The harvest has just started at Parés Baltà; it is a moment of transformation which always brings with it nerves, pressure, early mornings, and late nights. But the harvest also means excitement, hope, and desire to see how the grape – which nature so generously gives us – becomes must and, later, wine, full of flavours and nuances which take us on a journey to the grape’s origin.
The Vegetative Cycle
The 2019 vintage of Parés Baltà wines will be marked by a surprising vegetative cycle, following an extraordinarily rainy autumn and dry winter.
Spring was wet with many rainfalls which intermingled with sunny and windy days, favouring the good health of the crop, and helping to soften the stress that the lack of water has caused the vines during the last few years.
Although March was very warm, April and especially May were cold, which helped offset the initial above-average temperatures.
You may be interested to know that according to the SMC, with the high amount of hours of sun that occurred in the area, the winter of 2018-2019 was the second sunniest since 1911!
This summer we have had an extremely hot July and August with strong heat waves eliciting a delay in the ripening of the grapes. When summer arrives and the temperature exceeds 32/33 degrees the vine activates its “defense mechanism” and stops working during the day, waiting for night to come in order to reactivate and continue work; creating sugar to ripen the grape. This year, however, nocturnal temperatures have been so high that the plant has not reactivated during the late hours, causing a considerably slower rate of maturation for the grapes and postponing the beginning of harvest to dates so late that only our grandparents remember such years.
Thus, although 2019 has been quite dry we expect a very good harvest, after the period of extreme drought from 2015 to 2017 and an excessively rainy 2018, with a very balanced production and healthy grapes.
Intense days await us. Days where our vineyard and winery will be more connected than ever and where teamwork will be essential to create the best wines and cavas in the Penedés.
Stay tuned! We will keep you up to date.
