"Right now we only think about harvest," says José Manuel Rodríguez, C.R.D.O.R.S. President

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On August 26th, harvest began in D.O. Ribeira Sacra when announcing the Ronsel do Sil winery in the Ribeiras do Sil sub-area, which was beginning the work of collecting grapes of specific varieties. While the technical staff of D.O. Ribeira Sacra carries out the ripening controls to set the recommended start of the harvest, which is expected to start in mid-September, according to the President of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra, José Manuel Rodríguez.

How is the harvest approaching after the rains of last week?

it seems good; At some points there was an onset of botrytis but when the good weather arrived it quickly stabilized. Last year we had a record harvest with more than 7,000,000 kilos of grapes collected, and this year we expect to be a little below a normal year in which we usually exceed 6,000,000 kilos, it will be around 5 million. Grapes are in good health and we are looking forward to a good harvest.

What guidelines does D.O. for a harvest with the Covid19 pandemic? 

All wineries will implement a protocol that includes the guidelines of Xunta de Galicia. The norm is the decree of the Xunta; from there Consello, wineries, grape pickers, ... each have to draw up a protocol for their company, for their reality.
The Council will continue to carry out its control tasks, it will be a less in-person control, with more control in the vineyard and fewer visits to the winery; adapting to the reality that we are living. The technical department of the Council launched a protocol to adapt to this reality and the staff of the Council will carry out their role, either administratively or with field work.

Will grape prices remain stable?

The larger wineries said they were going to keep last year's price and keep picking up for their customers; so it will be paid between € 1.10 / kilo € 1.30 / kilo depending on the areas and qualities.

With the pandemic, the suspension of Wine Fairs and exhibitions and national and international fairs, how were the sales of wine?

We are reasonably well. The suspension of activities and fairs was a general issue, it did not affect us better or worse than other Denominations. This is the reality we live in. Regarding sales, each winery has its reality as it has different markets, some export, others do not. There were people with more open markets and others less. Large wineries have more open spaces, with more possibilities than in food. Other wineries that are mainly in the HORECA channel have a bit worse because they have fewer outlets.

In such a complicated year at all levels and in all sectors, do you already think about next year or are you waiting to see what happens with Covid19?

Right now we only think about the vintage. This is what we have to attend to now; it is as if it were a birth and you have to concentrate on this birth. Then they will think about what to think about.

Since the pandemic began, how is the day to day of C.R.D.O.R.S.?

Denomination continued to do its work, in other formats; but in general, everything kept adapting to a changing situation. To guarantee safety we work with a protocol that must be maintained, but work does not wait. Now we are concentrating on a harvest for which we wait for dry weather and cool nights, while we look with respect the situation in Monforte.