This season we are taking a new vineyard on board. The plan is to make wine with friends to learn from each other, spend time together and see how far we get with the quality of the end wine. Our main objective is to make an outstanding wine  of the highest quality.

In the Gredos area there are plenty of neglected vineyards (as well as olive groves). Young generations see winemaking (and/or olive oil making) as old-fashioned and hard work. Whilst it might not be very profitable in money terms, the quality of the end product plus the satisfaction of making it yourself more than compensates for the effort.

Nowadays with technology you can avoid bad weather: waterproof clothing, gloves, etc allow you to work in the countryside comfortably. Apps allow you to monitor/foresee the weather so that you can avoid working in the fields when harsh or unwelcoming and work on glorious sunny days instead... 

Additionally, modern techniques reduce the work required in the vineyard. Green covers spare the need of tilling (which is demanding) whilst keeping moisture in the soil and improving soil quality... Making your own treatments (i.e: nettle or horsetail ferments) protect the vines from viruses and fungus at zero cost.

The new vineyard we are taking on has plenty of potential, vines are 30-40 years old on a sun facing slope with wide diurnal range. The vineyard however has challenges, namely phylloxera (see picture). Either the vines are ungrafted and therefore prone to phylloxera or the soil has covered the European part of the vine and phylloxera is attacking the plant. Either way some vines have died, some are dying and need treatment asap.

With that in mind, started pruning during the holiday season in December/January (when the temperatures went down below zero) and completed it in early March (with much kinder weather).

As the vineyard was unmanned over the last few years overgrown grass/plants cover the vineyard and make it difficult to work/walk around. Over the next few months once the spring rains are over, will trim the grass so that the soil keeps as much moisture as possible whilst making it easier to work/walk around. It will also allow to treat phylloxera, viruses and fungal infections so that the vines can work at full strength.

Winter is a time of rest for vines. The plants send the sap to their roots, the areal part being dormant. This is the time for pruning whilst the impact on the plant is minimal.

Garnacha being a vigorous plant enjoys severe pruning to keep the fruit that will come in spring balanced. i.e: quality of grapes rather than quantity. So, severe pruning we did. In 2017 we pruned based on the "long cane" approach. The plant is severely pruned with the exception of one long cane. The plant´s vigor will fill the long cane with bunches of grapes. During veraison and green pruning we cut that long cane so that the plant concentrate all the phenolics and energy into the remaining bunches, i.e: maximum five-seven per plant.

Pruning can be a tedious and repetitive job. Yet it offers a deep insight into the health of the plants. i.e: how happy they are, what issues they might face, etc.

In the enclosed picture you can see the devastating effects of Phylloxera feeding on sap from the areal part of the vine from under the roots. The nematode weakens the plant until it eventually the plant dies. The quality of the bunches during the infestation is compromised as is the resulting wine.

It is rewarding to see the infection disappear over the years, a sign of time, money and sweat well spent. 

2018 has been a rainy year for the Gredos region. Plenty of rain during May/June plus then again abundant rain in October. Water levels drop dramatically during the very hot summer with temperatures in July/August reaching 40C. During September/October water levels slowly fill up to normal levels.

We harvested red grapes on Saturday 27th October, fairly late as Garnacha takes a long time to achieve phenolic ripeness. Late harvesting creates a problem: everyone else has picked up theirs, grapes left hanging are the only food available to birds… This time of year scarecrows and propane cannons are a must.

We collected ~400kgs of red grapes in the morning and processed them in the afternoon. The weather was on our side: dry at around 16C. Red wine fermentation is generally carried out somewhere between 20C and 30C. Managing temperature is a key factor on wine making. Lower temperatures help retain aromatic compounds (floral aromas and fruit flavours) on the must. Higher temperatures will achieve higher extraction of tannins, phenolics and colour (anthocyanins).

