Good weather during the first weeks is allowing for a very unhurried, selective harvest.

Torre de Oña and Áster are facing their final stretch and, at Lagar de Cervera, the first fermentations have already concluded.

After the first half of the 2021 harvest in the estates owned by La Rioja Alta, S.A. the initial balance is as positive as it is exciting in a vintage that points to extraordinary quality. The magnificent weather of the first weeks, with daytime sunshine, wind and very cool nights, was optimal for the grapes to ripen perfectly in top condition. This allows us to carry out an unhurried vintage, picking the earliest plots selectively.

The pace of the harvest has been accelerating over the last few days with more personnel gradually joining to manually cut the clusters. These spend the night refrigerated, in small boxes, and then undergo a demanding examination by the optical selection system, which examines each and every berry.

This is a quality control system that we already enjoy in all our four wineries after its successful implementation in Lagar de Cervera, the first winery in Rías Baixas to use this system. After concluding harvest very satisfactorily, both in terms of quality and of quantity on the wake of a typically Galician growth cycle, our winery in O Rosal has already finished the first white fermentations. For the second year, these include wines from Silvosa, a 16-hectare (40-acre) estate planted with Albariño grapes in 2018.

In Torre de Oña (Rioja Alavesa) and in Áster (Ribera del Duero), where the weather has also helped from the beginning of the harvest, the harvest is on its last days. In both cases, the initial impressions of our winemaking department are also very positive with regard to the quality of the grapes are arriving at both wineries small 20-kg/44-lb boxes.