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#catalan-wines
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- news
A review of, “Penedès: Why Corpinnat Isn’t Cava”
It's a sign of not only a region's maturity, but also its high level of quality when people are clamoring to profile it via word and image. It's the latter which we see here in the short film, "Penedès: Why Corpinnat Isn’t Cava" that's been released by Vianédita. As is the case with many wine-related documentary pieces, they have a number overhead and harvest shots that are well done and frame the setting in the Penedès region. These are however offset with what are clearly AI-generated images to illustrate the historical parts of the video. I realize that original art is expensive to generate, but there's an aspect to this style of generative output that always comes up a bit short as it doesn't really capture a true essence of the subject. That and there are a number of paintings and other works around Catalunya that could have been used…
by Miquel Hudin3 viewscatalan-wineswine-on-filmcorpinnat - news
Telling a mountain to move
The Montsant Massif is a striking mountain range full of grey cliffs and sits at the northern point of Priorat Country in Catalunya, Spain. Meaning, “the holy mountain”, it’s inspirational in sheer, natural awe and it makes for no surprise as to why the Denomination of Origin Montsant made use of its name when created in 2001. Despite this well-crafted name and image which has brought local recognition, I personally haven’t heard anyone say, “Make mine a Montsant” when ordering a wine in London or San Francisco though. I mention […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin11 viewscatalan-winesfeaturesdo-montsant - news
Torelló, Corpinnat, Catalunya
As one of the originals to break off from DO Cava in the Corpinnat split, Torelló has been a winery that I’ve been following for some time. They have a relatively broad range of wines, but all are from estate-grown grapes and quality runs from very good to absolutely excellent. Thus it was a nice surprise to receive this sample of their ‘Tradicional’ wine. If I’m not mistaken, this is their second-largest production wine of the 600,000 or so bottles they produce each year and it’s always a solid option, […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription .
by Miquel Hudin12 viewscatalan-winestasting-benchcorpinnattorello - news
Corpinnat hits a full two dozen
It wasn't even two years ago that the couple behind Cisteller were lamenting that they would be the 'unlucky' number 13 to join the Corpinnat association. I told them to think of themselves more as a "baker's dozen" and that ultimately, there would be new additions at such a speed that their order of joining wouldn't matter. Their placement hasn't hurt them at all, nor Corpinnat which has just announced that they've reached a full two dozen members with the addition of #24, Fèlix Massana Ràfols. Like many, they're one of the wineries that made the decision to leave DO Cava. It should come as little surprise that they left as they've met all the Corpinnat requirements for some time in that they farm organically and they were one of the "Elaboradors Integrals" which DO Cava has apparently already scrubbed from the list on their website. This is a small…
by Miquel Hudin16 viewscatalan-winesnewscorpinnat - news
A new look at Castell d’Encus
When going to taste the wines of Ferrer Bobet for this year’s Priorat Report, co-owner and general winemaking savant, Raül Bobet proposed tasting the wines of his personal project up in the Pyrénées, Castell d’Encus. This has results in this small report of his current wines, which have also been added to the much larger Costers del Segre Report released previously. Bobet has found his home at what seems to be the end of the earth, perched up at 850 meters. Over the course of his career, he’s shown himself […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin9 viewscatalan-winesdo-costers-del-segre - news
Acústic Celler – Blanc 2024
With the free fall in the wine world which may or may not be stabilizing despite all of us who love wine doing our part to drink it, producers are still trying to figure out wtf to do. And it seems that one of the main solution is… “Make white wine!” Much like I told my mother in regards to ‘investing’ in cryptocurrency, if you’re not already making white wine, then you’re too late to the game and the last thing we need is a white wine glut. There are […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin13 viewscatalan-winesin-the-glassceller-acusticdo-montsant - news
The wines of DOQ Priorat & DO Montsant 2026
With what appears to be the earliest harvest on record just about everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s time to take a look at two of the leading regions in Spain, DOQ Priorat and DO Montsant as well as their well as their respective Tasting Reports here and here. I won’t mince words as it’s a rather crucial time in their evolution as regions. It’s not unfair to say that things aren’t easy for wine producers in general and being a region in Europe that produces predominantly red wines with […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin15 viewscatalan-winesfeaturesdo-montsantdoq-prioratpriorat - news
Cellers de Scala Dei – Pla dels Àngels 2025
It’s nothing new to say that rosé has come a long way in a short time. Well, maybe it’s more the case that we should say Provençal rosé has come a long way to be basically ‘the’ rosé. I remember attending Vinisud back in 2014 when it was still going strong and, after meeting Verónica Ortega for the first time and tasting her nascent DO Bierzo wines, I strolled over to the Provence section. I swear I was able to see it from across the pavillion. Like a lighthouse on […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin25 viewscatalan-winesin-the-glasscellers-de-scala-deidoq-prioratgrenache - news
