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Presentation
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Garriguella is a village of 800 inhabitants located in the region of Alt Empordà, at the north-east of the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Lying at the bottom of a valley, the village is surrounded by the mountains of Les Alberes, the outermost part of the Pyrenees, which set the limits with France, the Gulf of Roses and the hillock Torre de la Mala Veïna.
The village has an arid soil, swept by the dry, northern wind ‘Tramuntana’ and gathers an average annual rainfall of 600 litres. Mild winters of scarce frosts and warm summers cooled down by the sea breeze benefit the vines and olive trees.
The vines were introduced to Catalonia through the country’s most important Greek colony, Empúries, a town which eventually gave the name to the region of Alt Empordà, approximately in the 6th century BC.
During the Middle Ages, vines grew free around the monasteries. On the slopes of the Rodes mountain these vineyards formed terraces which were property of the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes. The monasteries of Sant Quirze de Colera and Santa Maria de Vilabertran owned as well their own vineyards.
In 1879 the plague of phylloxera coming from France first infected a vineyard in Rabós d’Empordà, but it quickly spread out ruining completely Catalonia and Spain. Lots of people saw no alternative than to emigrate to America.
Nowadays the region of Alt Empordà counts a surface of approximately 5023 acres of vineyard, the largest part of it –an extension of around 989 acres- is located in the territory of Garriguella, with our agricultural cooperative producing wine from 541 acres of vineyard.
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