There are wines that are defined mainly by the uniqueness of their production method.
Among the white wines we highlight the brisat wines, made as if they were red wines, with their own skins. We also have minimal intervention wines, without filtering or additives, organic and vegan; and the white wines that recover the traditional elaboration with oxidative and biological aging.
Among the reds we have selected carbonic maceration wines, wines that strictly follow the Jewish regulations for the production of kosher wines, and sparkling wines made by the ancestral method.
Do not miss these unique bottles that are included in The Wine Guide 2023, directed by Lluís Tolosa with the collaboration of Ferran Centelles, Meritxell Falgueras, María José Huertas, Alicia Estrada and Zoltan Nagy.
Josep Maria Ferret Guasch was born in 1955 in some cellars located in Guardiola de Font-rubi, founded by his father in 1941. After many years working in the family winery and with extensive experience in the sector, in 1997 he founded JMFG Cavas y Vinos . Together with his wife Maria Vall and his son Josep, they work with a very clear philosophy: quality, above all, and not quantity.
Josep Maria, always active and trying to improve day by day, within his means, has a real talent and is creative. They have the great help of a Japanese girl who works with them, who brings freshness to the project and a different vision. After many talks with Yuri, they decided to enter the world of natural wines without intervention, making both still and sparkling wines.
But what is an ancestral wine? It is an old way of making sparkling wines. But the ancestral ones cannot be classified within the categories of cava, champagne or prosecco. They are made with a single fermentation in the same bottle, where the carbonic content is retained. In this case, a single spontaneous and continuous fermentation with the indigenous yeast. Without adding sugar, or sulphites, or expedition liquor, without filtering either. The bubble is smooth, elegant and fine. A sparkling wine without artifice that respects the natural language of the vineyard. The label stands out, a drawing of his daughter, Sara Ferret, who has a fresh personality. Her drawings, transformed into labels, are so special that you almost want to keep the bottle after drinking the ancestral one, right? / Zoltan Nagy.
Anne Aletà, Moisés Cohen and their children make kosher wines and cavas, following one of the oldest traditions in the Mediterranean. Other wineries make some kosher wine, but it is the only winery in Spain and in Europe that is exclusively dedicated to kosher wines. In fact, outside of Israel, there are only two or three other wineries solely dedicated to these wines.
They come from a Sephardic family lineage whose roots date back to 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Moisés was born in Morocco and has lived in Switzerland, France and Israel, and Anne was born in France. After centuries of Sephardic exodus, they have returned to their Origins, taking advantage of the fact that Moisés advised wineries in Spain.
Today they sell wines from Priorat, Montsant, Alella, Cava, Rioja and Ribera del Júcar, through their distributor Elvi Wines. I knew them for their Invita wines, the kosher ones they make in DO Alella. But this year a good friend took me to visit them in Marçà (Priorat).
Kosher means fit in Hebrew. Far from clichés, wines are not only suitable for Jews. They have simply been made following strict quality standards and supervised by a Jewish religious authority, such as the Orthodox Union (OU), which certifies products in 80 countries. It is actually a quality certification, like ISO.
Clos Mesorah 2019 are 80-year-old Cariñenas, with Garnacha and Syrah. Aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. Without clarifying or filtering. Elegant, complex and fruity. Picota cherries, spices and great integration of wood, with sweet and silky tannins. Very well prepared / Lluis Tolosa.
This is a very special project by Alfredo Arribas in Priorat. It is a brisat white wine, which would translate into a way of making it as if it were a red wine, with its own skins.
His work in the winery is pure craftsmanship, without the use of sulfur, and in the field the utmost respect, since it is governed by the mandates of biodynamics, with organic agriculture work as its flagship. The soils where their vineyards are rooted are made up of clay and slate, and the average age of these vines is 30 years.
The InStabiles are free wines, numbered correlatively, like a series, with a variable subtitle, giving up the continuity of the vintages and also their origins, freed from the link that would unite them to specific vineyards, the InStabiles vary in each edition.
The wine is fermented for 12 days with the grapes without squeezing, then the fermentation is spontaneous thanks to native yeasts. Its finale takes place in large 500-litre barrels and it is aged in ovoid white stoneware amphoras for 6 months, achieving a very special wine.
