Valdeorras began the harvest with an excellent grape quality

Photo: Lolita Vázquez (La Voz de Galicia)  - Info Source: La Región

The María Teresa Nuñez Vega winery was the first in starting the picking work in Galicia, last Thursday at 08.00 am.

The vineyards are located in the City Council of Petín and there is where the campaign of the Autonomous Community began.  Leading the works, which will continue throughout the next days, we find the owner of the winery Celestino Naveira. He announced that the grape is of an excellent quality, although the crop is expected to be lower than the previous year.

'There are fewer grapes than last year, a 20% less, but in fact there are more than we were expecting. For sure, all the grapes are excellent ' he stated. Despite the fact that weather conditions led to several days of delay to begin the harvest, these also favored the development of the plants, that could enjoy several days of warm temperatures, ideal for picking the fruit.

The María Teresa Núñez winery works with mencia, alicante and godello varieties. According to Celestino Naveira, this last variety 'mature sooner', reaching 13.5 degrees this year. He also indicated that its production is slightly larger than 30,000 bottles, being of godello variety two out of three.

Video: La Región

The expectations of the winery of Petín coincide totally with those of the Regulatory Council of D.O. Valdeorras appellation. His technical director, Jorge Mazaira, also calculated a 20% decline in production respect the vintage of 2011, when producers in Valdeorras collected about 6.4 million kilos.

The technician of this winemaking organization also indicated that the 'quality of the grape is very good; it rained when rain was needed and it was warm at the right time. These days, temperatures of 30 degrees are ideal for the harvest; if these were higher, grapes could be damaged'.

Despite of belonging to the first Galician appellation that starts the harvest, cellars of Valdeorras begin this campaing a week later compared with the previous season, when at the end of August we could already find workers in the vineyards.

Throughout the weekend, a great part of wineries that make up the D.O. Valdeorras appellation have joined the harvest, although the main activity is expected to take place around 23 September.

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The vintage is coming to Valdeorras with an "excellent" grape quality.

  After a record year in terms of production and quality, the harvest goes back to normality with a 15% reduction in production but with an excellent fruit quality.

 

The D.O. Valdeorras appellation will be the first to start the 2012 vintage, being expected this to begin over next weekend.

According to one of the technicians of the Regulatory Council of the D.O. Valdeorras appellation, Santiago Pérez, "despite the fact that the germination occurs first on the coast because of the temperatures and the type of vine, it is common that Valdeorras collects the fruit in advanced since the ripening is favored in this area due to its continental climate, with a greater number of sunshine hours in the summer and heat peaks higher”.

Not much later, with the starting of the second fortnight, Rias Baixas and Ribeira Sacra appellations will begin with their harvests, while Monterrei will start between the 15^th and 20^th. Ribeiro will postpone the picking until the 25^th or so.

Although harvest dates are postponed comparing with the previous year, Santiago Pérez states that "this year is within the normality”, especially if we have a look to the average of the last decade. The slight delay from last year is due to the fact that temperatures of spring, when it begins the active cycle of the plant, were lower than usual, especially at night.

In this regard, the plant slowed its biological processes, a fact that is considered good for the quality of the grapes since these ripen slowly and can improve its quality rapidly.

 

Another key factor for the harvest is the autumn rains, as the weather plays an important role when the picking season arrives.

The forecast for the days coming indicates the arrival of an anticyclone with easterly winds. This means that the weather will be warm and free of humidity, a fact that would be very beneficial in all aspects, since it is at this time when the grape quality is determined, depending on the concentration of sugars, acidity reduction and other factors.

  In this way, technician of the D.O. Valdeorras appellation, Santiago Pérez, notes that "the level of alcohol is already being reached in this appellation".

 

As for the amount collected, according to data from Valdeorras on Europa press, a decline of 15% in production is expected this year, which means that about 6.5 million kilograms of grapes would be picked during the season.

The largest drop within the Galician appellations is the one intended by the Regulatory Council of the Rias Baixas, which estimates that the reduction will be "nearly of the 50 percent" with respect to the previous one.

Also Ribeiro appellation estimates that its production will be "lower" than last year, with a decline of 37%.

The expectations for the Ribeira Sacra are similar, warning that there will be a decrease of 30%.

Meanwhile, Monterrei expects a setback of 10%, which would mean a harvest of about 2 million Kilograms.

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