This is a glorious region in Spain, that I hope to visit later this summer. The area is encircled by the Pyrenees mountains and overlooks the Costa Brava sea. This unique location, between the mountains and the sea, creates unusual weather conditions and an exotic climatology of strong contrasts.Abundant sunshine, minimal rainfall, mild winters and warm summers moderated by the salty sea breeze all enhance the wine to create unique characteristics in each vintage. Similar to the mistral in France, “the Tramuntana” is a fierce wind that blows strongly from the North and is said to help keep the vines dry, regulate the ripeness of the grapes and keep them free of disease.
The viticultural foundations that survive today in the Empordà-Costa Brava wine region began when the Greeks arrived on the coast of Northeast Catalonia in 700 BC. There are a total of 2,500 hectares of vines (6177 acres) distributed over the 36 small towns in this region.
Empordà-Co
sta Brava's main town is Figueres. Figueres, the town that Salvador Dali was born in 1904, is a commercial hub that is most famous for the artist designed old theatre that was converted into a large museum called, Teatre-Museu Dalí. Known as the “Temple of Surrealism”, the museum is a popular site for international visitors and also where Salvador Dali lived in his final years before his death in 1989. Empordà-Costa Brava is a region rich in beauty, history, wine and art.
