Texturas de Jiloca 2020

Oriol was born in Valls, a town in inland Tarragona famed for its Calçots and Castells. His first experience with winemaking came as a child, helping his uncle in the vineyards and local co-op cellar. After a brief career in telecoms, he returned to his roots, producing a BIB wine with a chemical engineer from Torres Winery. This caught the attention of renowned winemaker René Barbier, with whom Oriol—sharing Tarragona roots—began making wine. Escabeces, a small town in Tarragona, is home to 99% of the rare Cartoixa Vermell variety. Oriol rents vines from growers producing for Cava, who dislike Cartoixa’s pink skins. He farms organically, dramatically reducing yields from 10,000 kg/ha to 3,700 kg/ha. The grapes are handpicked, destemmed, and fermented on skins in stainless steel tanks for 20 days at low temperatures, preserving the wine’s delicate character.

Hand harvested and hand selected. Spontaneous fermentation with native wild yeasts. Fermentation carried out by plot and by soil type. Destemmed; followed by maceration on skins for 3 days. Pressed and fermented for 20 days with initial temperature control. Racked into cement tanks for 6 months.

Rich; ripe nose of yellow apple; yellow pear and some more tropical guava. The palate is broad and spicy; with notes of spiced vanillin; poached pears; white pepper and quince. There is heaps of acidity throughout; with a beautifully fresh texture of grape skins; glycerol and cream. Long; juicy and packed full of flavour.

Asparagus, Cod, Salads

DO Tarragona, in the SW of Catalunya, was split into 2 parts when DO Monsant was given its own status: Camp de Tarragona (from NW Tarragona and along the coast) and The River Ebro (slightly higher). Like so many Catalan DO's over 70% of its production is white and destined for Cava, although hundreds of years ago it was known for its sweet red and rancio wines. As the vineyards climb from the sea to the Serra de Monsant mountains, the soils and climates change from Mediterranean to Continental, offering a wide range of wine style. In recent years there has been a concerted effort to modernise its wine production, incorporating new grapes and styles into the traditional vineyards of the region.