It's dry but it's pleasant
Year 13, No. 04
Greetings,
To sum up these last few days of March is done best by horribly misquoting an Alanis Morissette song in saying, "We're dry but it's pleasant."
By this I mean that the weather is exceedingly enjoyable and you'd hardly know that it's just recently officially become spring... but then you see that the buds have not just burst on the vines, but there's so much growth it looks like harvest will arrive in July. Yikes.
While it seems nearly apt to get out the patio furniture already, it's important to note that this comes at the cost of it being very, very dry. Spain in general has low water counts right now and in Catalunya we're at a mere 27% of our reserves in our "rainiest" season.
The only place it's worse is in Axarquía by Málaga where they're at 10.5% of reserves. But this has ceased being "people water" as it's being used to grow avocados and mangoes. Thus the crux of our problems in Spain.
In the starkest of contrasts, my native California seems more like the Pacific Northwest and if I read about another "atmospheric river", it will be too soon.
On a positive note, the eerily-pleasant weather has however allowed me to take a very nice trip up to the excellent project of Can Calopa near Barcelona which I'll be writing a larger article on soon as both it and its parent winery, l'Olivera are a wonderful benefit to our society.
To a large degree, these days remind me of an equally eerily-pleasant October we had when I went to the Elaphiti Islands near Dubrovnik, Croatia. That was a wonderful outing as while I'd seen these three, small islands many times from Croatian ferries lumbering along the coast, I'd never been properly introduced and now, I'm glad I have.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
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FEATURED REPORT
DO Vinos de Madrid
FEATURED ESSAY
Out in the weeds, back in the wine (*)
IN THE NEWS
There's been a lot of talk about the Rioja Alavesa region in Spain's Basque Country and with good reason as things are happening there and quite quickly. Here I take a look at just what changes are in place and what they might mean for Rioja as a whole.
AND NOW THIS
It would be a sad world without a bit of Rioja in our lives. Thankfully, there's the likes of Remelluri to keep us well imbibed.
I had a chance to see what winemakers in Alicante have been up to and I'm happy to note that it's some very good things.
Lastly, if one is to mention Rioja, then, one should in turn mention Ribera del Duero as there are fine folks doing fine work there as well!