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A good year for Mallorcan wine
It is expected that the 2011 vintage of wine from the Pla y Llevant region of Mallorca will be one of the finest in recent years. At the Harvest Festival for Pla y Llevant wine, which took place yesterday, the chairman of the DO controlling board (Designation of Origin) said that exceptional weather conditions had produced the best quality grapes of the past decade.
With only a small amount of rain, and hot days with cool nights, the conditions have been ideal for the vineyards of the central and eastern part of Majorca. The grapes have been shown to posess a high level of sugar, which will translate through the fermentation process to around 13% alcohol.
The first of the vines to be harvested are the young white varieties such as Viognier and Chardonnay.
The Pla y Llevant wine growing area covers 350 hectares of land in 18 municipalities - from Algaida to Manacor, down to Felanitx and back to Llucmajor. The largest wine growing area on Mallorca is the Binissalem DO, which has also just commenced this years harvest. Although most Mallorcan wine stays within Spain, a large number of cases are exported to northern Europe, in particular, Austria and Germany.
