Ten years of 'Wine Portraits'

Vilafranca del Penedes"The collection Portraits of Wine The author of the series, the journalist and sommelier Ruth Troyano, recalls this. The young oenologist born in Organyà was now ten years ago the protagonist of the woman's first book. 'Enología' by the Rovira i Virgili University (URV).

These publications dissect the winemaking profession based on their professional and personal experience, the objectives and challenges they face, the landscapes... Ten years later, in January, the publication celebrated its anniversary at the Museu de les Cultures, collection.

The event was attended by the author of the series, the journalist and sommelier Ruth Troyano, who spoke with Toni Sánchez-Ortiz (El Solà de Ares), Francesc Ferré (Celler Frisach), Anna Espelt (Espelt Viticultors), Sergi Colet (Colet Vinos), Roser Amorós (Celler Carlania), Miquel Palau (Celler Abadal) –the protagonists of the cycle–, as well as the photographer Maoz Eliakim and Jaume Llambrich, coordinator and editor of Publicacions URV. It was also the starting shot for the celebrations corresponding to the twentieth anniversary of the URV publishing house.

Through the stories collected in this series of testimonies, the collection maintains its relevance. It builds a story about oenology, a tradition that has always been rooted in the territory and its people. "With Portraits of Wine "We started the path of looking at the landscapes and at the people, because wine is humanity and nature, essentially," says the author of the books. "A very conscious choice was made of winemakers that we did not know, an act of faith and trust of very young people who were starting their project," she adds. Troyano, who adds: "Of the eight winemakers we have made, four have roots and ties to Tarragona." The south as the country's great wine pantry with countless projects. They are restless winemakers, eager to dare, to make very original wines and with a lot of freedom, but having gone through the academy. We have insisted that they are making more wines from the site, from the estate, with that precision agriculture that the climate emergency demands. They work with models such as biodynamics, permaculture or regenerative."

Looking more at the soil

Troyano warns that there has been an evolution in the world of wine in the last decade: "Today we are looking more at the soil than ten years ago, also because the climate forces it. Agroforestry mosaics have been developed in territories resilient to the onslaught of the climate and the fires that characterize the Mediterranean." "The books meant another way of reading the world of wine, beyond the technical part, bringing in the human dimension, the philosophy of life and the landscape, because it is humanity, of who makes the wine," he reflects. He considers the collection closed, but does not rule out that it may be resumed later. What will be published soon is a report of what was experienced a few weeks ago at the Vinseum.