The 2018 harvest on our Can Martí estate, the 66th since we created our first bottle of cava, lasted over 30 days.

It started on 13th August and finished on 27th September, with one or two interruptions due to the storms and the wait for the maturing of a couple of varieties. To tell the truth, 2018 will be remembered as the year with the most rain in our memory, in all four seasons, which led to a delay of 10 days in the harvest compared to the year before. The rainfall on our estate from January to September 2018 was 822 litres per square metre.

The 11 varieties, ecologically cultivated, were harvested by hand and quickly transported to the cellar in small trailers or 25kg boxes. Some small pockets of mildew were detected in the most sensitive varieties but, being harvested by hand, the grapes were preselected on the vine so affecting only the production but not the quality. This was the first harvest since we have formed part of the Association of wine-growers and producers Corpinnat (AVEC) and was audited by Bureau Veritas. www.corpinnat.com

The wines resulting from this climatologically complex harvest, are characterised by a surprising balance between the acidity and degree of alcohol, an essential aspect for long-aging sparkling wines like ours.