The 10-day harvest in Pazo Baión

Discover the secrets of a very special harvest

The Pazo Baión team opted to delay the grape harvest this year. Thanks to this, these days of sunshine and high temperatures have allowed the grapes to reach a level of ripeness that borders perfection. This is what the 10-day harvest at our winery is like

As a famous Latin proverb says, “Fortune favors the bold.” This year, the professionals at the Pazo Baión winery who are in charge of the care of the vineyards and the production of the only Rías Baixas single-estate wines decided to be bold and delay the 2024 harvest by ten days . Why? It was expected that the weather would be favorable and that higher-than-usual temperatures for mid-September would help complete the grapes’ ripening process in full swing. Thus, it was decided to forge what we could call the 10-day harvest.

The operation was not without risk since delaying the harvest meant exposing oneself to the risk that the weather would not be in favor but against. Therefore, the arrival of rain or the drop in temperatures could affect the harvest and hinder the grape harvesting tasks. Hence, many winegrowers choose to harvest even though the grapes are not 100% ripe.

In the final stages of this 10-day harvest, we can confirm that the decision of the Pazo Baión team has been a success. Below, we tell you the keys to a harvest that stands out for the grapes’ quality, ripeness and aromas. Join us for this exciting 10-day harvest.

Sunny and warm days give the last punch to the grapes

In the first days of September, it seemed that summer was ending, with temperatures and skies more typical of the start of autumn. The grape harvest could be expected to begin at any time to safeguard the grapes against the change of season.

Fortunately, today, we have the technological tools and the knowledge necessary to make accurate weather forecasts and, based on them, make decisions based on the data. Thus, as Andrea Obenza, winemaker at Pazo Baión, points out, our winery decided not to rush the grape harvest and to start the grape harvest later than usual in the Rías Baixas.

On the one hand, because the summer was not too hot, the grapes in the vineyards ripened late. On the other hand, the good weather expected in mid-September would end up giving the clusters an excellent level of ripeness.

It is enough to taste one of the hundreds of thousands of grapes that the Pazo Baión vineyards have produced to confirm that these sunny days have completed the ripening of the grapes. Thus, this 10-day harvest is characterized by having a raw material that is in perfect health and that, when taken to the mouth, is softer, sweeter and fruitier than ever.

The golden color is omnipresent in the 10-day harvest

Strolling among vines and grape pickers these days, you can exercise more senses than just taste. Everywhere you look, you encounter golden reflections.

The spectacular level of ripeness of the grapes in this 10-day harvest is evident in the visual appearance of the bunches: gold is the predominant color.

The sun has turned each grape until their skins take on a hue close to gold. This marvelous chromatic spectacle not only shows the degree of ripeness of the bunches but also the next characteristic that we will highlight: the aromatic power concentrated in the skins of the grapes.

The aromatic intensity of the grapes has been reinforced

As winemaker José Hidalgo predicted a few weeks ago, one of the great virtues of the 2024 vintage from our estate was the intense perfume of the grapes.

This last week of sunshine and high temperatures have underpinned this prediction, and the clusters that have grown this year in the Pazo Baión vineyards have a more intense aromatic load than in previous years.

Why is this issue so relevant? One of the most notable characteristics of the Albariños produced in our winery is the intensity of their aromas. Thus, the varietal aromas of the future vintages of Pazo Baión, Vides de Fontán and Gran a Gran will present a power that will take over the nose of wine lovers.

The 10-day harvest brings with it a superb balance of sugars and acidity

If the aromas are fundamental, the sugar content of the grapes and their level of acidity are no less so. In this sense, the 10-day harvest has allowed us, as winemaker Andrea Obenza emphasizes, to obtain bunches with a fabulous sugar level and a perfect balance of acidity.

This means that the winemaking team of our winery will have the best raw material to produce albariños that are pure goldsmithery.

The fact that the grapes have sugar and acidity levels that are close to perfection will help our Rías Baixas to have a strong personality and a fantastic body and stand out for their balance and smoothness.

Delicate craftsmanship to take care of every grain

Throughout these days, Pazo Baión’s team of grape harvesters is carrying out delicate manual work to ensure that the grapes from this 10-day harvest arrive in perfect condition at our winery.

Such a valuable raw material requires a perfectly planned harvest in which each cluster is carefully picked and placed in boxes designed to transport the grapes to the winery, the true heart of every harvest.

In the 10-day harvest, each plot is harvested according to the ripeness of its clusters, so that each grape berry is in the ideal conditions to produce high-quality Rías Baixas.

A vintage of Pazo Baión, Vides de Fontán and Gran a Gran that promises to be extraordinary

The harvest is the most important time of the year for any winery, but in the case of Pazo Baión, this process is even more critical and delicate. Why? There is no margin for error. To elaborate on our Rías Baixas, we use only and exclusively the grapes harvested in our property plots. That is why Pazo Baión, Vides de Fontán and Gran a Gran are single-estate wines.

Thus, the decision to opt for this 10-day harvest in our vineyards has meant that all our raw material presents a perfect degree of ripeness, allowing us to produce aromatic, balanced and powerful wines.

The Pazo Baión winery is already working at full capacity to select the grapes and process them, assigning each bunch to the wine that best suits its characteristics.

After this 10-day harvest and the start of vinification, what must now become three special Rías Baixas present notable differences when tasted. These differences arise from the different characteristics of the vineyards of our property and the grapes that come from them.

Precisely, Pazo Baión, distinguished as the Best Young White Wine of Spain in 2024, perfectly represents the Albariño grape’s main qualities, such as its freshness or aromas of white fruits and flowers.

Gran a Gran stands out because its personality is strongly linked to the harvest. The vines used to make this raised Albariño are harvested after the harvest, allowing time to illuminate a fascinating natural phenomenon: noble rot, which transforms the composition of the grapes and endows them with new and surprising virtues.

In the case of Vides de Fontán, the aging process plays a very important role. A process that lasts three years and combines various containers and materials such as an avant-garde concrete egg. Thus, during aging, this Rías Baixas acquires a maturity and body uncommon among white wines.
In short, Pazo Baión’s 10-day harvest is a great success. The end of the summer has rounded off the ripening of the clusters from our property, giving them a splendid aromatic composition, sugar content and acidity level.

Our winery’s enology team will mold the outstanding raw material harvested during this 10-day harvest to produce three amazing Rías Baixas that carry the legacy of a property where wines have been made for 500 years.

The Romans were so wise that they devised accurate proverbs and spread viticulture throughout the Empire. We do not doubt that Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, would be proud of this 10-day harvest.