Bottling and beginning of harvest

Harvest has finally begun. This summer was a bit cooler than usual, and much cooler than 2012, so we started about two weeks later than last year. Although the shy has been grey a few days, and it has been menacing with rain, so far, only a few drops have fallen, so no risk of rot at all. The Syrah is looking even healthier than last year, which has us very happy. Temperatures can still get over 30ºC (86ºF) during the day, but at night we've registered temperatures as low as 1.5ºC (35ºF)!

Taking advantage of the last quiet moments before the harvest, I walked up to the hill of La Compañía last Sunday, to have a different perspective of the valley. Lagar’s vineyards are in the middle, at the foot of the first hill in the background.

Seen from the vineyard the hill looks like this, but I can assure it’s taller than it looks once you’ve tried to climb it! In the foreground the Malbec we planted last year. We can't wait to see the first grapes!

The first barrels for this year’s harvest have arrived, this time customized with the logo of Lagar! These are the 600 liter barrels for the Syrah.

The last two weeks we’ve been bottling about everything there was left in the cellar. Demand for our Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva has been very high, so we had to bottle a bit earlier than planned. This was a good thing, as this year we’ll be making a lot of wine, so we can use the extra space! Only the Syrah Edición Limitada and the base wines for Aluvión 2012 are left.

Despite me having a cold, bottling went very quickly and without problems. This is fairly unusual, as normally something fails, such as corks, capsules, cases or space to store all the bottles.

The neighbors have been a great help too: since one of our tractors broke down, they borrowed theirs, so Fernando, the vineyard manager, is proudly driving a brand new Massey-Ferguson this month. Unfortunately only for this month…

Our trainee for this year, Isaac, has arrived from Holland and is now fully integrated into the team and has proven to be a great help.

Apart from that, we had a bit of a rough start, this year. First, I suffered a motorcycle accident the weekend before we started (at last the limp has gone, only some bruises are left on the soul!), then, on Monday the must pump failed, putting our skills as electricians to the test, and on Tuesday the destemmer-crusher. This last machine, after more than three hours testing voltages, currents and circuits, was the easiest to fix, when the cellar master decided to simply change the plug! Meanwhile, the harvesters were almost screaming for more cases (they are paid per kilo), so even our team’s social skills were necessary to keep things quiet!

We started harvesting Syrah, and perfectly healthy, ripe fruit arrived at the cellar.

Here’s Isaac and Jorge emptying a case into the destemmer.

Most of the vines are still healthy and green, but the Teinturier plants are a deep purple red. They were the first to be harvested, and the accumulation of color in both grapes and even leaves is quite spectacular. Even Romeo, the dog in the foreground, was impressed!

Fermentations have started, so there’s a lot to do at the moment. Hopefully by next month I can give more details about this year’s harvest. Meanwhile, enjoy our Syrah 2010 that earned much praise in this Months Wine Spectator!