Marqués de Cáceres ‘very pleased’ with 2013 harvest

Despite a difficult year for many winegrowers in the Rioja region, Marqués de Cáceres has told the drinks business it’s “very pleased with the quality of this year’s wine”.

Prolonged rainfall in the region during the winter and spring seasons caused a significant delay in the vegetative cycle and gave rise to problems during the setting of the berries in many vineyards.

And despite some fine weather during the summer, when it was very sunny but not with excessive temperatures, this was not enough for the vines to catch up, meaning the maturity process was around three weeks behind its usual time.

Anne Vallejo, PR and marketing manager for the producer, told db: “As usual, our policy is to work with growers who care for their vineyards under our strict supervision. The majority of these vineyards produce low yields and our selection process ensures only the best of grapes for our wines.

“The winemaking procedures are not yet finalised but we can already confirm that we are very pleased with the quality of the wines, taking into consideration that this has been a difficult harvest to manage.”

The producer warned that growers in the region who didn’t treat their vineyards adequately, could have been caught out by botrytis towards the end of the harvest. However, those growers who treated their vines correctly and who were not too affected by the adverse weather conditions will “produce wines of excellent quality in many regions of Rioja.”

The overall production within the Rioja DO is expected to be around 370 million KGs, which is slightly less than an average year, although similar to the volume produced in 2012.