The harvest - quality and quantity

The harvest is the traditional operation of collecting grapes and is, partly representative in itself of a season of the year: the Autumn.

Rioja wineproducers usually collect their grapes during the first fortnight of October. However, year in, year out, the question arises-when to harvest? The weather during the year may have been favourable and the harvest can be brought forward, or unfavourable and make a late harvest advisable. During that fortnight, any delay means collecting the grapes at a more ripened stage than harvesting at the beginning of October.

The bodegas decide when to harvest their vineyards after analysing their grapes by means of a density meter reading of the must or by means of a refractometer. This indicates that they will produce a wine with a certain degree of alcohol.

Modest wineproducers depend on old fashioned methods. They know that when they squeeze the grape between their fingers and it produces a sticky sensation, the wine might reach twelve degrees. They also know that when the stem begins to turn brown there is no beneficial circulation between root and leaf. On the other hand, some years, the leaves wither early and fall, or turn yellow or brown. The vine grower knows in this case that further ripening is not desirable and it is advisable to harvest.

In general terms, the harvest depends on weather conditions in Autumn. In the Rioja, as in many inland areas, it rains during two periods of the year, in Spring and in Autumn. The rains of Autumn do not benefit the grapes if they occur after the beginning of the month of October. They can even prove to be prejudicial, softening the skin of the grape and favouring the growth of moulds, called Botrytis. This deteriorates the film to the extent that red musts become brown and whites musts excessively golden or brown, too. In these cases, after the rainy season has commenced, it is advisable to start harvesting immediately.

Typically, small wineproducers take advantage of weekend visits from their relatives for this purpose.

Although there is talk of mechanical harvesting in the Rioja, the grape picking is still done by hand and labour costs are fixed at a tenth of the selling price of the grapes.

The harvesting operation is carried out by manual cutting with a curved knife called "corquete". The wineproducer places his left hand under the bunch and with the other moves the "corquete" upwards against the base of the stem. The bunch falls gently into his hand and he transfers it to the collection basket, which are shaped like a truncated cone and have an approximate capacity of 20 Kg. They are open-weave, made from intertwined chestnut fibres or, in some cases, from wicker. However, in the Rioja, chestnut fibres are more typical.

Recently, rubber baskets have appeared of the same shape and capacity. Their maximum diameter is usually 55 cm with a width of 45 cm and a depth of 40 cm. They have two handles.Once full of grapes, the baskets are carried to the place where the "comportas" or tubs (wooden containers with a 100-Kg capacity) are located. These tubs are in turn loaded onto mules or donkeys, carts or trailers. Today, loading and transport is done by trailers which can hold up to twenty tubs. Horses can carry two, one on each side, like saddlebags, and carts can carry four or six.

"Comportas", or tubs, are shaped like truncated cones, open at the top with a diameter of 60 cm, 1.2 m in height and a base of 40 cm. in diameter. They are made from poplar or chestnut wood with 24 side pieces or "staves". The top has a thickness of 2 cm and the bottom, 4 cm, to withstand the friction of movement on the ground, due to turning and being supported on a single point when tilted by workers. The staves are fastened by four to six lateral metal hoops. They are of a truncated cone shape so that, when empty, they can be piled one inside the other. When full, due to the inclined angle of the side wall, the lower bunches are prevented from being crushed by those on top.

The first harvesting operation, one week before the grape picking, is to soak the tubs in water.

During the harvest these tubs, when they arrive at the bodega, are emptied into the tank or grape mill by being tilted on the edge of the tank, which, many years ago, was a window at the top of the bodega of the wineproducer.

Today, grapes are also carried in tractor-driven trailers, lined with a watertight canvas cover.

If the grapes are kept for one day in the tubs or canvases, the must and resulting wine develops a vinegary taste. The wineproducer realises a need for rapid transport, just as the traditional practice of preventing the grapes from being crushed in the tubs limited the to load to 100 Kg.

Today, there are harvesting machines, which collect the grapes by shaking vines pruned by the espalier method (wires placed in a single line with guided canes). This system is not used in the Rioja.