And Priorat presses on
Year 15, No. 10
Highlights: Priorat & Montsant 2025
It shouldn’t be any surprise that Spain is more than a touch exposed to the downward sales trends in wine given statistics show red wine consumption has been hit the hardest. To get a sense of the issue, for every one hectare of a white grape like Macabeu that’s planted, there exist five hectares of the red grape, Tempranillo. And, at 5% of the total, Macabeu is the most planted white with all the other largest plantings of grapes for wine in Spain being reds.
Of course, this isn’t just a Spanish problem as no segment anywhere in wine is immune. Even the historically-bulletproof Champagne has seen the 2025 vintage set with the lowest harvest yields since 2020 when there were no parties to pop corks. Suffice to say, if the bubblemakers are worried in what is now a ‘normal’ year, there’s reason for Spain to be very worried in general.
This is why it’s an important moment to look at the latest Priorat Report as despite massive growth in white wines, it’s still a region of 90% reds. This new report is available now for subscribers at the Classic & Pro levels. In there I look at the continued rise of the single zone/vineyard classifications which are now in their 8th year and continuing to develop. It’s an exciting segment of the wines which is seeing producers push themselves to make finer and finer wines that do indeed “express the terroir” to use an overused phrase.
I also talk about how 2025 is potentially an exciting vintage as well given that after four years of drought, rainfall has been very good. The vines as well as the region overall are looking very healthy. What’s not healthy is again, market outlook and after publishing the report, I got word that several of the larger producers have “pulled a Cava” in that in addition to cancelling grape contracts (just a month before harvest starts) the price being offered for the grapes still desired is about 15% less than the previous year.
It was bound to happen as Priorat is not an easy region to make wines in. This is afterall why the wines are so expensive. (*) But, it seemed that the generally-small production totals and a very specific demand for the wines had, to date, seen producers navigate these unsteady waters upon which we currently sail. Unfortunately the whac-a-mole economics of a certain, very large wine-consuming country are just too much uncertainty for some producers to want to risk exposure and they’re premptively pulling back on 2025 production.
The month of August is probably the longest month for anyone in Europe producing wines, so we’ll see where things come out on the other side. For now, enjoy reading up on the very fine wines being produced and I hope you also find yourself in some form of a fine summer.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read