As long as the meteorological conditions allow grapes to fully ripen, excellent-quality wines are expected due to their slow ripening.

For the last few days, several wineries from Rueda Appellation of Origin have been picking some batches of Sauvignon Blanc from vineyards of an earlier ripening due to their location.

Specifically, the first grapes were picked on the past 11th September in Villafranca de Duero (Valladolid). Moreover, some vineyards of Sauvignon Blanc varietal, in Rueda and La Seca, have been harvested throughout this week. Tonight, on the 18 of September, at least four wineries are about to harvest Sauvignon Blanc but it will become gradually widespread favoured by the typical good weather and mild temperatures of last days.

Sauvignon Blanc is the first varietal to be picked because its vegetative cycle is shorter. It is followed by Palomino Fino and Verdejo varieties and then Viura and red varieties which will be controlled during this harvesting campaign in view of the production of red wines under this Appellation of Origin (once the new Ruling of this past 4th of August, 2008, is approved).

The vegetative cycle began with a slight delay but May and June rains together with the summer mild temperatures have helped the grape’s slow ripening. This is deemed as a quality factor for the future wines since wines will display a greater aromatic potential and more balanced acidity, which all together is essential to produce quality white wines.

Nowadays, 79% of white wine is mechanically harvested but in case of Sauvignon Blanc it accounts for a 100%. Harvest takes place at night for two reasons. Firstly, to avoid must oxidation which is produced by sunlight and secondly, to take advantage of the cool temperatures at night that allow the entry of colder grapes in cellars which favours the production of increased quality wines.

The area of vineyards bearing white grapes of Rueda A.O. reaches 9,093 ha with an increase of the registered area of 1,065 ha. Verdejo varietal, with 7,243 ha, is the most common grape and it kept growing during the last campaigns. Red varieties account for a total area of 803 ha. 80% of the Appellation of Origin’s vineyards are trained utilizing trellis systems and therefore harvest is carried out by mechanical means and usually at night.

In terms of a production forecast, it seems difficult at first thus the amounts of grape that have arrived at the cellars so far are not significant, besides 1,000 ha of recently-planted vineyards have been added in this campaign. For these reasons, we expect a harvest with a lower yield per hectare but probably larger than last year’s which reached 51,300,000 Kilos of white grape.

The Controlling Board of Rueda A.O. must control the quality and origin of grapes by monitoring the place where they come from, the yield by hectare of vineyards, grape health and the amounts of each variety delivered to each winery as well as rejecting those batches that do not meet the requirements established in the Controlling Board Ruling. To cope with this, besides the five technical inspectors already in the staff, 42 veedores (persons hired to control the quality and amounts of the delivered grapes) were recruited for this harvest campaign.


Three new wineries are authorised to harvest during this campaign: Finca La Rinconada (Castronuño), Bodegas José Pariente, S.L. (La Seca) and Avelino Vegas, S. A. (Santiuste de San Juan Bautista). The total number of wineries authorised to produce wines in Rueda A.O. are now 54.