Today's wine is a street musician

"You don't remember me. One day you interviewed me on the radio. I came with my wine, Músico de Calle, and the association of oenologists was there too," he tells me. And I exclaim: "Oh, yes!" Because that day, as always we were playing, another oenologist, Jordi Grau, brought us a wine "blindly" and he "nailed it." This language, so funny, from that luminous world.

Joaquim Bielsa and Estefania Ruano make El Noi del Saxo in Vilalba dels Arcs, in Terra Alta. The vineyards are in Batea. "I am the generation that has made the change," he tells me, with that joy and frankness that he transmits and that his wines transmit as well. "My parents brought wine to the cooperative. My great-grandfather was a founder. Now it is the two of us, Estefanía and I, and our two children, who are carrying out the project. I worked for a long time in Priorat and Montsant and my idea was this, that of this Priorat winegrower who take the step".

I imagine his father and mother, lifelong farmers, happy now about the success of the winery's wines, which have won awards and recognition. "Oh, yes, the Músico de Calle was the best white from Terra Alta, and we also won a Vinari d'Or, but no. We don't know!"

Joaquim is a musician. He plays the saxophone and he is all about music. But at one point in his life he chose to return to the land. "I always had in my head that I didn't want to put wine in bottles «Joaquin Bielsa, winemaker». I wanted the wine to be for people, and music is the channel that everyone likes. We make three wines and they are a trilogy on three levels. Lo Noi del Saxo, el Músico de Calle and El Solista".

Three wines and three colors. White, red and rosé. "Lo Noi del Saxo is the young one, born in 2017, and it is a wine - we make 8,000 bottles - that has given us many joys. At the Garnachas del Mundo 2020 it was an ambassador".

This wine, which we have in the glass today, is a blend of garnacha and syrah (70% and 30%). It is a wine that seeks to hit, a word I invented to describe this fun and shared afternoon drink. It is the tender idea of "excitement". It comes from young, tender vineyards, like the musician who is going to play. "My son is going to start playing the drums and he is counting the days until he plays them. That excitement. They are young wines that have a certain matrix, on the other hand, because the vineyards are ten or fifteen years old." I understand the musician who is speaking to me, who is a saxophonist. He is not talking about the excitement of playing, but of starting to play.

What is in this glass? Well, a wine that has a lot of volume. Aromatically it is very explosive, with the velvety part and this taste of licking the pencil tip of the Syrah. It is very well thought out for the tapa. And it is very, very polished, because as Joaquín says: "I like very rounded wines. That people can drink. In moderation, obviously." We understand.

The 23rd vintage, the one we tasted, has a lot of length. There is always a lot of fruit in these wines, you will see that. "The syrah has a lot of nerve and it depends on how you would eat the grenache. The grenache, on the other hand, you have to protect it, and to protect the grenache you have to control the syrah." In this vintage this is done. I think that at first it has a lot of nerve and the bottle suits it well. And a fact! It is not oaked (it does not pass through the cask). There are those who believe that it is.

"They put it in this chain called Llorito, on the first line of the menu. Imagine. A seafood restaurant that serves you a black man by the glass." The first line of the menu means that it is one of the best value of all. When you try it, you want to repeat.

Although Joaquim decided to go "from the territory to the world" and, in this way, abandon professional music, he does some nice things. He played at Wine Week, and depending on what you think, at the tastings too. "I'm a big fan of Kenny G, and I know he's a cloying person, but I applaud music that's made for the people. Anyway, if you ask me for music for this wine, I'll ask for Pep Poblet's. We became friends with him after Lo Noi del Saxo." Enjoy this afternoon the joy of the musician who plays in the street, who passes the hat, humble and proud, happy to start playing something else. You'll want more.