Bizkaiko Txakolina advances the harvest to the first two weeks of September

Euskaraz irakurri: Bizkaiko Txakolinak iraileko lehen hamabostaldira aurreratu du mahats-bilketa

vintage from Biscay Txakolina from 2022 will be brought forward to the first two weeks of September and the Designation of Origin (DO) foresees a harvest comparable to 2020, when 2,358,000 kilos of grapes were harvested. That amount would be 10% less than what was harvested in 2021the same percentage that increased from two years ago.

This has been announced by the representative of the DO, Andoni Aretxabaletaof Bodega Magalarte Lezama, in statements to Europa Press, which also confirmed that the price of the new wines will have to rise and “adjust up”to catch up with the escalation in prices and CPI, although they will “slowly”without “fear or panic” for the customer.

Aretxabaleta has explained that progress in the usual calendar in collecting early varieties will begin around the 10th or 15th of the following month. That progress, as he pointed out, is due to a “so dry” summer that accelerated the grape’s ripening process. He also emphasized that the absence of rain has been good on the one hand, as it has contributed to the prevention of the usual diseases during this period. Of course, he has emphasized that in the case of some wineries, production has been reduced due to the sunscreen at sunsetthat “it is not a very big problem, because, simply, reduce the quantity, but not the quality, which will be very good”has confirmed.

Andoni Aretxabaleta remembers that years ago the harvest started in October, but the climate warmer weather and shorter grape cycles have pushed the harvest forward by a few weeks for about seven years. In this sense, he emphasized that although it is hotter, the Basque Country is still “in a cold area, where the grapes start early and the cycles are longer” than in other areas, giving rise to “complex and different” wines .

In terms of the quality of production, Aretxabaleta foresees that future wines will contain a higher amount of sugars due to the high temperatures, early ripening and the drop in acidity.”

However, after the rains of the past few days, the representative of Bizkaiako Txakolina, a winemaker, assured that although “it is welcome”, they would have come better at the end of July, when the plant was greener. In each case, the final condition of this year’s grapes will depend on the weather in the last days of August.

The representative of Bizkaiko Txakolina finally reminded that, after the entry into force with the 2021 harvest of the categorization changes of the designation of origin, following the change in legislation and of the maximum content for the vineyards, the DO will count this year with two new varieties authorized to “adapt” to the climate change taking place.

In addition, the maximum permitted production per hectare is 11,500 kilos of grapes for white varieties and 9,500 kilos of grapes for red varieties.

As for the technical characteristics of the protected txakolis, the minimum alcohol content increases and the minimum total acidity decreases. In this way, the new txakoli categorization of Bizkaia will use the . contain modalities ‘Bereziak-Specials’, ‘Uztagoienak-Last Harvest’, ‘Apardunak-Sparkling’ and ‘Apartak-Singulares’.