When I went to see Alex a few days ago it was with the excuse to buy a dozen mixed bottles of his experimental stuff, some of which is still undergoing a not so quiet fermentation. We tasted some exceptional Macabeu, some Garnatxa, his new It's Now or Never and something new called Freak Forever that, like some explosive genie, was incapable of staying put.

Boxes packed (I also buy for my friends who are all addicts) I spotted a clearly labelled Acapulca through some black hole in the cellar, eyes widening like Ingrid Bergman seeing Rick after the Play it Sam scene.

Bought 6, I am drinking one, and I have just whatsapped Alex asking him for all the bottles left, which are probably 2.

Acapulca tasting will be left to another day.

tbc.

#MemorableWine #NaturalWine #RawWine

Nothing gives me greater joy than buying natural #wine directly from source. Here is Alex from La Despeinada checking the evolution of a Garnatxa picked from the upper fields around his finca in Bot, Terra Alta.

#NaturalWine #RawWine #OrangeWine #TerraAlta #Catalonia #spain

I love when a bottle of #wine is dragged through the mud to get on the table, and I have yet to taste a wine from Oriol Aritigas that I do not like. La Rumbera is a 100%, unfiltered Pansa Blanca form #Alella (a tiny wine region with granitic sandy soil close to #Barcelona) made with indigenous yeast, a quick 3 days skin maceration and a 9 month of sur lie ageing. The result is a complex salty, creamy, crunchy wine that sets your taste buds off like surfer ready to jump on a wave.

#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #WineTasting

Back to #wine with this 6è, an #ecological 100% Moscatell of 2021 from Celler 9+.

Handpicked from old vines, made using indigenous yeast and undergoing some serious skin maceration (32 days to be precise), this naturally filtered wine results in one of the most gastronomically complex Muscatells I have ever tasted.

Its scent is the olfactory symphony which enters your nostrils on a late spring afternoon in the wild: touches of camomile, lemon blossoms, rosemary, time, a predominant peach, all carried by the salty wind of the sea. When you first drink it it leaves you with the sensation of having eaten feta cheese dipped in honey and peach jelly; a citrusy finish wrapped up in well integrated tannins for that extra sensorial layer.

One to savour with crispy deep fried seafood or tempura.

#WineTasting #NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #Muscatell #OrangeWine

Had to come back for this very limited edition of a #Cinsault from #Languedoc by Axel Prüfer. Perfect to start the day at only 9.5%. it has a tiny amount of VA, but who cares. Alex belongs to the gang that makes #Brutal so everything is forgiven. Went great with Santi's tortilla.

#Wine #NaturalWine #Catalonia #Tarragona #RawWine

Winemaker Eduard Sanromà from Vila Rodona, holding a bottle of #Ancestral upside down to show the sediment of lees that have accumulated at the bottom of the bottle. Making Ancestral is all manual labour and si made in small batches. As the result is left to nature every bottle content is unpredictable and slightly different.
#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia

Two souvenirs from yesterday's walk at the Alt Camp: a #Vinyater (another almost extinct vine variety), and a Vi Ranci, both #ecologic and #biodynamic, made with indigenous yeast, using natural clarification and minimal intervention.

The #vinery is called Dasca Vives a little oasis of times gone by located next to the second largest refinery in Europe (sounds gruesome but the quality of the wines shows that it can be done).

Will crack open the Ranci this afternoon and share some notes.

#RawWine #NaturalWine #Catalonia #AltCamp #ViRanci

Nothing like #wine presented with a hand written label picked randomly from the cellar. A fantastic aromatic #Macabeu with an 8 month extended maceration in a clay vessel. It ended way too quick so you only get to see an empty bottle.

#Catalonia #RawWine #NaturalWine

@austinbeeman @FoodWineClick @craigcamp I have problems with the #RawWine term … because just like #NaturalWine, it sets up a comparison with “other wine” that one is somehow ‘better’ than the other as a category.

See #CleanWine for another example of this …

Laureano Serres Montagut (right).
Jancis Robinson defined him as a natural wine pioneer.
His bodega looks like a 70's DJ's hideout and it's impossible to pin him down because dealing with Laureano is pure anarchy. Together with J. R. Escoda (not in the pix) he set up H2O VEGETAL, a two days international natural wine fair held in the south of Catalonia in explosive heat of July.

I will write more about the local wine scene in further posts.
[fin]

#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #Tarragona

Another participant is Mariano Taberner of Bodegas Cueva.

A man of great modesty who experiments with wine at a depth, which is more alchemy than wine making. He ferments anything, including sea water with goat milk, learns from his occasional mistakes, tries again until he gets it right.

We call him God. His best stuff comes in the form of experiments sealed in unlabled bottles which end up at El Cortijo and shared around with a lucky few.

#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #Tarragona

Once a year Santos gets seriously fired up and organises an epic local get together called La Bacanal del Vi, where a dozen or more unruly natural wine producers participate with their latest wine offerings.

In the picture the epic Laureano Serres Montagut and Jordi Escoda sharing the good stuff.

#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #Tarragona

Meet Santos Masegosa, a great friend, owner of El Cortijo, a taverna located next to the railway line in Tarragona. I learned more about wine from this guy than in the two years spent tasting away at the URV. Santi fired up my enthusiasm for natural wine. I owe him countless happy hangovers and remembering very little of 2016.

#RawWine #NaturalWine

[ Have yet to understand how nested threads work on Masto so I'll just continue where I left of ]

Once a year Santi gets fired up and organises an epic get together called La Bacanal del Vi, where a dozen or more unruly natural wine producing friends participate with their latest offerings.

In the picture Laureano Serres Montagut and Jordi Escoda sharing the good stuff.

#NaturalWine #RawWine #Catalonia #Tarragona

Meet Santi Masegosa, a great friend, owner of El Cortijo, a taverna located next to the railway line in Tarragona. I learned more about wine from this guy than the two years spent tasting away URV. Santi fired up my enthusiasm for natural wine and I owe him for countless happy hangovers and remembering very little of 2016.

#RawWine #NaturalWine