After a largely troublesome 2017 vintage across most parts of Spain, variously because of frost, hail and drought, the 2018 harvest has refreshed spirits in several of Spain’s most prominent wine regions. 

“Refreshed” in more ways than one as, contrasting the northern reaches of Europe, 2018 is by no means a “solaire” vintage in Spain. Where some struggled, particularly in Galicia and Rioja, because of mildew in spring and early summer, then showers during the harvest which brought with them unwelcome botrytis and necessitated work on the sorting table, others, like Sara Perez at Mas Martinet describe 2018 as a “new inflection point in the history of Priorat”. Alvaro Palacios agrees. “The vineyards were re-born. We had plentiful rain in the winter to build up water reserves, an even spring and a warm but not excessively hot summer. The wines combine beautiful richness of fruit with a clear sense of energy and freshness.” Barrel tastings in Priorat indicate that 2018 will go down as a truly outstanding vintage for the region. Alcohols are lower and the wines stimulating and mineral without wanting for presence or depth.

We all have our romantic image of ‘Winemaker’ – stood proud on rolling hillside, in worn Timberland boots, jeans, slightly crumpled shirt and hardy jacket – and most of the time that image is male. 

As the riddle goes, a boy and his father are out for a drive when they are involved in a car accident. The father dies at the scene, his son is alive but in critical condition, and is rushed to hospital for surgery. When the boy arrives in A&E, the doctor takes one look at him and says, “I can’t operate on my son.” How is this possible? Of course, the doctor is his mother. 

We are all guilty of our assumptions, our “single stories” and gender biases, and it doesn’t stop at doctors, firefighters, and military pilots. When I show customers our portfolio, they will often stop at a winery and exclaim, “Oh, I love his wines!” leaving me to gently agree that yes, her wines are indeed fantastic. 

Historically this may ring true. Wine-making is a gruelling, physical job – crushing grapes is hard work! There are many winemaking regions where land ownership would have been passed to the sons and not the daughters. But there are electric crushers, and laws have changed. However, as any woman in wine will tell you, changes in technology and law are only the beginning. Attitudes too must change. Here are some of our favourite winemakers who are doing just that.

July saw the return of our annual Italy and Spain portfolio tasting. 

Hot tickets from Spain included the new 2014 vintage from Ribera del Duero, courtesy of Javier Zaccagnini’s Bodegas Aalto and Sei Solo – a project quickly developing a cult following - and whose 2014s are certainly the best release yet. How pleased Javier must be to have this new creative outlet to go with a recently refurbished winery and tasting room!

A buying trip to Spain can involve an enormous amount of driving. Covering off Rueda, Ribera del Duero and Rioja en route from Madrid to Bilbao you get a real sense of the vastness of the Spanish countryside. 

A couple of photos just received from Mas Martinet where experimentation rules and they are never happy to rest on their laurels. In constantly striving to make ever more elegant wines, one of the greatest difficulties in Priorat is the often searing heat.