Veraison in Viña Lanciano

Veraison is a French viticultural term that is also used in English to define the moment when the grape berries change colour. It is the penultimate stage, before the vine growing year culminates in the harvest.

During the start of the summer the small bunches grow in size, gradually swelling with sugar and water. The skin gets thinner and more elastic. Eventually, when a light shines through a grape, you can almost see the pips.  Once this moment has been reached, the berries and bunches of black grapes start to turn a shade of garnet, blue or purple, depending on the variety, and white varieties turn yellow or gold.

Our vineyard begins to be painted in new colours, evolving from intense shades of green to transform the appearance of the vines and our landscape.  Although it is not until October or November, when the leaves turn red, brown and yellow, that the vineyards will look at their most spectacular, veraison is one of the most exciting stages that offers so much more than just a change in colour.

The previously green grapes change colour due to the loss of chlorophyll and the start of the rise in phenolic compounds in the skin. The concentration of sugar and water increases and the acidity is reduced. The variety’s characteristic primary aromas are formed, as well as polyphenols.  In reality, the grapes stop growing and embark on the process of physiological ripening. Every grape berry can change colour over one to two days, but this is a natural vine process and therefore it is not uniform. At Viña Lanciano it usually takes a few days for this cycle to be completed, as the Tempranillo variety stands out for being one of the earliest, while Graciano and Mazuelo usually run a bit later.

A crucial moment for the winemaking team

Harvest only occurs once the grapes have reached the optimum level of ripeness. To do so, our team of oenologists spend these days prior to harvest monitoring the ripeness levels very closely, taking measurements, exhaustive checks on the vineyard and corrections that help to ensure the optimum ripeness of the grapes across each of our parcels. Veraison, as well as giving us important data, is the start of the count down to harvest, which, in theory, will occur 40 days later.

The weather in a natural process

Veraison, as a natural process, doesn’t occur on a fixed date and when it happens depends on the weather over the growth cycle.  Generally, it happens in the middle of summer, between the end of July and the start of August, although it depends on the weather and the vineyard conditions.  For example, in dry and very hot years, veraison will happen earlier.  If, during the ripening phase, there is a contrast between the temperatures at day and night, the conditions will be optimal to allow the slow ripening of fruit and the grapes will be harvested at the right moment.

Veraison in Viña Lanciano

Our Viña Lanciano estate is found on the natural boundary between the Rioja Alta and the Rioja Alavesa. This privileged setting is planted with Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Graciano and Garnacha vines aged between 40 and 60 years of age.  Its exceptional conditions, with a Atlantic and Mediterranean influenced climate, and the poor nature of its soils – littered with pebbles that originate from the rise and fall of the waters of the River Ebro over thousands of years – mean that the grapes ripen slowly and in a balanced way.  Anecdotally, Viña Lanciano is usually the first to harvest Tempranillo grapes across the whole of the Rioja Alta area.