La harvest in DO Rueda this year 2017 has been one of the earliest in the history of the DO Has starting on August 16 with the variety Sauvignon White, variety of vegetative cycle shorter than the rest. It has been characterized by giving more satisfactory environmental conditions of the last times. With great temperature contrasts between day and night, which helps to maintain the quality of the grape.
However, in this vintage The collection has been 23% less compared to 2016. This is due to the 108.812.763 kilos received at the D.O. Rueda, due to two fundamental factors. On the one hand, the frosts produced at the end of May. On the other, also the deep drought experienced in the summer months.
Of the 83.420.637 kilos of grapes collected, 98,90% correspond to white grapes. The autochthonous variety, the Verdejo the majority with 71.057.770 kilos.
The area registered for the harvest in DO Rueda 2017 has been 14.685,07 hectares. With an increase of 1.167,57 compared to last year.
96% (14.097,67 hectares) correspond to white varieties, of which 93% (12.307,16 hectares) are of Verdejo. This shows the great support and protection for the autochthonous variety.
This year, in the harvest in DO Rueda 1.491 winegrowers and 69 winemakers have been registered.
This is the director's assessment of the grape harvest at DO Rueda
This is what he said santiago mora, general director of DO Rueda:
“It is important to highlight the two key factors of the vintage in Rueda: mechanization and nightlife. The first allows the grapes to be harvested at the optimum moment of maturation. Also speed up the processes so that the grape suffers as little as possible in the field while it is transferred to the wineries »
«On the other hand, the fact of doing practically all the night vintage allows us to maintain the organoleptic qualities of the grape in its maximum expression and avoid as much as possible the oxidation of the grape »
«We can also say that this represents an energy saving in the wineries since the grapes already enter at lower temperatures than during the day. In this way, the energy required to cool the grapes when entering the winery is lower. "
Thanks to the perfect conditions in which the vintage. As well as the excellent sanitary state of the grape from the grape harvest and its quality, some balanced wines. It is also of great quality for this 2017 vintage that in a few months will begin to see the light in the market.
