White grape accounts for 95% (53.6 Mkg) and high-quality wines are expected due to the grape quality.

The total amount of grapes being delivered to the Rueda A.O. wineries has come to 56,311,831 kg, out of which 53,530,313 kilos correspond to white varieties. This leads to a production growth of 4.3% for white varieties regardless the 13.4% increase in vineyard area. Consequently, average yields per hectare are 8% lower than those obtained during the previous campaign. And even more, Viura and Palomino varieties went down to almost 25%, which is partially due to damages caused in previous campaign by the pine voles pest that have limited the number of fruiting buds left during pruning.

With 9,141 ha, vineyard area of Rueda A.O. white grape reaches a historical record and the registered area has increased by 1,068 ha. This area will keep growing over the following years as new plantations were developed over the past two years. Therefore, 2,000 more hectares are expected to be added during the next two campaigns. Verdejo variety, with 7,291 ha, is the main grape and it has been increasingly growing during the last campaigns. Faithful to their decision to produce white wines with this native variety of Rueda A.O., new investments are taking place, both in terms of vineyards and wineries.

The highlight of this campaign is the establishment of a new Regulation for the Rueda A.O. which includes red grape varieties, whose total area has reached 803 ha, to make A.O. Rueda red and rosé wines. The Technical Service of the Control Board has controlled up to 2,781,000 kilos of grape, being mainly Tempranillo variety.

Harvest has been completely normal despite the fact it started later than usual (12 of September) as the growth cycle was delayed due to the late budding which was mainly caused by May and June rains and mild temperatures during almost all summer. For these reasons, grapes experienced a slow ripening, which is excellent for a good sugar-acidity balance of musts and it is also considered as a quality factor for future wines as these will display a greater aromatic potential and a more balanced acidity —all are key factors to produce quality white wines—.

The picked grapes were quite healthy thus rains during the first fortnight of October fell when almost 80% of grapes were already harvested and the remaining was ready to be picked due to its ripening state. As a result, they were not affected by any diseases, such as botrytis, and the sugar level of musts remained optimum.

85% of grapes was mechanically harvested but in case of Sauvignon Blanc it accounted 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 night cool temperatures as grapes delivered to the cellar are colder, which helps to increase the quality of produced wines.

Over 40 harvesting machines were used in the area and, as a result, the amounts delivered to the winery’s fermentation pools were larger at night, if compared with those during the day.