Cataluña buzzing with innovations for 2021 harvest

William and Freddie Long recently embarked on one of their whirlwind winery tours in Cataluña. They visited 10 wineries in just three days and came back enthusing about the prospects for the 2021 vintage and the new innovations they had seen.

In terms of the harvest, after several tricky years, with excessive heat in 2019 and mildew in 2020, the 2021 vintage looks to be very good in terms of quality, although Penedès is expected to be 20% lower in terms of volume due to drought. Producers in Priorat say that they expect this year’s vintage to be the best of the past three years. In Terra Alta, the team saw grapes arriving in a very healthy condition and were excited by the wines they tasted in terms of both quality and price.

In terms of innovation, William and Freddie were impressed by some de-alcoholized wines they tasted, a style that is very difficult to get right, and they also visited an incredible winery that is producing organic wines in cans, including a Pét-Nat. One of our suppliers is also exporting 0% alcohol sparkling wines – essentially an alcohol-free cava. In addition, still wines made from Xarel.lo are increasingly on our radar as a clean and crisp alternative to Albariño.

If any of these products or projects sound of interest to you, please let us know and we will pursue any opportunities further.