Among the wines of the 2023 vintage, there are a white wine, an aged red wine and two sparkling wines

The URV’s Faculty of Oenology has already produced some new wines from the harvest of 2023. Every year, a limited amount of the wine made at the experimental winery Mas dels Frares is bottled. “This vintage has fallen short of other years due to the excessive heat and the drought, but the quality, particularly of the aged wines, is good”, explains Pedro Cabanillas, a winemaker at the Mas dels Frares winery.

The winery portfolio of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili has a total of four wines: white wine, aged red wine, the Wintour sparkling rosé and the sparkling White of Whites.

The URV’s white wine DO Catalonia is a warm vintage wine but it evolves perfectly for several years. It consists of 70% Muscat of Alexandria and 30% Xarel·lo and Chardonnay. It is a fresh wine, aromatically intense, with good acidity, and floral and fruity notes.

The aged red wine URV DO Tarragona is a blend from the year 2020 and consists of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 22% Ull de Llebre and 14% Grenache. It is a high-quality product which matures very well.

The sparkling wine Wintour DO Tarragona is a rosé that has been aged for 12 months, made with a blend of Macabeu and Grenache. The tirage is carried out by students on the International Master on Wine Tourism.

The sparkling wine White of Whites DO Tarragona is a classic that mixes traditional varieties of Macabeu, Xarel·lo, Parellada and Chardonnay and which is aged for an average of three to five years.

All the wines can be bought at the Mas dels Frares winery except those made for experimental purposes or for specific activities.

Mas dels Frares, the winery of the Faculty of Oenology

The students from the Faculty of Oenology have taken part in the wine production process since the winery and the experimental fields of Mas dels Frares are an essential tool for learning. It is here that they put their knowledge of viticulture and winemaking into practice, they analyse such key aspects of the vineyard as the effect of planting distance, water stress and the use of controlled irrigation on different grape varieties. Once the harvest is over, they analyse how all these issues impact the winemaking process in the winery.