The annual Vintage Report for Spain is published by Wines From Spain’s London office and kindly supplied to the GOCV for publication.
2018 Vintage Report for Spain
After several dry, hot vintages this year the rain came to Spain and in some regions the rainy spell lasted until early summer. It was also a much cooler year with more gradual vine development and one where intense work in the vineyard was often necessary to keep yields in check and vineyard diseases at bay.
The harvest began later and, with the benefit of fine weather in most of the country, picking took place steadily and well into the autumn. Yields were far more generous than last year and this should leave Spain in a strong competitive position.
As regards quality, the best wines will be found where there was careful management of vines and selection of grapes in both the vineyard and the bodega. Wine styles are often described as ‘more Atlantic’: fresher, with good aromas, slightly lower alcohol levels and good varietal definition. This bodes well for youthful wines as well as those destined for barrel ageing.
In brief:
- Weather: a cooler year with far more rain; fine harvest weather for most regions
- Regional highlights: a far better year for Ribera del Duero, Bierzo, most areas of Castilla y León and Valdeorras. Record crops for Campo de Borja and Monterrei and more generous for Rioja and Cariñena
- Wine character: fresher wines with moderate alcohol levels and strong varietal character.
- Estimate harvest yield: 48 million hl(wine and must) (source: OEMV)
Our report of Spain’s 2018 harvest is divided into the following regional sections:
- Galicia: Rías Baixas, Monterrei, Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras
- Castilla y Leόn: Bierzo, Cigales, Tierra del Vino de Zamora, Tierra de León, Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Toro
- The north: Rioja and Navarra
- Aragón: Campo de Borja, Calatayud, Cariñena and Somontano
- Castilla-La Mancha
- Catalonia, Majorca and Eastern Spain
- Jerez-Xérès-Sherry