In the early 2000s, the mayors of Talamanca, Mura y Pont Vilomara and Rocafort, Josep Tarín, Martí Perich and Evaristo de la Torre respectively, set out to recover and energize the set of old dry stone vats in the Flaquer valley, a great heritage of Bages that remembers its ancient viticultural splendor before the emergence of the textile industry.
The grapes were stored in these vats and the wine was made at the foot of the vineyard, in isolated places. The three mayors promoted the preparation of a master plan for the Tines de Pedra Seca in the Valls del Montcau. They did it with the Diputació de Barcelona, to then pursue European subsidies (from the European Regional Development Fund) which they obtained by 50%. However, the rest, which was to be provided by the Barcelona provincial corporation, was not reached. That ambitious failed project awoke in the former mayor of Talamanca, the lawyer by profession Josep Tarín Canales, "a pending subject in life": that of a winemaker.
At that time, there was only one vineyard left in the municipality of Talamanca, but it was abandoned and had not been pruned for two years. It is a small-grain sumoll vineyard planted in 1935 that Josep Tarín recovered after leasing it to its owner. In 2010 his project was born, which initially was just a hobby. Little by little, he expanded the area planted in his municipality to four hectares. He has never lost the illusion of making wine in those old vats in the forest of the Flequer Valley, although he is now considering the possibility of starting to do so initially in the also old vats of his country house in Talamanca, which dates back to 1747.
For some years now, the DO Pla de Bages Wine Route has wanted to position the region as a benchmark in wine tourism, highlighting the wines made there, but also unique heritage and landscape elements in the world, such as the constructions of dry stone or the Geoparc de la Catalunya Central.
Josep Tarín, who initially produced his grapes in the Collbaix winery in Manresa, ended up renting the winery and the 14 hectares of Mas de Sant Iscle vineyards, where they currently produce. With the number of Celler Mond Obert they opened in June 2019. The property of the Mas de Sant Iscle, documented in the year 950 and contemporary with the Marca Hispánica and the monastery of Sant Benet de Bages (cradle of the region's wine culture) , is located in the middle of the Pla de Bages, passing through the Mas, the Sèquia de Manresa, at the intersection of the Eix Transversal (C-25) and the real Barcelona-Cardona road.
They define themselves as "a small winery that gets ahead thanks to the illusion, desire and effort to make what started as a hobby work". They were released on the market in 2020, but the pandemic has forced them to slow down a project in which the wife and eldest son have also been involved. The enthusiasm of Pep Tarín Macarulla, who currently runs the wine tourism business at the winery, has "encouraged" the founder and owner of this wine project even more. Today, after the pandemic, it is already a consolidated family business that produces some 25,000 bottles a year.
They don't export yet. In fact, all of its production is marketed, today, only in Catalonia, although its wines and wine tourism proposals can be purchased through its virtual store. They say they are committed to the land they work and to the wine culture of their surroundings. They practice 100% organic farming in vineyards with clayey-calcareous soils where they have found a large number of marine fossils from an ancient coral reef.
They state that "as a winery we are proud of our star varieties, such as Picapoll Blanc and Gewürztraminer". The latter distinguishes them, since they are the only winery that grows it in the DO Pla de Bages. But they also grow the Mandón, Picapoll Negro, Garnacha Tinta, Malvasía Manresana, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Syrah, Sumoll and Macabeo varieties. They have also started to cultivate vineyards on the southern slope of the Montseny massif, 950 meters above sea level. They will make "mountain" wines in their Mas de Sant Iscle from this new project in Fogars de Monclús, in the Vallès Oriental region. Apart from wine, they also make oil obtained from their ecologically cultivated olive trees. The main varieties they grow are arbequina, corbella and Manresana verdal (native to the area).
In 2021 they obtained a harvest that they qualify as very good, "as much or more than that of 2019." In January they had a snowfall and spring came with heavy rain. The vintage continued with a hot July. They began the harvest at the end of August, and finished it on October 1. Josep Tarín assures that "it is a wine from the land, easy to drink, designed for young people". He adds that young people do not like the taste of wood ”.
His Baronia de Talamanca Mandó 2021 is the first vintage made in his winery from this vineyard planted in 2016, on the Talamanca estate. An image of the fossilized sea snail, the same one that was unearthed from his vineyard, presides over his label. Mandó is an autochthonous variety that was recovered in Pla de Bages about 10 years ago. For now they want to keep it young, with a simple fermentation in stainless steel tanks, "since it has given us a sufficiently satisfactory result." With a view to future vintages, they want to experiment with making them in concrete eggs. They point out from the winery that "in the mouth it is the maximum expression of lightness that can be found in a red wine, with an acidity that cleanses our mouths and above all refreshes us, and we even find a watery sensation in the sip". This makes this wine "ideal to drink cool in summer." They also state that “la mandó is a variety that allows us to redefine the concept of red wine, making it easier, fresher and lighter; that's why we keep it young."
It is a rare wine. Only a hundred bottles of this first vintage are sold. Of the second they could not make a single one because of the voracity of the wild boars. It has a low layer and ruby color. It is fresh, young, fluid, with a good acid sensation, a certain rusticity and with only 11º of alcohol. It stands out with floral notes (red rose petals), wild red strawberries, pomegranate and undergrowth, and those reminiscent of carob and aromatic herbs from the Mediterranean garrigue. It is fluid, delicate, with a good acid sensation, with very little volume and low tanninity. Its long time in the bottle has rounded it out.
Ideal with cod a la Talamanquina, with tuna, salmon with hummus or turbot, but also with a head and leg or a rabbit a la Manresana. Josep Tarín likes to pair it with pork chops and red prawns from the fish market in Vilanova i la Geltrú. His son Pep, who says that it is "a summer wine", prefers it with a prawn and lobster ravioli, which is the star dish of the restaurant La Cuina de l'Era, located in Mas de Sant Iscle in La Pineda de Bages ( Sant Fruitós de Bages).
