Today, creativity and innovation stand as 21st century Catalonia’s defining features, and the same applies to their winemaking. Scientific expertise and techniques join forces with the art of winemaking to offer unique products, seeped in tradition. This unique heritage, currently enjoying a period of healthy growth, is a standard-bearer for the region throughout the world.

Ongoing improvements in terms of quality and carefully planned market strategies are the sector’s key assets when facing up to the challenges of today’s economy. Catalonia currently produces a broad range of quality wines, which reflect the diversity of their habitats and climates, soil types and cultures.

Within its 16,000 hectares of listed vineyards, DO Cataluña grows a range of grape varieties. Local Catalonian whites include Macabeo, Xarel.lo and Parellada. All three give fine fruity wines with moderate acidity and alcohol contents ranging between 10º and 12º. These are young, light and flavoursome wines. Traditional red grapes include Tempranillo, (which goes by the local name of Ull de Llebre), Samsó and Garnacha Tinta. These varieties boast an intense colour and high polyphenol content, making them ideal for ageing in oak. With alcohol contents between 12º and 13º, they provide wines that are bold in colour and body, with an intense characteristic bouquet. They are well balanced and tend to linger in the mouth. All three varieties are also commonly used in making the region’s renowned rosés and young reds.