Harvest time: the quality begins with the grape

The grape harvest is the most highly anticipated event in any winery’s calendar, it’s the moment when all the benefits of the year’s toil are reaped. Managing the vineyards is a continuous and assiduous task in which we are always pending what’s happening up in the sky. Each year the harvest is slightly different, an increase in temperatures, a heat wave or a drought - which causes climate change – can greatly influence the health of the vines. For this reason, those in charge of supervising the vineyards follow closely how these factors are affecting the natural ripening of the grapes. This year the area in which our vines are located, Alt Camp, saw 30% less rainfall. This means that the ripening of the vines can be compromised, however, fortunately, our vines were able to take advantage of the subsoil water and the humidity of the environment in order to produce their grapes for our 2019 harvest. At Padró i Família our harvest began on 20^th August, when we started bringing in the Moscatel de Frontignan and Chardonnay varieties. Towards the end of August, we continued with the Tempranillo and Merlot grapes that we use to make our rosé wines. During the first half of September we brought in our Macabeo and Xarel·lo varieties, the grapes with which we will make the base wine for our vermouths. The second fortnight in September is when we bring in the grapes from our oldest vines, which will be used to make red wines. Our winemaker has noticed this year that, despite the decrease in rainfall, the grapes are very healthy and providing a very aromatic must. This initial test gives us very valuable information and means our wines will be of optimum quality so that our vermouths can acquire the character to which we are accustomed. All our vermouths are made from start to finish at our winery and using the wines we make from the grapes grown in our own vineyards. In this way we control the entire production process, thus ensuring that the high quality of our vermouths will remain constant.