Carriel dels Vilars

Catalonia
Spain
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Carriel dels Vilars

Catalonia
Spain
Spain
PRODUCER
Carles Alonso
ESTABLISHED
1979
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
REGION
Catalonia
Spain
CITY / VILLAGE
CLIMATE
Mediterranean
ELEVATION
SIZE

About

Carles Alonso crafts extremely personal, rugged natural wine in the shadows of the Pyrenees with grapes from his wild jungle-like vineyards. He left his job as director of investments at Caixa Catalunya in 1979 to build his stone house in the tiny hamlet of Els Vilars, grow his own food, and craft natural wine from 2.5ha of slate slopes 250m above sea level. His vines grow among native grasses, flowers, and bugs, competing for water and struggling for nutrients in Girona’s arid Alt Empordà climate, untended but for a single aggressive winter pruning and a touch of 'caldo bordelés' after flowering. The savage fruit from these vineyards makes for haunting wine full of Mediterranean character, kept fresh by the tramontana that blows from the mountains to the north.

Products

Negre

TYPE
Still / Red
VARIETAL
Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Samso
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Organic. 30% Syrah, 40% Grenache, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carinyena grown from Carles Alonso's 2.5 ha of vines on slate soils at 250 meters altitude in Alt Empordá. Other than a pruning in the winter he leaves the vines along to struggle and fend for themselves- these are as close to wild vines as you can get. The same approach carries through in the cellar where he does as little as possible (never any additions, fining, or filtering). The Negre is fermented and then aged in ceramic tanks before being bottled with no SO2.

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Escumos Blanc

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Macabeo, Xarello, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Parellada
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
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Rosat Escumos

TYPE
Sparkling / Rosé
VARIETAL
Macabeo, Xarello, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Parellada
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
DETAILS

Organic. 10 different grapes lin order of most to least %: Garnatxa Negra, Macabeu, Xarello, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnatxa Blanca, Parellada, Chardonnay, Carignan. Sourced from Carles Alonso's 2.5 ha of vines on slate soils at 250 meters altitude in Alt Empordá. Other than a pruning in the winter he leaves the vines along to struggle and fend for themselves- these are as close to wild vines as you can get. The same approach carries through in the cellar where he does as little as possible (never any additions, fining, or filtering). All grapes are hand-harvested the same day then destemmed and crushed with several hours of skin contact. Co-fermentation in aerospace grade ceramic-lined vat, then bottled when the juice has fermented nearly dry. Zero SO2, zero additions. Hand-disgorged to order after ageing at least 45 months on the lees. 250 cs.

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Blanc Petillant

TYPE
Sparkling / White
VARIETAL
Garnatxa Blanc, Macabeu, Xarel·lo, Garnatxa, Parellada, Chardonnay, Carinyena
FARMING PRACTICE
Organic
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