When wine speaks of the landscape: Gramona delves into geosensory tasting

The Gramona winery recently hosted an informative event focused on geosensory tasting, a discipline that emphasizes the direct relationship between landscape, terroir, and the sensory properties of wine. Winegrowers and producers shared practices in the vineyard, the winery, and during tasting, with the expression of the soil in the wine as the central theme.

The event is part of Gramona's involvement in the Rencontres Henri Jayer movement, an annual event held in Burgundy that brings together producers, scientists, and tasters from around the world to discuss precision viticulture and terroir expression. Jaume Gramona has been invited to participate for years as a prestigious collaborator seeking to express his terroir.

Now, Gramona has wanted to bring this spirit of debate and continuous learning to your home, inviting a selection of international speakers to the Penedès to delve deeper into the organoleptic analysis of these wines—a technique for evaluating the quality of beverages through the assessment of the senses—with the aim of sharing knowledge and expertise.

The experts' view

Among the prominent voices, Jacky Rigaux, a pioneer in the pedagogy of the wine movement that places terroir at the center of the wine universe, and co-founder of Les Rencontres, opened the day with a reflection on the importance of the wine landscape as a narrative element of wine. He emphasized the importance of the combination of soil and wine, because "there can be no good wine without great terroir," Rigaux asserted.

Geologist Georges Truc gave a presentation on the theory of wine tasting through wines from the Rhône Valley, emphasizing that "when we taste, the mouth does the job of the fingers, which we should use to caress the wine." Also participating was Cyrille Tota, author of the book The wine toucher (The Touch of Wine), which delved into the tactile analysis of wine and the tactile sensations it provokes.

Another complementary perspective came from neurobiologist Gabriel Lepousez, who specializes in sensory perception, who spoke about the neuroscience of sparkling wine. Lepousez emphasized that "bubbles have an emotional dimension that affects all of our senses."

On a local level, Roc Gramona and Joaquín Cámara presented the studies they carry out on the family property to understand the detailed composition of the soils and its implications for tasting.

To close the day, a roundtable was held with wine professionals who hold the title of Master of Wine, Fernando Mora, Álvaro Ribalta, and Pedro Ballesteros, accompanied by Champagne producer Pascal Agrapart, and moderated by wine journalist and communicator Amaya Cervera.

The impact of terroirs on wine tasting

The Rencontres Henri Jayer are held annually in Burgundy, one of the legendary wine-growing regions for wine lovers. Terroir names such as Romanée-Conti, Montrachet, and Clos Vougeot have demonstrated the importance of soil and its impact on wine tasting. Burgundy is the birthplace of the profession dedicated to certifying the origin of each wineskin to prevent counterfeiting, the so-called "certificates of origin." gourmets.

The importance of named terroirs, well defined and with well-defined geological, hydrometric and solar exposure characteristics, is key in Burgundy wines. So much so that these Burgundy terroirs—known as climates— were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Translating this idea of the climates In the Penedès region, Gramona particularly highlights the work at the Can Romeu estate, the family's first property and the beginning of their history as winegrowers and producers, located at the confluence of the Anoia and Bitlles rivers. This is where one of the house's most iconic long-aged sparkling wines, Gramona Celler, is born.