This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
In summer, at a point close to harvest, a magical moment takes place in the Bodegas Arzuaga
vineyards, one that you take photos of and keep as souvenirs in your phone gallery when you
come to enjoy our wine tourism. We’re talking about veraison, the process whereby red
grapes change colour during their ripening period and leave behind the emerald green colour
to take on the red colour that characterises them. And our vineyards located in Ribera del
Duero have been completely transformed over recent weeks. And here on our blog, we
wanted to invite you to come and discover veraison first-hand, to visit our vines and be able to
feel the fact that the grapes are nearly ready to be picked.
During veraison, the grapes gradually lose the chlorophyll that gives them that emerald-green
colour typical of July, while the anthocyanins begin to be more prominent, providing those red
and blue hues that tell us the berries are gaining sugar and losing acidity. This is a magical
moment because it’s the sign that the grape ripening process is in full swing and that soon, the
vineyards will have a different look to them. While veraison is taking place, the grapes’
alcoholic and phenolic ripening is close to finishing, which for us will mark the start of the
harvest and production of the 2022 vintage.
The grapes we use to make our red wines with the spirit of Ribera del Duero—Tempranillo,
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot—have their own ripening times, although veraison also depends
on the weather during the year and the kind of soil where the vines are found. Visually, it’s
truly an amazing process since the vines are dotted with different colours that turn dusk at our
La Planta estate and in the vineyards surrounding Bodegas Arzuaga into a sight that’s worth
seeing first-hand.
There’s no better plan than touring our vineyards and discovering how the grapes leave behind
the typical acidity of their first stages of ripening to become full of sugar, almost ready to be
picked. This is how you’ll be able to discover that veraison affects the skin of the grape, not the
flesh. And it’s the skin that gives the colour to the first musts after pressing.
In just a few weeks, our vines will no longer contain those precious bunches, which