It could be summed up as a deep, intense, fresh wine with pleasant bitterness, or, depending on its maker, as a free wine. Amber color and clean. On the nose it is an explosion of candied citrus fruit, such as grapefruit and orange, quince, white flowers, chamomile, aromatic herbs and spices. On the palate it is very tasty, fresh and with a bitterness that lengthens the finish of the mouth. It is a surprising and surprising wine / María José Huertas.
In Rueda, Verdejos have historically been produced with oxidative and biological aging. The image of seas of demijohns placed in rows, out in the open, comes to mind when I think of this DO.
Javier Rodríguez Sanzo has an immense creative talent, he always carries out tests of new elaborations, of implausible oenological processes. He is curiosity personified in the form of a winemaker.
In the time of the Catholic Monarchs, white wines were aged in Rueda, viura and palomino, in large barrels in hidden cellars underground. Some of these caves can be visited today, a marvel of underground architecture.
Javier's family owns a winery 20 meters deep in Nava del Rey, where they store some of the barrels in which the veil of flor develops, a layer of yeast that protects the wines from oxidation and gives them complex bakery flavors. . Before they contained Jerez, but these barrels are today the shelter for the Saccharomyces beticus yeasts, which are responsible for the flower.
The result is a wine that does not leave you indifferent. Only 3,600 bottles. A wine that amazes with its notes of bakery, caramel and toffee. With an opulent palate, toasted and vanilla flavors. Halfway between a Jerez (with a less pungent alcohol) and an opulent wine aged in barrels.
A peculiar but totally convincing Verdejo, created by someone who declares himself "non-conformist and shamelessly daring", which seems to me to be an obligatory appearance and distinction in this guide / Ferrán Centelles
MI is his Mínima Intervention wine line, hence his initials. It is a natural, monovarietal wine 100% Macabeo from the Penedès, which simply seeks to express the variety with the minimum intervention of the winemaker's hand. It is a young wine, fresh and pulsating, pure fruit. Spontaneously fermented with its indigenous yeasts and made with minimal intervention, respectful of the environment, coming from its organic vineyards certified by the Catalan Council for Organic Agricultural Production (CCPAE). Ecological and vegan. Bottled without filtering, without additives.
Surprising at first, like many natural wines (by the way, let's see when we review this terminology, because the other wines, then what are they). Terminology aside, it is a very well made wine. It expresses ripe white fruit, limpidity, well structured with the density and creaminess of its rest on its own lees. Ripe and at the same time fresh and tense, with lively citrus touches, green apple and fine herbaceous notes.
Impeccably presented with its elegant bottle, a minimalist label literally corseted from behind and its coherent sealed wax stopper, great packaging.
It is one of the continuous creations of the Pedregosa Castelo family, which in recent years has become disheveled and does not stop doing somersaults. They brazenly triumph with direct sales, they destroy their collection of canned wines (their Rosé Cenisia is more than good) and they have made La Carmeta fashionable, its magnificent wine bar with a terrace of more than 500 square meters and great panoramic views of his vineyards /Lluís Tolosa.
Although we can find carbonic maceration reds in all wine territories, it is the Álava wineries that have historically maintained this tradition, even compared to their neighbors in La Rioja, as if the Ebro River marked frontiers in winemaking.
Carbonic maceration consists of fermenting whole bunches preserving the vegetable part, that is, it is fermented without destemming. The grapes are packed into fermentation tanks, trying to fill them to the maximum and minimize contact with oxygen. In this way, each grain undergoes intracellular fermentation, as if each grape were a small deposit.
The result is wines full of life, almost blue in color, a symbol of youth with a bright tone in which the complicity of the white Viura variety intervenes. Artuke smells of crunchy fruit, of a walk in the northern forest when berries and blackberries stand out. For unredeemed urbanites, the most recognizable aromas tend to be jelly beans, from candy stores... It is a cheerful, fresh and fruity wine, a pure incitement to summer with conspiracy, also, for those who like to drink slightly cold reds.
Carbonic maceration wines are always the first to hit the market and advance vintage impressions. On the contrary, they are not long-lasting wines and it is always advisable to make sure of the vintage when buying. Their good price and joy make them great guests at popular festivals, at barbeques, in drinks with friends... As if we were txikiting around Donosti! / Alicia Estrada.
