Catalonia

Catalonia wine region in the North-East of Spain, proud of its autonomy. Located in the Comarca of Monsia to the border with France. From the East coast of Catalonia, with a length of 580 km by the Mediterranean sea.

The appellation (denomination) DO Catalunya was created in 1999 and has become the first appellation in Spain, bringing together all the vineyards that are not included in any of the 11 existing at the time of the appellations within the borders of the region:

Empordà

Costers del Segre

PLA de Bages

Alella

Cava

Penedes

Conca de Barbera

Tarragona

Monsanto

Terra Alta

Priorat (DOCa – Denominacion de Origen Calificada, the highest level of Spanish wine classification)

Barcelona is the vibrant capital of the region – the second largest city of the country and the location of one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean. This, of course, was a powerful factor in the rapid development of Catalan wine, along with millions of tourists annually visiting Barcelona.

Catalonia boasts remarkable wine traditions. Viticulture is believed to have brought here by the Phoenicians and the Greeks in about 400 g of BC in development of trade and trade routes. Then the Romans developed the cultivation of vines and wine production that flourished until the arrival of the Moors in which the vineyards either fell into disrepair or were converted to growing other crops. However, later Christians began to revive the local wine industry on the basis of monasteries and communities.

At the end of the XVIII century wine and spirits were already among the main articles in regional exports. Since then, Catalonia has established itself as a progressive wine region that is at the edge of the Spanish wine industry by working with international grape varieties and modern techniques of working the vines and wine production.

Catalonia holds a special place on the wine map of Spain due to the large diversity of wines. In two categories the very noticeable influence of the French is a sparkling wine Cava and red dining rooms, having a lot in common with the wines of Roussillon that for the Pyrenees of Catalonia.

Considering the geography, it is not surprising that the climate here is very Mediterranean, with warm coastal areas, which are characterized by average rainfall. Away from the coastline the climate is more reminiscent of the sultry plains of Central Spain. However, there is a sufficient number of the less hot areas on the hills and hillsides, growing grapes for the production of business cards of Catalonia – cava (Cava). This vine varieties macabeo, macabeo a, sharel lo and some Chardonnay.

Catalan red is made from Tempranillo (known locally as Ul de Lebre), Garnacha (aka Grenache) and monastries (known in France as mourvèdre). Red Bordeaux varieties also play a prominent role in some upscale blends of the region and as a varietal samples.

Although the reasons for the success of winemaking in Catalonia it is possible to enumerate a few, the most important was the emergence of Cava. Josep Raventos, founder of Codorniu, In 1870 he established in his company that in his time was called champaña – sparkling wine made using the classic champagne method. The success of this wine was so great that Catalonia became the head of production of Spanish sparkling. In 1986 was established the appellation Cava DO.

Improving the quality of Catalan wines and spurred the introduction of a common regional appellation of the DO Catalunya.

Source: portal Wine-Searcher /Jan. 2019