General Cigar Co. Picks out Crop for Macanudo Vintage 2010

Following the success of the 2010 harvest of their Connecticut crop, General Cigar Co. has declared that this year’s harvest will be set aside for a Macanudo vintage, according to an article in Cigar Aficionado.

Jhonys Diaz, vice president of operations at General Cigar Dominicana, explained that the normal yield for grades one, two, and three is 55 percent. The 2010 crop, however, had a remarkably high yield of 82 percent. The less than fruitful 2009 harvest only saw a yield of 19 percent; according to Dan Carr, president of General Cigar Co, “Most of the farmers plowed their crops under.”

Only tobaccos from high-yield, high-quality years are chosen for vintages. The tobacco still has to endure more fermentation and aging before being used—according to Diaz, the leaves won’t likely make it onto Macanudos for at least another three years.

Following the success of their other vintage lines, like the Vintage 1997 Maduro and Vintage 2000, which were made with exceptional crops from their respective years, the new vintage series should be a winner, even though we won’t see it for a while. This doesn’t mean that we can’t drool over this future release, and promote the hell out of it!