Xarel·lo and macabeo: the wonderful postcard of the course of the Anoia River

His father is a farmer, works in Juvé i Camps (lucky him), and his mother is a speech therapist. He, his son, Martí Torralodona, was torn between studying marine biology or oenology. Luckily, he chose what you'd imagine. The wine he makes is called Els Arpiots and is a blend of Xarel lo (80%) and Macabeo (the remaining 20%). What we have in the glass is the 2023 vintage. It's a wine that aims to be a mosaic of both origins of the estate. Martí's four grandparents have vineyards. "The grandparents, always, as in so many cases, have sold the grapes to the highest bidder," he tells me. The maternal vine is Cal Nogués, with twelve hectares; the paternal one is Can Patomàs, with thirty.

And lo and behold, because we always say "lo and behold" when we tell beautiful stories, Martí asks his grandparents to make wine with their grapes. "The deal is that I pay them the highest price they sell the grapes for. Last year I paid them one euro a kilo, and I hope I can pay more."

The first vintage of this extraordinary wine is from 2021. "I was still working as a winemaker for a large winery in the Penedès region, and now I'm advising a small project. I'm advising Pau Peyri, from the Peyri family in Porrera. You know him! That's right! It's a project we'll also have to record!" Vertical tasting from the Catalunya Ràdio season at the Vall Llach winery (Albert Costa and Isa Serra, like all the vouchers, are very generous).

Let's move on to this vintage, the third. It's the last year of extreme drought, the plants were dying, in fact the Arpiot degrees are very low: 10.8. But now the world is asking for low degrees.

"We see the plant that was suffering, the Macabeo suffered more than the Xarel·lo. We saw that the shoots were turning. Why? Because when the plant photosynthesizes, light enters through the pores and a little water also comes out. It doesn't ripen. To survive, it took the water it had inside the grape."

In any case, the positive part of having this relationship with the family is that Martí can choose which plot he will take wine from. There are plots that touch the river area more.

"I'm happy because I'm discovering what wine profile I want or like. This twenty-three is about subtlety and freshness. Always, for me, the backbone is acidity; the alcohol is secondary." All of Martí's wines undergo malolactic conversion. This means that malic acid is converted into lactic acid, which is smooth on the palate. They don't go through a barrel; they go into stainless steel containers, so as not to mask their flavors. "I always say they're minimal intervention wines, but with precision." His wines undergo spontaneous fermentation (without adding yeast), but they add sulfur when they enter the winery. Why? To avoid aromas, which some consider pleasant or "natural" and others consider unpleasant and defective. Like the smell of the stable (the Brett, which is called, to abbreviate the name of the fungus) or nail polish (the "volatile").

"I did grape harvesting practices in Austria and there the yeast takes a backseat and the wine tastes like grapes, no bananas or roses..." I was at the Weingut Hirsch winery (Weingut means storeand they made ten different single-varietal wines, from Riesling and Gruner Beltine. The glass is a very frank and sincere wine, transporting us to the landscape. It reflects the harshness of the soil, what it has endured. I know! In advance, my cheerful "You're welcome!"

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