Chilean wine group Santa Rita reports country’s earliest harvest in 20 years
Chilean wine producer Santa Rita Estates completed this year’s grape harvest in record time after an “extreme” lack of rainfall and much warmer weather changes its vineyard’s growing patterns.
According to The Drinks Business, The group’s harvest, which began in February and ended in mid-April, was particularly challenging this year as Chile’s social distancing measures were enforced this month.
The 2019-2020 season was “warmer than the historic average and the previous season”, the estate said in a statement, adding that an “extreme deficit of winter precipitation as well as throughout the growth and maturation periods” which sped up the harvest by about 15-20 days,
Gerardo Leal, viticultural manager at Santa Rita Estates, said growing cycle was “completed early, including the sugar maturation, although with a lower potential alcohol level, which accelerated the onset of harvest by 15-20 days.”
Read more at source: The Drinks Business
