Between the Mountains and the Sea - The wines of Oriol Artigas

7/13/18 -

A month ago, we had the pleasure of hanging out with Oriol Artigas as he passed through New York on a quick tour/vacation. We tasted his new wines and talked about the vineyards and the coastal mountain villages of Alella (a small wine region north of Barcelona).

Oriol has an infectious type of energy and passion for his craft, and it's hard not to get excited about life and wine when he is around. The wines were unique and delicious, but the best part of Oriol's visit was talking with him about his farming and the vineyards that surround his home town of Vilassar de Dalt. He has such a connection to the land and to the old farmers in the area, and though he has great pride in what he does, he's first and foremost humble and soft-spoken. He's the kind of winemaker who would rather thank nature than take credit for the wines, but some credit is definitely due!

I believe as many winemakers do, that wine is made in the vineyard, but there is still the undeniable necessity for someone to make the wine. With natural fermentation, and without the use of any sulfur dioxide (as is the case with Oriol's wines), it is even more important that there is someone present who understands the vineyards, the ripeness of the grapes, and the levels of acidity, and has an idea of how to vinify the wines in order to allow the grapes from these different sites to give an honest impression of the place they're from. Speaking with Oriol about the wines, it's immediately evident that he has almost a spiritual connection to each wine as he describes the characteristics of each vineyard, and you know that if anyone could make a wine that would taste like that place, it would be him. Each wine tells the story of a local variety (or sometimes dozens in a mixed vineyard) and the terroir which ranges from granitic sand, to gneiss, limestone, or slate, with fossils and seashells scattered about. . All of the wines we tasted were fascinating in their own right, so we had to get a bit of everything!     Eben Lillie