2023 Viña Santa Rita harvest warmest for 70 years
Chilean producer Viña Santa Rita experienced a historically warm harvest, with the highest temperatures recorded in the last 70 years contributing to “unprecedented grape maturity”.
Santa Rita Estates confirmed that this was the earliest harvest on record for the company.
Gerardo Leal, viticulture manager for Santa Rita Estates said: “Summer 2023 saw the thermometer soar to over 34°C with successive heat waves from mid-January to the end of March. For this reason, the start of the harvest was brought forward to the first week of February and finished in record time in mid-April.”
The white grapes were reportedly harvested until mid-March, with “very good results in terms of yields and quality”, while the reds were ready for picking by the first week of April, with lower production than estimated but slightly higher than the previous season.
The warming climate is impacting other producers in Chile as well, Leal added: “The effects of high temperatures are affecting the entire country. The situation requires maximum effort from the whole team, particularly those in production in both the winery and in the vineyards. Everyone must communicate, coordinate and work as a team, thinking both about the quality of the grapes and wines, as well as avoiding yield losses.”
Meanwhile, Viña Doña Paula, the company’s Argentina-based winery has completed its 2023 vintage.
According to Santa Rita Estates production was marked by “highly polarising weather”, reducing the number of grapes harvested. However, the company expects the vintage to produce “excellent white wines and good fruit ripeness in the reds”.
Doña Paula's director of oenology and viticulture, Martín Kaiser said: “Everything suggests that the wines from this vintage will be surprising.”
During a summer defined by high temperatures sustained for months, in October 2022 the region was hit by a polar front that produced frosts in several production areas, with significant damage to leaves and grapes.
“The worst hit was Chardonnay, a very early budding variety; its yields fell by up to 50% even in vineyards that did not show visible damage due to the cold,” added Kaiser.
Despite this, Kaiser suggests that the quality of the whites promises to be superior thanks to the notable absence of rain during the entire ripening period. For the reds, the harvest was three weeks earlier than in 2022 and two weeks earlier than in the past.
“By the end of February and the beginning of March, the early varieties had already been harvested, such as Pinot Noir from Gualtallary, and a significant percentage of the grapes destined for the production of high-end Malbec, such as Parcel and the iconic wine Selección de Bodega, as well as some Cabernet Sauvignon quarters,” said Kaiser.
In the context of the 2023 harvest, which will be remembered in Argentina as the lowest volume harvest in more than half a century, Doña Paula has reported an above-average volume ensuring a good supply of wines.
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