Dear friend of Lumière :
On March 21, 2021, spring began, and with it, the explosion of life and color. We leave behind a winter that has been very good for us, despite the waves of the pandemic.
In terms of communication, we have continued to receive good reviews in 2021. The Master of Wine and one of the greatest wine experts in Spain, Sarah Janes Evans, congratulated all Spaniards on Christmas with our Lumière wine on her Twitter account. And days in a row, she selected us for the most prestigious magazine in the world of wines: Decanter, among the top 10 wines not to be missed in 2021, scoring Lumière with 95 points.
https://twitter.com/SJEvansMW/status/1346586808658833408?s=20
Jancis Robinson, also a Master of Wine, and perhaps the most famous journalist in the wine world, included us in her selection of winter whites wines for the Financial Times.
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/whites-winter
They have been two references that help us to continue working and striving to make different wines, wines with soul, sincere and honest wines that express the place, the terroir and a respectful viticulture.
Also in La Vanguardia’s 2021 Wine Guide, journalist and communicator Zoltan Nagy, has selected our Vibrations 2018 wine among the 100 wines from Spain to enjoy.
Regarding our work in the winery and the vineyard, we have had a very rainy winter, something that we needed after two years of droughts. And it has also rained perfectly : slowly and interspersed, something unusual in our area, where it tends to rain in a concentrated way, and that the lands of albariza do not usually have time to absorb.
Albariza soil is a silty soil, which when it rains, sticks and creates a film that stops absorbing after 30 liters. That is why in the Marco de Jerez the sawing –holes- technique is used. In our case, we play with green roofs, and living soils, as a means to expand their absorption capacity.
We have taken advantage of that humidity to continue feeding the soils, with the application of nettle slurry, ideal for improving the behavior of the roots and the plant’s reaction to chlorosis. We have also applied two Maria Thun preparations and a 500P preparation, to boost the life of the soil, and generate living soils capable of containing moisture and giving our grapes richness.
As for the vine, winter is the time for pruning, when the sage sleeps in the roots. This season we have made some explanatory videos about stick and thumb pruning on our Instagram account that have been highly appreciated. The traditional pruning of « Rod and Thumb » -Vara y pulgar- is a very valuable pruning, a heritage that includes numerous details of the care of the plant that today are references in the new pruning theories, such as the famous Simonet & Sirch technique.
https://www.instagram.com/muchadaleclapart/?hl=es
After pruning, we have proceeded to collect the branches, and tying the rods. This year we had to hurry as the vineyard has sprouted a couple of weeks in advance. It has not been a cold winter, except for the strong days that occurred in January, which brought the temperatures down to below 0 in Pago Miraflores. Those colds are very beneficial for the plant, giving it time to rest, and they heal the vineyards of insects and fungi.
Happy entry of Spring and may nothing turn off your Light.
Alejandro and David
