The high levels or rainfall during the first quarter of this year left an indelible mark on our vineyards. You never know how much rain you want. On one side, if it rains profusely, the vines have good levels of humidity in the soil, bearing better the hot and dry Summer in the Douro. On the other side, too much rain provokes, among other things, landslides and terraces destruction. In the photo you can see that the vine from Quinta da Trovisca survived and is producing berries, but this terrace needs to be fixed.
S. João da Pesqueira has reached top temperatures of over 35º every day since the beginning of the week while in Quinta Vale d’Agodinho, which is by the river, two days ago at 7.00pm the teremometer showed 41º. The people in the Douro are used to these temperatures. So do the vines. The problem is that high temperatures without cooler nights, which is the case, makes it harder for the vines to maintain a balance in the repining of the grapes. We will get lower levels of acidity, reducing the freshness of the musts and later, the aging potential of the wines. The verison, or change of color of grape berries, started already in the vineyards by the river a couple of weeks ago and is slowing moving to the vineyards up in the hill.
In the next posts I’ll talk about ripening, yields, sugar and acidity levels of the berries so we can have a better idea of which quality and quantity to wait for this harvest.
BTW, do you have any visit planed to the Douro for this harvest?
Oscar
