Potrero Grande is a microregion at the top of Volcan de Santa Ana, between Palo Campana and Buenos Aires. At Potrero they have not planted many hybrids as they have elsewhere (Catimor in Buenos Aires) so the general quality of the cup is top notch. And this year we've seen very consistent ripe picking so we're very excited about this lot.
The Rio Zarco mill has a cherry receiving station in the middle of Potrero Grande, making it easy for farmers to drop off their bags after they're done picking. Here theydo an initial screening and all bags are tagged with I.D.s telling us the farm, variety and quality of picking.
When the bags arrive at the mill, Rio Zarcotakes samples from each bag and put the results through a computer program which calculates the percentage of ripe cherries as opposed to green, semi-ripe, dry and floating cherries. This way there isan objective standard to measure quality and farmers who have picked well receive a bonus.
