High and dry: everything you need to know about Spain’s 2023 vintage

Spain is expected to produce its smallest harvest for six years, but could this be a blessing in disguise? Lucy Shaw reports

FOLLOWING A sweltering summer in 2022, the mercury continued to soar in Spain this year, with the country logging its hottest spring and second-driest start to the year since records began in 1961.

With precious little rain until mid-May, by September the country’s Environment Minister had announced that the government was ploughing €12 billion into tackling the devastating drought, which has destroyed crops across 3.5 million hectares of land.

Vineyards in Catalonia were particularly affected by the drought this year, leading local authorities to cut agricultural water use by 80%. A succession of summer heatwaves, coupled with a continued lack of rain, has made for an extremely challenging harvest across Spain this year.

In Castilla-La Mancha, the engine room of Spanish wine, yields were down by 22% to 17.8m hectolitres. As a result, Spain is due to produce its smallest harvest in six years, with total production expected to drop by around 20% compared with last year to 33m hl.

Spain’s production dip may, however, be a blessing in disguise, as it should help to ease a wine glut that has prompted the EU to allow crisis distillation of surplus wine, with rising inflation, a decent-sized 2022 crop and a build-up of stocks off the back of the pandemic leading to an excess of wine sloshing about.

However, the picture is a nuanced one.

“For red wines, the supply-demand pressure will ease due to the smaller harvest this year, as existing stocks will fill the gap of the smaller harvest,” explains Félix Solís Ramos, export director of Félix Solís Avantis.

“When it comes to our whites, we’ll be struggling, as we finished the year with almost no stocks and now the harvest is not compensating the gap.”

CHALLENGING CONDITIONS

Cécile Moneyron, communications manager for Maison BVC, reports that yields are down in Utiel-Requena, in the province of Valencia, by as much as 40%- 60% due to the challenging climatic conditions.

“Macabeo (Viura) and Tardana experienced a 30% yield loss, while Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Verdejo suffered more substantial losses of up to 60%. As for the reds, Bobal bore the brunt of the drought, with a 50% reduction, while Tempranillo recorded a 40% decrease,” she says.

In Rioja, Tempranillo was the worst-hit by the heat.

“In the southernmost areas of Rioja, the extreme heat at the end of August caused the grapes to lose acidity without any margin for recovery, and the vines were blocked for several days. In several areas, the grapes were burnt by the sun and turned to raisins,” reveals Elena Larrea Dueñas, senior marketing manager at Faustino.

This year was a mixed bag for Almudena Alberca MW, director of winemaking at Entrecanales Domecq e Hijos, who revealed that, while 2023 “won’t be the vintage of the century”, the quality of the wines has exceeded her expectations.

“In Valdeorras, our Godello grapes that were exposed to the sun were completely desiccated and like raisins. They were delicious to eat, but no good for winemaking, so we removed them on the sorting table,” she says.

“The Sauvignon Blanc from Rueda was good as we picked it before the heatwave hit, so it’s fresh and attractive.”

Cristina Forner, director of Rioja stalwart Marqués de Cáceres, was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wines her team produced this year, given the myriad challenges they faced.

“The results of the 2023 harvest have been better than we expected, with yields similar to last year,” she says. “Our higher-altitude and cooler areas, planted with late-ripening varieties such as Maturana, helped to counteract the hot weather conditions and balance out the effect the heat had on Tempranillo from more southern areas.”

Making quality wine in Spain this year came down to scrupulous selection on the sorting table, according to José Ramón Urtasun, co-owner of Bodegas Remírez de Ganuza in Rioja Alavesa, where the crop was down 30%.

“We had to be extremely selective with our grapes at harvest to achieve freshness and acidity. We managed to get a good result in the end, but strict selection meant we had less juice to work with,” he says.

While hardy Garnacha fares well in hot years, Urtasun’s vines were blighted by hail, meaning he won’t be able to bottle his single-vineyard expression, Iralia, this year.

Future proof: drought-resistant Garnacha is being planted in areas such as Ribera del Duero

In Penedès, yields took a significant hit due to the drought, with Merlot and Tempranillo worst affected, while Garnacha managed to thrive despite the difficulties. Miguel Torres Maczassek, general manager of Familia Torres, which set up its first winery in Penedès in 1870, admits that the 2023 vintage was tough.

“It was a challenging harvest in Catalonia, not only because of the high temperatures, but also due to the persistent drought we’ve suffered for the last three years,” he says.

“Yields in Catalonia dropped by 30% on average, and by at least 50% in Penedès.”

With heat and drought becoming the norm in Spain, producers are seeking out ways to future-proof their bodegas from the effects of global warming.

“The main challenge is to find grape varieties that have a longer vegetative cycle and ripen later to counteract the advance of the harvest. We also need to be working with heat- and droughtresistant varieties,” says Torres.

Urtasun is taking a similar approach at Remírez de Ganuza: “We’re blending more long-cycle varieties like Graciano and Garnacha, and are harvesting earlier and picking fewer grapes from our southern vines. In the long term, we’ll be planting varieties that are more likely to succeed in warmer conditions,” he says.

Torres is candid about the fact that Spain’s wine map may look quite different in the future.

“In the worst-case scenario, certain areas in Spain might register such high temperatures and/or droughts that they will no be longer suitable for making quality wines,” he says.

