Oriol Artigas: 2018 Single Vineyard Wines
3/11/20 -
I visited Oriol Artigas on August 31st, 2019, a hot and humid day in the middle of the harvest. The day before, the 30th, had been truly brutal: temperatures were around 32 degrees celsius in Alella, but the next day was set to be cooler, and picking would continue (in fact, he and his team went on to pick the La Bella vineyard on Semptember 1st). Alella, a region of steep littoral hills and protected, heavily forested valleys facing both inland and towards the Mediterranean, has intensely variable weather that is hard to predict, making scheduling harvest difficult. Oriol picked me up in his white truck from the train station at Cardedeu, a suburb of Barcelona, around 11am; I spent the entire remainder day with him, his collaborators Pepe and Pilar, his family, and his friends at his winery at Mas Pellisser. It was one of the most interesting and valuable experiences in my wine career so far, and one of the most blessed days of tasting, eating, and drinking that I've ever experienced.
Alella is beautiful, but somewhat cursed by its proximity to Barcelona. The old vineyards are being gobbled up by suburbs and beachfront vacation properties. Oriol's wines are expressions of vineyards that are under threat - or, in the case of El Monstre, already gone. Each vineyard is unique, and Oriol represents this uniqueness by bottling wines from small parcels, blending the various grape varieties present. Indeed, many of these varieties are themselves very rare and are found only in these small plots in Alella.
Oriol's operation is small and very hands-on. Harvesting and vine tending is all by hand, by necessity and by choice, the harvested grapes are quickly brought from the far flung slope and valley vineyards around Alella back to Mas Pellisser where they are pressed or allowed to ferment whole-cluster in stainless steel tanks. The winery is not large: there's a single press (which was having problems and required constant monitoring on the day that I was there) and multiple stainless steel tanks for fermentation and resting, and a variety of accompanying vessels and tools for winemaking. It would be incorrect to call this a one-man operation, as Oriol has helpers and friends in the vineyard and the cellar, but it is certainly small-scale and manual. And, of course, these are natural wines: the various vineyards are farmed organically with a variety of practices inspired by biodynamics, there are no additions or subtractions in the winery, and everything is done by hand.
On arrival we checked in on a project that Oriol was doing with some of his enological students: Pansa Blanca from a seaside vineyard. On the 31st of August, the grapes had been macerating on their skins without temperature control for four days, slowly crushing themselves under their own weight. First, Oriol removed the oxidised top layer of skins (which smelled like nail polish remover), and we tasted the juice below, which was still very sweet but also intensely tart and mineral, grapey and citric and saline without a hint of volatile acidity. From there, he pumped the grapes and juice into the press, where they were delicately pressed and went into a small stainless steel tank to finish fermentation.
Next we tasted through the recently harvested and currently fermenting wines that were in tank: Oriol's red grapes, Garnatxa and Merlot, with varying levels of still-to-be-fermented sugars. The Garnatxa was destined for El Rumbero, Oriol's flagship red wine that is a blend of different parcels, while the Merlot would most likely go into a new bottling. These were further along in fermentation than the Pansa Blanca, but still quite sweet, just starting to show vinous characteristics like tannin. Most of the rest of the day's activity concerned the Garnatxa, which was fermenting whole cluster in stainless steel. Over the course of the day Oriol, Pepe and the rest of the team pressed this off, gently foot trodding the (partially-)carbonically-macerated grapes before adding them to the press. I helped where I could, asked questions, and explored the winery and the vineyard.
In the evening, when the pressing was mostly finished, we opened an array of bottles from the 2018 vintage (the wines on offer today) and feasted on crusty bread, fresh tomatoes and peppers from the garden, and anchovies and cheese. I don't speak or understand Catalan, but this was truly one of the most pleasant and convivial meals of my life. The 2018 wines are incredible, and I can honestly tell you that I have been talking about and waiting for their arrival for the past six months. To me, there's nothing like these wines and there's no one like Oriol.
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Eben wrote this about his visit to Oriol, and I echo his feelings:
"Oriol told me his story, how he was not a winemaker or from a winemaking family; how he developed this passion and wanted to do something to preserve the history of the region (its grapes and the unique terroirs); how he spent years (and everything he had) on this project, starting with one tank...obtaining a second one...borrowing a press...spending the last of his money keeping his dream alive, and volunteering for over six months with no pay. As he reached this point in his story, he took the air of someone who feels truly blessed and thankful for their life. He told me how Jose Pastor had met him around this time and at this crossroads moment, paid him almost a years advance for wines that were not even flowers on the vine yet. "Jose was my angel," he said, as he went on to explain that this person believing in him gave him confidence and convinced him that he wasn't crazy! When I thanked him for the visit recently, he wrote back: "Eben!! I have enjoyed a lot your visit. For me it's incredible that sombody from the other side of the world came to my home to visit me!" He is undeniably grateful for every ounce of good fortune he's had, and his pride is pure, and without ego. Oriol is of this magical place. He's the embodiment of the tranquility of this sleepy DO in the hills of Catalunya and his energy and his smile are infectious. He is truly an amazing human being, and a gifted winemaker to boot! "
Like Eben, I was deeply effected and inspired by my visit, and I'm continually inspired by Oriol's wines. I'm extremely excited to be able to sell them and share them. The caveat is, of course, there's not very much of anything, and we probably won't be able to get any more than what we're offering today until the next vintage. And, unfortunately, these wines have all been hit with the punitive 25% tariff. I still think that they are more than worth the price.
Thank you to Oriol Artigas, Pepe and Pilar, and Liz Fayad for wines, information, hospitality, and everything else!
Ben Fletcher
