The harvest is a unique process
Bodegas Losada is immersed in the harvest between the first and last weeks of September every year The exact dates vary annually and are different for each vineyard The weather is also a determining factor grapes will reach their optimal ripeness sooner or later based on how much sun and rain they've been exposed to during their lifetime We frequently check to understand how the grapes are ripening and estimate when the harvest will happen A week prior to harvesting, we organize crews to harvest early in the morning or later in the day to avoid the high temperatures during midday in the vineyard When the grapes are perfectly ripe, we are ready to start the harvest.
The harvest in our slope vineyards at Ribeira Sacra is described as heroic viticulture Ancient is the operative word here Our vineyards are planted with the long established Mencia grape, used by the Roman occupiers more than two millennia ago Harvesting these Mencia grapes from ancient plants on steep banks must be done in the traditional way manually We take special care to preserve the grapes from cracking We use boxes for harvesting with no more than 40 pounds of grapes Our boxes have air vents, so the grapes are kept in a breathable storage until they arrive at the winery and the wine making process begins Also, lighter boxes are easier to transport, which is important in our vineyards due to the orography.
Once the grape clusters are cut from the vines and placed into boxes, the next step is to move the boxes to the winery The terrain orography makes moving the boxes from the vineyard to the winery a traditional way people move boxes through the slopes manually In the past, people used to move boxes to the top of the vineyard to transport them to the cellar, or in some vineyards, such as Vina caneiro to the river to transport them by boat to the winery And here is where we installed new technology and equipment to help with this task during harvest
We designed and installed mechanical elevators 15 years ago in all our vineyards with wide platforms to move grape boxes to the top or bottom of the river These elevators alleviate the traditional way we move boxes to the road to finally move them by track or to the bottom and move them by boat to the winery Also, we wanted to advance even further to preserve the grape from cracking No detail is overlooked to create our wines and present the best to you.
We always have visitors during harvest that enjoy these ancient traditions from the river catamarans But if you would like to participate in the harvest, please contact us, and we will arrange that experience for you!