This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
There’s no doubt that if there’s one thing that defines the wines we make at Arzuaga, it’s their quality, something that’s also been confirmed by opinion leaders and consumers for decades. This is really a source of pride for us and, to continue down this path to excellence, we work every day with the sole aim of offering you the best DO Ribera del Duero wines.
As part of this quest for ever-increasing quality, besides the work in the winery, it’s also key to take care over every step in the vineyard. In this post, we’d like to talk to you specifically about selecting the grapes, which happens at the same time as the harvest, when we pick the bunches from our vines and only select the fruit that’s in perfect condition.
This work starts in the vineyard when we discard the bunches with imperfections by hand, only putting those in perfect condition in the boxes that will then be taken to the winery. Moreover, in 1997 we began working with sorting tables at Arzuaga.
Today, we work with five manual sorting tables at our winery, allowing us to ensure the healthiness of the grapes that go into the press and are used to make our wines. This way, the bunches of grapes that reach the winery after going through this first selection process in the vineyard, then move onto the sorting table belt so we can remove any that aren’t in perfect health, that haven’t finished ripening or that, on the other hand, are overripe.
In addition to these manual sorting tables, in 2015 we decided to also go for the most cutting-edge technology for choosing the healthiest grapes in the best condition, adding an optical sorter to our winery equipment.
Once the bunches have been selected manually, destemmed and with all the grapes separated one by one, the optical sorter takes a photo of each berry at a rapid rate, separating those that aren’t in perfect condition.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, at Bodegas Arzuaga, we aim to offer wines of the highest quality possible. We know that to achieve this goal, it’s essential to look after the vineyard and carefully choose the grapes we use to make them. This is the only way we can feel the pride we experience every time you lift your glass and toast with an Arzuaga wine. Cheers!