December: Priorat in the science, media and… Yuletide!
First of all, we’d like to welcome all new members of our grapevine adopter club who joined us this January. Welcome and happy new year!
We have to tell you that, at this time of the year, the vines have no foliage at all, so we’d like to send you their pictures as soon as fresh leaves shoot in the spring 🙂 Continue reading
It’s a few hours since we saw the New Year in, ate up the 12 grapes to the chime strikes and clinked together glasses of – undoubtedly – sparkling cava! Allow us to make our farewells to 2013, a year that treated us to a lot of pleasurable moments that wouldn’t have been possible without all direct customers, wine tourists, local and remote collaborators.
Today, we’ve chosen 20 episodes to highlight and to thank some of you – thinking of every, every, everybody. We’ll list them here, as well as on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus in a chronological order. So, by no means will it be a league table 😉
We wish you a happy 2014!
Interview with Josep Roca Continue reading
El novembre, vi per vendre. [In November, wine for sale. A Catalan saying]
This newsletter is intended to be a windup for the 2013 autumn… Bright colours in the vineyards, morning fogs, crisp blue afternoon sky, chill, smell of hearth and roast chestnuts… November showed us its character… Luckily, on those snowy days that engrossed a lot of places across Catalonia, Gratallops lived a narrow escape: all we had was just some sleet that ebbed away immediately.
This November, finished products definitely played the main part in our business: bottled wine with new labelling. What can we tell you about it? Let’s get to know three new players. Continue reading
NB. This newsletter was ready two weeks ago, but November – a theoretically calmer month than October – held us up with a few wine-making, wine-tour and even research projects that engaged us entirely, which is to be shared in the November newsletter… Meanwhile:
October, grape harvest that seemed endless
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El setembre és veremador i es fa vi del bo i millor. (September harvests grapes and makes the best wines.) A Catalan saying
This year, the grape harvest has really matched September! Particularly, its second half. Last year, as you might remember, we started cropping grapes in August. It was surely an excellent vintage. This autumn promises to bring another harvest of great quality plus more plentiful. We’ll keep you updated, since we’re still harvesting grapes. September has been warm, mild and pleasant, with basically no rainfall. Continue reading
August: clouds, grape ripening and village festival
We lived a few weeks of very changeable weather: sunny days after mingled with cloudy ones (no rain, though), there was no excess of heat in the afternoons, and early mornings were crisp cool. As we can check, this year’s climate has slowed down the evolution of the vineyards… If last year the grapes started ripening in July, this year it didn’t start until the first decade of August. Plus, our Carignan at the Rocapoll estat was sting ripening in the last week of the month! Continue reading
Do you want an original idea for a weekend while in Barcelona or Costa Dorada? A good option is to flee for a day from the crowded city or beach and delve into the wine-growing world – particularly the traditional way of picking grapes – in a natural breathtaking setting like the village of Poboleda located in the heart of the Priorat county. You can come over here with your friends and family to spend a very nice day and learn how about traditional grape harvesting in Priorat (with mules and carts) and barefoot grape stomping in an open barrel – and why not participate to experience those sensations our ancestors would live every autumn?
Nit de juliol, pluja no vol… (July night doesn’t want rain. A Catalan saying)
The saying is, actually, to the point: this July has been quite sultry, with mostly clear blue sky. This enabled the nature to progress with fruit ripening: figs, blackberries, pears and what not cropped up all around… Continue reading
Juny comença l’estiu: tot riu i tot viu… (June begins the summer: everything laughs and everything lives. A Catalan saying)
As you may well know, this year’s June kept us pretty soaked and, in some regions of Catalonia, there were some damages in orchards due to hailstorms. In Gratallops, hail didn’t have much effect, and luckily, vineyards weren’t affected by a mile. Continue reading
May 2013: Fair, rain, greenery…
Similarly to places across Europe, Priorat has seen a month full of unreliable weather: now sunshine, now rain – a spell of coolness.
In the meanwhile, Sergi capitalised on the favourable days to take care of the vineyards: he green-pruned the vines – it was time he did! The fact of the matter is that rainfalls swapping with sunlight gave the vineyards plenty of chances for accelerated vegetation. They already boast multiple clusters, so we’ve been considering how many will be lucky to survive, since we’ll have to cut some of them off. Continue reading