CUATRO RAYAS BEGINS ITS 75th HARVEST

 

On its 75th Anniversary, the winery foresees optimum grape quality, even though output will be less.

 

Valladolid, September 9, 2010. - The harvest of the over 2,200 hectares of vineyards at the Cuatro Rayas Winery will begin this morning with the Sauvignon Blanc varietal.  Next week will see the harvesting of Verdejo and Viura, while the Tempranillo harvest awaits month‘s end.  The crop is estimated at about 13 million kilograms of grape, somewhat less than the previous year, from which some 11 million bottles will be produced.  These figures confirm that Cuatro Rayas is the largest winery in the D.O. Rueda, boasting almost 25% of its total production.   "During this crop‘s growing cycle, we have had a rainy spring, a very hot summer, and a final maturation period consisting of low nighttime temperatures and high daytime temperatures, which have been very positive in obtaining a very high quality product", said Jose Martin, Cuatro Rayas‘ Technical Director for Vineyards.    The vineyards are supervised year-round by the winery‘s technical department, tracking each vine individually and harvesting each plot at its most appropriate moment as determined by indices of maturation, health, varietal, and age.