A Garnacha from Terra Alta that is like nothing else!

"I'm putting out fires, right now!" Josep Serra tells me, the soul, the winemaker, the manager, and every other title we can think of at the Serra y Barceló winery: Serra, for him, Barceló, for the mother of his children. He is the everything to this Corbera d'Ebre project, under the auspices of the Terra Alta DO. "We winegrowers have to do everything to survive. We're tightrope walkers."

I know him. He's the fourth generation of a winemaking family. He was born in Ascó. They planted Macabeo grapes, and he studied oenology to continue the family legacy, guided by his grandfather and father, eager to "modernize" the way they did things. "We invested in the winery in the 90s, during the Priorat boom, and we made sparkling wine, white Garnacha fermented in casks, but we didn't get along with Dad." That's when he joined the Falset cooperative. "I did the entire transformation, I was there until 2001." He's been involved in many projects, including the winery owned by Joan Manuel Serrat. "I was there until it was sold. I do consulting work. And there are people who have you as an advisor, or keep you, or ask you random questions. I advise Roca de las Doce, Viñas del Terrer... in La Mancha."

Pastries and hydrocarbons

Aucalá is a completely different white Garnacha. "I understand white wines better than black wines; it's a family legacy. I made an interpretation ofthis Garnacha blanca, following the example of an Australian friend and importer. I used to work with him at the Serrat winery. It was born in 2013, in a spot in the Bot area.

This restless man works with the lees of up to three previous vintages. Why? Because autolysis can last up to three years, and that, as they do with cava, adds nuances: the yeast is so flavorful and the proteins. The school of French wines, the famous aging on lees. Apart from stabilizing it. This is the texture and smoothness you'll find in this wine. They do two harvests. One third is the greenest part, which will give it aromatic intensity. With less sunlight, more freshness. And two thirds, the traditional one. The yeast is native and the "pie de cuba" (the preparation that allows the preparation that allows in the vineyard. Then, they make the blend and incorporate the lees (or the mothers, if you prefer). They clarify, if necessary, when bottling they add the sulfites, not many, which are "the safety belt of wine". also pastry, of the yeast that we said Aucalà is a wine that gives much more information than what appears by the price or the label. Ah! of hydrocarbon. The twenty-one begins to mark.