The year is coming to an end, but that does not mean that the work in the vineyard has finished. At Bodegas Loli Casado we like to take advantage of the cold winter to produce one of our most special wines: Polus Vendimia Tardía. Stay with us and we will tell you all the secrets that make this wine unique.

In September we leave a plot of our oldest vineyard, located in the area of “La Llana”, unharvested. In this way, during the months of October through December, the clusters begin a natural process of raisining. In addition to this, the snowfalls that we usually have in our area at the end of the year contribute to improve the raisining process due to the cold.

Between the end of December and the beginning of January, the grapes reach the desired sugar concentration point and the harvest begins. In this case, since there are so few grapes, the harvest does not last more than one morning.

Once we return to the winery, we will start gently pressing the clusters, and in this way we will obtain a very concentrated must, which will fill the atmosphere with aromas such as honey, raisins and nuts. From this point on, a slow fermentation of a semi-sweet wine of the Viura variety will begin, which will awaken our senses and which fits perfectly both with starters and as a dessert of a pleasant meal.

That said, here ends this article on the elaboration of Polus Late Harvest. If you enjoyed this article, we invite you to stop by our YouTube channel, where every Saturday we upload a video dealing with the same topic as here in greater depth. The video related to this article will be released this Saturday.

The entry HOW TO MAKE A GOOD WINE: LATE HARVEST was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.

Last week we learned how the grape harvest was carried out until a few decades ago, and in today’s article we will focus on explaining how the grape harvest is carried out today in Rioja Alavesa.

That said, to begin with, it is worth noting that we could consider the moment when tractors began to be introduced into the life of the average farmer as a turning point in the evolution of the grape harvest. Although this vehicle has been around for more than 100 years, it was not until relatively recently that it began to be used in this region (around 1970-1980).

This vehicle brought great changes, from the adaptation of the vineyards, widening the space between the lines to allow the passage of the tractor, to the acquisition and planting of more vineyards, since now a single farmer could treat more land with the same hours.

In addition to this, transport from the vineyard to the winery began to be done in trailers, initially made of wood covered by a tarpaulin, and later in stainless steel, which can now easily carry more than 3,000 kg of grapes.

Along with this, the utensils or tools of the past are replaced by more modern ones, which will do the job in a more optimal way. The chestnut basket will be replaced by rubber baskets, which do not allow the must to escape, the corquete is replaced by the scissors, and, as we have seen in the previous paragraphs, the comportones and the cattle are replaced by tractors and trailers.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that changes are also made in the winemaking process, since in this case, it is currently common to pass the grapes through the destemmer as they arrive at the winery, in order to separate the stems from the grapes, and then take the grapes to the tank, where they will undergo alcoholic fermentation. In addition, nowadays we can make use of some yeasts to ensure that the fermentation will take place and thus preserve the quality of the grape in its entirety in our final wines. Once the fermentation is finished, we will obtain a single wine, unlike what was obtained in the past, and it will be up to the winemaker to decide whether to take it to crianza, reserva, young wine, or perhaps to sell it in bulk.

That said, here ends this introductory article to the history of wine, next week we will talk about sustainability, providing the example of our precious hut. If you enjoyed this article, we invite you to stop by our YouTube channel, where every Saturday we upload a video dealing with the same topic as here in greater depth. The video related to this article will be released this Saturday.

The entry HOW TO ELABORATE A GOOD WINE: THE MODERN HARVEST was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.

The end of September is approaching and with it, as every year, we are close to the beginning of the grape harvest season. Therefore, in today’s article, we want to tell you a little more about how the traditional grape harvest was carried out 30 or 50 years ago, and next week we will be able to compare it with the current harvest.

Having said that, the three main differences that we can find in the traditional grape harvest with respect to the current one is the use of three tools: the corquete, the chestnut basket and the comportón. At that time, the corquete was used, a small sickle with which we separated the bunches of grapes and then filled the chestnut basket with them. After this, these baskets were transported to the beginning of the renque and were then tipped into the comportones, baskets that could hold up to 80 kg of grapes. After filling these comportones, donkeys or mule-drawn carts transported these baskets to the winery.

As far as winemaking is concerned, from the outside of the winery, through a window that communicated with the lake, the comportón was poured. The lake is a square hole dug in the ground, usually 2 meters wide and 3 meters deep, which used to hold between 14,000 and 16,000 kg of grapes. Once the lake was completely filled with grapes transported by the comportones, the alcoholic fermentation began, which would transform the must into wine for a week or 10 days.

