Harvest time, as everyone knows, is a crazy time, but it is a time to define wine style, and that is a huge importance in delivering the philosophy of a winery to the consumer. Wine is shaped during the harvest. The interpretation of the wine and what one winemaker wants to show depends on a thin thread of the harvest time decision. Here at Altos Las Hormigas a successful harvest also requires the help of a strong team. This year, we welcomed the newest member of our crew – Almendra.
The harvest date was incredibly crucial to this year’s harvest. For the last 10 years, Altos Las Hormigas has been hunting for, and has found, phenomenal Terroir in Mendoza with incredibly complex soils. Our Terroir Project aims to be a reflection of the soils our Malbec is grown in, and to show the purity of the fruit. Harvest dates allow you to show this, or block this. In Argentina, higher altitude vineyards hang by a thread that is even thinner than their lower altitude counterparts. Despite the fresher climate and cool nights, daytime temperatures can easily reach 30 degrees. With this climate condition, the most important harvest feature is accuracy.
The 2015 harvest can be summed up as extremely strange. November, December and January had extremely high temperatures, which accelerated the ripening process in the vineyards. These temperatures and quick ripening can dramatically decrease the level of natural acidity in the fruit, as sugar levels rise. Despite our concerns, Almendra took the late Spring and Summer months in stride, always looking for a sunny spot in the vineyards or outside of the bodega to take a quick siesta.
Because of the early drop in natural acidity, we had to start harvest on vineyards that have what we refer to as “short” soils in the middle of February in order to keep the integrity of the acid structure resulting in a lower alcohol, fresher wine. Our harvest schedule is typically earlier than many wineries in the region; however, the process began weeks earlier than a majority of the previous vintages. Almendra had had enough waiting around – she was ready to start doing to heavy work.
Sadly, Almendra’s work was foiled for a short time in the second week of March. Severe weather, including constant rains in some areas, and strong hail storms damaged a lot of hectares (specifically the El Pedral region of Tupungato). Some vineyards that provide grapes for a bigger style of Malbec suffered large amounts of lost fruit (up to 50%), which will compromise their ability to provide quality wine in 2015. Rot and powdery mildew attacks were common from March on. Peronospora attacks became wide spread in Pedral and Agrelo areas.
We can say that Altos Las Hormigas, working toward lower alcohols, took the window of opportunity from mid February to March 23rd, to pick all of its Malbec, even from the high altitude, cooler climates and vigorous soils. Like Almenda, we do not work by a calendar, but rather by utilizing our know-how to understand the grape’s sensorial qualities. Winemaker Leo Erazo sees harvest as a human scale project, one that requires him and Almendra to walk through each block of vineyards to ensure harvest begins at the golden time of ripeness of our grapes – where perfect harmony is struck between acid, tannin and sugars.
This was a tricky harvest for Altos Las Hormigas; however, Almendra liked the intense, long days of walking through the vineyards, watching Leo taste and analyze the grapes, and the exhausting task of harvesting the vines between bouts of poor weather. She’s already preparing for 2016. At Altos Las Hormigas we take risks. We take risks in order to show wines with a fresh minerality, to honor the fruit, and to provide complexity that will take Argentinean Malbec to the next level.
