Dear friends,
It is difficult to separate the technical, social and even personal things that often accompany events such as grape harvests. But without a doubt this season for me will be remembered as one of the hardest of my 30 harvests in tow.
The 2020 vintage will be marked by various climatic factors, such as a hot summer and a very dry spring, where we have also had 10 years of accumulated drought in Chile. This made us start harvesting early, about 3 weeks earlier than normal. In addition, we have low yields in general: many talking of between 20 to 30% less production.
But it also depends a lot on the variety and area. In Pirque there was no apparent frost damage in spring, but the low yields could have been somewhat increased by the September frosts. However, we already finished the harvest a week ago, also between 3 and 4 weeks earlier than usual. What a relief of work with this great issue of Covid-19, which has meant a tremendous logistical and social responsibility challenge with our workers and their families. We have been able to overcome it with responsibility and success until now.
There were moments of great uncertainty during the first weeks of preventive quarantine in Chile and then with total quarantine by communes.
I must say that the quality of the fruit is really exceptional in its sanitary state: the early harvest and the lack of water help a lot in that sense. We have good ripeness and fresh fruit, we knew how to read well and react in time to these changes. As a small vineyard it was easier to overcome the logistical problems and harvest on time. Many of the wines are still in the process of fermentation and / or maceration, but advancing quickly with the “descubes” so as not to over-extract and starting the aging in barrels. It will be a well-commented year, where everything is not yet said, but clearly it will be for a long time as one of the most challenging harvests, just as it was in 2010 with the 8.9o earthquake in Concepción.
Cheers and stay safe you all!
Cristián Aliaga
Winemaker