The 2022 harvest was full of surprises: late frosts, frequent rains in February and an extraordinary early frost -which surprised everyone- that occurred in the early hours of March 30, marked a harvest whose quality stood out despite the weather inconstancy.
The wines are intense, fresh and fine, which is why they remind us of those of the 2019 vintage.
Without even having final data, we believe that the figures will not reach 20 million quintals, which would mean a drop of around 14% compared to the previous harvest and 16% compared to the average of the last 10 years.
Spring with late frosts that affected practically all the varieties in all the oases. In some areas, the frosts found the vines already sprouted, while in other cases the damage was caused by swollen buds. Spring 2021 was also wet, which translated into early Peronospora attacks on the bunches and the inoculum for rot attacks was generated later in the cycle.
The summer began with humidity levels above normal, with a higher frequency of rainfall than in other years. Some Peronospora attacks on cluster and foliage began to be noticed early.
At the beginning of February, the frequency of rainfall, especially in the lower areas of each valley, provided the ideal setting for Peronospora attacks with a degree of aggressiveness rarely seen.
In most areas, a natural decrease in production was observed. In the eastern area, a large producer of common grapes, the drop was greater, although in the central area and in the Uco Valley, losses of the order of 20% were also observed. % in varieties such as malbec, with a great tendency of coulure.
From mid-February onwards and for the rest of the harvest (all of March and April), the weather was exceptionally dry, with no rain and low average temperatures, cool nights and days that contributed to a highly qualitative harvest.
The grapes matured in their final stage in an extraordinary climatic setting, which made it possible to have white grapes with very good acidity and red grapes with intense colors and marked acidity.
After a slight lethargy of maturity that led to a delay of between one week and ten days in the historical harvest date, we harvested some malbec from the upper area of the Uco Valley (such as Gualtallary and Los Chacayes) between the 15th and the 23rd March, in its moment of splendor, which gave us great optimism when projecting very high quality discoveries.
An unexpected frost that occurred in the early hours of March 30 put an end to the harvest for many. Although there was still a good part of the production in the vineyards, some producers had to speed up the pace and finished the harvest earlier than expected. This was a phenomenon rarely seen and although it was not widespread, important areas had temperatures between -1°C and up to -5°C, which undoubtedly had a significant influence in those cases where the harvest had not finished.
Many wineries finished their harvest the first week of April, reaching unexpectedly high quality levels, others continued their harvests until the end of April, entering grapes whose quality was declining as the days went by.
As we always say, cold years give wines with clean and delicate aromas, of great purity and that is what we have observed early on in the wines of the 2022 harvest,
In summary, we expect notable wines, although given the number of events that have occurred throughout the cycle, it is difficult to convince about the magnificence of this harvest, especially in those places with first-rate viticulture, which will enjoy having obtained great wines.
Edgardo Del Popolo
May 11, 2022