2019 is being a harvest of extraordinary quality.
Borja Ripa, the technical director and enologist of the Manzanos Wines group, confirms the great quality expected as the crop reduction in Bodegas Manzanos maintains perspectives of an historical harvest.
Bodegas Manzanos finished the white grape harvest last week, in the absence of a white Tempranillo from Rioja Alta, with unbeatable results in quality and health, improving some promising expectations that were had when it began. According to Borja Ripa, “the yield has been less than initially estimated, very difficult to measure exactly, but I would say about 30% less than last year, and that is why it is a guarantee of quality.”
Ripa adds that the health of the grape also has been higher thanks to the climatology, “the year has been dry and due to that, that there have been fewer pests, the vegetative growth has been less, so the grapes have had more exposure to the sun. As a consequence of a dry year, the bunches have been looser and the berries smaller, and as a result, the wine that is elaborated will have a slight change in style with acidities somewhat lower and with greater volume in the mouth than the past years when the climatology was more Atlantic.”
Bodegas Manzanos Azagra, this week has started to cut the first red grapes with a very selective harvest, starting with the most mature plots and with a less productive load of Tempranillo and Graciano from the earliest areas. The technical director of Manzanos Wines affirms that the perspectives are very good in relation to quality. “The harvest of the red grape will be sensibly lower than last year’s harvest, the vine has not suffered any sicknesses nor has been under any stress”. Ripa adds that the grain of the grape is smaller, the bunches looser, and the maturity of the seed is optimal compared with the details of last year, and as a consequence of that, high quality red wines are foreseen thanks to a very good acidity found in the grapes.
Borja Ripa comments, “the technical and field teams in Manzanos Wines understand that the vine demands care at every moment in all times and we work all year long in order to elaborate wines with personality and character, which are signs of the Manzanos identity.