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The word to the producer himself...
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| Quinta do Noval: vine in the "Renova" vineyard. |
A lucid and updated testimony of the wine country, that highlights not only this year's harvest (many) difficulties, but also points out the main current and future problems of the Douro region, by Alexandre Antas Botelho, a traditional Douro wine producer (Noble & Murat).
"The 2021 harvest was one of the most challenging vintages I've ever participated in.
At the end of August, substantially different grape maturation levels could be found in the vineyards, from grape variety to grape variety. I happened to do maturation controls in old vines, in which next to grape bunches with 11,5 % alcohol potential content, there was another one with the grape bunches just coloring.
In early September, with favorable weather, these imbalaces came to attenuate, although grape potential alcohol content levels remained low.
The truth is that, as the month of September advanced, the weather conditions proved unstable, with frequent rain and falling temperatures, which gerenally postponed the harvest date in order to obtain musts with the desired/convenient alcohol graduation levels for Port and D.O.C. Douro wine vinification.
With the advance of September and the continued and frequent rain periods, the scenario of the appearence of rot in the grapes became more and more present, and by this time it was obvious that it might be better to guarantee the fruit in its existing state than loosing the bet on a latter harvest.
In this way and as a conclusion, I retained the following points:
- Relatively late harvest, taking into account the trend that has been registered in the last decade;
- A lower alcohol content when compared to recent years, for musts made before and after the rain;
- An excellent acidity of the musts harvested before the rain;
- More difficulty in obtaining generous concentrated musts this year, as they require more extraction work and more grape spirit to raise the alcohol level (the grape spirit dissolves the must);
- The accentuation of the labor crisis in the Douro. The need arose to pay more for the workday to be able to place the production in the wine cellars. It is essential to find mechanical harvesting solutions and seriously think about the sustainability of the Douro wine region. To what extent will this commercial and economic model be sustainable in the short/medium term (low prices and cheap wine / attempt to implement mass tourism / property speculation now also extending to the Douro villages / lack of employment and low wages). The Douro demarcated wine region is suffering from accelerated human desertification.".
- Vindima relativamente tardia, tendo em conta a tendência que se vem registando na última década;
- Teor alcoólico mais baixo comparável com os anos recentes, para mostos feitos antes e depois da chuva;
- Excelente acidez dos mostos colhidos antes da chuva;
- Mais dificuldade em obter mostos generosos concentrados neste ano, visto requererem mais trabalho de extracção e mais aguardente para subir o grau alcoólico (a aguardente dissolve o mosto);
- Acentuar da crise de mão de obra no Douro. Surgiu a necessidade de pagar mais a jorna para poder colocar a produção nas adegas. Torna-se essencial encontrar soluções de apanha mecânica e pensar seriamente na sustentabilidade social do Douro. Até que ponto este modelo comercial e económico será sustentável a curto/médio prazo (preços baixos e vinho barato / tentativa de implementação de turismo de massas / especulação imobiliária extensível agora também às aldeias / falta de emprego e salários baixos). A região demarcada do Douro está a sofrer de desertificação ecelerada.".
© Hugo Sousa Machado
Previous Douro harvest reports / Relatórios de vindimas no Douro anteriores:
Douro, the 2020 harvest general report
