10.1 Viticulture Scenarios: Priorat, Catalunya Flashcards
What is the general climate?
very hot, dry summers and cold winters
Where are the best vineyards planted?
on north-east facing slopes to protect the vines from the most extreme afternoon heat
What are the soils?
- stony slate and quartz
- little organic matter
- low in nutrients
- free-draining
What is the water situation?
The vine struggles to obtain enough water:
- Not a lot of rain (hot, dry)
- Irrigation is not permitted
- High evapotranspiration rate
What limits the vigour and yield?
- lack of water
- soils that are poor in nutrients
How are most of the vines trained?
- Bush vines
- leaves and shoots provide shade
Are vines planted at a low density or high density? Why?
- low density (often around 2500–3000 vines per hectare)
- so the roots of each vine can grow over a large area in search of water and nutrients
Are yields low or high?
- extremely low (15–25 hl/ha)
- due to the number of old vines in the region
What are the most widely planted grape varieties? Why?
Garnacha and Cariñena
- late ripening (so they do not reach sugar ripeness too quickly)
- drought tolerant
What might be used to combat the lack of water?
Drought tolerant rootstock (e.g. 140R)
Are grapes typiicaly hand or mechanically harvested? Why?
Hand
- bush vines are not trellised
Are wines typically inexpensive or expensive? Why?
- Low yields
- Long hours of manual labor