“Grape varieties might change, and new wine areas will emerge in higher latitudes and altitudes. We’ll still be making wine, but it will be different.”

Rosana Lisa, chief winemaker at Ramón Bilbao in Rioja Alavesa, believes Spain has a trump card in the form of Garnacha when it comes to tackling global warming.

“The champion variety for 2023, and for climate change, is Garnacha,” she says. “It’s such a versatile grape that creates amazing rosés, juicy young reds and ageworthy reds. It can endure the extreme droughts and it’s also a long-cycle grape, making it better adapted to hotter conditions.”

Fellow Rioja producer Bodegas Faustino isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to climate change, and has been busy grubbing up its vineyards in loweraltitude areas like Alfaro in Rioja Oriental, and planting new vines in higher-altitude spots such as Laguardia. The company is also stress-testing all the different grapes permitted by the DOCa in Rioja Oriental to see how they cope in Rioja’s hottest sub-zone, which will inform its planting decisions going forward.

For Alberca of Entrecanales Domecq, the key to tackling global warming lies in cultivating strong, healthy vines.

“This is why we continue to work on improving the resilience of our vines through biodiversity and viticultural programmes. We’ve also planted 8ha of droughtresistant Garnacha vines in Toro and 4ha in Ribera del Duero,” she says.

Being organic and boasting a bounty of old vines at high altitudes is helping Spanish wine group Araex Grands to craft distinctive wines in challenging years such as this one.

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“We’re working to mitigate the effects of global warming by seeking out vineyards at altitudes where maturation is slower,” explains CEO Javier Galarreta.

“In Rioja Alavesa, we’re fortunate to be able to work with old vines at altitude, which gives enormous personality and uniqueness to our wines. The challenge is to ensure that climate change doesn’t change the organoleptic profile of our wines.”

Hot property: there are fears that parts of Spain may become unfit for quality grapes

In addition to climatic challenges, Spain’s producers are also facing various headwinds in their international markets due to rising interest rates, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, which are impacting sales.

The geopolitical situation has led global beverage data and insights specialist IWSR Drinks Market Analysis to forecast global volume growth of only 1% for the Spanish still wine category between 2022 and 2027, although Daniel Mettyear, IWSR’s head of research EMEA, is bullish about Spain’s prospects going forward.

“Long-term, the outlook for Spanish still wine is positive as local DOs, new concepts and accessible white wines continue to broaden the category’s reach in terms of consumers and occasions,” he tells db.

Fernando Muñoz Naranjo, director of Wines from Spain UK, is equally optimistic about the country’s prospects.

“Global value exports of Spanish wine grew by 1.3% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago, up to €1.5 billion, which represents the best first semester ever recorded,” he says.

Moneyron of Maison BVC, however, is keen not to sugarcoat things.

“We can’t ignore the fact that the wine sector is in crisis,” she says. “Consumers are turning away from wine in favour of beer, and new duty regulations in the UK are further penalising the sector in this inflationary context.”

For Forner of Marqués de Cáceres, exports have been erratic this year, dipping in China, remaining stable in the US and increasing in the UK and Europe.

While the current conditions are undoubtedly tough, Galarreta of Araex is hopeful for a strong finish to the year.

“There are markets where rising inflation rates, increased tariffs, the international situation and enormous competition in the sector make selling a single bottle complicated. However, our wines are performing well and we’re confident about being able to close the year above 2022,” he says.

But, while some bodegas are flourishing, the ongoing drop in wine consumption rates both in Spain’s domestic market and abroad can’t be ignored.

“The biggest challenge facing Spanish wine is balancing production and consumption to ensure that the industry is sustainable going forward,” says Alberca.

“Consumption per capita is falling, but the market for quality wine continues to grow. We need to ensure that we produce wines that people are prepared to pay more for.”

Small world: Low volumes but high quality

To succeed going forward, Spain’s producers need to work together to excite and engage the next generation of consumers, who are spoilt for choice when it comes to drinks.

“The challenge presented by the younger generations is to make wine part of their consumption choices,” says Larrea Dueñas of Faustino. “On the plus side, this gives the industry the chance to reach consumers with fewer prejudices than the older generations.”

In order to spark the interest of Generation Z, Félix Solís Ramos would like to see a more flexible approach from Spain’s DOs when it comes to winemaking.

“The big challenge in getting the younger generations on board lies in the outdated and inflexible rules from the traditional appellations, which are not adapting their winemaking to the new styles that are being demanded,” he says.

“To make appealing wines for younger consumers, we have to produce cross-regional blends like The Guv’nor and Mucho Más, both of which have been hugely successful worldwide.”

Helping Spain’s fine wine image has been the recent influx of Spanish releases on La Place de Bordeaux, which has given the wines a glittering global platform that’s helping to both raise their international profile and fuel demand.

Urtasun of Remírez de Ganuza believes Spanish wine is at an exciting crossroads. “Our efforts should lie in convincing consumers around the world about the quality of Spanish wines. There’s a real opportunity for high-end Spanish wines to be listed at the world’s best restaurants due to a lack of availability and price increases from the leading regions of France and Italy,” he says. “Bordeaux négociants are finally seeking out Spanish fine wines, which are being sold at higher prices than ever before.”

The road ahead remains challenging for Spain’s bodegas but, with a new generation of winemakers rising up through the ranks and native grapes expressed in compelling wines that taste utterly unique, there’s still a lot to be hopeful about.