2025 Harvest Report DOCa Rioja by Miguel Merino Navajas

BRIONES. Bodegas Miguel Merino. Vinedo La Loma. 24.10.2023 Justo Rodriguez

At Davy’s, we are proud to work with small, family-owned producers who place quality, integrity and vineyard expression at the heart of everything they do. Miguel Merino is a perfect example of this philosophy. His long-term commitment to meticulous vineyard work and thoughtful winemaking has firmly established him as one of Rioja’s most respected producers.

We are delighted to share his 2025 harvest report below, written directly from Briones. This vintage is particularly significant, marking Miguel’s first fully organic-certified harvest across all his vineyards. The year has also been a landmark one for the estate, with La Quinta Cruz Mazuelo 2022 being named Wine of the Year 2025 by Decanter Magazine – a testament to the quality and precision of his work in the vineyard and cellar.

As Miguel’s UK distributor, we are pleased to present his own account of a challenging but ultimately rewarding vintage.

2025 Harvest Report

2025 has been a complicated year in the vineyards of DOCa Rioja. Winter and spring were very rainy: 672 liters per square meter in Briones between October 2024 and July 2025. (As a curiosity, Spain was the rainiest country in Europe by the end of May 2025.) The rainfall was very welcome after two years of severe drought, but it also made vineyard work extremely difficult. DOCa Rioja has suffered the worst mildew outbreak in its history, and several villages (especially those along the Najerilla River) were devastated by the fungus.

For us, it was a particularly delicate situation since, after several years of trials, 2025 is our first year with full organic certification across all our vineyards. We must say that the effort has been worthwhile, as we managed to keep the mildew attack under control and lost barely any clusters to the disease.

Spring continued to be complicated, with a long series of storms bringing hail, which did cause some damage, especially in the western part of Briones, where we have several vineyards, including La Loma. Summer began cold, with July marked by the influence of northern winds. In contrast, August was extremely hot and dry. By then, we could already foresee that the harvest would be quite small. Harvest began early, mainly due to the low yield. We started picking on 17th September with the Garnacha Blanca from La Loma and our various Viura plots. On 18th September, we harvested the first Tempranillo grapes – the earliest harvest in our history. The analytical parameters were perfect, with moderate potential alcohol levels, ideal acidity, and exceptional fruit health.

The ripening points of the 42 plots we manage have varied greatly, and the most challenging aspect of this harvest has been determining the optimal picking date for each one. However, the weather has been spectacular – sunny, cool days and dry, very cold nights – allowing us to patiently wait for each plot to reach its ideal level of ripeness.

On 14th October, we harvested our Graciano vineyard in El Rincón, concluding the 2025 harvest. It lasted nearly a month from start to finish, quite unusual. Overall, the 2025 harvest was very small in volume (the oldest vineyards averaged 1,500 kg/ha, while the rest were around 4,000 kg/ha) but of great quality and balance. To make up for the shortfall in our own vineyards, we also harvested two plots from two of our regular growers, also in Briones, with very high-quality fruit.

Warm regards,
Miguel Merino
13th October 2025