At this time of year the hillsides around our region are shrouded in a blue/grey mist as growers burn their vine cuttings on small bonfires. This is not unique to Rias Baixas, but is actually quite a common site in vineyards around the world. (I often think that this is a bit of a waste as vine cuttings make an excellent fuel to throw on the top of the barbecue coals as you grill your local fish. Having said that, barbecue season is, unfortunately, still a couple of months away for most of us).

There is however, another way to dispose of our cuttings, but this actually depends on how ‘healthy’ they are. Of course, cuttings are actually dead wood, but the question is, is this wood infected or diseased in any way. If there is any evidence of disease, then the only option is to burn. If, on the other hand, they are healthy, then they can simply be turned into mulch and spread back onto the soil as natural organic material. The last month or so of very dry, sunny weather has certainly helped to keep our cuttings dry and disease free, and so this year we are employing the ‘mulching option’.

Today’s picture shows the same vineyard from one day to the next. The first picture shows the ground spread with vine cuttings, and in the second they have virtually disappeared, as they have be ground down and spread thinly on the soil. Almost like magic, but in this case, organic magic!

The month of January was quite exceptional, especially for Galicia. Not only was there almost zero rainfall (I think perhaps one or possibly two days at the beginning of the month), but skies have been largely cloudless for the last three or four weeks. Wall-to-wall blue sky every morning and clear, cloudless nights. Daytime temperature regularly reached the mid to high teens (15-19°C, 60-66°F), albeit that the clear January skies inevitably led to some very cold nights, with temperatures, quite frequently, dropping as low as freezing point.

Of course, as I have said many times before this provides us with really ideal conditions for pruning, and to be honest, progress to date has been much quicker than during the poor winter weather conditions that we would normally experience. Hardly a surprising observation.

The forecast tells us that we might have a little light rainfall tomorrow, but that after this we will return to largely clear, cloudless skies. There is however, a downside to this. The same as in many wine producing areas we rely on our winter rainfall to replenish the water table, and we would much rather have rain now, than during the summer months. We shall see….

As we move closer to the Holiday Season there is still plenty to do, both inside and outside the bodega. Our overseas shipping orders were mostly sent some time ago, and many of our Christmas gift packing orders have also been completed. Having said all that, we have still be obliged to make a couple of late bottlings, which is quite unusual for December. Of course, as we sell wine to the other side of the world, we have to remember that it is now summer in these places, and albariño season is in full swing (or so we hope). New orders waiting to be collected include Australia and Brazil.

On the subject of summer, the sun is streaming in through my office window as I write this, albeit the temperatures mean that it is not quite beach weather! Indeed, only yesterday, we had our first ground frost of the winter, but the clear blue skies still make this ideal pruning weather (already well under way). December itself started wet, cold and miserable, but fortunately this last week has seen a considerable improvement. The other good news is that Angela and I are both fully vaccinated and ready for the winter!

The 2021 harvest is now well and truly behind us, and, as always at this time of year, our wine is sitting quietly on its lees. In our vineyards the pruning is under way, and the first of the Christmas gift pack orders are being prepared. Christmas orders for our export markets left the cellar some weeks ago. Indeed, with the global shipping problems that exist (and not to mention the post-Brexit delays on goods entering the UK), our overseas importers started to ship quite a bit earlier than they normally would.

Having said all that, preparing orders this year has been much more of a challenge than normal as there have been delays on nearly every product that we have ordered. Not only have prices increased on cartons, bottles, capsules and corks, but currently our label supplier can’t even get the paper that they require for printing! It’s fair to say that I have never taken the supply chain for granted (we normally hold buffer stocks), but at the moment trying to plan for wine bottling can be something of a logistical nightmare.

Meanwhile, on the weather front November was largely dry, until the final few days of the month. Skies were bright and clear, albeit that temperatures were distinctly chilly and autumnal. The first day of December is wet, and so our vineyard team have moved inside to catch up on a bit of labelling (and yes, we do have a bit of label stock left!)

Today is yet another sunny day, although from Friday onwards, three days of rain is forecast… we shall see. The good news is that this will almost certainly be our last full day of harvest, unless our picking crew can pull off some miracle. (On the very first day the team established a new bodega record for collecting grapes from pergolas by hand – 24,500 kilos in 8 hours – not bad going!). By the time the rain arrives (assuming that the forecast is correct), we will have everything safely collected, and we will continue with the wine making process, as well as a full programme of deep cleaning.

As the day progressed, we were making some headway, but it very soon became apparent that there might be more picking left for tomorrow, or at least more than we thought. Of course we are quite happy that we have more kilos, which will help to compensate a little for the low yield of grape must at pressing.

Yet another day of wall to wall sunshine, but marked by a very chilly night and early morning. I am not exactly sure what the overnight temperature was, but it must have been close to single figures (in °C, which would be close to 50°F).

