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Previous vintages
2006 Vintage.
It was a good vegetative year. The hot in July made the grape ripening to come earlier and it was compensated with the autumn temperatures of August. It was a healthy year, without diseases, a vintage in moderate quantity and excellent in quality.
We watch our grapes during the whole year and we analyse the most appropriate date to start the harvest.
A marked characteristic of this year was the excellent phenolic maturity of the Merlot, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties, and the powerful aroma of the Garnacha and the late Graciano.
The Moscatel variety was especially aromatic that year with citric nuances that reasserts the great versatility and complexity of this grape variety. There’s colour, abundant aroma, potential polyphenolic, tannin and qualities to produce young wines and to age red wines.
2005 Vintage.
It was a good vegetative year, without inopportune frosts and a rainy spring followed by a summer marked by a lack of precipitations. Health was present at the whole vegetative cycle because there were no diseases and the preventive treatments were a few. The very good quality of the grape was compensated for a low yield.
The flowering and the berry set were excellent in all the grape varieties cultivated by Bodegas Ochoa at its vineyards in Olite and Traibuenas. The drought implied that the grape berries were small and the amount of production a 27% lower than the year before. The harvest was made at intervals and each grape variety was picked up at its best phenolic maturity time. The fermentations were developed perfectly and everything points out to an excellent quality of wines from this vintage of 2005.
2004 Vintage.
The snow in winter and the regular rain in spring were good for the vineyard, located in a dry place, from the budding out to the véraison. This rain was also good for a balanced vegetative growth and they generated a correct but not high berry set rate. This fact allowed us to get a bunch of loose grapes. Summer wasn’t too hot and that’s why the ripening was good and slow for all the grape varieties.
The weather on September and October, the harvest months, was wonderful and made the grapes mature at different intervals. Bunches of grapes were picked up according to its phenolic maturity index (grape skin and pips) and according to the sugar content (to know the final content of the wine).
2003 Vintage.
The harvest of this year has to be mentioned for its changeable climatology. Consequently, we had to control and keep an eye on the process of our vineyards with a special attention. We didn’t know the hostile and dry summer that was coming. The winter, with rain and some snowfalls, was great because it permitted the collection of water for summer. The early budding out, a long flowering and a right berry set gave, as a result, a better vintage.
2002 Vintage.
Winter went by calm, with nice temperatures; the budding out happened at the end of April and the rain was welcomed. In June, temperatures were high and the flowering and the berry set of the vineyard was good. The cool temperatures and the dry weather of July and August contributed the vegetative cycle of the vineyard to come ten days earlier than the year before. The harvest started late the 23rd of September because it rained lightly at the beginning of September. The key to obtain good wines was the daily monitoring of the maturation and the good practise of the oenologist and his/her team.
2001 Vintage.
It was an exceptional vintage. After a mild winter, a rainy spring with very hot days at the end and a dry summer, the vintage of 2001 got to the cellar with a short volume and an amazing quality. The alcoholic fermentation went perfectly and the healthy state in which the grape entered the cellar allowed a sulphurousless production (production without sulphurous).
Tempranillo, the main and most extended variety, had a low yield. Cabernet-Sauvignon grapes brought a low volume, normal for this variety, but with a high quality. Merlot tied wrong because of the high temperatures at the last days of May. Therefore, its production was specially short but concentrated.
2000 Vintage.
2000 was a good year thanks to a lack of frosts and due to an appropriate climatology during the dormancy period. The flowering and the bunch formation were good. The climate bonanza contributed to an explosion of high quality bunches.
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