We arrived back in Ireland on the 28th of July having spent June and July on our boat sailing the Iberian peninsula from Galicia in Spain to the Algarve in Portugal and back. It was the sunniest, driest summer in Ireland while we were gone. There were days when the temperature reached 30 degrees we were told, and a drought had parched the land. Indeed, when we returned, Ireland had its first rainfall in months and the grass was brown and dry. The house sitter did not water in the vineyard. Naturally, it's been raining and cold since we returned, but that's another story.
The grapevines seemed to like the weather. They are fruiting profusely. Although the grapes are small, there are plenty of them for the first time since we planted the original vines five years ago. All of the new vines survived the drought without watering, too. Some even have grapes in their second year. They weren't told they weren't supposed to fruit yet.
A week after we arrived back home and I took my first pictures of the vineyard, the grapes had grown a bit and were producing in nice clusters. A week after that, they started turning colors. I tried my first red grape and it was powerfully flavorful. Success?
Having had the experience of viewing albariño vineyards in Spain and alvariño wines in Portugal, we're thinking about planting the rest of the field with that varietal. What do you think? As we don't know Rondo and Solaris wines and we love albariño, we are tempted. After this summer of 40C+ degrees in Spain and Portugal and 30C degrees in Ireland, I'm thinking that makes the most sense. Gaia will decide.
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