Vines with high resistance to drought in a dryland vineyard, in Murcia. Abel Valdenebro
The perfect vintage seems to be a thing of the past.
Although it is always difficult to generalize in a country with so much geographical and climatic diversity, those elements that producers refer to as “what you cannot control” are giving them more headaches than ever.
If you review the latest harvests, difficulties are the order of the day.
The year 2017 will go down in history for the terrible frost at the end of April that affected a good number of Spanish wine regions, followed by an especially hot summer that brought forward some harvests to dates never seen before.
In 2019, an unusual heat wave in the last week of June burned bunches and leaves in Priorat, Montsant and Terra Alta, and fueled a devastating fire in the Gredos mountain range.
Meanwhile, in Levante a dana flooded a good number of vineyards a few days after harvesting the grapes.
The effort of an entire year diluted by the storm.
2020 was the last year of widespread rain in dry and not so dry Spain, but not exactly happy because the fungi were rampant and virulent attacks of downy mildew were recorded.
Much of the extra time given by the pandemic was spent fighting at the foot of the vineyard.
The final results were much better than expected, but there was unanimity that the cycle was exhausting.
More information
Quality and climate change determine which grapes to grow in Spain
With excellent wines in many areas, 2021 marked the beginning of a drought cycle that in most of the Mediterranean seems to have no end.
In 2022, heat waves occurred and all temperature records were broken.
A Priorat producer described the vintage as six months of summer: a looping July from May to October;
2023 was somewhat more benign, although the cumulative effect of the drought was disastrous in many areas.
The absence of rain favors an excellent health condition of the grapes, but it has a very direct impact on production, significantly reducing yields and generating lower profits for winegrowers.
The rise in temperatures is already causing increasingly shorter periods of winter rest, when the vines interrupt the sap cycle and the cold has a beneficial health effect on the fungi.
Buds are becoming earlier and earlier, which, in return, leaves the plant much more exposed to the risk of spring frosts.
In the final phase of ripening, more sugars are generated, which will give rise to higher degrees and lower acidity levels.
The vine is one of the crops most sensitive to temperature variations (hence it is used as a model for the study of climate), with a surprising capacity for adaptation and survival.
But this drought is causing the death of plants in regions where the only possible model is dryland viticulture.
If you look in more detail, you can see many more nuances.
There are strains such as Grenache or Monastrell that slow down the ripening cycle in extreme heat situations to protect themselves and work very well in conditions of absence of water.
If until recently fashion determined the choice of grape varieties, climate change is going to have more and more weight.
In the same way, cold regions where grapes had problems ripening are experiencing a renaissance.
You just have to think about chacolí, the most extreme areas of Ribera del Duero or the vineyards on the slopes of the Demanda mountain range in La Rioja.
The world of wine continues to have tools and some aces up its sleeve to face these and other critical situations that may arise in the future.
With all this, and without even going into the excess of bureaucracy, the international economic context that does not help and the bargain prices that are often paid for grapes, the work of the winegrower can reach almost heroic levels.
Even more so when the objective is to make quality wines.
Many leading producers in Spain have already assumed that they have to share part of their harvest with nature, be it hail, drought, frost, roe deer or wild boar.
The consumer should be aware of this.
Plot Partitions 2023
La Caldereta 2020 Brut Nature
Tadeo Petit Verdot 2021
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