Yesterday I mentioned that the yield of grapes per hectare was more than anticipated (but that the yield of grape must per kilo of grapes was lower). With at least another full day to go, a quick bit of mathematics was applied, based on kilos already collected. It transpires, that even with the lower amount of juice per kilo, that the net result will be that we will still probably fill more tanks than we originally anticipated. In terms of physical tank space this does not present a problem, however, the products and materials that we use for fermentation might be stretched to far. A quick bit of top-up ordering was required. Indeed, many of the products could be sourced locally, which I guess is not unusual for a wine producing area at harvest time. By tomorrow we should have everything that we need.

The work day itself was relatively quiet, by recent standards, and once again without any incident worth mention. Maybe one more full day for our harvesting team (who have been picking grapes like locusts!), and then it’s possible that there might just be a few remnants left to gather on Thursday morning. We will see.

Apart from the trucks that deliver our pallets of grapes the rest arrive in transport of all shapes and sizes. A few years ago our smallest ever delivery was in the back of a Fiat Panda!! (Admittedly it was only the remnants of the main delivery). However, I have never seen grapes delivered in a horse transport before, not exactly a horsebox, but still used for moving horses (I think). Suffice to say that it had been well cleaned, and so we won’t be making an ‘equine cuvée’ this year.

The fact that I am writing about transport is because Monday was a hugely uneventful day, which from at least my point of view is actually a very good thing. That’s not to say that the cellar wasn’t busy, because it was. It simply means that everything happened as it should.

The one thing that stands out from the vintage so far is that the yields are quite low. That doesn’t mean that the number of kilos is down, because this is quite the contrary – the yield of grapes per hectare is up. What I mean is that when we actually press the grapes, the volume of juice is not as high as it usually is. Normally, in a year where the yield of juice per kilo is low we would expect higher quality wine, with more concentrated must, but in 2021 it would seem that this is not the case. The juice is sweet, as it always is, but it is not particularly viscose and the potential alcohol is still quite low. Indeed, I would still stand by the prediction of my post on Saturday – somewhere between 12% and 12.5%.

After a long, exhausting night in the bodega on Saturday, we had our fingers crossed that Sunday might be just a little less hectic. The day itself started with bright sunshine, albeit (as has been the pattern this summer), temperatures in the low to mid 20’s (70-75°F). Indeed, the night had been quite chilly, and so sweaters were needed fist thing, for our journey to the bodega.

However, after two and a half days focusing on the vineyards, it was time to start a little work inside. The first tanks were racked, and the clean grape must moved to new tanks ready for fermentation. Our fermentation never starts immediately simply because the juice is too cold (having been chilled rapidly in order to help the wine settle). It usually takes at least a few days for the temperature of our tanks to recover sufficiently for seeding.

Our day ended in the early hours of Monday morning, with everyone feeling just a bit jaded after a hard weekend. Thankfully Sunday was not quite as hectic as our peak on Saturday evening, which is probably just as well. The good news is that after this busy weekend we have probably crossed well into the second half of our harvest.

Saturday, as always, is a crazy day – when everybody wants to pick their grapes. It all started well enough, blue skies, a good, well-prepared bodega team, what could possibly go wrong? Well, not much to be honest. Despite the kilos of grapes flying in by the tractor or van load, our guys managed to stay on top of things.

It wasn’t until nearly 9pm that we had a slight disaster when the truck delivering our grapes lost a pallet. As we manoeuvred an adjacent pallet we didn’t notice that they were ‘interlocked’ with each other, so when we moved one, it tipped the other! For transport the pallets are only wrapped with a little film, and so once they start to fall they don’t stop. A cascade of grapes, ending on the floor!

I asked myself the question – do we now have to declassify this pallet to Viña de la Tierra (vineyard of the earth)? OK, that’s just my sense of humour, but at least my comment raised a few smiles…

Joking apart, Saturday turned out to be especially busy (mainly because of the half day lost on Friday), and the presses were actually working throughout the night. We know that Sunday will also be busy, but hopefully not quite as much.

On Friday morning we opened our shutters under grey, cloudy skies with cool temperatures. All fingers were tightly crossed, as the threat of rain loomed over us.

I mentioned yesterday that I make a post about our grapes, and their quality. For the last two years, we have had what I describe as a-typical vintages – warm, dry summers resulting in low yields and very high alcohol. In 2019 and 2020 it was not uncommon to see albariños of 13% or even 13.5%, whereas several years ago, the ‘norm’ would perhaps be nearer to 12.0% or 12.5%.

So far, it would appear that we will might produce wines that are much nearer to the previous level – my early prediction would be nearer to 12%. The grape must is certainly not as thick and viscous as the last two years, the result of a much cooler summer and just a little rainfall in recent weeks. Obviously we will be able to make a much better judgement of this in a weeks time, when we have all of our crop safely gathered in.

As far as day two, was concerned, it turned out to be a half day of picking, as the rain arrived more or less as forecast. It was really just a short, but significant downpour, and by late afternoon the sky was already clearing. Of course, we did not want to gather damp fruit, and so by lunchtime vineyard work was suspended for the day.