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Wine Description
The Story
Mas La Plana is a 29-hectare vineyard located in the heart of Penedès. The Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted by Miguel A. Torres back in 1966. The vineyard has very deep, dark and yellowish brown soils. The topsoil is rich in sand and stones while the subsoil is gravel.
In the Paris Wine Olympiad, the 1970 vintage triumphed over some of the most famouswines in the world, including Chateau Latour. This success has been repeated on several other occasions, with Gran Coronas Mas La Plana notching up numerous other international awards.
Appellation: DO Penedès (Mas La Plana vineyard, Alt Penedès, Catalunya)
Year vines planted: 1964-1979
Surface area: 29 ha/72 acres
Elevation: 225 m
Slope: 0-5%
Orientation: South East
Yield: 4,593 Kg/ha. Grape clusters are selected manually
Soil: Deep, yellowish grey-brown alluvial soils that are well-drained and have a moderate water holding capacity. Made up of alternating layers of gravel, sand and clay.
Percipitation: Annual average rainfall (historical): 549 mm
Temperature: Annual average temperature (historical): 14.3ºC
Wine Information
Grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol level: 14.5% vol.
pH: 3.54
Total acidity: 5.3 g/L (a. tartaric)
Residual sugar: 1.2 g/L
Vintage comments:
The beginning of 2012 and much of the vegetative cycle were very dry except for a very wet April and scattered rainfall in October. This led to a significant drop in production by the end of the cycle, but the grapes couldn't have been healthier. Temperatures were relatively normal throughout the vegetative cycle and higher toward the end of the summer.
Winemaking:
Harvest: Date grapes picked: From the 4th of October
Number of days of skin contact: 15-25 days
Type of fermentation: In stainless steel under controlled temperature 25-28C for 7 days
Ageing: During 18 month in French oak barrels (85% of new barrels)
Bottling month: August of 2014
The following number of bottles have been produced in this vintage:
105 180 Standard bottles (75 cl)
641 Magnum bottles (150 cl)
Vintage 2012
SPAIN 2012 VINTAGE REPORT
The Control Board has given the 2012 Rioja vintage the official rating of ‘VERY GOOD’. The global rating reflects the heterogeneous nature of the vintage. The drought affected both grape volume and grape quality in some vineyards but also resulted in a significant quantity of wine of extremely high quality, in line with the wines of the two previous vintages, both rated ‘excellent’.
In general, Rioja’s vineyards showed good canopy growth and health throughout the growing season. Phenological development was normal in terms of dates compared to the average of the last few years. Although fertility rates were lower than those of the last two seasons, they were still within normal values for the grape varieties of the D.O.Ca. Rioja. The continuing drought that has affected the Region in the past two years curtailed the production of part of those vineyards located in drylands. In late August grape ripening was normal, with average values for hat time of the year.
After a growing cycle beset by drought, the late September rains had a significant impact, with a very positive effect on ripening, improving final berry balance and raising hopes about final production figures for a large part of Rioja vineyards. Most of the harvested grapes were in excellent health with a great balance between alcohol content and polyphenols, leading to wines of superb quality, with good polyphenolic structure , particularly suited for ageing in barrels and laying down for a long time.
Another reason behind the positive outcome of the 2012 vintage was the professionalism of growers and wineries in scheduling the harvest, given the uneven ripening found among different plots, which required selective harvesting to ensure the best quality was obtained from each vineyard. The total production volume of the 2012 harvest in Rioja came to 354.9 million kg of grapes —one of the lowest yields per hectare of the last two decades (5,710 kg/ha) and a significant drop compared to the 387 million kg harvested the previous year.