Excellent quality grapes and perfect levels of maturity promise some fantastic wines.
All the criteria have been fulfilled. Very high quality grapes and an overall decrease in production of 9.4% compared to last year distinguished this year’s harvest. Jesus Diez de Iscar, Technical Director of D.O. Rueda, confirmed that this year the wines from the Denomination of Origin Rueda "…will have more structure because the grapes will be more concentrated. For this reason we expect the personality of the Verdejo to come through even more in the wines.”
The harvest in the Denomination of Origin Rueda finished on Sunday 4th October 2015. 89,151,039 kilos of grapes were collected in total. Of these, 98.65% (87,948,358 kilos) were white grapes, while Verdejo, the autochthonous grape variety of the region, made up 85.21% (75,967,451 kilos) of the total harvest.
The main reasons for the decrease in production this year compared to 2014 were twofold: firstly, the high temperatures during June and July of this year; secondly, these dry conditions led to water stress, which effected the size and weight of the grapes.
The harvest began on the night of the 25th / 26th August with the picking of the Sauvignon Blanc grapes, as these have the shortest growing cycle and are the first to ripen. Five days later the Verdejo harvest began. Jesús Díez de Íscar describes how: “… the picking process was carried out seamlessly, without any heavy rainfall or drastic changes in temperatures during the night and day. We harvested the grapes according to the maturation levels in each plot, seeking the perfect balance between potential alcohol and acidity. This year the grapes were in excellent condition.”
The total area harvested this year measured 13,074.53 hectares, an increase of 131.13 hectares compared to the previous year. 95% of the total area (12,434.63 hectares) was made up of vineyards growing white grapes and 86% of these (10,679.88 hectares) were growing Verdejo. This year D.O. Rueda worked with a total of 1,510 winegrowers and 62 wineries.
