Catalonia Wine Region

Home to Fabulous Wines!

Catalonia, which is the independent region of Spain, is located in the north-eastern part of the country stretching from Comarca in the south to the French border in the north.

I would say that this region of Spain is among the important driver in several ways.

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However, its role in wine is more important. The DO appellation of the region called Catalunya DO was the country’s first region-wide DO title.

The wines that are produced in this region are internationally popular as Catalan wines. Undoubtedly, this region is home to some fabulous wines.

Let’s know about them here…

Catalonia and its Winemaking Tradition

We could observe that the region has an acclaimed winemaking tradition.

Here, the viticulture is believed to have been started by the Phoenicians, as well as the Greeks, during the 400 B.C. itself.

This was then developed by the Romans until the Moorish invasion. Later, Christians carried out the resurgence of wine grape cultivation and made the wines and spirits as the major export of the Catalonia.

Since the start, the region has proved to be dynamic in wine production and continued to be the forerunner for cultivating international wine grape varieties and for applying modern techniques of viticulture.

Climate and Geography – Make the Region Unique

The region is found to be bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on its eastern side, thus offering a 360-mile coastline.

This placement of the region is providing a strong Mediterranean climate with warmer coastal areas.

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The coastal areas of Catalonia are receiving moderate amounts of rainfall. On the other hand, the inland regions are more or less like the central plateaus of the country which are arid.

However, we could find lots of cooler parts along the foothills and on the high-altitude sites. These are the regions of Cava cultivation, the signature wines of this region.

We could find a major part of the region’s wine cultivation lying to the south of the peaks of the Montserrat Massif. In addition, we could find some smaller plantations lying to the north of the region’s capital Barcelona and some more along the France border.

When it comes to the soil types, the region has diverse types of soils with most of them being calcareous sediments containing alluvium and clay. We can see that most of the famous vineyards of the Catalonia wine region are lying on the limestone deposits.

Major Wines and Wine Grapes of Catalonia

I would say that the Catalonia region is unique from other wine regions of Spain when it comes to the versatility of the wine styles produced here.

The region is bearing a strong influence of France in the major wines of this region called Cava, which are the sparkling wines with Champagne-style.

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Other than sparkling Cava, the region is also producing the dry whites and powerful red wines. The red wines of the region are mainly produced from the following grape varieties:

Tempranillo
Garnacha
Monastrell

The Red Bordeaux wine varieties are also important high-quality blends from this region. The major white wine grapes of this region are:

Macabeo
Parellada
Xarel·lo

Catalonia’s Appellations

The Catalonia wine region has a total of 10 DO wines and one DOC appellation.

As mentioned above, Catalunya is a generic appellation that is covering the wines from the whole Catalonia that do not come under the other appellations.

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List of Catalonia’s DOs:

Emporda
Costers del Segre
Pla de Bages
Alella
Cava
Penedes
Conca de Barbera
Tarragona
Montsant
Terra Alta

Region’s DOC:

Priorat

It is to be noted that Priorat is one of country’s two DOC wine regions the other being the famous Rioja.

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Author

Tharani Rajamanickam

Winewriter

I am Tharani, I have Bachelors degree in Biotechnology. I am passionate about the wine industry and continue to explore, learn and share and I bring in a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help you keep updated with best wines in the world. Stay tuned..

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