We macerate the must in a stainless steel tank at cellar temperature at around 17C. Fermentation at such cold temperature is slow and it takes the must 2 to 3 days to start in earnest. Sugar levels at 27Brix, 3.8 PH and 18C temperature. After the first 2-3 days, fermentation starts and both sugar levels and PH decrease slightly, temperature raises to 20C.

We do not add sulphur dioxide, just “biodynamic plus” grapes/grape must. Colour and tannin extraction seems to be working out well judging by the dark colour of the must. Phenolic ripeness might play a key role in the extraction of colour and tannins at low fermentation temperatures.

o edit.

2018 is our fifth harvest, things have changed a little in those years as we learn, get more comfortable, improve and expand. Vine and grape quality has improved dramatically since only “biodynamic plus” techniques are used. We had excessive rain into May/June creating a period of high humidity which brought fungal infections to the vines (oidium) and fruit trees (taphrina).

The vines did well given the damp circumstances, green pruning and horsetail ferment spraying helped. Horsetail ferment spaying early in the season is now a must as is green pruning to pre-select bunches and increase both airflow and quality.

We picked white grapes and red grapes for drying on the 23rd September. White wine started processing/fermentation on the 24th and was left to ferment in small (16litres) glass demijohns. The white must started fermentation over the next few days with different demijohns starting at slightly different times. It will be interesting to see if that has any significan differences on the finished wine… Have recorded the order of fermentation to compare/contrast…

The red grapes were selected/sorted and left to dry on wooden planks in a dry environment. The plan is to experiment producing a Garnacha raisin-based red wine over the Christmas/New Year’s period.

Modern winemaking technologies focus on optimising the phenolic content on wine. Out of several options available here are two which we should be using for this year´s harvest in a few days…

Cold soak or pre-fermentation maceration. The wine is kept in an aqueous liquid at low temperature (10C) to avoid both fermentation and spoilage. The period can be between a few and as much as 20 days. The aim is to achieve less harshness and higher colour extraction, i.e: extraction of anthocyanins pre-alcohol from skins and stems.

This technique is consistent with the changes that take place during fermentation. During the first 5-7 days phenolic extraction comes mainly from skins and stems. After the seed coat cuticle is dissolved by alcohol extraction from the seeds (which harsher tannins) takes over.

To recap colour is obtained mostly during the first few days (anthocyanins) hence why cap management is critical. Battonage consists on pushing down the gross lees which float to the top of the tank/container to maximise colour and skin/stem extraction and it´s therefore critical for those first 5-7 days.

Cold soak gives a head start to achieving maximum extraction of phenolics including colour from skins and stems. Wine at this point would reach its maximum colour, from here on anthocyanins and tannins react (polymerise) and form polymers. In colour terms, the wine moves from its strongest point of red/blue/black towards the brown/orange that comes with wine aging.

Following from the last post, the last five years of moving the vineyard to biodynamic have coincided with reversing the negative trend that was killing vines. Not directly linked to biodynamic practices, more to do with boosting the vines´ immune system.

Quite a few old vines have died from Phylloxera over the last few years. Already a problem when we took over the vineyard: only around 400 out of 800 vines were left and they were struggling. Over the last few years a further 12.5% was lost (~50 vines).

Vitis Labrusca produces naturally a chemical mixture that repels Phylloxera by clogging its mouth. In the picture you can see the effect on a phylloxera effected Vitis Vinifera vine with an enhanced immune system. Phylloxera feeds on the vine burning some leaves and grapes and then disappears. Apart from a few "burnt" shoots, the vine is now healthy. We remove the "burnt" shoots and the plant is perfectly healthy...

This year we have planted 50 ungrafted shoots as there is no longer a need for grafting. So far, most of the new plants have taken well and they look good and healthy. The biggest pleasure however is to see some plants that were almost dead sprouting healthily again (see next pictures).

Being an optimist i often wonder if it would have a similar effect with Xyllela Fastidiosa. Let´s hope so. For now, Phylloxera has left the vineyard.

