Harvest time… time for reflection

The 2025 harvest did not begin with great prospects. The weather had not been kind: rains were either too heavy or too scarce; diseases had taken advantage of the high spring humidity, followed by an exceptionally hot and dry summer. In spite of it all, the land and the stubborn vine did their work.

A short harvest was expected, though of exceptional quality and degree… and it did not disappoint.
It is difficult, in the case of the Iberian Peninsula —so diverse in nearly everything, including wine— to make generalizations… but the world belongs to the brave!
In general, the sanitary condition of the grapes was good; they were balanced in terms of sugar level, acidity, and phenolic ripeness. This was aided by the reduced production, which concentrated nutrients in fewer fruits.

But the much-feared, well-known, and very real climate change has ceased to be a theory and has become a protagonist that is here to stay.
The extreme phenomena we have witnessed, the alterations in the vine’s cycle with even two flowerings per year in some areas, the reduction in yields, recurring droughts or floods that favor diseases and decimate production, directly affecting the income and profit of those who work the land, are now a sad reality.
For those who like to see the glass half full, all these variables result —as production decreases— in less fruit, but of higher quality and better paid to the farmer.
Thought is already being given to planting more resistant varieties, moving vineyards to higher latitudes, and, through more committed legislation, preserving our natural ecosystems as much as possible… a cultural, political, and personal challenge — a challenge for oenologists, entrusted with preserving a legacy, a character, and a way of life in which wine plays a leading role.