Harvest

At the hand of Castillo de Maetierra, the early ripening Muscat a petits grains grape starts off the grape harvest in La Rioja, year after year. The 80 hectares of the bodega’s own vineyards of white varieties are harvested in a progressive way, starting with the grapes to be used for the driest wines and finishing with those for the late-harvested sweet wines, around the end of October or towards mid November.

The grapes are picked at night, between 2 o’clock and 8 o’clock in the morning, the time band when temperatures are at their lowest. This is a key aspect for ensuring the maximum quality of the grapes and their reception in the winery in perfect condition. Once there, those clusters which are not in excellent condition are rejected.

Vinification

During the vinification process, the grapes are put into macerating tanks where they undergo cryo-maceration, whereby all the aromatic and flavour potential is extracted from the Muscat a petits grains, the most aromatic variety in the world. Fermentation takes place at low temperatures, and varies depending on whether the wine is to be dry, in which fermentation is allowed to continue right to the end, medium, in which case it is interrupted in the final stage, or sweet, where the fermentation is stopped spontaneously when a certain alcoholic level is reached.