TERRA ALTA - ¿DONDE?

31-Aug-11 - One of the greatest pleasures of the wine world is to see regions of which almost no-one has ever heard start to make world-class wines, and one of the most recent in Spain is the DOP Terra Alta, southernmost of the wine areas of Catalunya and, as its name implies, one of the highest, with vineyards up to 400 m altitude, in the province of Tarragona. My first visit there was in 1996, at which time there was only one Bodega - Bàrbara Forés in Gandesa - turning out anything of export quality. I have a fond memory, on that same visit, of a sleepy co-operative in the village of Bot called Agrícola Sant Josep, which didn't have any facilities to bottle its wines, but had instead one of those old-fashioned 'petrol pumps' - the ones with the 'clockface'- and the locals would come around, typically after church on a Sunday, with their 5-litre containers and fill 'em up before lunch. The bodega was fermenting in concrete tanks and everything was, well, much as it must have been for the previous several decades. A great deal has changed, not just in Bot, since then. I've been back a number of times, most recently in the summer of 2009 (see post of 11-Jun-09) and also had the opportunity to taste a range of wines from new and emergent producers who are starting to scratch the surface of the UK market (see posts of 24-Mar-11 and 30-Jun-11). My mind was concentrated, however, by a consultancy client who approached me at the beginning of June. He's called Gwyn Jones and he runs a hotel called St. Mary's in Pencoed, in the Vale of Glamorgan. He also owns vineyards in Bot, Gandesa and Batea, and sent these details: "The majority of our vines are between 30 and 50 years old and have been groomed over the past five years to produce small, intense crops of fruit. The varieties are Garnacha red, Cariñena, Tempranillo, Shiraz, Garnacha white, Macabeo and possibly a small crop of Merlot this year. Our cellar is in the Cathedral of Wine at El Pinell de Brai, a small village in Gandesa. This cellar is a major tourist attraction, which has just been restored with a government grant. Our wine maker is Sumpta Mateos who also lectures in œnology at Reus University."

 The cathedral of wine, built by Cèsar Martinell in 1919 in the Modernista style

The winery, and the wines, are called Don Ferranti (somehow reminiscent of an Italian electronics company?) And he sent me a selection for tasting and evaluation. These were the highlights:

2010 Don Ferranti Red - Garnacha/Cariñena - 13.5% abv - £6.95
Youthful purple//good concentrated fruit on the nose, some spice//good balance of fruit and soft tannins, nice concentration and quite complex for a wine this young. Lovely fruit on the finish - just delicious - 18/20

2010 Don Ferranti Barrel-fermented - Garnacha/Cariñena 66/33 - barrel-fermented + 9 months
Dark purple//dark, damsony fruit, hint of spice, still rather closed//good, big powerful fruit on the palate, rich mid with powerful black-cherry fruit, with tannins working under. Austere finish with tannins quite prominent and, surprisingly, not a great deal of oak apparent. This needs probably a year or more but should be excellent. 17/20
2009 Don Ferranti Red - Garnacha/Cariñena/Shiraz - 13.5% abv - £8.95 - Decanter bronze medal 2011
Purple>ruby at rim//clean, fresh, hint of rose-hip fruit//very nice, clean, fresh acidity and good balance: very light tannins, fruit prominent, nice balsamic hint on the mid-palate, fresh length with bright fruit, structure on the finish with hints of tannin. Very good. 17/20
2010 Don Ferranti white - Garnacha Blanca/Macabeo - 13.5% abv - £6.95
Very pale straw//bright, fresh-fruit nose, hint of herbs//fresh, clean, uncomplicated but quite delicious, nice, fresh finish with crisp acidity and some pear-fruit. 18/20
2010 Don Ferranti Garnacha Blanca - barrel-fermented + 9 months
Pale gold//a bit closed on the nose, hints if fruit with toasty oak 'notes'//nicely balanced on the palate: oak and fruit in proportion to each other; good, firm finish with the fruit on top, completely dry on the finish - very good. 17/20
2009 Don Ferranti white - Garnacha Blanca/Macabeo - 13.5% abv - £6.95 - Decanter commended 2011
Pale straw//some lively fruit, hints of pears and a bit of honeysuckle//the fruit comes through well on the palate, with a bit of weight, some warmth and a hint of almond on the finish. This is a beautifully-made wine and deserves much better than a commended, but needs to be drunk soon. 17/20
2009 Don Ferranti oaked white - Garnacha Blanca/Macabeo - 13.5% abv - £8.95 - 4 months French/Hungarian oak
Straw//very nice 'perfumed' lavender fruit with a hint of oak//lovely 'savoury' fruit, once again oak perfectly balanced with the fruit dominant on the mid-palate. Good, long, warm finish. Excellent but, again, drink soon. 18/20

On the whole, the youngest wines generally seemed to perform best, but they all showed the potential that is available from this up-and-coming area. They are picking the 2011 vintage as I write (31-Aug-11) and it will be interesting to see what such an early harvest can produce.


And another one that nearly got away, also from Batea: Anthony Crameri sent me the sample back in the spring, and somehow it got pushed aside (at any one time I've probably got several dozen samples awaiting tasting and, of course, consultancy clients come first). However, while we're on the subject of Terra Alta it's called LAFOU de Batea (note the italic 'f' - is it something to do with madness?), anyway, this is my dust-encrusted tasting note:

2007 LAFOU de Batea - Garnacha/Syrah/Cabernet-Sauvignon 60/25/15 - 14.5% abv - 15 months oak (12 new French) - €35
Purple/ruby//quite a bit of blackcurrant on the nose, with spice from the Garnacha and Syrah//good tannic 'grip' on the foretaste and some rich fruit on the mid, with toasty oak and some working tannins. Good length with promise for the future - needs another year. 18/20

On this showing, Terra Alta is very much a region to watch with tremendous potential for the future. I really must get back to Bot and see if that sleepy old co-op has woken up yet!

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