There are certain telltale signs that start to emerge as harvest time gets closer. For example, the products that we use to elaborate our wines start to arrive at our door.

For example, today we have received several cases of yeast. It goes without saying that we would prefer to use naturally occurring yeast (that forms a layer on the skin of the berries), but unfortunately this isn’t always the best option. One of the big problems is sustaining the fermentation until it’s complete. In some wine growing areas, and with some grape varieties this would perhaps not present a problem, but in Rias Baixas our own natural yeasts are really not strong enough to do this work on their own (and more especially with our temperature control working at low temperatures). The result would be half-fermented tanks that need re-seeding; hence our choice to preempt this problem. It’s sad but true that not everything happens as nature intended, and therefore it sometimes requires a helping hand along the way.

The yeast that we select is very neutral, and doesn’t impart any unnatural flavours or aromas to our finished wine. We grow albariño, we sell albariño, and guess what?…. we want it to taste of albariño!

Although we still have a few weeks left to run before we actually start to pick any fruit there is still plenty of work to do in the bodega. (Not too much happens in the vineyards now, it is really just a question waiting for our grapes to attain perfection!)

In the meantime, we are just completing the final bottling, and ensuring that we have enough ‘floor stock’ labelled and ready to go, for any orders that we might receive during the harvest itself. Over the coming weeks we will certainly need to be focused on our wine making process, rather than worrying as to whether we have enough stock to sell!

Thankfully, having warned our customers in advance of this complicated period, many are actually collecting orders now. So whilst we don’t exactly have a queue of trucks waiting to collect, there is still a very healthy flow of wine leaving for overseas.

There is still a lot of work to do in the bodega before harvest time, and so we really have to work out our priorities. Number one on the list (as always) is a pre-harvest deep clean – all the equipment, tanks, pipes, pumps, presses, floors etc… everything!

Having said that we still cannot overlook our long-term commitment to the environment and reducing our carbon footprint wherever possible. Consumption of energy in the bodega spikes at harvest time, when we have both presses and refrigeration equipment running flat out for long periods of the day (refrigeration 24/7 for probably 4 or 5 weeks). In an attempt to compensate, we have embarked on a programme of renewing all our internal lighting. By the time the harvest starts, I believe that 99% of the lighting in the entire bodega will be replaced by low consumption LED.

Large parts of the bodega are already complete, and apart from the energy saving, there is another minor bonus that we have noticed immediately. The light is instant – there is no delay, and the flickering that we have come to associate with the old florescent tubes is history. Suffice to say that the old system will not be missed!

It’s looking very much like this year’s harvest will probably fall around the third or forth week of September, although there is still enough time for this to change. Whenever it eventually arrives, then it goes without saying, the bodega has to be prepared.

Believe it or not there is quite a bit of maths involved in the preparation – working out how many kilos we might have, converting this into liquid (approximate yield), and then working out how many tanks we will need to accommodate this. The reality is that we have already been working towards this for some time, ensuring that we are systematically emptying the tanks nearest to the presses first, as we move through racking and filtering etc. (Very obviously, the less we have to move the wine the better!).

As we move into the final stages, then it’s all about bottling, simply emptying the last few tanks before we finally need them. This week we will bottle two tanks, and then possibly one more before September.

Last week I mentioned briefly that putting the tanks back together, welding the steel, is a much more difficult job than cutting them in two (not to mention very highly skilled).

The process of maneuvering the two halves into position and the spot welding is slow, precise and painstaking. As you can perhaps make out from today’s video every small weld is made centimeter by centimeter, re-aligning the metal between each fusion – it really is very exacting work. Once the circle is complete the result is a line of hundreds of individual spot welds that form the new joint. The welds are then hammered flat, with two men working simultaneously, perfectly co-ordinated, one inside the tank and the other outside – it’s really fascinating to watch.

After the hammering comes the final clean up. This is a two part process. Firstly comes the grinding, when the small humps and bumps of the join are removed, leaving a comparatively smooth, flat surface. Finally comes the polishing, when the tank is left with nothing more than a ‘brushed metal’ effect is visible (masking tape is used the give this brushed effect perfectly straight edges). Et voila! Job done!

Of course, now that the new jacket is in place it simply needs to be connected and tested. The odd fact is that this work is not carried out by the same people that made the tank modifications. Connecting to the cold water system will be carried out by either a plumber or refrigeration engineer in the coming days.

After a week away from the bodega our tanks (or should I say half-tanks?) have arrived home, complete with their new shirts. These bottom sections have had new cooling jackets added, to make them more efficient and improve temperature control, especially during fermentation. In English we call them ‘jackets’ whereas the Spanish call them ‘camisas’, which literally translated means shirts.

Obviously it is now down to the simple matter of welding them back together again, which is a highly specialised job, and a good deal more difficult than the process of cutting them. Having said that, the guys who do this work are so good, that once complete you can barely see the join. I will probably add a short video later in the week.

(By the way, the cardboard wrapped around the tanks in the photo are merely there to protect the jackets whilst in transit, this does not form a part of the tank insulation itself – we are just a bit more hi-tech than that! Also, the tanks are turned upside-down, so the strange fins that you see on top are actually the feet).

