Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (May, 2014)

Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (May, 2014)

May 2014: a month when we had our hands full…

We are starting the May report by telling you about the weather: it’s no surprise to talk about good, nice, and warm, temperatures. Cool mornings, hot afternoons and evenings, followed by some chilling air after the sunset.

We saw virtually no single cloud in the first fortnight of May, and then the second half shed some noticeable showers on our lands.

These nice temperatures and mild rains have boosted the growth of poppies and a lot of other kinds of wild flowers. Meanwhile, grapevines have blossomed and now we can see clusters of incipient berries.

Regarding the winery chores, we’d like to start the story by the weeding our vineyard estates, because after last March’s ploughing wild herbs turned plentiful, which will be used up for fertilising. Like every year, it’s time for some green pruning, which will be focused on the terraced vineyard.

Among other tasks, we’d like to mention bottling Il·lia 2011. We already have the labels, and moreover, it is already available (however, it needs 12-month ageing in bottle to round up its taste).

As for tourism and cellar door sales, apparently, the month was very tough – we were totally blown off! First, the XIXth Wine Fair in Falset, a great success, as usual! New contacts: a website desiring to be a winery catalogue – we’re sure that they’ll succeed. Their model inspires us to keep on moving day after day.

So the Wine Fair was quite a challenge: we rolled out our MDLV 2011 white. We had it cooled down to end up being a successful attraction of the fair. You can check our participation on Instagram (remember to follow us) and on Twitter.

Surprisingly, our wines appeared in the social buzz at many different tasters’ accounts – both during and after the fair. We’re thrilled to think that we made a really positive impression and our stall’s visitors really enjoyed the tasting experience.

This year has seen a sizeable growth of wine tourism, which activity is increasingly visible year after year, particularly in Catalonia. To contrast it with last year, we observed that in 2014 the growth has been more gradual and less seasonal, which is perfect for the onsite sales. In May, we hosted quite a few grapevine adopters, who follow loyally our blog, among them Manuel, who published a lovely poem at the Priorat tourist information websiteDownloadable pdf here

Besides welcoming and hosting our adopters, we’ve also made some new contacts and other collaboration of the kind. A new pairing recipe with Hostal Sport, new professional perspectives with the wine tour agency BSP Wine (Barcelona), some hiker visitors (among them some with El Brogit Guiatges), and even a photographic session for some new vine adopters from Russia!

To top it off, this pleasantly hectic month of May treated us to a further challenge. As many of you know, our wine shop Taula, in Barcelona, has always been our representation in the big city. Now, bets are growing, so we want to become a reference sales point of Priorat wines in Barcelona. And afterwards, who knows! Maybe across Catalonia! What do you think?

Prepared by Laura Roca Ticó

P.S. A video available only for our grapevine adopters:

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