Welcome back! Took the Level 3 WSET exam last year. Thoroughly recommend it and loved it yet it took my attention away from writing blog articles. For this I apologise, can´t wait to be back with what i have learnt on the course, travelling around different wine regions and learnt working in the vineyard.

I would like to start by talking about conventional wisdom on Phylloxera. The reason for that is that our vineyard and others in the area are being slowly but surely devastated by Phylloxera. You can see this in the picture above. These vines are 30-40 years old, every single space was originally planted with vines. Today you can see the empty spaces where vines were planted and have now dissappeared in the right side of the picture.

What is Phylloxera? Daktulosphaira Vitifoliae is an insect which caused devastation in the XIX century by killing most vineyards in Europe. If you want to know more about where it came from please visit the Wikipedia page:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylloxera

Conventional wisdom relies on grafting the European species into American roots which are resistant to Phylloxera. In our case some of the original vines were propagated by layering, i.e: planting the European vine ungrafted. This creates a problem as if these vines are not untreated, the Phylloxera insect will feed on them and slowly but surely kill them. There are a few rare vineyards untouched by Phylloxera however. These wines generally (although not always) demand a premium as they are certainly exclusive and rare.

The main effects of Phylloxera on vines are as follows:

1.- Phylloxera feeds from the vine roots taking the sap and slowly browning the trunks and branches until they eventually kill the plant. This process slowly weakens the plant and kills it slowly. This can take several years depending on the age/size of the vine, in our vineyard it can take from one to 3-5 years...

2.- Phylloxera also feeds on the leaves. As part of its reproductive cycle, the winged insect lays eggs under the vine leaves. As above, the vine fights the infestation and is weakened. Additionally the eggs feed on the leaf sap, then hatch and more phylloxera develop.

3.- Sap is taken from the roots, sap is taken from the leaves, the vine is weakened. Like when we get the flu, the vine plant immune system is compromised, it uses its limited resources to fight the infection.

A very grim situation for winemaking, it is fair to say that the premium on Phylloxera-free/ungrafted wines in my humble opinion is more than justified. Remember walking around the vineyard a few years ago, unaware of what was going on and feeling miserable that the plants were looking distressed. Did not know what was going on, how could i help or even what the galls in the leaves were. The biodynamic treatment did not have the answer, or at least it is not widely known or within their toolkit yet.

On the positive side and after a couple of years of research, it is a pleasure to walk around the vineyard today. We are slowly but surely wining the battle against Phylloxera. Most of the affected vines seem to be coming back and surviving. Have planted vines on their roots, knowing that they will now survive ungrafted. Will go through the evident changes to the plants on the next post.

We have many challenges on wine making, yet we are improving every year. We might be miles away from producing excellent wines, yet we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you to Rudolf Steiner who might not have had the right answers and is always right. Thank you to Hilario Garcia who has obviously worked this it out. Both are an inspiration to many and more importantly a starting point to what´s to come in the future. Thanks a million both for giving us the courage, the knowledge and above all inspiration.

APPEARANCE
Clarity: Clear
Intensity: medium
Colour: ruby


NOSE
Condition: clean
Intensity: pronounced
Aroma characteristics: blackberry and black cherry


PALATE
Sweetness: dry 
Acidity: high
Tannins: high
Body: full 
Flavours: red cherry and blackberry
Finish: medium to long


CONCLUSION: Very good to outstanding. Good fruit, alcohol and tannins with a medium-long finish. Very good to have now and even better to keep as the fruit will develop into tertiary aromas.

APPEARANCE
Clarity: Clear
Intensity: deep
Colour: purple


NOSE
Condition: clean
Intensity: pronounced 
Aroma characteristics: blackberry jam with dark chocolate 


PALATE
Sweetness: dry 
Acidity: high
Tannins: high
Body: medium to full 
Flavours: dark chocolate and blackberry
Finish: medium to long


CONCLUSION: Outstanding. Refreshing black fruits with dark chocolate. Good to have now, worth keeping for aging as it is full of fruit aromas which will improve with age.