After three months of intense work in the vineyards and at the winery for the long-awaited harvest, it\u2019s now time to analyze how the entire growing season unfolded, the factors that have characterized this year, and the impact they will have on the new vintages of our wines. Roser Catas\u00fas, winemaker at Jean Leon, explains.<\/p>\n
What is clear is that the 2017 harvest will be remembered as one of the most premature in recent years, very much marked by the high temperatures experienced throughout the entire growing process and the significant drought that characterized the summer months.<\/p>\n
The effects of two consecutive years of drought have resulted in a substantial decrease in yield and faster ripening. Still, the good health of the grapes allowed the harvest to take place as normal and made it possible to obtain wines that are very high in quality.<\/p>\n
The harvest was generally shorter than in other years: Both the earlier varieties, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as those with a shorter cycle, such as Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, moved up 20 days compared to other years.<\/p>\n
2017 was a year marked by high temperatures throughout the entire summer. After a winter with moderately cold temperatures, we began the growing season slightly early with fairly mild temperatures. By June temperatures were higher than normal, and the heat continued into the months of July and August. In terms of rainfall, the winter was rainier than the year before, while spring saw normal precipitation and the summer was very dry, as was the month of September, with less precipitation than in other years; 15 l\/m2 was recorded on August 9th and 10 l\/m2 on September 15th, both very low values.<\/p>\n
At Jean Leon, we began the harvest in the third week in August with the Pinot Noir variety, which we use to make our 3055 Ros\u00e9. It was the turn of the Merlot for our Vinya Palau in the first week of September, and in the middle of month we brought in the Petit Verdot, a variety we have been investing in heavily in recent years and that is giving excellent results, despite being the youngest vines on the estate. (Now you know part of the secret of success behind our 3055 Merlot\u00b7Petit Verdot!) We finished the harvest during the first two weeks in October brining in the Cabernet Sauvignon, which we use to make our icon wine, Vinya La Scala Gran Reserva.<\/p>\n
In terms of the wines, the Chardonnay expresses itself with an intense nose, keeping its body and freshness on the palate. As for the reds, in the Merlot we find notes of red fruits and spices, with elegant levels of acidity, while the Cabernet Sauvignon stands out for its good structure, with very balanced tannins. The final overall quality is very good.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll soon be able to start sampling the new 2017 vintage of our 3055 range.<\/p>\n
We hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n
Roser Catas\u00fas
\nWinemaker at Jean Leon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After three months of intense work in the vineyards and at the winery for the long-awaited harvest, it\u2019s now time to analyze how the entire growing season unfolded, the factors that have characterized this year, and the impact they will have on the new vintages of our wines. Roser Catas\u00fas, winemaker at Jean Leon, explains. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jean-leon-en"],"yoast_head":"\n