Spring Has Sprung – But The Pruning Is Not Yet Done

We did more pruning over the weekend, but we’re still not done. There’s about another 300 vines to go. It’s very late in the year now, and we’ve passed the folkloric popular-wisdom deadline of 19th March, by which you’re supposed to have the pruning finished. But I think we’re OK as the buds haven’t opened yet, even though they’re swollen and ready to burst any day. Not optimal, but OK.

The almond tree in the vineyard, and all the others in the Tajuña valley have blossomed at last. Very late in the year, this year, as usually they blossom in February round here.

Blooming Almond Blossoms

(compare with previous post)

The same almond tree

I was cutting back some grass that was too close to the vine, when I uncovered an earthwork. This is good news, as it’s a sign that our soil is healthy and full of nutrients. And even better news is that worms actively improve the fertility of the soil.

Earthworm in the vineyard

Some time back, (in this post: ___ ) I mentioned that we were going to transplant some sapling oak trees that had sprouted next to some vines, and over the weekend we moved two of them (out of a total of five that I’ve found so far).

Oak sapling's original position

Digging a hole for the sapling

Organic manure to help the sapling on its way

Planting the sapling in its new home

New Home 1

New Home 2

And lastly, here’s a pic of two little thyme plants (‘tomillo’ in Spanish) growing next to a vine. Do you think they could have any influence on the characteristics of the grapes/wine?

Little thyme plants next to a vine

Woe in the Winery

Well, over the weekend we made a start on fixing the roof of the winery. There were several leaks during the Christmas holidays, though luckily there was no serious damage. The stainless steel vats full of wine were all under leakless parts of the roof. Our carboard boxes, though, were soaked and we had to throw them out. Also, our two oak casks have grown mould, due to the dampness - luckily they weren't full of wine. We will have to clean them thouroughly and disinfect them.

'Uralita' panels and ancient tiles

We managed to do about 25% of the roof area. First we lifted the tiles off, then we put down corrugated panels of 'uralita' and then put the tiles back down on top. Easier said than done!

A well-deserved glass of wine

If all goes well, we should be done with the roof, this week. Then we have do the pruning in the vineyard, and wash/recycle a few hundred bottles!

Crianza 2007 (II)

On Tuesday 7 July 2009 we shipped our Crianza 2007 (100% Tempranillo, 10 months in oak cask). For the first time in the 5 years that we've been making wine, we put labels on the bottles! On the Sunday we spent all day in the bodega (winery) sticking on the labels and preparing the orders. As can be seen from the photos, it was pretty hot in there!





Even though it was quite an effort (in terms of time, money and brain cells), and despite the fact that labels don't really add anything to the quality of the wine itself, and despite the fact that all our consumers have been perfectly happy to receive their wine without labels all these years, and despite everything, we decided to do it anyway; beacause we just wanted to do it! perhaps in order to see some visible, tangible result! Anyway, I hope you like the label, and feel free to comment on it.

The creative design work was done by Ana and Vicius at Hola Por Qué, with input from ourselves the producers (Juan and Fabio) and also from some consumers who have commented on the preliminary designs and sketches over the last few months.

We stuck on some of the labels using a home-made 'glue' consisting of flour and water, with so far unknown results. Other labels we used a glue stick, that my daughter was using for arts and crafts at nursery school!!! We'd really appreciate any comments and/or glue recipies. Either contact us directly or leave a comment by clicking on the link below these lines ("0 comments")

Crianza 2007 (I)

Last saturday 16 May we bottled the Tinto Crianza 2007. It's 100% Tempranillo and spent 10 months in the American oak barrel that you can see in the photo below:
I think I only spilt about half-a-liter of the precious liquid (and tasted a few glasses for quality-control purposes!). In the end we got 290 bottles, which are now stored here:



We're going to start distributing them at the end of June, so we have time to print and attach the labels. This will be the first time we attach labels to our wine since the project stated 5 years ago. There are exactly 250 bottles available and we're going to number them by hand. The labels are almost ready and the creatives at
Hola Por Qué are working overtime to try and make all that text I sent them fit into a rather small label!

Technical details on the Tinto Crianza 2007:

- Grape variety: 100% Tempranillo
- 10 months in American oak barrel
- 14% vol.
- This wine will definitely improve with age. The bottles should be kept (for at least 1 year) in a place which is dark, quiet, at around 18ºC, with no smells or vibrations. Unfortunately, we can't keep the bottles in the winery over the summer as it gets too hot in there and there's too big a risk of the wine spoiling.