VINEYARD ARCHAEOLOGISTS. In search of native grape varieties.

At the end of the 19th century, the phylloxera plague devastated the wine-growing map of Catalonia and all of Europe; grapes also disappeared from the various municipalities around Osona that produced them. The presence of vineyards in the region, however, predated the devastation. It dates back to the Middle Ages,
according to a unique and exhaustive task of prospecting varieties that has been undertaken, in a private capacity, by Eugeni Ordeig from Torrellon. The initiative has the backing of the Catalan Institute of Vine and Wine (INCAVI).
A photographer by profession and a keen wine enthusiast, Ordeig began his particular search for wild vines four years ago, exploring the banks, terraces and ravines around Osona, as just another hobby. Once located, he would place them on a map to remember their location, creating a very valuable document almost without realizing it.
For more than four years he has been doing research work to recover lost ancestral varieties in the territories of Osona, Lluçanès, Moianès and Cabrerès, and Ripollès.
Currently, a hundred wild strains have been located. INCAVI has analyzed about 100 plants and DNA tests have been carried out. The results have been very interesting, since many are unrecognized and unregistered varieties in the Catalan principality and Europe; among them there are ancestral, peculiar and curious varieties.