The grape harvesting season at Bodegas Menade ended on September 24 with the manual harvest of the Verdejo from the old bush vine plots.
The production has been notably shorter than in previous vintages due to the weather: a very rainy spring caused millerandage during flowering (uneven pollination) followed by late frosts, localized hail in some areas and a moderate summer.
These circumstances have also caused the harvest to last more than a month. In addition to harvesting the plots separately, we have had to fine-tune within each plot, due to a certain unevenness in ripening. As the Sanz brothers explain: “the type of soil and yields per hectare have had a great influence on maturation”.
It has been a difficult year for viticulture, but perfect in terms of the profile we are seeking for our wines. The cool summer temperatures (except for a couple of hours of heat in August) and a dry summer have made the musts very aromatic, full-bodied, with a good alcohol content and a fantastic balance between acidity and PH.
Rain only appeared symbolically during the last week of the harvest, so we consider that we were right in choosing our starting date. The family decided to start harvesting the grapes from some small plots and this saved time, since a rainy start to Autumn was expected.
A fresh vintage
“It is one of the best years for our wines, the musts are very rich, very aromatic, complex and dense. It will be a great vintage to work with ageing on lees and / or barrels”, claim the Sanz brothers.
For lovers of our natural red wine, this year they to be able to obtain some bottles again. Ice and hail did their thing in Toro and, therefore, production will be low.
In the vineyard, the work is not done yet. Before the cold weather arrives, the vineyard team is already preparing for the new vegetative cycle: they are cleaning the vines with ozone and working the soil to improve its structure.
As every year after harvest, the soils are being analyzed to detect what needs they have and prepare the most appropriate crop covers. At Menade, we restore balance to the soil in a completely natural way, based on the nutrients provided by certain crops.
