The location and character of the vineyards are the essence of the Remírez de Ganuza project. The idea that the best wines can only be made from the best grapes hailing from carefully selected plots – leveraged by an innovative, detail-driven approach in the cellar – was the foundation of Fernando Remírez de Ganuza’s vision, carried on today by owner and bodeguero José Urtasun.
As such, each harvest at Remírez de Ganuza is a project in itself; the conditions of each year set a specific set of challenges and opportunities that need to be at once overcome, and harnessed to produce the best wines possible.
This is particularly true for a producer known for its rigorous and pioneering grape selection processes, fully reliant on manual labour and inextricably linked to the profile of each wine.
Under pressure
Leading up to this year’s harvest the conditions were, as they have been for the past several years, far from ideal, requiring a lot from the vines. This again highlighted the importance of relying on a stock of old plants, able to adapt better to various stress factors.
July was a hot, extremely dry, month – echoing similar, in some instances record-breaking, conditions in previous years – but cool mornings offered welcome respite and balance. Veraison started around 23rd July, approximately ten days later than in previous growing seasons, mostly due to lack of water, according to Jesús Mendoza, head winemaker and technical director at Remírez de Ganuza. With August came an intensification of July’s heat and drought, further contributing to the maturation delays already observed in the previous month.
However, in the last week of August, several storms brought a very significant precipitation (up to 50 to 70 litres per square meter in some villages) that allowed some, but not all, vineyards to recover from the accumulated water stress. September brought its own challenges, with warmer-than-ideal nights and untimely rains in the last third of the month.
Jesús, Mendoza, head winemaker and tehnical director at Remírez de Ganuza
A selective harvest
Harvest started on September 17th, with the white varieties being picked under challenging conditions on the field and requiring careful selection of parcels, bunches as well as berries. ‘We had to be very selective and really consider the individual potential of each grape,’ explains Mendoza. This was also, and particularly, true for the red varieties whose harvest was already affected by rains; the cumulative effect of a smaller crop due to drought and the need for a very selective harvest meant that the amount of fruit that reached the cellar was significantly lower than average. ‘It was a short and challenging harvest. Still, we managed to achieve a high quality of fruit because we were extraordinarily precise while picking and worked very hard in the cellar looking at each bunch and berry very carefully.’
Selecting grapes in the vineyard….
Preparation and focus
By August each year, both the field and cellar teams are at the ready, in anticipation of the intense weeks ahead. Machines are reviewed and ready and the two teams visit the vineyards biweekly to take samples and review the phenolic and technical development of the grapes. Decisions, small and big, start taking shape as harvest looms. The strict grape selection, all the more in a demanding harvest like 2024’s, relies heavily on the teams’ expertise, coordination and preparation – but also on a level of personal dedication and willingness to go above and beyond, as nature imposes.
… and in the winery.
This combination of technical and personal preparedness is what allows Remírez de Ganuza to deploy an intense, precise and focused picking schedule; particularly relentless and arduous this year, but ultimately delivering the best of grapes. ‘With yields of around 30% [below than average] this was certainly a challenging vintage,’ concludes Mendoza. ‘Now that fermentations are…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/sponsored/harvest-2024-at-remirez-de-ganuza-precision-focus-and-selectivity-547790/
