Catalonia Wine Region of Spain

This May, I am traveling to the Catalonia Wine Region in Northeastern Spain to experience its wines and culture firsthand. I have never been to Spain, and I am excited to finally engage with the country and its wine.

While in Barcelona and the nearby town of Tarragona, I plan to visit two distinct and famous wine regions: Penedès, best known for its sparkling wine, Cava, and Priorat, renowned for its bold reds produced from old vines on mountainous and rocky soils.

Read below to learn more about both regions. I’ll follow up with stories and wine recommendations from the trip in a future blog post.

The province of Catalonia, located in Northeastern Spain just outside the capital city of Barcelona, has been producing wine since the roman ages and at the turn of the 20th century Catalonia was at the forefront of Spain’s emergence as a world leader in quality wine production and is the second largest producer of wine in Spain. Catalonia is a designated Denominación de Origen (DO), which requires it to meet strict regulations for wine making, including grape varietals, crop yields, winemaking practices, and aging regimes. Within Catalonia, there are several wine regions (DOs) of distinction, with the two most prominent and important being Penedès and Priorat.

 

Penedès Wine Region

Although still wine is made from red and white grapes in Penedès, it is best known as the birthplace of the Spanish sparkling wine, Cava. Cava was invented in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, in the Central Penedès region, in 1872 at the now internationally recognized Codorníu winery. The name Cava (Catalan for cave or cellar) comes from the fact that the wine is cellared for a minimum of nine months before it can be sold. Ninety-five percent of the Cava produced in Spain comes from Penedès, with over 250 producers, and accounts for the majority of wine sales.

Cava is made in the Traditional Method, where the second fermentation occurs in the bottle in which it will be sold. Cava is typically made using a blend of three native white grape varietals, Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo, and more recently Chardonnay. The characteristics of each grape add different elements to the blend, resulting in a beautiful bubbly wine with crisp acidity, medium body, and aromas and flavors of peach and pear. Cava can be made in dry, sweet, and rosé styles. The latter uses local red grapes, Trepat, Grenache, Monstrell, and Pinot Noir in the blend.

Unlike Champagne, often considered a luxury, Cava is more of an “anytime wine” and frequently accompanies a picnic or simple appetizer fare. A chilled Cava pairs wonderfully with the rustic flavors of the classic Catalonian grilled vegetable dish, Escalivada, which I hope to enjoy while there.

 

 

Priorat Wine Region

Priorat is a small and isolated wine region in a mountainous area just 18 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Although wine production has been occurring here intermittently since the Middle Ages, Priorat gained recognition for its high-quality wines in the late 1980s. Today, it holds the highest level of quality for wine in Spain, Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa), which requires a wine region to meet additional quality standards beyond those for Denominación de Origen (DO) level certification. Rioja is the only other wine region in Spain with DOa status.

Although white wine is produced in Priorat, it is best known for its reds, which are made from 100-year-old vines grown in the unique black llicorella soil, composed of decayed stones, slate, and other minerals. It is this soil that imparts a distinct herbal and mineral quality to the highly regarded wines of Priorat.

The most famous wines are made from a blend of native red grape varietals, Garnacha and Cariñena, producing full bodied, robust, inky colored wines with aromas and flavors of ripe blackberry, chocolate, and licorice. Other red grape varietals are sometimes added to the blend, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, and Tempranillo to provide structure, softness, and earthiness on the palate.

Priorat wine is best paired with a robust and hearty dish that can match its intensity of flavors and help to soften the tannins. Lighter styles of Priorat reds are available and usually based on 100% Garnacha grapes. These wines tend to be more fruit-forward, with dark raspberry, cherry, and a hint of spice.