For producers, to harvest the grapes is far from an easy task, it is necessary to wait for the right moment to do it and only then do it well.

The grape harvest, one of the few fruit harvests that has its own name, “Vindima”, it does not have a fixed date. It can sometimes be earlier or later than expected. The harvest period depends on several factors, including the geographical area and weather conditions. At Quinta da Raza, the monitoring of the maturation begins arround mid-August and the harvest normally takes place between the end of August and the beginning of October, as soon as the grapes reach the ideal point of maturation for the harvest. This occurs when the balance between sugar and acids is perfect and to get there, you have to analyse, taste and observe!

It is not difficult to harvest, but the first two days are the most difficult. It is necessary to “warm up” the muscles and it is in this period of time that the rare abandonments usually occur. From the third day onwards, everything is ready to go without obstacles until the end.

At Quinta da Raza, the grapes are still harvested manually by local people and the process takes about four weeks to complete. The varieties that have a shorter growing period are the first to be harvested, among them are Gouveio, Padeiro and Trajadura. On the contrary, Azal and Espadeiro with a longer cycle are usually left for last.

At the Quinta da Raza winery, the team is also reinforced and when the day is over for the harvesters, it is still halfway through for the winemakers. Pressing, decanting, racking and fermentations must be done at the correct time as the final quality of the wine demands it. We normally work until the next day, but fortunately, there is a spirit of companionship and responsibility, as we all know that in this activity we only have one opportunity a year to do things well.

You can feel the aroma of fermentations in the winery and expectations are high, the quality of the grapes has been excellent and if the weather helps, a year of excellent quality and quantity is expected. It is well known that “until the washing of the baskets is still harvest”, so let’s wait for the end and work with just one goal in mind, to produce good wines with the excellent grapes that the “terroir” of Quinta da Raza provides us.

A toast to good wines!