A black rooster eating grape seeds

Today's wine is a red rooster that eats grape seeds. The producer is Oriac Ferrer, a son of the Ferrer and Catasús family, has the kindness of the humble, and is a sommelier. The house's winemaker is Núria Vilalta (how we'd love for some young person who's gone to explode on this page to decide yes, they want to become a sommelier or winemaker...). She also has a master's degree in wine management, but she doesn't brag about it, because "the more you know, the less you know."

Today, Oriac presents Gall Negre, her house's interpretation of the Penedès varietal range. I say this, the varietal range, because this rooster is 100% Merlot. In other words, one of the varieties considered "international" or "foreign," depending on what you mean. These are old vines, fifty-five years old, in Guardiola de Font-rubí, near Sabanell. Some say that Merlot, in the Penedès, is having a great moment. It's a single-vineyard wine, in an area that is the highest in the Alt Penedès, always with Ordal's permission. They're hilly, perhaps at the highest, five hundred meters. There, the oscillation between day and night makes ripening somewhat slower, so this rooster can retain a little more acidity. It's a wine that has aging capacity, but not extreme. We can keep it at home for five or six years (but it's worth drinking it now, because today is today). They practice respectful pruning, work organically, and harvest by hand. The selection begins in the vineyard, because the work begins in the vineyard. Oriac tells the grape pickers: "What you wouldn't eat doesn't go into the box." So, in the winery, the grapes go into a cold storage room for a few days, three or four, a week at most. "To preserve aromas," he says, adding: "We stop ripening to preserve aromas." And the work continues. "We vat in stainless steel, and we macerate and ferment with manual pumping over twice a week." And, after the malolactic conversion, they rest in second-year oak barrels. This is because they provide the spicy notes, the silkiness, but the wood is not as present and doesn't mask the fruit. This wine contains the typical spices of Merlot and oak. Licorice, key...

I always wonder, by the way, how they do it in other languages, like Spanish, to distinguish, as we do, between licorice and glue.

This is the 2020 vintage. This means drought and mildew. In other words, very little production, which when you grow organically you can take precautions, but not much more. And here we come to the story of the name of this wine that has been giving pleasure around the world for fifteen years. There are three birds in Spain with PGI: the blue-legged chicken from El Prat, the pheasant from Andalusia, and the black rooster from Penedès, which is known for eating seeds and grape skins. Only four breeders remain (there's more food than eaters). So this wine is a tribute to the gastronomic gem that this meat is. An intense and sweet meat. Pair wine with rooster, of course, or with game. Not with cured meats or cheeses. Go for stews, game, casseroles, and legumes. Enjoy the story, the good vibes, the free joy that this well-adapted foreigner transmits, just because, because it's summer and we want to raise a glass.

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