Spanish vintage 2025: Rioja’s small harvest contrasts with a bumper crop in Rías Baíxas

In the absence of final vintage reports from some key areas such as the DOCa Rioja, expected in January 2026, we can nonetheless give a brief update on the Spanish vintage, which confirms most of the statements made in our detailed report back in September, when we joined Fernando Mora MW to pick and sort grapes in Aragón.

The overall Spanish harvest is expected to be smaller than last year’s, in fact, sources are suggesting that it will be the smallest this century. However, quality is expected to be very good, with a warm, dry summer coming after a cooler, wetter spring.

William Long comments, based on what he has heard on regular visits to producers across Spain: “Generally the harvest is good, but there are some areas that have suffered dramatically, such as Rioja, where poor berry formation meant the the harvest is expected to be particularly small. Some of our contacts are saying that it will be the smallest of the last thirty years and that they picked only 25% of what they would in a normal year. Young wines are in short supply, although it’s too early to say how prices will be affected, given the current stocks of older wines. The good news, on the other hand, is that the DO Rías Baíxas and DO Ribera del Duero have enjoyed bumper harvests. Long-awaited spring rainfall has improved crops across Cataluña and led to some much needed stability in DO Cava.”

One of our partners in DO Cava remarked on the region’s recovery: “Thanks to the recent rainfall, the vineyard has recovered much of its canopy, which was lost during the years of drought. The harvest was carried out under excellent quality conditions: we observed slightly above-average sugar levels in the Macabeo and Xarel·lo varieties, low gluconic acid levels (an indicator of rot), and suitable acidity/pH for our winemaking processes, which resulted in excellent base wines for Cava.”

In terms of the areas that we work with that have published final figures:

• DO Ribera del Duero had a successful year with 129.5 million kilos harvested, making it their second largest vintage of the decade. Other regions along the Duero River did not fare quite so well with DO Rueda’s harvest down 12% on last year and DO Toro’s ever so slightly smaller.
• In DO Cava, the total harvest is around 45% larger than last year and this is expected to bring prices back into line after several years of drought.
• In DO Jumilla, rainfall in spring offered some relief after three years of drought, but hailstorm damage meant that the final harvest was only 2% larger than 2024’s historically small vintage.
• In Aragón, although the rainfall was higher than previous years, and yields were expected to increase, this did not transpire in most places, as very hot and dry periods in the summer reduced the final production. DO Campo de Borja, for example, was expecting around 24 million kilos, but the final figure was 20 million kilos, compared to 22 million in 2024. On the other hand, DO Calatuyud did see a modest increase, from 6.5 million kilos to 7 million in 2025.
• In Galicia, the situation varies by DO, but the total harvest was 76 million kilos across all 5 DOs, the third largest in history. Rias Baixas celebrated a record harvest of 47.5 million kilos, 12.7% up on the previous vintage. Monterrei also enjoyed a bumper harvest, while Ribeiro, Valdeorras and Ribeira Sacra saw slight declines.

We have summarised the information for key DOs in the table below: