IMPORTER JOSE PASTOR : ENVINATE & BICHI FOCUS
Hi All,
I'm back from the dead (barely) and we have our first winemaker night
Monday the 13th with two winemakers from Jose Pastor's portfolio,
Oriol Artigas from Catalunya and Noel Tellez from Baja California so
that's what we'll be talking about today.
Jose Pastor himself has long been in the vanguard of bringing natural
Spanish wines into the states, and has recently expanded his portfolio
into central and South America.
In the past ten years or so Catalunya has become one of the hotspots
for experimental natural winemakers for several reasons. The land is
cheap, there's a great deal of indigenous varieties, the regions giant
cava production has meant that local still production has flown under
the radar of international markets, and the tutelage of two natural
wine giants, Jordi Llorens and Laureano Serres, who remained steadfast
when there was no market at all for their wines.
Oriol makes wines in the tiny appellation of Allella, outside of
Barcelona, a historic winegrowing region that has almost entirely
disappeared due to its proximity to the coast and the never eneding
appetite for vacation homes. Oriol got the winemaking bug like many
do, by working a harvest while in school to be a chemist. Finding that
he no longer wanted to be in a lab, and split the difference,
enrolling in an enology course and going into the scientific side of
winemaking. After graduating he interned at several wineries in the
region and eventually began to teach enology at a local college, which
gave him the stability to launch a small winemaking project of his
own, with an emphasis on revitalizing long forgotten vineyards in the
area.
Oriol focuses on only grapes from the region, mainly Pansa Blanco (the
local name for Xarell-lo, htmain grape in Cava production), Garnatxa,
Trepat, Macabeu, parellada, Beier (a grape it's believed only Oriol
has in any quantity), and Sumoll and because most of the vineyards he
works with had been forgotten most of the vines are old, around 70 to
100 years old. Here's what we're offering, with notes from the
importer:
La Rumbera is all Pansa Blanca from 7 plots on sandy granitic soils.
half of the grapes were destemmed and crushed and macerated on the
skins for 3-4 days; the other half was destemmed and macerated without
crushing for 9 days. Fermented and rested in stainless steel.
El Rumbero is 100% Garnatxa Negra from 2 vineyards on granitic sands.
Fermented whole cluster in mostly stainless steel tanks and rested in
the same vessels.
El Rall is 50% Merlot, 20% Garnatxa Negra, 20% Syrah, and 10% Sumo
from 4 vineyards planted on granitic sand. Destemmed and fermented in
stainless steel tank with 3 days on the skins, then transferred to a
mix of stainless steel tanks and used barrels to rest.
Sammay Blanc and Sammay Blanc Pet Nat are equal parts Xarel-lo,
Macabeu and parellada from young vines on sandy granite soils around
Alella. Hand-harvested, , pressed whole cluster, and fermented on the
skins for 5 days in plastic vat before pressing to stainless steel
tanks. A portion of the wine was bottled before fermentation finished
for pet nat. 10% ABV. Unfined, unfiltered, and undisgorged. No added
SO2.
Sammay Negre and Sammay Rosa Pet Nat are 100% Trepat from young vines
on sandy granite soils around Alella. Hand-harvested, 50% of grapes
pressed whole cluster and 50% were added to the juice to infuse and
macerate during fermentation in plastic vat before pressing to
stainless steel tanks. A portion of the wine was bottled before
fermentation finished for pet nat. 10% ABV. Unfined, unfiltered, and
undisgorged. No added SO2.
The first time I met Noel Tellez we were standing outside on Treasure
Island outside of San Francisco and he was telling how he was
somewhere in the mix of crazy, stupid, and genius for trying to make
serious wine in Baja California.
The market for Mexican wines at the time is roughly the same as it is
now, almost zero, with most wine buyers questioning if wine is even
made in Mexico. But, despite this Noel and his fellow winemakers at
Bichi have persisted and have managed to make some of the most serious
natural wines with their little 10 hectares of land outside of Tecate
near the California border.
Focusing on mostly old vine mission vines and working biodynamically,
an easy conversion in the hot dry, windy climate, Noel has rejected
the modernization that has completely overtaken Mexican winemaking
(with no appreciable results). The vines are hand harvested, foot
trodden, fermented with indigenous yeast, and bottled with minimal
sulfur (a lesson learned after some bottles went bad in transit). The
wines are about as a pure an expression of west coast winemaking as
you can get. Here's the wines we'll be pouring:
Mistico Tinto is comprised of a field blend of grapes from the various
parcels and terruños that Bichi works with in both Tecate and Valle de
Guadalupe. The wine was vinified the same way as the other red wines,
except for 1 tinaja of Tempranillo seeing some carbonic maceration.
"El Pancho' Carignan/Pais The grapes were destemmed by hand, then
fermented without temperature control in concrete tinajas with 30 days
of maceration on the skins, then pressed with a hydraulic basket press
to rest in stainless steel tank.
"Gordo Guapo" Garnacha From an 80-year-old vineyard in the Valle de
Guadelupe. The vines are at 300m and planted on clay soils. The grapes
were destemmed by hand, then deposited in stainless steel tank without
crushing for 25 days of carbonic maceration and fermentation before
pressing with a basket press. Aged in stainless steel before bottling
without fining, filtering, or sulfur addition.
Rosa Garnacha Rosado: Rosa is 100% Garnacha from an 80-year-old
vineyard in the Valle de Guadalupe on clay soils at 300m. The grapes
were pressed whole cluster immediately after harvest, and fermented in
stainless steel tank. No fining, filtration or added SO2.