The night, ally of the grape harvesters in the Serranía de Ronda

The grape harvest is already in full swing at most wineries in the Serranía de Ronda, and the vineyards are filled with numerous crews of grape pickers who are cutting the abundant grapes produced this year in the region. Specifically, to avoid the main hours of heat when working in the field is practically impossible, these teams opt to do their work during the early morning hours or, directly, throughout the night.

Such is the case for the crew working at Descalzos Viejos winery, which starts its day at 22:00, after the sun has set and the blanket of night covers the Tajo Gorge where their vineyards are located. Equipped with a headlamp on their foreheads, reminiscent of miners, the crew of women working at this winery ventured among the rows of vines in the plot that the winery's oenologist, Vicente Inat, decided needed to be harvested because the grapes had reached the optimal ripeness conditions he desired to start the wine-making process.

Indeed, it is necessary to take extreme precautions to avoid cuts or possible accidents, since, although some of these lighting systems are very powerful, it is never the same as during the day. Additionally, care must also be taken not to leave any bunches in the vineyard itself.

Indeed, the night does not prevent it from being hard work. "Tonight is worse than yesterday, last night was cooler and it was easier to work," commented one of the grape pickers as the coming and going of lights continues among the vineyards.

"We do the night harvest so that we can bring the fresh grapes to the winery and out of humanity, so that the crew does not have to work under the full sun," explained Inat. In his case, as they do not have a refrigeration chamber, this method also helps to avoid oxidations or musting of the grapes that could later complicate the work inside the winery. "This way we avoid problems of the grapes arriving hot which would anticipate fermentation and thus we can perform cold macerations," Inat pointed out.

In fact, the small boxes that accumulate during the work are immediately picked up by a tractor for transport to the winery facilities to proceed with their introduction into the tanks where the whole process for wine production begins.

In this case, the grapes bypass the destemmer and the slightly crushed paste along with the stems is introduced into the stainless steel tanks. "It is another tool of work that we use to craft this wine," Inat noted.

Descalzos Viejos is not the only winery that employs this method of harvesting; others such as Lunares, Doña Felisa, Gonzalo Beltrán wineries also do. In the case of Conrad, La Melonera, or Huerto de la Condesa wineries, they have opted to start work in the middle of the night, around 5:00 AM.

Thus, in the middle of the night, the harvest progresses in the Serranía de Ronda, which, due to its special climatic conditions and the great variety of grapes existing, will continue until October in some cases.