Under a moonlight sky, in grape picker Portugal‘S Alatejo The area is fast working through the night, the exercise made more common by the country’s long, hot summer.
In this region, “Tuscany of Portugal” is often dubbed for its rolling. Grape gardensWorkers work by headlamps, their laughter combines with rustle leaves.
This time-email vitrictive method preserves the freshness of grapes, protecting them from intense day heat, sunlight and oxidation.
As the Portuguese summer becomes tall, warm and more unexpected – a direct result of climate change – this nocturnal harvesting has become a more common vision.
Babrabara Monteiro, the co-owner of Horded da Fonte Santa Wineyard, initially struggled to convince his team to adopt the schedule at 8 am in the morning, which began in 2019.
She notes: “Today, we can say that they really like this program, because they can often work almost another day, enjoy the day, and avoid excessive heat that we often experience here.”
Comprehensive Liquor Harvest in Spain, Italy and Portugal usually occurs in August and late October, which varies from the region and the type of grapes.
Some vineyards are harvesting at night. In some parts of Italy, others have been over a decade for more than a decade. According to Wineyard’s technical director and winemaker Cesar Fernandez, the El Koto de Rio D Rio -Wineyard begins at 5 or 6 am for the morning crop in the famous La Rioza region of Spain.
In Portugal Alatejo The area, day temperature can reach 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), especially in August. At night, they can leave 20C (36F) or more.
Grape Temperatures are naturally sensitive to change. Hot weather can reach sugar maturation before developing them full taste and maturity, leading to high alcohol levels but less complex wine. Acute heat also speeds up the loss of acid and can trigger the initial fermentation because wild yeast and bacteria become more active.
By harvesting at night, the vintors can lock in more vibrant tastes that improve the quality of the produced alcohol.
Monteero said, “Climate change has greatly affected our crop and process and we have adapted for years.”
Harvester, Bhi, Gentler does not consider the temperature bad.
55 -year -old Foreman Vitor Lucas says he prefers night harvest, even though there are some hot nights in early August.
Around 3 o’clock, workers take a short break to rest and enjoy food known as “Bucha”, including cheese, olives, chorizo, bread and even a little alcohol. They then return to the fields for another four hours before going home.
The liquor crop here usually ends in September or October. Late in the season, the temperature is quite cold when the foreman works in Lucas and about 10 other farms.
“This is a crop that we enjoy doing,” he said.