Chronicle of the vintage 2023 at Recaredo
As we approach Recaredo’s centenary, we are pleased to share with you the chronicle of the 2022/23 wine year, one of the most unusual in our history.
As winegrowers who practise dry farming, we cannot deny that we experienced days and nights of constant worry throughout the year. The wine year was marked by suffering, but above all, by resilience: ours as winegrowers and that of the vines, which fought hard to survive in a year of extreme drought.
The viticulture of respect
“Practise the best possible viticulture, paying the necessary attention to the ecosystem of Recaredo’s vineyards and forests, and care for each and every one of our vine stocks.” With these words, Roger Rovira, a member of our vineyard technical team, expresses one of the core ideas that has led Recaredo to cultivate its vineyards, all of which are owned by the winery, in accordance with the tenets of biodynamic viticulture. Drawing on the essence of this philosophy, we faced a wine year in which our concern for the vines was even greater than our anxiety about yields.
“The vines have made a titanic effort”, says oenologist Núria Artiaga.“In some plots, we’ll probably have to replant the vines that weren’t able to withstand the extreme drought, in a year in which only 267 l/m2 of rainfall was recorded (compared to a historical average of 520 l/m2”, she adds with a worried look.
Harvest time: 11 August – 20 September 2023
We start the harvest on 11 August, working hard to bring in the grapes at the ideal state of ripeness. We observe that the fruit is ripening quite quickly, especially after a four-day period of intense heat that lasts from 20 to 23 August.
Temperatures well above the historical average have been recorded, and the month of August is one of the hottest on record in Catalonia. To ensure the health and well-being of our pickers and the best quality grapes, we start harvesting at night.
2023 Vintage. Exceptional wines with surprising acidity, but with low vineyard yields
From the 2023 vintage we have obtained some exceptional wines, with surprising acidity despite the complexity of the vintage – wines that seduce us with their freshness and density on the palate. The lack of rain has had a direct impact on the grapes, resulting in exceptionally healthy grapes and musts with a high concentration of aromas and flavours, but with a significant reduction in yields.
Terroir Sparkling Wines with unique
Secondary fermentation in the bottle with must
This passion (or obsession) for translating the spaces of the landscape into wine has led us to make all of our corpinnats with must to trigger secondary fermentation in the bottle. And we go a step further in the case of our Serral del Vell, Subtil, Reserva Particular and Turó d’en Mota sparkling wines by carrying out the second fermentation with fresh must from the respective vineyards.
In this way, we reaffirm our commitment to quality, terroir sparkling wines that are capable of showcasing the distinctive characteristics of the Penedès region and the varieties that define its identity.
