2019 Harvest Diary: A Magnificent Vintage
2nd September, 7am: Start of the Macabeu harvest in Parés Baltà.
11th October, 6pm: We celebrate the last day of an exceptional harvest
2019’s harvest was long and intense – as they all are – as well as very exciting. This year’s vintage is intensely aromatic, giving us wines that will be remembered.
Climate during the vegetative cycle
Continuing with the change in general trends that we saw in 2018, the weather was favorable to us in 2019’s vegetative cycle. It was quite a typical year, climatologically speaking (ignoring the last 4 years). In autumn 2018, in October and November, we had a lot of rainfall (approx. 250 mm) in each meteorological season of the year. It was precisely this precipitation which gave the vines adequate reserves for a good bud break in spring, helped by some 50 liters of precipitation in April.
Regarding viticulture, the climate was favorable to our work and vegetative growth; the plants had reserves from the rainfall of autumn 2019 and spring 2019, and the summer was very kind to us in terms of temperature, despite some heat waves at the start of August, but with normal temperatures for that period during the rest of the summer.
Some areas of the country (like Priorat) suffered from too much heat in June, causing the grapes to burn when they were still in an early phenological status.
The ripening was staggered over time and differed greatly according to grape varieties, which has helped the wine harvest to arrive at more usual dates, as in the years 2012-2013, which was also an excellent vintage.
The vines developed with well-balanced vigor, and finally we were able to enjoy high quality grapes with a reasonable production level.
Climate during the harvest
The lack of extreme weather conditions has meant that the grape harvest lasted almost two months, without needing to hurry but with no breaks either, and the vines enjoyed excellent health.
The autochthonous grape varieties for sparkling wines are now being harvested again on the same dates as in our grandparents’ day.
We started with Macabeu, which was harvested after the Festa Major of Vilafranca (29th to 31st August), as it used to be done historically.
Xarel·lo kept very close pace with Macabeu. Parellada, situated at an altitude of 700 meters and with a long vegetative cycle, reached its optimal ripening point at the beginning of October.
White varieties, such as Grenache and white Carignan, Malvasia de Sitges, Xarel·lo, Macabeu, etc. were harvested with a well-balanced acidity and the sugar level is suitable for any type of winemaking.
Regarding the red varieties, such as Sumoll or red Grenache, they have had a very good phenolic ripening which has gone hand in hand with technological ripening, resulting in a very staggered harvest.
We predict a great vintage which stands out because of the quality and health of all the grape varieties of our five estates located at altitudes of between 170 and 750 meters, where the soils and microclimates give them very distinctive characteristics.
