The grape harvest in the south of Tenerife has not ended up being as bad as initially assumed, at least that is what Diego Reverón and Bruno Albertos, responsible for the Reverón Winery, in Vilaflor and Bodega Comarcal Valle de Güímar, in Arafo, attest. “The rain in mid-June was wonderful and we thought of a great harvest, but then came a tremendous rise in temperatures in mid-August that made us bring forward the harvest due to the rapid maturation of the red grapes,” says Reverón.
“For the first time,” he points out, “this year we have harvested the ink before the white. The level of ripening was such that we either lost it or caught it in mid-August.” Bodegas Reverón has ended up collecting a similar amount of grapes as the previous year; Although “the quality is not that high, it can be said that it is acceptable,” acknowledged Diego Reverón, who has already bottled all the wine from San Andrés, anticipating the summer of San Miguel “which has also been very hot,” admitting that “With these hot times we have to reconvert everything and adapt to what there is and learn as we go,” he points out with resignation.
He comments that as a winegrower “it is good that the price of grapes has increased”, but he recognizes, as a winemaker, the increase in cost, despite which “our policy has been to not increase bottle prices”, in the which continues to highlight the fruity white, “although now a little less, because youth has begun to get to know the wines and is opting for dry or semi-dry,” says Diego Reverón, owner of a winery that his grandfather started in the area of Los Quemados, in Vilaflor de Chasna, in 1947.
Güímar Valley
If in Vilaflor de Chasna they are satisfied with the grape harvest, despite the climatic difficulties of summer and early autumn, in the Güímar Valley, another great designation of origin – especially in white wines – exactly the same thing happens. “We had a bad start, but in the end we can say that we ended with a great harvest, especially in the high parts, collecting 200,000 kilos of grapes, only a little less (240,000) than the previous year,” says José Bruno Albertos, president of the Regional Winery located in Arafo, in which 152 families from the region participate. Almost all of those kilos of grapes are black and white listán, while 25,000 kilos correspond to muscat grapes. Specifically, the best harvest occurred in the high dryland areas, while grapes were lost in the low areas. But not only was there fear for the harvest due to the effects of excessive heat, but also for the terrifying fire that started in Arafo on August 15 and returned to the top of Güímar a few days later. “We feared for the worst,” says Bruno Albertos, “but fortunately the fire stayed 500 meters from the vineyards in Las Dehesas and Los Pelados, without affecting the grapes.”
The Comarcal Winery, with its brand par excellence, Brumas de Ayosa, once again stood out in the Agrocanarias awards, obtaining last week the highest award, with the great gold medal for the Malvasía Aromática, in the category of Malvasías Dulces Wines, but Bruno Albertos also wanted to highlight “the red Pico, awarded by winemakers.” There is not a year that the Valle de Güímar Denomination of Origin does not obtain awards at a regional and even national level, even internationally, as it has done with its vermouth in an extreme wine competition in Rome.
