Emporda is another of the Torres-identified "emergent" Spanish wine regions.
La Costa Brava, the coastline that runs along Spain's northeastern shore, is best known for its beaches and resorts and less so for the DO Empordà that lies just inland of it. This lack of identity was so palpable that the DO appended the coastline's name to its own in order to elevate its visibility. The name is thus, officially, Empordà-Costa Brava. All of 1826 ha, Empordà is one of Spain's smallest DOs. It gained its classification in 1972.
The climate in the DO is Mediterranean but the strong Tramontana winds, while aiding in disease- and frost-prevention, can inflict damage on the fruit during the growing season. Average annual rainfall is 600 mm.
The main soil types are sand, slate, and decomposed gravel with the majority being of a sandy texture and with low organic material content. Alluvial soils predominate in the plain while slate and granite predominate in the mountains and mountainsides. Altitudes range from 0 to 260 m.
A majority of vines are in excess of 30-years old and are planted at altitudes of 200m. The bulk of the plantings are Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha Tinta, and Cariñena, with a growing presence of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot. Sixty percent of the region's wines are red, 17% Rosé, 19% white, and 4% dessert.
The area has traditionally been known for a heavy, sweet red wine, made from sun-dried Garnacha grapes, and a Carignan-based Rosé. Recently, however, it has gained a reputation for planting a wide range of local and international varieties and it is their young red wines that are garnering fame for their "expressiveness and surprising quality."
Why Empordà as an Emerging Region?
According to Decanter:
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| DO Empordà |
The climate in the DO is Mediterranean but the strong Tramontana winds, while aiding in disease- and frost-prevention, can inflict damage on the fruit during the growing season. Average annual rainfall is 600 mm.
The main soil types are sand, slate, and decomposed gravel with the majority being of a sandy texture and with low organic material content. Alluvial soils predominate in the plain while slate and granite predominate in the mountains and mountainsides. Altitudes range from 0 to 260 m.
A majority of vines are in excess of 30-years old and are planted at altitudes of 200m. The bulk of the plantings are Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha Tinta, and Cariñena, with a growing presence of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot. Sixty percent of the region's wines are red, 17% Rosé, 19% white, and 4% dessert.
The area has traditionally been known for a heavy, sweet red wine, made from sun-dried Garnacha grapes, and a Carignan-based Rosé. Recently, however, it has gained a reputation for planting a wide range of local and international varieties and it is their young red wines that are garnering fame for their "expressiveness and surprising quality."
Why Empordà as an Emerging Region?
According to Decanter:
A bunch of young, highly motivated winemakers, fresh from their oenology studies, are busy remaking the ancient terraces and dry stone walls, resurrecting old vines -- principally Garnatxa and Carinyena -- and planting new ones. Their wines have bags of character and a strong sense of place, marked by the Mediterranean and given a good dose of tough love by the Tramontana winds that blast across the mountains from the north stressing and airing the vines in equal measure."According to Laura Masramon (lauramasramon.com):
In the 1990s, a group of young wine experts … returned to the farms. Their grandfathers had preserved very old vines, some of which are over a hundred years old. The new generation used these vines and their expertise to create unique, authentic, wine … the young enologists seek to revive the regional varieties to the point of mastering them and understanding them in depth. Thus they obtain wines that express the terroir of the Empordà. They are modern wines but at the same time speak to us of those 2700 years of history.
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The regions identified as emergent by Torres in his initial article are:
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