Production of quality wines up 17%

The harvest yielded 9,907 tonnes of grapes, an increase of 21% over last year, which had been affected by drought and high temperatures. By comparison with 2016, the harvest was up six per cent. Grape volume for Vi de la Terra wines rose 33% to 5,872 tonnes, while for designation of origin wines it was up six per cent to 4,034 tonnes. Sixty-five per cent of the grapes were red varieties. For the 35% of whites there was increased production of a third, a consequence of the earlier harvest in late July and early August. The production of red grapes was up 16% and was affected by rain in late summer and in the autumn.

The Binissalem DO produced 1.01 million litres, a rise of 0.72%. The Pla i Llevant DO increased production 9.6% to 1.62 million litres. Production for Vi de la Terra Mallorca was 2.8 million litres (plus 12%). There were increases for the other islands' Vi de la Terra - Ibiza by 45%, Formentera 17.5% and Minorca 5.7%.