[:en]So now we are almost ready, a few bits of last minute cleaning in the bodega, and grapes just hanging around waiting! So now it is simply a question (as every year), of watching the weather. To be honest, August was a very odd month, and certainly not as hot as usual. A high percentage of overcast days, a few days of drizzle and light rain (nothing substantial), and when the sun did eventually appear, it wasn’t exactly “scorchio” – it other words, only moderately hot. The final few days for example, even during unbroken sunshine, the daytime temperature reached no more than 25°C (77°F), and nights were also quite cool – down to about 14°C (57°F).

It is almost certain that we will kick-off next week, but exactly when will be determined by the weather Gods. As always I am following about four or five different weather websites, all of which are marginally different. Generally good, but with a possibility of showers. They have been wrong before.

I will just have to consult my weather stone (see picture), which is much more accurate.[:es]So now we are almost ready, a few bits of last minute cleaning in the bodega, and grapes just hanging around waiting! So now it is simply a question (as every year), of watching the weather. To be honest, August was a very odd month, and certainly not as hot as usual. A high percentage of overcast days, a few days of drizzle and light rain (nothing substantial), and when the sun did eventually appear, it wasn’t exactly “scorchio” – it other words, only moderately hot. The final few days for example, even during unbroken sunshine, the daytime temperature reached no more than 25°C (77°F), and nights were also quite cool – down to about 14°C (57°F).

It is almost certain that we will kick-off next week, but exactly when will be determined by the weather Gods. As always I am following about four or five different weather websites, all of which are marginally different. Generally good, but with a possibility of showers. They have been wrong before.

I will just have to consult my weather stone (see picture), which is much more accurate.

[:]

The 2017 harvest is fast approaching, probably only a week or so away from kick-off. Grape samples are being collected and analysed and the bodega is still being prepped (as we have been doing for the last few weeks now). As you will know, the biggest single chore was to finish the grape reception, which I am very happy to say is now complete. This will increase the available floor area by more than 50%, and so hopefully, this will relieve some of the congestion at peak times. “Vamos a ver” as they say in Spanish.

Not only do we now have to make sure that all equipment is spotlessly clean and tested before any single grape can enter, but we also have to re-organise a little in order to create additional space for working. At the top of our building our grape reception now has the new floor area, but on lower levels, stock, pallets and equipment is moved into adjacent areas that are not required during the harvest. In short, it leaves the bodega looking a bit chaotic (even if it’s not).

Out in the vineyards, everything is ready – grass between the vines is trimmed, and the grapes are entering the final phase of maturity. Samples taken so far are giving good indications regarding quality, and yields look just a bit higher than last year. As they say in the Boy Scouts – be prepared… and I think we are.

Talk about cutting it fine – on the last day before our very short summer closure, we are putting the final touches to the grape reception. This work started about three months ago, and perhaps if we had been working full time on it, would have been finished two months ago. Unfortunately we didn’t have the luxury of too much spare time in order to give this one task our full attention.

So all the tiles are laid (and what a difference that makes!), and now we are just adding the milk…. to be honest I’m not sure what the colloquial expression would be in the UK building trade, but here in Galicia, apparently, the cement that fills the gaps between the tiles is called the ‘milk’ (even though it’s dark grey). Whilst it’s true to say that this cement does have a very liquid consistency, it’s looks more like the thickness of double cream to me!

So, we are almost ready, albeit there is still a bit of re-organising to do when we come back to work, in a week or so. The August weather is a bit odd too. The month started with a couple of cloudy days with drizzle, but now it’s sunny, windy, and quite cool. For the last few days there has been a stiff breeze blowing, and whilst, during the day, it’s still warm enough to sit on the beach (mid-20’s °C – mid to upper 70’s °F), the evenings and nights have been quite chilly, indeed almost cold – down as low as 12°C (53°F). Obviously this will slow things down a bit, as far as fruit maturity is concerned, so instead of a harvest at the very beginning of September, it could well be delayed by a week or so. As always we’ll just have to wait and see.

For the last four or five days Lucifer has been sweeping across Europe (but don’t worry, I don’t mean that we have been overtaken by devil worship, it’s simply the nickname given to the recent spell of excessively hot weather). You may have read in the press or seen on TV that parts of Spain and Italy have been enduring temperatures of between 40 and 45°C (105-115°F). Severe weather warnings have been issued…. but not here in Galicia. The last couple of days here have been very, very grey and overcast (see photo) with long periods of drizzle, and temperatures of the low-to-mid 20’sC (70-75°F). This is not ideal weather for growing grapes, but at least the forecast is for improvement in the next day or so.

Just a quick anecdote on this subject if I may. The BBC was interviewing a British family on holiday in Cyprus, where the temperature had reached 43°C, and people had been advised to stay indoors during the afternoon. The interviewer asked what precautions the father had taken to protect his two young daughters, and I’m not sure if his response was typical British phlegm or just plain stupid – “we have put on sunscreen and are eating lots of ice cream.” In ‘Britspeak’ this means “I’ve paid for this sunshine, and by God, I’m going to enjoy it (whatever the possible consequences)!”