The situation and character of the vineyards are the essence of the Remírez de Ganuza mission. The concept the very best wines can solely be created from the very best grapes hailing from rigorously chosen plots – leveraged by an progressive, detail-driven method within the cellar – was the muse of Fernando Remírez de Ganuza’s imaginative and prescient, carried on in the present day by proprietor and bodeguero José Urtasun.
As such, every harvest at Remírez de Ganuza is a mission in itself; the situations of every 12 months set a particular set of challenges and alternatives that must be directly overcome, and harnessed to supply the very best wines attainable.
That is significantly true for a producer recognized for its rigorous and pioneering grape choice processes, totally reliant on handbook labour and inextricably linked to the profile of every wine.
Underneath stress
Main as much as this 12 months’s harvest the situations have been, as they’ve been for the previous a number of years, removed from ultimate, requiring loads from the vines. This once more highlighted the significance of counting on a inventory of outdated crops, in a position to adapt higher to varied stress elements.
July was a sizzling, extraordinarily dry, month – echoing related, in some cases record-breaking, situations in earlier years – however cool mornings supplied welcome respite and stability. Veraison began round twenty third July, roughly ten days later than in earlier rising seasons, largely as a result of lack of water, in accordance with Jesús Mendoza, head winemaker and technical director at Remírez de Ganuza. With August got here an intensification of July’s warmth and drought, additional contributing to the maturation delays already noticed within the earlier month.
Nevertheless, within the final week of August, a number of storms introduced a really important precipitation (as much as 50 to 70 litres per sq. meter in some villages) that allowed some, however not all, vineyards to get well from the gathered water stress. September introduced its personal challenges, with warmer-than-ideal nights and premature rains within the final third of the month.
Jesús, Mendoza, head winemaker and tehnical director at Remírez de Ganuza
A selective harvest
Harvest began on September seventeenth, with the white varieties being picked below difficult situations on the sector and requiring cautious choice of parcels, bunches in addition to berries. ‘We needed to be very selective and actually contemplate the person potential of every grape,’ explains Mendoza. This was additionally, and significantly, true for the pink varieties whose harvest was already affected by rains; the cumulative impact of a smaller crop as a result of drought and the necessity for a really selective harvest meant that the quantity of fruit that reached the cellar was considerably decrease than common. ‘It was a brief and difficult harvest. Nonetheless, we managed to realize a top quality of fruit as a result of we have been terribly exact whereas choosing and labored very arduous within the cellar taking a look at every bunch and berry very rigorously.’
Choosing grapes within the winery….
Preparation and focus
By August annually, each the sector and cellar groups are on the prepared, in anticipation of the extreme weeks forward. Machines are reviewed and prepared and the 2 groups go to the vineyards biweekly to take samples and evaluate the phenolic and technical growth of the grapes. Choices, small and large, begin taking form as harvest looms. The strict grape choice, all of the extra in a demanding harvest like 2024’s, depends closely on the groups’ experience, coordination and preparation – but in addition on a degree of private dedication and willingness to go above and past, as nature imposes.
… and within the vineyard.
This mix of technical and private preparedness is what permits Remírez de Ganuza to deploy an intense, exact and centered choosing schedule; significantly relentless and arduous this 12 months, however in the end delivering the very best of grapes. ‘With yields of round 30% [below than average] this was definitely a difficult classic,’ concludes Mendoza. ‘Now that fermentations are virtually full we’re beginning to see distinctive outcomes. However all of it wouldn’t have been attainable with brutal effort and dedication from the groups, each within the area and the vineyard.’
One more 12 months by which the craftsmanship, ardour and a focus to element that Remírez de Ganuza has turn out to be recognized for, allowed it to ship a few of Rioja’s most distinctive wines.
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