Overall, we felt rather satisfied with the way things went. The vineyard is looking healthy and in balance, so no more sprays were necessary and we only cut the grass between the rows a little. We gave the rose bushes at the head of each row and extra dripper, increasing the amount of water they get when irrigating, and the result looks fantastic. A big row of flowers of all colours leading the eye to the end of the vineyard with the Andes Mountains behind!
There was twice a menace of rain, but they remained only short drizzles, so false alarm. I was, however, telephoned immediately by eager salesmen who wanted to sell their products against rot, but we kept our hands firmly on our pockets! We had just a few people going through the rows to take away bunches with signs of rot, which only occurred in the Syrah and Petit Verdot. Especially Syrah has very tight bunches, which increases the risk of rot, even under dry weather conditions. We found that sometimes a small part of the bunch, usually somewhere in the middle, can have rot and then dry up. This eases the tension on the rest of the berries, which subsequently stay healthy until late in the season.
The berries of Cabernet are very small and dark, look very healthy, and they promise some very concentrated and structured wines. There are some attacks here and there of red spider mites (Brevipalpus chilensis, to be precise), which creates tiny, coalescing purple spots on the older leaves, but this late in the season the harm is very little. After the harvest we'll spray a little mineral oil, an organic product that suffocates them, to decrease the risk of having many of them overwintering and attacking next spring.
The other big event, at the beginning of March, was the bottling of the 2010 wines. We made the blends of different tanks and barrels at the last moment, to avoid oxidation, so it was only a few days before bottling that we really knew how the wines were. Of course we blended and analyzed many samples, but it is still a great emotion to taste the definitive blend as it is. And they taste very well. Before filtration the Syrah Limited Edition showed more oak and less fruit, but a light filtration at bottling cleaned the wine and brought back the fruity flavors nicely. The other wines changed less, and especially the Aluvión Red Blend pleased the people present at bottling. The Cabernet is showing a bit more of the fresh fruit flavors that I think are very characteristic for these vineyards close to the Andes. Both the 2008 and 2007 have more dark fruit flavors and seem a little heavier than the 2010. But time will tell how they evolve.
On a sad note: one of my dogs was hit by a truck and died instantly, which left us feeling sorry for a few days. He was buried in block three at the beginning of the third row. The remaining two dogs stayed close to us and didn't go on the street for a few days. Meanwhile I got two new ones from the dog pound in Rancagua, and they are doing very well. Not very good guard dogs, I fear, but hopefully they won't have to chase away any unwanted visitors. Then a friend of mine brought a fifth one, which was rescued from the streets in Santiago, so it's getting busy here, especially when they're playing all together. To any of you who are thinking to bring any other ones: please no more dogs! Five is quite enough. I'll have to build a dog house for them (more of a dog apartment building) as the night are getting colder every week. We're now around 10ºC before sty sun comes up. One of the guards volunteered to build it, and the design is there as well, now I only have to buy the materials and he'll get started.
For my house, I bought an antique -or just old- table that measures 3,5 meters in length and comfortably seats 12. It didn't seem that big at the antiques market, but once in the house it looked much bigger than before. So I put the rest of the furniture away and the living room is now a big dining room which has to fulfill both functions. I like the way it looks and the friends I invited over the weekend agreed -or so they said.
As I'm writing, the harvest has just begun, so there's a busy month ahead, but more about that in the next post...