Something even more difficult

As they say in the circus: and now for something even more difficult…! That’s how I felt about the 2025 vintage. An extremely rainy and humid spring and early summer made this 2025 vintage incredibly difficult. In our region, Ribera del Duero, we are not accustomed to this amount of rainfall. Average annual precipitation typically ranges between 350 and 400 mm, yet during this unusually wet vintage we recorded 550 mm or more.

This excess moisture, especially in June and July, gave rise to the dreaded mildew, which we are so unaccustomed to in Ribera del Duero. The mildew caused significant damage in many areas, including some of our vineyards in Quintanilla de Onésimo. Because our grapes come from 100% organic vineyards, we can only defend ourselves against fungal attacks using copper and sulfur, as has always been done traditionally.

In August, the weather stabilized and returned to normal, or rather the “new normal,” as we suddenly experienced the intense heat typical of this new reality that is climate change. The fungi dried up, but they had greatly reduced the production of the vintage. However, thanks to the fact that it was initially very abundant, the decline was not entirely catastrophic.

Toward the end of the growing cycle, conditions were perfect, with mild and pleasant temperatures and the typical drastic variation in temperature between night and day in the Ribera del Duero, which allowed for perfect alcoholic and polyphenolic ripeness. In summary, 2025 will go down in the history of Ribera del Duero as a very challenging vintage to produce, yet one that ultimately resulted in wines of exceptional balance and elegance.