An introduction to Catalan Wines

Dear Food Lovers,

It’s high time to raise the curtain and say something about a Catalan wine making tradition

wine_region_priorat

Priorat vineyard. Photo by: http://winetourismspain.com/

Catalonia consists of 10 denominated wine regions. Nine of them has a certificate of Denominació d’Origen or Denominación de Origen (DO) and one of them has a Denominació d’Origen Qualificada Certificate (DOQ).

What does it mean?

Wine regions are somehow subordinated by the system of appellations. Each country with a long wine making tradition has its own system of appellations. For example the Spanish system includes 6 appellations. The most common are:

DODenominació d’Origen or Denominación de Origen – is the Spanish classification system for quality wine regions, similar to AOC in France (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée).

DOQDenominació d’Origen Qualificada – is the highest Catalan classification system. The Spanish name for this is DOC (Denominación de Origen Calificada).

Does DO or DOQ guarantee the best quality of wine and the best taste? We wouldn’t say so.

The reason why the system occured, was to guarantee that the wine comes from where it says on the label and is made from the grapes allowed in that region. According to the actual wine market situation – Spain as the biggest wine producer in the world (data from 2013), has 2/3 of the vineyards which are within the DO boundaries. Unfortunately we should admit that 2/3 of Spanish wines doesn’t have the same quality of taste, so the conclusion is following – DO doesn’t guarantee a good taste of wine.

When you already know what is DO and DOQ, we can tell you something about a style of Catalan wines…

The most popular grapes used to produce wine are:

Garnacha and Cariñena – among red grapes

Garnacha Blanca, Xarel-lo – among white grapes

The structure, taste and style of a certain wine, depends on the weather conditions and terroir in general. When we compare Catalonia to other parts of Spain, we can surely admit, that Catalan wines tend to be full bodied and high in alcohol, due to the grape varieties and the region’s warm weather conditions. Sometimes, if a certain wine is produced from grapes planted on granite or chalk soil, it may influence the minerality taste of wine.

spain-wine-map

Two main Catalan wine regions.
  1. Priorat
  2. Penedes

Priorat: The Priorat DOQ has been producing wine since the 12th century when Carthusian monks planted a vineyard and established a priory from which the region took its name. The area is known for Garnacha and Cariñena based wines, made from old, low yield grapes. The area has a very hot Mediterranean climate that allows the grape to ripen fully and produce wines with very high alcohol levels.

Penedes: The biggest individual region in terms of vineyard area and volume output, Penedes produces fizz, red and white wines. 95% of Cava comes from this region.

Some catalan wines you should check out!

formiga-de-vellut

Formiga de Vellut

miloca

Miloca 2014

gotes

Gotes 2013

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Negre de Negres

What about Cava?

Cava – it is a recognised DO but this appellation is not actually related to one region. The meaning of Cava DO reffers to the process of production, not the region itself. Anyway, 95% of the production comes from Penedes in Catalonia.

Catalonia is a region of great full bodied red wines and nicely sparkling Cava. Next time we will tell you some more about other regions.

Salud!

FLC

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