The representation of what the grape harvest was like in La Geria and the wine production process before the arrival of technology is a routine rich in images and very attractive to the hundreds of residents and tourists of Lanzarote who visit Bodega La Geria every August 15 in order to participate in the traditional harvest.
Its interpretation over the years becomes an act of valuing that protected landscape built by hand and sacrifice by human beings with the help of the camel. This is the spirit of the celebration of the Fiestas de La Caridad that the Yaiza City Council, Bodegas La Geria and the wine sector share, which this Thursday fostered a new meeting around that set of cultural assets accumulated by inheritance.
Neighbors and tourists from different parts of Spain and the world enjoyed the traditional harvest, going down to the farm next to Bodega La Geria next to Blanca and Micaela, the two camels participating in the day, and seeing how the grapes were loaded into the harvest boxes to then weigh them and proceed to their pressing to obtain the must in the old wine press of the ancient winery. "It is very interesting, it is something typical and traditional of the Island that you should represent for those of us who are from outside so we can see it," said a delighted tourist from the peninsula.
The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, joins the voices of winegrowers and winemakers who during the Big Day of La Caridad highlighted the role of the camel in the development of the primary sector of Lanzarote: "La Geria is the best example of work, ingenuity and solidarity, but we cannot forget that man had in the camel his best ally, an essential figure in the rebirth of agriculture, in the work of tilling and in the harvesting of grapes on the Island," he emphasizes.
For his part, the Councilor for Culture and Tourism of Yaiza, Daniel Medina, recalled that "all this unique landscape of La Geria and the work of men and women who work the land and in the wine production centers, not only honor Lanzarote with their effort, but also make the Island known and one of its great tourist potentials, the quality of its wines, obtaining internationally prestigious awards."
The director of Bodega La Geria, Ramón Melián, recalled "the hard work and sacrifice that agriculture represented, and in this case viticulture, where all the work was manual in the past." The production of the field also depends on the climatology, and if in 2023 the harvest in Lanzarote yielded a balance of 3.5 million kilos of grapes, with a past winter of very little rain, the most optimistic estimate when the current harvest ends is 1.4 million kilos, "being too optimistic."
The traditional harvest was animated in the morning and midday hours by the El Golpito band, while in the afternoon, after the mass officiated in the hermitage of La Geria by the priests Jonathan Almeida and Javier Sánchez, the Rubicón Folkloric Group of Yaiza made its traditional offering with the performance of its bodies of touch and dance on the facade of the temple before the attendance of dozens of faithful and companions who came to honor the Virgen de La Caridad with the special request for more rain and better harvests.
