Asaja warns that this vintage closes as “the shortest in history”, with 24 million kilos of grapes
The president of the Sectorial de la Viña de Asaja Córdoba, Juan Manuel Centella, warned on Thursday that the present harvest in the wine frame of Montilla-Moriles, which is concluding, “closes possibly as the shortest in history, because, with the data we have, we predict that we will be able to reach around 24 or 25 million kilos of grapes in the area, when the previous shortest was around 30 million, and last year was something over 32 million, and it was already very short”.
The president of the Sectorial de la Viña de Asaja Córdoba, Juan Manuel Centella, warned on Thursday that the present harvest in the wine frame of Montilla-Moriles, which is concluding, “closes possibly as the shortest in history, because, with the data we have, we predict that we will be able to reach around 24 or 25 million kilos of grapes in the area, when the previous shortest was around 30 million, and last year was something over 32 million, and it was already very short”.
In this regard and in statements to Europa Press, Centella, who stressed that the quality of the grapes, in any case, is “fantastic”, explained that these figures, “fundamentally, are due to the little rain that has fallen in the last year”, which adds to the drought that has been suffering for at least four years, “with which the vineyard is suffering year after year, and to finish off the situation”, have suffered in the province “three heatwaves”.
In addition, as he has specified, one of them has had “an unusual intensity, as was the last one in July and part of August, with many days with very high temperatures, both day and night, and what they have done is to totally reduce the grape”.
As to how the lack of rainfall and heat waves have affected the different grape varieties that are produced in the Montilla-Moriles frame, ie Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Moscatel, Verdejo and the native and more abundant variety, Pedro Ximénez, the responsible for the sector in the agricultural employers Asaja Córdoba has clarified that “all have been harmed practically at the same time”, because “there have been almost no differences” in this regard.
“We are talking -he continued- about 25 percent less than last year, in a generalized way, both in white, as in red, and in all varieties, although, logically, the one that contributes the most kilos to the Designation of Origin is the Pedro Jiménez, which accounts for almost 95 percent of the grapes we have, and is also ending up with around 25 percent less harvest”.
Regarding the prices at which the grape growers of the province are selling their crops this season, Centella has highlighted that, “with respect to last year, the wineries have raised them around 30 or 35 percent”, which means “a measure that comes to alleviate a little the lack of grapes, but that does not make the cultivation attractive, because we have very low prices, but in short, this is better than what we had before”, and we will “see how it ends up breaking this”. GRUBBING-UP
On the other hand and on the grubbing-up of vines of recent years, Centella has indicated that, “if until now the excuse to uproot vines was the price” of grapes for winegrowers, “which undoubtedly was, this year the need to uproot vines is because some of them have been so exhausted that the winegrower does not see the possibility of recovery”.
This is because, as he explained, certain vines “were already somewhat sentenced to grubbing up, because here there is the habit of putting olive trees in the middle of the vines, so that, when the olive trees are raised, the vines are uprooted”, and in the lands where “in recent years had done that have found this year with two crops competing for very little water”, which is causing “the winegrowers who had already more or less decided to uproot the vines in the coming years, because they advance it to this year, which can be a year of an important grubbing up”.
At the beginning of this harvest, according to Centella, there were in the frame Montilla-Moriles “some 4,400 hectares of white varieties” and “some 180 red varieties”, but now, “Once the grapes have been collected and you are seeing an important start rate, we are very afraid that this year we will possibly stay around the 4,000 hectares, but below”.
SOURCE: LAVANGUARDIA.COM