The Holy Trinity
While on a trip to Porto and the Douro recently, a colleague and I started talking about “field blends” and I admitted that I find the mystique given to them to be a bit, how shall we say… ‘bullshit’. It’s often part of the branding at many wineries that, if they have an old vineyard, they’ll upsell the aspect that they pick all the grapes together and ferment the one as one, singular, beautiful wine. The idea being that over time, the vineyard has been planted with a vast array […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin21 viewscatalan-winesfeaturescarignandoq-prioratgrenache - news
Corpinnat nears two dozen with Mas Vilella
Corpinnat has just announced (*) their 23rd addition in the form of Mas Vilella, bringing the total number of wineries in the association to just shy of two dozen. While the biggest news for Corpinnat this year was the move of Juvé & Camps from DO Cava to the association, the addition of Mas Vilella is quite important as well. It forms part of a new front in the group wherein there are members that aren't coming from other, established DOs, but instead starting new projects that opt to produce under Corpinnat from very the start, emphasizing the strength in the core values of the association. Mas Vilella started still wine production in 2015 when Albert Jané, after finding a good deal of success in his DO Montsant and DOQ Priorat wineries of Acústic and Ritme, decided to go back and build upon his roots. While Mas Vilella is a…
by Miquel Hudin17 viewscatalan-winesnewscorpinnat - news
The un-Cava, Cava
As shown in the report on the Corpinnat sparkling wines, there’s no debate as to the solid momentum behind this association. What started as a group of six ‘rogue’ high-quality sparkling winemakers abandoning the Denomination of Origin Cava has turned into a serious bubbly force to be reckoned with. I feel like the larger question being asked now isn’t, “Why would someone leave DO Cava?” and much more, “Why wouldn’t someone join Corpinnat?” While it may seem a rather obvious direction to take, there are vast and varied barriers to […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin18 viewscatalan-winesin-the-glassalta-alellado-cavamacabeuparellada - news
A wine of straw
In the world of fashion, there’s the premise that all styles come back around, something like every 20 years. This happens to be extremely good news as the skinny jean fad was killing me and I’ve been waiting to buy new “baggy” jeans for what seems like time inmemorable. I have the distinct impression the world of fashion doesn’t apply when it comes to wines and more specifically when talking about sweet, dessert wines. The zenith would probably be during the Goût Russe Champagne period which saw this treacly sparkling […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin23 viewscatalan-winesdoq-prioratferrer-bobet - news
The wines of Corpinnat 2026
At this moment in 2026, the Corpinnat sparkling wine association has taken what is perhaps its most crucial leap since being founded in 2015. Accompanying this report is the large Tasting Report which is by far the most extensive to date in terms of the number of wines reviewed with 18 of the 22 member wineries having submitted samples. The reasons for the quantity are obvious as they’ve now arrived to 22 members; an impressive increase from the six that originally broke from DO Cava back in 2019 and there […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin21 viewscatalan-winesfeaturescorpinnat - news
Looking back at Priorat 2021
It’s hard to imagine, but the Northern Hemisphere’s harvest of 2021 was nearly half a decade ago now. Yeah, I know. Clearly, the quantity of water that flowed under the figurative bridge since then has been, immeasurable… But due to all the world events and torrent of information thrown our way, it’s easy to miss things that are, for most people, not terribly important, such as the various vintages passing in wine regions. And given a justifiably-limited amount of attention span, I feel that there are only a few ‘bookmark’ […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin21 viewscatalan-winesfeaturesdoq-prioratpriorat - news
Familia Torres Pirene, Costers del Segre
This is an interesting wine of note from Torres as it’s from the larger Costers del Segre Tasting Report but was tasted after the fact. It’s noteworthy as, unless one is very deep into the wine trade, you’ll probably never have heard of the grape variety, Pirene. It’s part of the variety recuperation program that the family started over 40 years ago to find seemingly ‘lost’ varieties across Catalunya. The reason behind this was and continues to be in order to find different varieties for use in a changing climate. […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription .
by Miquel Hudin17 viewscatalan-winestasting-benchdo-costers-del-segrepirenetorres - news
Familia Torres – Purgatori 2023
In what was another life (i.e. pre-pandemic) I received less than 48 hours notice to fill in as the “wine expert” for a group of well-heeled enotourists arriving from the UK for a New Year’s Eve jaunt around Barcelona. I’ve never been much for NYE and so it seemed like a way to get paid well for a couple of days as everything had been planned previously. Little did I know, it was actually the case that the tourism company organizing it was very much in the initial dry heaves […] For full access, please log in or purchase a subscription.
by Miquel Hudin31 viewscatalan-winesin-the-glassdo-costers-del-segregonfausgrenachetorres