time with every day that passes, so we spend our days collecting and analysing grape samples. Of course the objective of this exercise is quite simple – to decide the optimum time to start picking.

On face value this might appear to be a very simple, straightforward task, but the reality is actually quite different. Apart from calculating the best balance between sugar (potential alcohol), acidity and pH, we have to take into account that that ripening is not necessarily even. The variations do not only appear between different geographical vineyard locations, but also between the different blocks or rows within each vineyard. Every year these subtle differences help us to determine which vineyard we will pick first, and also how we should best approach the picking within that site. It could even be that we will pick only a fraction of one location on a certain day, and then go back for the rest maybe two or three days later.

Of course the other major variable is that if it takes more than a week to gather in our entire harvest, then the fruit will still maturing over that period –  at the very end of the growing cycle the changes in sugar and acidity can be extremely rapid and will evolve on a daily basis.

All these calculations are however, tempered by the weather – hot sun will certainly change the physiology of the fruit, as will rain during the harvest period. So not such a simple calculation after all…..

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not announcing that summer is over already, but having just celebrated the longest day of the year (21st June in the Northern Hemisphere), we now look forward to possibly our shortest summer.

Our calendar for summer 2011 will have to be altered dramatically, as we plan for the early harvest. The first thing to disappear will be the planned closure of the Bodega for one week in August. Indeed, the week that we wanted to close may well end up being the week that we start to pick, so I guess that I might have to ask our team to work instead!

But the preparations for harvest actually start much earlier than that….

Not only do we have to order all the materials that we need, but obviously we have to ensure that we have enough space in our tanks to receive the new wine, and this usually involves a programme of bottling to create a bit of spare capacity.

As the wine has to pass through cold stabilisation, filtration etc. before it is bottled this also takes time and forward planning, and so working backwards from the anticipated harvest date, it means that we will probably have a very short summer indeed.

To finish on a more positive note, at least I will save on a bit of sun cream this year!

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not announcing that summer is over already, but having just celebrated the longest day of the year (21st June in the Northern Hemisphere), we now look forward to possibly our shortest summer.

Our calendar for summer 2011 will have to be altered dramatically, as we plan for the early harvest. The first thing to disappear will be the planned closure of the Bodega for one week in August. Indeed, the week that we wanted to close may well end up being the week that we start to pick, so I guess that I might have to ask our team to work instead!

But the preparations for harvest actually start much earlier than that….

Not only do we have to order all the materials that we need, but obviously we have to ensure that we have enough space in our tanks to receive the new wine, and this usually involves a programme of bottling to create a bit of spare capacity.

As the wine has to pass through cold stabilisation, filtration etc. before it is bottled this also takes time and forward planning, and so working backwards from the anticipated harvest date, it means that we will probably have a very short summer indeed.

To finish on a more positive note, at least I will save on a bit of sun cream this year!