A new harvest start in Alicante

31 Jul 2024 A new harvest start in Alicante

Tuesday, July 30, 2024, and the grape harvest begins in the Alicante DOP, one of the first areas in Spain.

Specifically, it has been in the Novelda village, where macabeo and muscatel are grown, the most experienced in wanting to enter the winery. With these first kg, the new 2024-2025 wine campaign and the 92nd with the Alicante DOP begins.

A campaign that is marked by the serious drought that is ravaging the Spanish east and that puts the historic vineyards on maximum alert and difficulties. The forecast is that the campaign will be even lower than the minimum recorded last year, which was about 19 million kilos of grapes. The final amount will have to wait until November, since the harvest in the area is prolonged due to the diversity of varieties and specifically the long ripening cycle of the Monastrell.

Next week, it is expected that the muscatels will begin to be harvested in Vinalopó and Marina Alta, a region that is particularly affected by the drought as there is no possibility of irrigation in its areas.

The Alicante DOP currently has some 10,500 hectares of vineyards spread across 7 Alicante regions (Vinalopó Medio, Alta and Bajo, L´Alcoiá, El Comtat, La Marina Alta and to a lesser extent also Marina Baja). Its main production consists of red wines, although in recent years, white and rosé wines have gained market positions.
The harvest coincides with the publication of a report by the Interprofessional del vino (Interprofessional Wine Association) which states that, in Spain, more than 40% of the municipalities have land dedicated to the cultivation of vines. And in those smaller municipalities (less than 2,000 inhabitants), more exposed to the demographic challenge, it is observed that those that have vineyards maintain, on average, a number of inhabitants 52.8% higher than their comparable ones without vineyards. Likewise, the indicators of labor activity (number of workers and their weight among the active population) are more positive in these municipalities with vineyards. (The report can be consulted at this link: https://interprofesionaldelvino.es/impulso-demografico-los-pueblos-con-vinedo-mantienen-cerca-de-un-53-mas-de-poblacion/

In the Valencian Community, the vineyard totals 62,176 hectares and the Alicante DOP represents 16%, of which more than 30% is currently organic.