Porcellanic - wine and spiders and spain

We Drink Wine on Sunday

First of all, I would like to apologise for the past few days absence - I decided to take some time off to go back to Italy. Which meant that my working week rolled into a holiday week, through an all nighter, and then rolled back into another working week with yet - because I never learn, another all nighter.

I don’t feel in any way rested and if anything I am more confused than before - I’ve tasted some amazing things, but I decided to go with the last one I have had. Don’t you worry, the rest is also coming, I won’t waste a single drop.

Without any further adue, I present to you Porcellanic:

They’re a bit crazy, in the best way possible of course, as per usual they operate organically and as sustainable as physically and spiritually possible. (I feel I could stop telling you that everything is natural - but I will keep doing it nonetheless).

Let me draw you a picture of the landscape - we are not too far from Barcelona, not even a hour drive up the gentle hills of Penedes, surrounded by conventional vineyards you can see one that might seem a little overlooked, almost like a forest. Little do you know that forest is there on purpose - in fact Ton, the winemaker, uses a Permaculture system.
To make it easy, the fundementals of said systems are basically three: Care for the Earth, care for the People and Care for the Resources. The focus is not the care for the individual thing but how the whole system can work and thrive together.
Within his vineyards amongs the many layers there are a few spiders - of which he is very proud, these little guys help fighting all the other insects trying to get to the vines; there are also some rabbits and other small animals that keep the soil healthy and balanced.

A fun (and slightly freaky) fact: if the spiders don’t do the trick, Ton takes it upon himself to spray the remains of invasive insects around, as a sort of warning. Grim? A little. Effective? Definitely.

The results are incredible, despite the lack of added SO2, the wines are incredibly stable. No funk, no flaws - just precision. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: if you truly understand your product, you don’t need to strip it of its personality to make it great.

So far I tried only a few, but will be keeping it coming.

just so you know - it’s now 5pm and for the sake of this article I just had the following bottle, so if it gets a big funky you know why.

Xarel-lo ‘Orangebi La Llaona’ 2016: I I feared for the entire journey—that my ancient tote would rip, the bottle would smash, and the rising heat off the pavement would make everything smell like nail polish remover. Don’t get me wrong, I trusted the winemaker, but I had heard mixed things. To my great surprise, the bag held up, and the wine opened beautifully: an amazing bouquet of chamomile flowers, caramel and burnt orange peel, soft tannins perfectly paired with a sherry braised rabbit and some greens literally drowning in butter (see pics below).

The wine was 100% Xarello, indigenous grape from the area, planted in the 80s. It only does about a day on the skins and then goes underwater - no no, I mean UNDERWATER - to age after bottling.

Iconic, I loved it, my hungover will be worth it tomorrow.

But now - the star of the show, the one reason why we’re here, the one and only:

Macabeu ‘Cal Roget Vin Dolç’ 2019: I’d had my eye on this odd-looking bottle for weeks. Is it sparkling? Is it sweet? A bit of both? Turns out, it’s the wine of the gods.

Technically, it’s still, with definite sugars- but forget the rules. It tastes like caramel, burnt orange, sweet spices - Christmas in a glass. Sticky toffee pudding vibes. I’d bathe in it if I could.

If you ever see it, treat yourself. A sip, a bottle, whatever. Then come back and tell me everything.

I’ll go thrive in the sun now, but I do want to thank you for being here.

Til next time,

Alla Salute, Serena