If they call me "picapoll" and "L'Arcàngel", I close my eyes and rise up to Montserrat

It seems to me that this season we've had very few 2024 wines in our glasses. This, the twenty-fourth, is the first vintage normal In many years. We've come through hurricanes, downpours, mildew, the pandemic, and, of course, drought. We've already tasted many of the drought wines, and they're extraordinary (but there are fewer of them). I'm happy because we're in Pla de Bages and we're drinking a Picapoll, one of my favorite white wines, for its simplicity, for the orange peel and aniseed notes I love to find, for the modernity and antiquity of the variety. The emblematic white variety of this wine-growing region. Go to the area's magnificent restaurants and you'll see that, besides intelligent Catalan cuisine, they naturally have Picapoll Bagencs to pair with your meal. Please don't miss Cal Jepet in Sant Cristóbal; Las Vegas, Ca n'Aliguer, or Ara un Vino in Manresa; Cal Ladis in Sant Fruitós; Can Jaume in Marganell; El Terrer in Santpedor... I'm leaving some out!

El Arcángel is, therefore, a single-varietal Picapoll. It ferments in stainless steel, and the yeast is indigenous. The only additive is sulfur dioxide, "with the minimum levels indicated by the echo, a little lower," Oriol Garriga, who owns half of the winery along with his partner, Laura Lloberas, tells me. They rack the wine at the beginning, and when fermentation is complete, they do a final racking, but the lees are suspended in the new tank. They leave it with the lees for four months and then stir it (they do batonageOnce a week. This gives it the great mouthfeel and creaminess we like. Because the area where they are already allows for a lot of acidity, which we also like.

Starting from scratch

Neither of the two winemakers today comes from the world of wine. In 2013, they bought the estate, located in Santa Maria de Oló, on the way to Estany, at an altitude of 800 meters (nowadays, it's a blessing). "When we bought the estate, we belonged to Bages, but now, after the referendum, we're part of Moianès." They restored the house and built the winery. Oriol, who'd always had the wine bug, studied agricultural engineering. "But it seemed too far off, because what doesn't have land..."

They ended up planting that extraordinary Picapollo grape you find in the glass, but also Chardonnay, Cariñena, Garnacha Tinta, and Taladrado. "And now, three or four years ago, we planted Mandón." We exchanged experiences about this red variety, which is being revived in Bages, thanks also to pioneers like the Abadal winery, to whom we owe so much. "Coming from outside this world, I've met some very good people. I've been learning the ropes, and some friends of my parents, lifelong farmers, have helped us..."

The wine is called Arcángel because where they are located there is a beautiful and secluded Romanesque hermitage. It also contains orange, and, if we consider the medicinal aspects, fennel and anise.