Ode to Autumn and exceptionaly fine vintage weather
Our 13th harvest at Cortes de Cima started on the 25th August, and ended more than 6 weeks later on October 9th. A total of 938 tones of grapes were harvested, a reduction of 18% from 2007. The harvest workforce peaked at 70, 2/3 women and 1/3 men from the local villages.
Breakdown by variety is - Syrah 42%, Aragonez (Tempranillo) 36%, Touriga Nacional 8%, Alicante Bouschet 2.5%, Cabernet 2.5%, and white varieties Antão Vaz, Viognier, and Verdelho 3.5%.
With the exception of a short rainy spell which quickly passed, the harvest weather was the finest in memory, of dry, warm sunny days, affording us the luxury of fine tuning the harvest tempo according to the ripeness of a particular grape variety, a particular vineyard parcel, and even a particular row of vines.
Keat’s Ode to Autumn was brought to mind-
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;…
