In the run-up to Barcelona Wine Week, I visited the Penedès wine region, south of Barcelona. This region is best known for the it’s cava. What particularly struck me now was the enormous dryness. Normally most rain falls at this time of year, now it was sunny, about 21 degrees and above all…. very dry.
The Penedès stretches from the coastal area below Barcelona to the higher-lying Penedès Superior inland, with vineyards up to an altitude of 800 metres. The area has a temperate Mediterranean climate, with many microclimates; small areas where the weather can vary considerably. As a result, it makes a wide variety of wines. Quality is high here; Penedès has developed enormously in just a few decades.
(No) rain season
While January and February are normally the rainy months in this area, now the land is dry and desolate. Even the Dutch media are reporting news of the drought in this region. Water levels in the reservoirs have fallen so far that a state of emergency has been declared in the Catalonia region. There has been little or no rain here for the past three years. A source of great concern for wine producers. They count on harvests being disappointing on average once every 10 years. Now that seems to become one in seven or even one in five years. What worries even more: the vines’ roots die when it is this dry. And that would be nothing short of a disaster.
Of course, great wines have still been made here in recent years, as I was able to taste yesterday. But that there are concerns, I can well imagine. So as much as I am enjoying the sun these days, I wish the vintners one thing above all else: rain!