What seemed unthinkable just a few years ago in one of the Penedès region’s coldest and highest-altitude areas is now an undeniable reality. Harvesting began this Thursday, 20 August, in our high-altitude vineyards in Pla de Manlleu, at around 700 metres above sea level, marking some of the earliest harvest start dates ever recorded in the area.
Traditionally, the Penedès high-altitude vineyard plots have benefited from much slower ripening and a marked temperature difference between day and night, which delayed ripening and, consequently, the harvest until well into September. This year, however, persistent high temperatures and several summer heatwaves have drastically accelerated the vine’s growing cycle, bringing the start of the harvest forward to mid-August in order to pick the grapes at their optimum ripeness.
A thermal refuge under pressure
Harvesting in Loxarel’s vineyards in Pla de Manlleu has begun with Sauvignon Blanc, but it is also beginning to narrow the window for harvesting indigenous varieties that were traditionally picked at higher altitudes from mid-September or early October.
