Wines with a lot of nature and with zero (or very little) intervention

Espolla / Rabós de Empordà / Masarac / Sant Climent Sescebes / GironaNatural wine refers to wine made from grapes without adding or subtracting anything, or with minimal intervention by the winery. This is the most widely accepted definition of natural wine, a product that has grown in popularity over the last fifteen years, both in consumption and cultivation.

Carles Alonso, known to everyone in the natural wine world as Carriel dels Vilars, the name of his cava, has lived in Els Vilars, a village about a kilometer and a half from the village, since 1990. Alonso is considered, if not the pioneer, one of the pioneers of natural wine in Spain. At the end of 1979, while working at a farmhouse in Osona, he discovered without even considering it that he had made a magnificent fresh sparkling wine, which was praised by everyone who tried it. "Obviously, over the years I've been learning and evolving; it's not like I was born ready and knew how to make ancestral wine. It came to me spontaneously, by chance. I didn't plan on inventing champagne that day," explains Alonso, a straightforward man, which makes what he makes the one who produces the sarcastic Ampurdan style, although he was born in Barcelona. "The goal was to make a wine that was just as good as the standard but without having to manipulate it, and that has been and is my battle," he adds.

0.0% or minimal intervention

The world of natural wine sparks heated debate. Some producers, like Alonso, are radically opposed to adding anything at all to grape juice. "When you add sulfites to a natural wine, it ceases to be natural, because the added product already modifies the original," he opines.

"We reopened the winery in 2009 or 2010 and started making wine like Juan Carlos's father [her husband] had done, and we discovered we were making natural wine," says Bárbara Magugliani of the La Gutina winery in Sant Climent Sescebes, Spain. "We don't add anything. 0 sulfur, 0 acidity regulators, 0 added yeasts, just fermented grape juice. We've continued and grown with this philosophy and we continue to work like this," adds Magugliani. "Let everyone do what they want, but for me the most important thing is that people say what they do. When a person is honest, I think they can do what they want. I'm not one to tell them what they should do, what's right or what isn't."

There are winemakers who make 100% natural wines and others with minimal intervention. "For me, a natural wine must begin in the vineyard of a winemaker, who works with respect and a return to the region, in my case, Albera. These grapes are cared for in an ecological, biodynamic way, respecting it, bringing it to the winery, observing it with minimal intervention," says Jordi Esteve, from the Rim winery in Rabós de Empordà, a Girona native with Empordà roots on his mother's side, who has returned to the Empordà after harvesting in the Empordà and places like Chile, California, and Australia.

"In my project, I have wines that are natural, like those from Carriel, to which nothing is added or subtracted. But when I have a problem, as a winemaker, I try to ensure that the wine reaches its final destination, which is in the bottle," Esteve adds. "I've been doing it for years. They've gone astray, they haven't finished fermenting, they've leaned towards vinegar, they haven't been sufficiently stable, and that product hasn't become marketable and has stayed in the winery," Esteve continues. "But if you don't do what you have to do to end up in the bottle, your work is worthless." Esteve has ten hectares of old vineyards, between 30 and 120 years old, of local varieties. With ten hectares I would be harvesting between 50,000 and 70,000 kilos and here I am harvesting 30,000 or 35,000, which converts into between 10,000 and 15,000 bottles, depending on the year."

"Natural wine is a wine that bridges the gap between the person who cares for the land and the person who makes the wine, who feels and interprets with the greatest possible sincerity and with the utmost respect for the entire process of working the land, making the wine, and serving it to the end customer," says Salvador Batlle, of the Cósmica winery in Agullana. Batlle is the son of winegrowers from Alt Camp, with vineyards in this region and in Baix Penedès. He worked with his parents for fourteen years, but intended to set up his own winery. "And the Empordà is the place that fits perfectly with what I wanted to do," he says, which is why he settled in the northern Alt Empordà a few years ago.

Alcalde manages vineyards from Capmany to Vajol. In other words, he manages vineyards at altitudes ranging from 90 meters to 600 meters. "This allows me to have a very wide range of maturations and make wines with different soils and varieties," he says. The harvest begins in early August and ends well into October, two months into the harvest. "I make natural wines, but in the natural wine school, there are many ways of doing things. People who are very minimally involved in the work in the winery, people who are very minimally involved in the work in the vineyard, and people who are very selective in each of these steps. I believe I am a very minimally involved winery."

Alt Empordà, a region with a lot of natural wine

"The Penedès is undoubtedly the epicenter of natural wine in Southern Catalonia. And Northern Catalonia has been the epicenter worldwide for years," says renowned sommelier and, for just over a year now, also a natural winemaker, Roger Viusà, son of Roses. Natural wine cultivation has also grown significantly in the Alt Empordà, and he himself is a prime example. Best Sommelier in Europe in 2007 and Best Sommelier in the World in 2008, he recently left the Plaça del Vi 7 restaurant in Girona, with an excellent natural wine list, to join the Roca brothers to focus on winemaking, with vineyards in Vilajuïga and Vilamaniscle.

"Taking the risk of making natural wine is already admirable, because you face risks you could avoid," says Viusà. "In the rise of natural wine, as in everything, there's a part of fashion and a part of intention. When we started making natural wine, people thought we were crazy. Since then, the wines have become cleaner and more polished; we've learned. We have to think that there's one wine per year, and that means an opportunity each year to learn." "In Catalonia, it's been about ten or twelve years since we've been able to create a complete natural wine list because there are more producers and a very important natural wine revolution, with people with degrees and knowledge and a peasant heritage."

Viusà doesn't yet have a winery and carries out the winemaking process at Bodega Pujol in Masarac, with David Pujol, who follows the family heritage of generations of winemakers. "The concept of natural wine is a modern one," says Pujol. "With commercial wine, you're making a product that the consumer likes; you have tools that allow you to make these wines. With natural wine, it's a different story; you try to reflect what you do in that wine. It's another way to value your product and be able to compete in the market, which is very broad and highly competitive," adds Pujol.

"Before, the grapes were picked, crushed, made into must, fermented, and then wine was made. There wasn't a deep understanding, and we've learned a little about that from the neighboring country [France]: valuing the estates, where they come from, etc.," says Pujol. "It's not a good idea, but bulk wine, the natural wine we used to talk about, wine made at home, served as food. Back then, one could be better than another, but they didn't seek the meaning we seek now."

Suitable instruments for making natural wine

Alonso is not only against sulfites, but also against wooden casks and cork stoppers. "The wooden cask and the cork stopper are incompatible with natural wine. I know I'm breaking a convention and that 90% of people ignore me. But I'm radical because it's true. Wood is porous, and the pores are a breeding ground for bacteria and residue. It's a very poor container. Natural wine should be stored in glass. "If stainless steel tanks with floating lids didn't exist, I wouldn't make natural wine. It's a great invention."

"Natural wine isn't protected against oxygen, and any oxygen interference alters it and can damage it. Natural wine must be tightly sealed, so I seal it with crown corks. In Spain, I've been recognized as the first to seal wines this way," Alonso explains.

The vast majority of natural wines—or ancestral wines, as they are also called—are now sealed with crown corks, which guarantee airtightness, and are consumed young. "For me, natural wines should be drunk young, as they are fruity to the max," Alonso concludes.