What is selective harvest?

Hello! An article was already published on this same blog two years ago explaining what harvesting is and how this work was carried out, but do you know what selective harvesting is?

In this area of Montilla-Moriles we are currently in the middle of the harvest, due to the extreme weather conditions that have occurred this year, the regulatory council has reported through its bulletin No. 19, that farmers must carry out a selective harvest to to be able to obtain quality wines.

What is vintage?

The harvest consists mainly of collecting the grapes from the vines found in the field and taking them to the winery where the winemaking process begins.

Depending on the type of wine you want to make, both the harvesting process and the winemaking process change.

A very significant example of this is the process followed to make Pedro Ximénez wine. If you want to know what steps are followed, I recommend reading this very complete article, which was published last year on this blog and which included the collaboration exclusive to the head of our cooperative’s wine cellar, Anastasio García.

If you want to know in more detail what the grape harvest is in this area of Montilla-Moriles, I advise you to click here.

What is selective harvest?

Selective harvesting is the process of harvesting grapes separated by different categories.

By categories I am referring to grapes of different quality in the same plot that are picked separately so that the lower quality of some does not affect the higher quality of the others.

When a selective harvest is carried out, the same plot is reviewed several times by the farmer who, each time, selects the grapes that are in the conditions that he considers optimal for harvesting.

Why is a selective harvest carried out?

The main objective pursued by separating one grape from another, whether or not they are of the same variety, is to obtain a wine of the highest possible quality.

The main causes that cause a selective harvest to be carried out are diseases, adverse weather conditions, different varieties of grapes in the same plot and different stages of maturation of the grape clusters.

If in a plot we have vines affected by a disease, the grapes from these vines should never be mixed with the grapes from the other vines that are in perfect condition, since the wine produced from a diseased grape is not of the same quality as that of a healthy grape.

Adverse weather conditions also cause alterations in the quality of their grapes in some strains that make them unsuitable for making certain types of wines. An example of this that is currently being produced in this campaign is the large amount of “alechiga grape” that is being collected from our fields.

If a plot has different varieties of grapes planted, they cannot be harvested all at once because each type of grape is usually used to make a different type of wine.

A vine usually produces different types of clusters, the first to mature are the largest clusters that are located very close to the vine, but it also produces other types of smaller clusters that are located in the highest part of the shoot that mature. much later, these are commonly called “Cencerrón”.

The drawback of picking all the clusters at the same time is the state of ripeness, and consequently, the graduation that this grape will produce as a whole if it is picked too early.

Selective harvesting is a highly recommended job that should be carried out whenever the farmer considers it timely and convenient.

At Bodegas La Aurora, very exhaustive quality controls are followed, which is why our wines are of very high quality.

The important thing in the end is to make a quality wine that can reward farmers through its sale. I hope it has become clearer to you what selective harvesting is and I would like to know your opinion about it. Do you think that selective harvesting is a job that should always be carried out?Greetings and much encouragement to all the farmers who are currently in the middle of harvesting!

By Rafael Espejo.