Some time ago, some friends wine producers made me a comment on the grapes that appears in the logo of our page. In our ignorance, we had chosen the photo according to its variety of colours, whose combination seemed aesthetically beautiful. For these friends, winemakers and oenologists as I said, this bunch of grapes was literally a "ugly bunch." Why? - we asked.
V Encuentro Enológico: Management of vineyards for quality wines.
On May 8th I had the pleasure to attend the V Encuentro Enológico (V Enology Meeting) organized by the Fundación para la Cultura del Vino (Foundation for the Culture of Wine), and I could see, as in almost any profession, among winemakers there are different views on interesting aspects of their profession . At least, in this diversity, they are like the grapes that adorns our logo.
For them it was a bunch of grapes that had ripened in different ways. That was why the different colors. It was not a homogenous bunch of grapes so it was not suitable to make wine. Their point of view was tempered by the nature his profession, what I call "professional deformation". Curiously the different shades of color of those grapes is an allegory of the different viewpoints of the winemakers.
This year the theme was the management of vineyards for quality wines, discussed some of the major factors that affect the vineyard to produce quality wines. Factors such as; treatment and quality of soil, vegetation in the vineyard, or water management.
The meeting took place in the auditorium of the Melia Castilla Hotel of Madrid. The first speaker was D. Jose Ramon Lissarrague, professor of Viticulture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Lissarrague spoke on the management of irrigation on wine quality. In his lively speech, he defended the use of irrigation techniques to meet variable water needs of the vineyards along their growing season ("desborre" - bloom, flowering - veraison, veraison - maturation and post-harvest).
The second speaker, D. Stefano Pony, from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza (Italy). He spoke about the interesting
issue of how to the habits of pruning are modified in order to protect the grapes from an excessive exposure to sunlight. In regions of southern Europe, where the sun was until recently a gift envied by winemakers from other regions, the sun and heat are beginning to be excessive. The leaves of the vines must be used to protect the grapes from the sun's rays.
Interesting and controversial were the tenets of D. Claude Bourguignon and Dña. Lydia Gabucci-Bourguignon. They defend the importance of treatment, or better said, care of soil in winemaking quality. From their point of view, quality wines can not be obtained from a poor soil, not at the expense of a high cost. They stressed the importance of "terroir". The Bourguignons said that greats "terroir" have been very mistreated. Many notes could be highlight of the intervention of marriage Bourguignon.
In a more technical tone, that perhaps were out of understanding of newcomers like us, the following intervention was by D. Fernando Zamora, of the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona. The subject was on treatment methods for determining the phenolic ripeness of the grapes.
The following event was the mini workshop olfactory by D. Alexander Schmitt (assistant for Opus Wine cellars, Petrus and Yquem). Extremely interesting was his talk on the aromas of the wine; difference between perception and sensation, olfactory records and aromas or the language of tasting.
The last presentation was carried out by, D. Fernando Martinez Toda, from University of La Rioja. His presentation was about methods for estimating the quality and value of a vineyard. He compared the traditional empirical methods, as opposed to visual methods based on the VITUR score-sheet. In words of Toda, VITUR is a subjective method, in contrast with the TODA index, proposed by his research team.
The session finished with a panel discussion in which came to light the various views or "colors". Essentially the main point of discution was the treatment or care of the soil compared to the maintenance of the vine (irrigation, pruning, Defoliation). Ultimately, the chromatic variety of our bunch of grapes, the logo of our publication, does not seem very far to represent the world of winemakers. In any case we like the color so we will not change the logo.
The viewpoint of winemakers.
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