Navarre begins its grape harvest
The grape harvest in the Navarra Designation of Origin begins around a week later than in 2020, which was one of the earliest campaigns in the history of the Control Board's records. The start was marked by the southern localities of the region in the Ribera Alta and Baja areas with the white grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Moscatel de Grano Menudo. In the following days, the grape harvest will reach every corner of the Denomination until the wine-growing map of 10,017 hectares of vineyards is complete.
Thus, 1,750 growers and 85 wineries are facing a new campaign in which, according to initial estimates made by the Viticulture and Oenology section of the Government of Navarre's Agricultural Exploitation and Agri-food Development Service (EVENA), around 61 million kilos of white and red grapes will be harvested. The figure represents a decrease of 18% compared to last year's harvest, which was particularly abundant.
Although there has been a delay in the vegetative cycle, grape ripening has progressed as expected, so the budding of the vines is within normal dates and the phases of the vine cycle have corresponded to those that characterise each season of the year.
During the spring there have been sporadic frosts in parts of the territory that have caused a decrease in the total volume. Spring was mild in terms of temperatures. The summer has been marked by climatic contrasts of days with high temperatures, alternating with periods of "cierzo" and low temperatures.
From spring until now, the lack of rain and absence of precipitation has marked the development of the grapes. The harvest is currently in optimum health and the grapes are expected to be of good quality. "It has been an atypical year in terms of temperature and rainfall which, although it is expected to cause a decrease in the total volume of grapes harvested, the forecast is that it will be of a high quality which reinforces our good expectations taking into account the current economic and sanitary evolution", affirms David Palacios, president of the Regulating Council of the Navarra Designation of Origin.
The start of the season comes with good news in terms of the marketing of Navarra wines, as the figures for the first half of the year reflect a 10% increase in sales compared to the same period last year.
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