The unique case of the Brazilian wine region that produces crops all year round

Brazil has a region wine where every week is harvest week. The same vine from the banks of the San Francisco River, in the northeast of the country, can produce twice a year thanks to a unique combination of climatic factors.

The Sertão is the most arid region of Brazil: the land is suitable for planting tomatoes and squash, but it is generally covered with a type of vegetation known as caatinga, an indigenous word that means “white forest” by the greyish tone of the bushes.

In the midst of this tropical dryness, located eight degrees below the Equator line, the 120 hectares of vineyards of the Río Sol company emerge from nowhere, with a production of two million bottles a year.

The surprise doesn’t stop there. At the same crossroads in the vineyard, one can see small bunches of white Viognier grapes that are still green and other red Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that are almost ripe.

“And these from here will be harvested tomorrow,” says Tobias Mello, vineyard manager, pointing to other nearby vines.

The sun that hits 300 days a year, the low rainfall and the proximity of the mighty San Francisco River form a perfect cocktail for growing wine.

The predictability of this trio of conditions also allows almost absolute control over the plant cycle, thanks to certain pruning and irrigation techniques. “In other parts of the world, it is the seasons that control the plant, with a single annual harvest in early autumn. Here we are the ones who decide when”says Mello.

Thus, when winegrowers want a vine to go to rest, they induce a winter phase by cutting off the drip water supply. After a month and a half, once the pruning has been done, they spray a plant stimulant on the vines to encourage the appearance of buds and turn on the tap again.

In the region, the same plant can go through this process twice a year and even more depending on the variety, according to winemaker Ana Paula Barros, but the advantages go further.

Since there is no dependence on the seasons and the vineyards are divided into small, independent lots, the vines of one may be hibernating while those of another are ready for harvest, allowing the winery to produce non-stop.

“There are more tropical regions with wines, like Bolivia or Thailand, but they don’t have the possibility of harvesting at any time of the year like here”explains the oenologist, a professor at the Sertão Pernambucano Federal Institute.

Interest of foreign companies

The economic impact of a bad harvest in Europe can be catastrophic because it is the only one. In this part of Brazil, you just have to wait for the following week.

Since the pioneers of viticulture settled in the region in the 1980s, the sector has grown to include eight wine companies.

Together, they produce some three million bottles, the 70% of them sparkling wines and destined mostly for domestic consumption, according to data from the Sertão Federal Institute and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company, a public institution.

The climatic advantages of the San Francisco Valley have also aroused foreign interest.

Río Sol belongs to the Portuguese Global Wines, a company with a strong presence in the Dão wine region that wanted to buy land in Brazil to gain access to this market of 203 million people.

Despite the high number of potential consumers for its wines, the area planted in Río Sol is relatively small: 120 hectares compared to the 450 available.

Brazil, a beer-drinking country, is still discovering wine, which used to be limited to big occasions and forgotten the rest of the year.

When Barros, who is from the region, started working in this field almost 20 years ago, his friends thought that oenology was a health specialty.

“Wine is still seen as too strong a drink compared to beer, but the culture is beginning to change”it states.

Source: EFE