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Logo of Celler Espelt[/caption]Celler Espelt, a Vilajuïga-based winery in Alt Empordà (Girona province) has started the harvest two weeks later than usual due to the rainy and rather fresh summer of 2013. They have started hand-harvesting their vineyards in Rabós d'Empordà, where they have the "lledoner roig" vineyards (Grenache pink, a local variety of Alt Empordà region), a grape that is mostly used in the local sweet wines.
However, this time things are going to be different. Celler Espelt is going to use this grape to make a new kind of wine. "This year we have decided to produce a white wine with this grape. Because of this year's late harvest, we have started picking up the lledoner roig instead of other grapes", explained the winery's enologist Anna Espelt, that later added that "lledoner roig is scattered among the carignan vines and its harvest requires a slow and pacient work". She also added that Celler Espelt wants to recover this local grape, that was almost forgotten, not only for the production of white wines but also for other kinds of wine. With this goal in mind, the Celler Espelt is starting a research project on how to recover the use of lledoner roig and how to use it in other kinds of wine apart from the garnatxa dolça de l'Empordà, the local sweet wine.
Apart from these new projects, Celler Espelt is also aiming at selling their wines in new markets. They are already exporting 60% of their bottles (around 480,000 out of 800,000 units) to countries like United States, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom and Norway. According to Anna Espelt, for next year they are aiming at some new markets like Germany, China and Latin America.
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Different products from the Celler Espelt, in their winery shop[/caption]
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