Sandra Doix: "In Priorat, red grape varieties are not uprooted, but new plantings are of white varieties."

Barcelona/PoboledaI interview the producer Sandra Doix (Poboleda, 1984), from the winery of the same name in Poboleda (DOQ Priorat) at the Barcelona Wine Week fairWe photographed her in Poboleda, in her vineyards. Sandra produces 12,000 bottles, with six different wines, and is one of the DOQ Priorat wineries currently experiencing growth.

She studied oenology at the Rovira i Virgili University and worked for years at the Mas Doix winery, which her parents founded with the Llagostera brothers. She started her own winery in 2019, and it's the biggest professional endeavor of her life. Like other Priorat families she's partnered with, like Albert Costa and Isa Serra from the Vall Llach wineryHe lives and works in the region where he was born and where he has raised his family: two children. Making his own wines was a further step in expressing his deep affection for the land. And that's how he envisions his future.

You started 2019 on your own with just a few hectares.

— With four. I started with the old vineyards, from the Doix family. Today I have nine. They are all mine, my own, and mostly of the Carignan variety.

Cariñena is a red grape variety. Do you have any others?

— Garnacha, which is also red wine. White Garnacha, Macabeo and Piedra Chimeneas, all white wines.

Did your parents co-found the Mas Doix winery?

— Yes, in 1999, and They were part of the project for twenty years.I started working as a winemaker until one day we decided to leave. It was when foreign, American capital came in, and we thought they would want to do things differently. It was a family project that was ceasing to be one because 50% foreign capital was coming in. So my parents and I left Mas Doix because we were losing our identity.

In your own winery, Sandra Doix, how many wine references do you make?

— I have six, four black and two white, distributed in two collections: Pópulo and Marla. The latter are both syllables from my daughters' names.

It is said that White sales have increased compared to black sales in Catalonia.And generally throughout the world as well. Have you noticed?

— I feel the need to increase the volume of white wine, because it's true that there's more demand. I have a small vineyard of Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo, and Piedra Chimeneas, which is what I use to make both wines. The market accepts the whites better because they have a lower alcohol content. But I also make four red wines.

Do exporters ask you for the white ones?

— They tell me that if I made more, I'd sell them. We sell to Denmark, where I started the export market, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and Canada. But the white ones sell well in the local market too.

Do you think the increase in sales is due to the lower prescription?

— I don't think so, because the white wines also have 14% alcohol. I think it's more due to the recent rediscovery of Priorat whites, which are very interesting. In fact, Priorat originally had white vineyards, planted after the phylloxera epidemic. In the 1990s, there was a decisive shift towards red vineyards. Back then, white wines were made differently; they had a rapid oxidation rate. Now it's been shown that white wines can also age well. In Priorat, 90% of the wines are still red, but the new vines I'm planting, and those of other winemakers, are white.

France has uprooted vineyards of red grape varieties.

— In Priorat, no, we haven't done it, because when you plant, you're making a bet on the future, but it's true that all the new plantings being done are vineyards of white varieties.

You're doing it.

— Yes, I'm one of those doing it. I feel comfortable making white wine; we've lost our fear. It's a completely different process compared to making black wine.

Do white ones have the same price as black ones in the market?

— No, the black ones are more expensive, but there are white ones that are already selling for 30 euros. I myself have one for under 30 euros, and another for over 40-50 euros.

Your winery is in a growth phase.

— We have a lot of energy. We've only just begun. We're in a growth phase, yes, making ourselves known. I don't like it when people say there's a crisis in the wine world. In fact, I don't see a direct crisis because I'm growing. I do hear my colleagues talking about it, saying they used to sell more bottles than they do now; that they have bottles left in stock at their wineries. And what they tell me worries me.

Changing the subject. What kind of reception did you get in the region when you started out on your own?

— They encouraged me. My family, especially. I knew what I was getting into, and I found the capital, energy, and drive wherever I could. For a while, I combined working at the winery with another job to have income from different sources. Keep in mind that I started from scratch. So I was working at another winery and managing it.

What do you think of the wineries in the Priorat DOC that are leaving because they cannot bring wines with lower alcohol content to market?

— Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. I think sometimes these actions have to be taken in order to later influence a larger group. The global market demands certain limits on alcohol content, so someone has to start enforcing them.

Finally, I ask you about the vine leaf necklace you're wearing.

— It's a Carignan; I grow it because Carignan has taught me so much. It's a variety that teaches you patience, care, expression, and meticulousness in the vineyard. If you nurture it, guide it, and work with it, it will eventually give you magic—that is, an elegant wine. Carignan is a challenge, and I consider myself someone who thrives on challenges, because they demand a lot from you. And I enjoy all of that.