In addition to this, it is worth mentioning that the harvest used to be a few days or even a few weeks later, around the beginning of October. And, adding this delay in the harvest with the fact of using older tools, it was possible to finish the harvest some years at the beginning of November, with a little snowfall.

Once the 7-10 day period mentioned above had elapsed, the grapes were crushed. The aim was to break all the berries that were not broken during the winemaking process, in order to obtain the greatest amount of must. These lakes were connected to rooms that had been excavated underneath them, and the wine would move to them. In these rooms we would find the vats, where the wine would finish fermenting.

In this way we could obtain 3 types of wine: the tear wine (the wine that had come out during the first week, prior to crushing), the heart wine (the wine obtained during crushing) and the pressed wine (a wine whose grapes had been crushed two consecutive days and whose skin paste had been pressed).

Once the wine had finished its fermentation, it was settled, racked and then came the muleteer, who would be the buyer of the wine from the vats.
Finally, it should be noted that at that time, only the larger wineries could afford to make aged wines, since the small farmer did not have the necessary tools to do so.
That said, here ends this introductory article to the traditional grape harvesting system, next week we will talk about how we harvest nowadays. If you enjoyed this article, we invite you to stop by our YouTube channel, where every Saturday we upload a video dealing with the same topic as here in greater depth. The video related to this article will be released this Saturday.

The entry HOW TO ELABORATE A GOOD WINE: TRADITIONAL HARVEST was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.

A LONG AWAITED HARVEST

The elaboration of Polus Late Harvest begins at the end of September, when the harvest starts. At this time we choose a plot from our oldest vineyard with low production vines and small clusters. These grapes will not be harvested and will remain on their shoots.

THE SWEETNESS THAT COMES FROM RAISINIZATION

From this point on, the process of raisinization of the grapes begins. The vine begins its winter rest: the leaves wither and fall, the sap stops circulating and the vine shoot lignifies and hardens. The berries lose water and sugars accumulate. This process is aided by the gentle winds and warm autumn sun.

DRIED OUT BY THE COLD

In addition, if, as this year, we have the help of snow, it will help us to dry out the grapes of the clusters by cold.

A LATE HARVEST

When we verify that the concentration of sugars is sufficient to have a final wine of around 14º and enough residual sugar to make it a sweet wine, we proceed to the harvest. On this occasion, the chosen day was January 20th.

AND ONCE IN THE WINERY, TIME FOR THE PRESS

On arrival at the winery, the grapes are pressed slowly so that the dense must comes out well, impregnating the atmosphere with aromas of raisins, figs, honey and illusion.

WE INTRODUCE YOU: POLUS LATE HARVEST 2020

The must will begin a slow alcoholic fermentation until it completes its objective. After racking and cleaning, we will have a very aromatic wine, with a touch of freshness and acidity and sweet, without being cloying, thus ending the elaboration of Polus Late Harvest 2020.

The entry POLUS LATE HARVEST ELABORATION was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.

Vendimiando en Bodegas Loli Casado, el juego de cartas que acompaña al vino estas Navidades

Primera baraja para conocer la vendimia

Rioja Alavesa cuenta con su propio juego de cartas para aprender a vendimiar

Un juego de cartas para aprender a cultivar viñedos y a hacer vino

Juego de cartas con Bodegas ‘Loli Casado’ y alianza Villa Lucía-Flores de Queso

Vino Para Disfrutar 3

Bodegas Loli Casado y el primer juego de cartas para saber más de vino

Vendimiando en Bodegas Loli Casado

¿Quieres saber más sobre el juego? Descubre todo lo sobre Bodegas Loli Casado en nuestro blog.

The entry HARVESTING AT BODEGAS LOLI CASADO IN THE MEDIA was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.

The 2020 harvest has already begun. This year a few days earlier than usual. It is a consequence of the fact that this year the vineyard sprouted early and we have dragged this advance along the whole vegetative cycle.

And we thought it was a good time to start this blog where we will share with you our experiences in Bodegas Loli Casado.

And what is so special about this harvest? Many things.

It is the harvest of a rare, different, and even impertinent year that has changed us a lot.

It is the satisfaction of having controlled the risks of diseases that appeared because of a rainy and hot spring.

It is to begin to collect the white varieties that reach their moment of maturation and are collected days before the red ones.

It is the beginning that breaks the nerves of preparations and where the accumulated illusions in elaborating wines that transmit the characteristics of this vintage come to the surface.

In our case, the reunion with our harvesting team from many years ago with whom the link is more than labor.

In short, is something that must be lived.

The entry THE HARVEST BEGINS was published first in BODEGAS LOLI CASADO.