...to be one of the best years ever.
Everybody had thought it was going to be a bad year but it turned out ...
The D.O. Ribeira Sacra collected 5.614.092 kilos of grapes at this year´s harvest, the greatest quantity since the Denominación came into existence. As well as the quantity, the excellent quality of the grapes was a major factor of the harvest. During the harvest,the laboratories of the Regulatory Council analysed 410 samples of grape juice that the pickers had collected in the bodegas and that had been delivered to the D.O. These laboratory tests determined the grade of the grapes and for this harvest they were pronounced excellent.
The Regulatory Council gave a positive evaluation of this year´s harvest at all levels. The President of the Regulatory council, José Manuel Rodríguez, reminded us that in the Ribeira Sacra 2/3 of the production is destined for home consumption and that it was announced at the beginning of the harvest that part of this production would make its way onto the market, as has happened. He also summed up the excellent work done by the bodega owners and the grape growers that are within the Denominación. Amongst whom, everybody had thought it was going to be a bad year but it had turned out to be one of the best years ever.
In the weeks prior to the start of the harvest there had been rumours about a possible reduction in the harvest due to a bad attack of mildew, due mainly to the climatic conditions. ??This happens because the harvest is like giving birth?, said José Manuel Rodríguez, ??..the people are always anxious beforehand, despite the forecast that there were a good quantity of grapes for harvesting, its normal that there´s tension when people want to do things well.?
In the D.O. Ribeira Sacra it should not be possible to return to below 5 million kilos of grapes. ??With this I mean that if the things go as normal, it should continue along this line, but it depends on what nature throws at us, there is already less vine disease, but there is still physical damage.? says José Manuel Rodríguez.
The President of the Regulatory Council feels that with time, it will be possible to achieve 8 million kilos of grape, the Denominación is growing step by step and in the foreseeable future it will continue on this trend, at least for some years.
On this occasion one of the factors that influenced the increase in production was that part of the grape harvest dedicated to home consumption was destined for the market, we don´t know if this will continue to happen in the future. José Manuel Rodríguez stated that ??Ribeira Sacra is an atypical Denominación, in that the landscape plays a fundamental role, therefore, it´s very important that the vineyards are cultivated and are continued to be cultivated, but the destiny of the grapes will vary each year, there is not a Regulatory Council that would interfere on this point.
To sum up, this substantial increase in the harvest is still not enough to cover the 100% demand for Ribeira Sacra wines. The consumers continue to be loyal and new ones are appearing. Little by little the Denominación has to increase its production in order to fulfil all the possible demands for these wines. The work will continue along this line and the Regulatory Council wishes to thank the professionalism and hard work of each member of the Denominación and the results that they achieve everyday.