Barcelona, Penedès and Priorat Wines

Barcelona provides a great hub to venture out and visit the neighbouring wine regions of Penedès and Priorat.

Cava

Spain’s famous sparkling wine, Cava, is made in the same method as Champagne, but only small quantities of grapes such as Chardonnay will be used – it’s mostly made up of a variety of local grapes such as Macabeu, Parallada, and Xarel-lo. As with Champagne, the first fermentation takes place in a barrel, before secondary fermentation, which takes place inside the bottle. The third stage of the process is riddling, where bottles are moved around so that the lees caused by a build up of sugar and yeast can be moved to the neck of the bottle. In disgorgement, the lees is then able to be gently removed.

Cava is often considered to offer a more citrusy taste profile than its French counterpart, Champagne, due to the region’s warmer climate and shorter ageing requirements. It’s not to suggest however that you can’t find delightfully complex cavas.

Corpinnat

Corpinnat is a collection of Penedès producers who have come together with a vision of creating a world-leading sparkling wine. All Corpinnat wines are made using the traditional method, using organically grown and hand-harvested grapes, are bottled and aged on-site, and culminate in a more gastronomic sparkling wine with a heavier focus on ageing than Cava DO.

DO Penedès

Catalonia’s oldest and most historic wine tradition stretches from the 2,500 hectares of vineyards classified under DO Penedès. Archaeological excavations in the region demonstrated the importance of wine in these lands from more than 2,000 years ago.

White wines are produced from the native grape Xarel-lo. When drunk young, you’ll find them smooth with a fruit-forward palette, while aged wines can be more structured and full-bodied with a mineral finish. Approximately 35% of DO Penedès production is red wines, which offer full-bodied wines thanks to the warm climate.

The region’s white wines are often best paired with fish and seafood dishes, oysters, eggs or fresh and lightly cured cheeses.

The Clàssic Penedès label offers quality sparkling wines: the first region in the world to mandate organic production for all wines under this label, highlighting the region’s focus on sustainability and creating forward-thinking wines. All Clàssic Penedès sparkling wines are produced in this geographical area, thus focusing on indigenous grapes, and all wines are held in the cellar for at least 15 months, allowing them to develop more complex qualities than other cavas may develop.

DOQ/DOCa Priorat wines

The smaller wine region of Priorat holds a reputation of excellent quality, intense and minerally red wines, to rival those in other Spanish regions which are arguably more well known, such as Rioja and Ribera del Duero. The hot, dry climate here means that yield is lower, however consequently increasing the quality, flavours and complexity in wines which are produced. In fact, this quality is recognised through Priorat being one of two wine regions across Spain to achieve the highest qualification level, known as DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada), alongside the esteemed Rioja DOCa.

Approximately 1,800 hectares of vineyards are growing grapes for red wines, such as Garnacha, Carinena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot, and 99 hectares are growing grapes for white wines, with the most dominant variety being Garnacha Blanc. Garnacha is the region’s most important grape, accounting for more than 40% of overall production, used both in single-varietal red wines and to add body and density to blends. Common tasting notes from Priorat red wines can include blackberry, chocolate and liquorice.

A combination of distinctive slate and quartzite soil, a consistently sunny climate, and a thirst amongst younger winemakers to drive for an innovative wine region has awarded Priorat its reputation. However, the young winemakers are not the only ones who have cultivated great wines in these soils: the region’s winemaking history stretches back many millennia, with some of its prominent history in the Middle Ages when monks of the La Cartoixa D’Escaladei (the “Staircase to God” Carthusian monastery) began making wines for Holy Communion – the monastery still stands today, and you may get to see for yourself on your Grape Escape trip.

Image credits: Global Image Projects S.L.U., Gemma Sala, Spanish Trails