Pitarra´s wine

The Pitarra’s wine owes its name to the clay vessel that has been used since ancient times for their fermentation and storage. It is a domestic production wine, very common in the province of Cáceres. It is obtained with grapes of local varieties in different parts of the region, whose common feature is the artisanal process in clay containers. These are generally wines with natural turbidity, due to several factors: the scarcity of decanting, the high percentage of iron and the type of biological aging. There are red, pink or white Pitarra wines, although traditionally it is white. Their graduation is generally high, between 12 and 15 degrees.
To produce Pitarra’s wine, the grapes are processed in the traditional way; and most of the crushers, destemmers and presses are manual. After destemming and pressing, a 15 or 20 days long fermentation begins. Both white and red grapes are vinified in contact with the skins. Since the containers are open, the wine rocking system used consists in pushing the skins down and then bringing them back to the surface using wooden stickes. When a solid residue has settled on the bottom of the jar, this will indicate that the wine has finished its fermentation process. After fermentation, the must is transferred to glass jugs and finally, coinciding with the coldest days of December and January, the definitive transfer is made.
Red Pitarra wines are the only red wines aged in contact with mold. By transferring the must to another empty jar and leaving a little empty, a whitish mold is created with authentic yeasts. This mold is similar to that of Montilla, Jerez and Sanlúcar wines.
After one or two years of aging time, these wines are cloudy due to several factors: the scarcity of decanting, the high percentage of iron and the type of biological aging of these wines. Some of the traditionally used grapes are the white varieties Alarije, Borba and Pedro Ximénez and the red varieties Bobal, Garnacha and Cencibel. Pitarra artisanal wine has always been used as a companion to meals and as a traditional drink at tapas time. Before, lunch is drunk and served in a small glass called chato. As it provides a lot of energy and vitamins, it has always been part of the daily diet of the field workers.
The Pitarra wine is now mainly for home consumption, and it does not have an established commercialization. However, some wineries are selling a more industrialized version where mechanical machines, such as presses or destemmers, and more modern containers to refine the wine are used. Instead of clay jars and glass jugs, oak barrels or stainless-steel tanks are more and more common in these modern cellars. Even if these wines have a market, the clay jar is indispensable for the artisanal version, more linked to tradition, since it allows the unique flavour and traditional aromas to keep intact. These containers, still present in many homes, may last for several decades, and often bear the year and the name of the manufacturer engraved. Pitarra wine is threatened by competition from the more industrial wines, by a market that seeks wine with intense colors and little turbidity and by the general depopulation of the more rural areas of the region.