The process of making wines of Bodegas Fernando Castro begins in the vineyard. The harmonious combination of our climate, soil and grape varieties decisively characterizes the quality of our future wines.

For optimal growing vines for winemaking, there are climatic and human factors affecting it.

Climatic factors change with each growing season, ie, each year. The combination of climatic conditions which give rise to differences among the "vintages".

Human hand also acts to regulate other factors, such as the conduction system (operations that define the distribution of plant leaves and clusters), pruning, soil enrichment and treatment of diseases of the vine.

The vine is a plant with a typical cycle of the temperate zones, beginning with the spring to finish with leaf fall in autumn. In all phases, then summarize the most important to the quality of our grapes are ripening.

For winemaking, we respect the life cycle of the plant, but we have also perfected their culture through a series of field practices, including pruning is included. The vine, being a tree and plant unlimited growth needs to be controlled, appropriate to the needs of the grower. Thus obtaining a healthy fruit, mature and quality is ensured.

The phases of the life cycle of the vine summarized from seven steps.

    First Phase. The Vegetative Nursing. This phase is observed in the fall and throughout the winter. Making a woody plant appearance as no green sheets or no plant structure. The cause is the soil temperature, and does not favor the absorption of nutrients by the roots. At the end of this phase, the cry of the vine produces. This means that the plant begins operation, driving a colorless liquid by pruning cuts.
     Second Phase. Fettle. This phase occurs in late winter and early first. The plant begins to "wake up" the winter as the buds begin to swell. These swellings or "delete" are caused by the increase in soil temperature, which helps absorption functions of the roots of the plant.
     Third Phase. Sprouting. Spring comes to the vine, slowly transforming the structure of the plant. The first leaves begin to develop, and later detected clusters. The spring temperatures and typical rainfall this season collaborate to develop the plant.
     Fourth Phase. Flowering and Fruit set. During the spring, the flowers of the vine and begin to develop pollinate. The first fruits are small berries, shape and size of a pea.
     Fifth Phase. Envero. This is one of the most important phases of the cycle, as it is the beginning of ripening, coinciding with the beginning of summer. This process takes about 15 days, in which the fruit begins to change in size and then color. In white grapes changes from green to yellow, while red grapes from green to purplish.
     Phase VI. Maturation. This process is the most important period, because it determines the quality of the harvest. It occurs from mid-summer to early fall. It grape continually enlarges, loses acidity and sugars accumulate. At the end of ripening and harvest Harvest of the fruit produced.
     Phase VII. Fall Foliage. At this stage, the leaves stop having intense activity they had in spring and summer, taking a brown color.

As we have seen, the weather conditions are a major cause of the changes that occur in the plant throughout the year. The weather is not an exact science and, therefore, many phenomena that can occur are rare ... but this is another subject matter.