MundoVino Portfolio Book

Vins Del Massis /Vahns Del Mass-Ees/ DO Catalonia, Spain

The idea for the winery came in 2006 when Belén Sánchez took Benjamin Romeo and Patxi Fernández to see the potential of winemaking in her home region of Catalonia near the Massis del Garraf. Both men fell in love with the dry rugged landscape and the calcareous cliffs at the seashore village of Garraf just south of Barcelona. In 2008 after finding a location for the winery in an older building dating back to 1936, the project began in earnest. The winery focuses on local varieties of Xarel.lo and Garnacha blanca sourced from single-estate plots influenced by their individual soil types and the Catalan coastal mountain range, which rises to 2,156 feet at its highest point inland. The grapes are hand-harvested from head- trained 80-year-old vines and reach the winery within two hours of picking without the use of herbicides. It’s exciting to see how Vins del Massis combines the voluminous body and aging potential of Garnacha blanca with the taught linear qualities of Xarrel-lo and aromatics influenced by a pre-fermentation cold soak, lees aging, and the Mediterranean Sea. Massis 46 percent Garnacha Blanco and 54 percent Xarello. The wine is from Olesa de Bonesvalls, Catalonia. From the El Badell and Mas Corp vineyards. It is made from head-trained vines with no irrigation that produce only 1.5 to 2 kg. The grapes are de-stemmed, macerated on the skin for twelve hours in stainless steel tanks then barrel-fermented and aged for eight months in 300 L and 225 L French oak barrels on the fine lees with 50 percent new and 50 percent once used. No malolactic conversion. This wine reflects its altitude by exhibiting flavors of Anjou pear, lemon thyme, and tangy honey crisp apple on the palate, which are rounded out with honeydew melon complemented by a hazelnut finish. 2013: 89 WA Macizo 50 percent Garnacha and 50 percent Xarello from head-trained vines from the El Pou, Vinya Petita and La Font de Cinera vineyards carried in 16 kg boxes to keep the integrity of the fruit intact. The grapes were destemmed, crushed and macerated on the skins for eighteen hours in stainless steel to pull out maximum aromatic potential and then moved to barrels to finish fermentation. The wine was aged for eight months on the fine lees in new 300 L French oak. No malolactic conversion. Fined and filtered. The skin maceration results in pronounced aromatics of white peach and dried apricot and on the palate, manifests itself as passion fruit, grassy mango combined with the silky texture and spicy finish of cold- pressed EVOO. 2013: 90 WA

WINES OF SPAIN

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