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18 Jul Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (June, 2014)

Juny assolellat i ben tronat, any de molt vi i de molt blat

(Sunny and thundery June brings about a lot of wine and wheat. A Catalan proverb)

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So, to follow the proverb's suggestion, let's get the June post started by the weather: every day the sun rises, even if it can't be seen. This month of June we've had both days of sizzling sun and rainy ones... and even there was an event that we nearly grudge: the nature surprised us with some devastating hail storms that affected Priorat. Luckily, our vineyards had a narrow escape.

Owing to these regular rains, the vineyards are enjoying now some impressive clusters of grapes, so we can predict a very good harvest. Anyway, let's wait until later this summer to see the results.

15 Jun 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.

13 May Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (April, 2014)

Abril 2014: Rain, green, good wines... Like every month, we start with the weather overview. A Catalan proverb says: “Abril ploraner, Maig rialler” (i.e. “Crying April, laughing May”). This April has been truly wet with “crying”, now let’s see what May will bring us in the end. Rains have been quite well-spread throughout the month and allowed for some spells of nice weather, which balanced the month instead of just raining hard for several days in a row. Plus, we once had a blow of muddy rain! The famous Sahara rains, as they are sometimes called. This made us wash our car a couple of times, which was actually a welcome reminder. The vineyards started to vegetate, and have already boosted a lot of bright green foliage. We’re excited to see that the newly planted vines are getting wrapped up with green leaves too! The winery chores have been the same as usual, but nearly twice as intensive. We’ve been bottling a lot. Our wines are experiencing very high demand. Plus, we bottled Il·lia 2011 towards the Falset Wine Fair.

02 Apr Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (March, 2014)

March 2014: spring and farmworks. Month of mellow wines...

When we already thought that we could put our winter coats away, the weather brought us another surprise… Not only did it surprise us, but also almond and cherry trees and even vines that are already showing their first shoots. The Gratallops scenery couldn’t be more beautiful. Blossoming trees are everyplace, boasting their white and shiny green colours. This month of March has brought a very important event to our winery, what we spontaneously called “the historical ploughing”. We’re including a video and

04 Mar Grapevine adopters’ newsletter (February, 2014)

[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="title"] Pel Febrer, treu flor l’ametller. (In February, almond tree blossoms. A Catalan saying) This morning, I couldn’t help looking at the almond tree standing beside the vineyard... It’s already blossoming! Time flies. February has been a good month for our winery. Temperatures went higher than on the same dates a year ago. I’m not sure if you remember that last year Gratallops landscapes were snowed under in late February. We haven’t spent much time at the vineyards, however we were very productive. We pruned thoroughly the vines. We’ve seen some rain and wind, and by and large we’ve enjoyed lovely sunny weather.