Mathusalem Clos Apalta - Chili 2013
In general, winter in 2012 was dry and cold in Apalta, except in June which showed higher temperatures and was also humid. The springtime rains where average. All rains where concentrated in October. Summer was colder and more humid than the historic data. During December, rains of 68.1 mm at Apalta made it the wettest in the last 10 years. These rains supplied our water reserves and allowed the grapevines to develop without the necessity of extra summer irrigation. Only February brought back normal recorded temperatures. The ripening process occurred slowly but, it was very balanced. Fall and march brought normal conditions. Regarding the temperatures, April was going well only the maxima were lower. The grape lost early its vegetal flavors and was technically ready to make wine, but we had to wait for the aromatic and phenolic ripeness. The ripening was going slowly, because of the fall characteristics: lower temperatures, shorter days, more clouds. So it was very important to be on top of the maturity records and then harvesting quickly considering the risk of rain.