Pla de Bages
The hilly landscape and the Pla de Bages wine-growing region are located in the geographical center of Catalonia, which is surrounded by mountains on almost all sides . The Denominació d'Origen ( DO ) , to which around 90 wine growers in 26 municipalities belong, was only launched in 1995 - in 2010 they produced around 7500 hectoliters.
location
Pla de Bages largely corresponds to the area of the Comarca Bages . It is the smallest wine region in Catalonia with only around 500 hectares of cultivation area and is divided into the areas of Pla de Bages with an average altitude of 200 to 300 meters and Alt Bages with an average altitude of over 500 meters above sea level. d. M. The Riu Llobregat and its tributary Riu Cardener run through the landscape. The city of Manresa is roughly in the geographical center; There is also an information center on the wines of the region - the Casa de la Culla .
history
After the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC Until late antiquity , the Romans also controlled today's Catalonia, which belonged to the province of Tarraconensis . Where the Romans settled, they also grew wine - according to a medieval document, the name 'Bages' is derived from the Roman wine god Bacchus .
Later the region belonged to the Visigoth Empire and from around 714 to Al-Andalus . The reconquest ( reconquista ) by the Counts of Barcelona took place as early as the 9th century. In the Middle Ages , the monasteries of Santa Maria de l'Estany in the north, Sant Benet de Bages near Manresa and Santa Maria de Montserrat in the south of the region were of great cultural and economic importance - both required not insignificant amounts of wine for the daily mass celebrations and the meals of the monks . In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, large estates were cultivated exclusively with wine, but this monoculture had extremely negative consequences during the phylloxera crisis . At the end of the 19th century, viticulture in the region came to a complete standstill.
particularities
Architectural peculiarities of the Pla de Bages wine region are the wine press houses or vats ( tines or lagares ) located on the edge of former vineyards ( vinyes ) and lined with earthenware tiles inside . They mostly come from the first half of the 19th century and were used for the rapid further processing (pressing and fermentation) of the grapes that were picked. (→ web link)
In addition, there are several stone huts ( barracas ) made of dry stone , in which guards stayed shortly before and during the grape harvest to chase away uninvited guests (flocks of birds, wild boars, thieves). This built in the 19th century windowless huts were usually round, rarely, square, and had roofs made of straw, tufts of grass, reed or stone shingles ( Lloses ).
Grape varieties
Various grape varieties are grown in the Pla de Bages wine-growing region and are usually blended with one another.
- red wine
- Tempranillo (also called Ull de Lebre ), Merlot , Sumoll , Cabernet Franc , Cabernet Sauvignon , Grenache , Malbec , Pinot Noir and Syrah
- White wine
- Macabeo , Parellada , Chardonnay , Sauvignon Blanc , Gewürztraminer and beyond that the formerly regionally very important wine variety Picapoll
literature
- John Radford: The New Spain. A complete guide to contemporary Spanish Wine. Mitchell Beazley, London 1998, ISBN 1-85732-254-1 .
- Jan Read: Spain's Wines 2005/06. 7th, revised, updated edition. Hallwag im Gräfe und Unzer Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7742-6962-9 .
- Jeremy Watson: The new & classical Wines of Spain. Montagud Editores, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-7212-087-2 .
