Our 15,000 baby grape vines are planted since the end of April. Recent rainfall has given a brief respite to this year’s drought conditions, but with the substantially fewer centimeters of rainfall since November, (26 cm vs “average” 43cm) we will need to irrigate to establish the vulnerable plants, by hand!
Irrigation will begin at the end of this week, 10 liters of water per plant 2x/week in the early morning hours before the heat sets in. Luckily we can pump water from the Tedo river for this irrigation, until the plants are established or up to 3 years.The soil has settled since last fall’s earth movement and we are currently finishing up wall restoration that is very labor intensive, as we have 695 meters (2280 feet) of walls to restore!
All in all, a major project: approximately ¼ of parcels Savedra and Frente da Quinta have been replanted.
Due to dryness and to the cooler temperatures this spring, harvest will start later this year – 10/15 September instead of recent years closer to the beginning of September.
