Catalonia
The capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia is Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city and principal port. Barcelona is, of course, a great destination in its own right, with its many museums and art galleries including those dedicated to its famous sons, Miro and Picasso and to the outdoor gallery of colourful buildings created by the Spanish Catalan architect Gaudi. This is a region proud of its history and origins, right down to its own language, which is fiercely protected and proudly spoken by its inhabitants.
Just outside the magnificent city of Barcelona are the vineyards where 90% of the grapes are grown for Cava, Spain’s famous sparkling wine. Cava is made mainly from the indigenous grapes of Maccabeo, Paradella and Xarel and is produced by the traditional “methode champenoise”.
The wine region of Penedes (where confusingly many of the grapes for Cava are grown) produces quality still wines, both red and white. Tempranillo is the basis of much of the red, which in this region is known as Ull de Llebre. International varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay have been adopted here too and are often blended with local varieties. Indeed the Reserve Cabernet wines from Jean Leon are considered by wine experts to be amongst some of the best cabernet wines in the world. Penedes is a fascinating mix of all kinds of microclimates, with three different altitude levels from 250 to 850 metres and the added climatic differentiations caused by the awesome Monserrat Mountain range. This creates some superb wine growing conditions, especially in small parcels at higher levels. The history of this region is not complete without mentioning Miguel Torres who was the first in the 1950’s to bottle their wines, and whose descendants have continued to innovate whilst maintaining standards.
Priorato is paradoxically one of Spain’s most traditional wine making regions yet most modern and lies to the north of Tarragona. The terrain varies between craggy escarpments and lonely mountain valleys. The gusty red wines from this region regularly vie for some of the top prices for Spanish wines. The main grape variety is the indigenous Garnacha.
Further wine regions of Catalonia include Alella, which has diminished in size since it was first denominated 60 years ago, due to encroaching development on the North eastern side of Barcelona. More interesting these days are the regions of Conca de Barbera and Costers del Segre.
Conca da Barbera was formerly known for producing grapes for Cava and for Chardonnay, which flourishes here. In order to gain DO status the region had to invest in new wineries so the winemaking is mostly very modern and the system of dual vintages has been perfected here. Early harvesting results in a young “supermarket” wine and the more mature grapes picked much later, produce wines of high quality.
Catalonian gastronomy has been strongly influenced by other cultures, as far back as Romans times and more recently drawing on Italian, French, Greek, Provençal, Arabian and Jewish traditions. This has led to a complex cuisine, based on local ingredients including fish, vegetables and meat, due to the regions location between sea and mountains. Given all this it is perhaps no surprise that one of the world’s most famous chefs, Ferran Adria, comes from the region.
A NEW Spanish Wine Tour: Barcelona & Priorata 26 – 30 October 2011 in conjunction with Lys Hall is in preparation. Call to be put on the wait list, full details will be ready the first week of May.
Barcelona, Penedes & Priorat Wine Tour
10 - 14 September 2012
