Slightly earlier than other years, the vines begin to change their colors. The color change of the grapes occurs when the last phase of fruit ripening begins. When the grapes start to appear ripe, it’s time to wait and see all the colors.

Last year we told you about the small differences in the changing color time of the different terroirs we take care of. We are sure that this year the progression of this phenomena will be broadly similar, from the most flat terroirs to those of higher altitude.

However, the high temperatures of these days and the lack of rain, make us suspect that the whole maturation process is advancing slightly. We know that stopping climate change is not in our hands, we try to study what abrupt changes the climate emergency is causing. The conclusions we reach is that local varieties are more resilient to high temperatures, drought, wind. Therefore, they are also the ones who with less effort will be able to live happily in our terroirs. The changing colors arrive, little by little, but evenly. The viticultural work is done, for now. Now that the vines are in a new periode, all that remains is wait and see. In a few weeks we will be able to harvest these tasty fruits.

La Vella is our white Carignan of old vineyards, planted in 1919. This wine is the culmination of a process of observation, research and study on the local varieties of the Empordà.

Some time ago, with Dylan Grigg we were sorting out all the vineyards we had, analyzing them, rediscovering forgotten varieties and deciding that we could never leave them nameless again. From this exhaustive study came the library of varieties, and hence our idea of making wines that would recover them, like this white Carignan.

La Vella is a tribute to the winegrowers who have worked hard to preserve these vines for a long time, despite the low yield, although the trend for many years was to uproot and put varieties that gave more grapes. Winegrowers such as Àngel Poch, who with perseverance and love for the land have made it possible for La Vella to become a reality today.

Thank you all for working the land with love for so many years!

You can now order La Vella in our shop online.

Lledoner roig, red grenache, grey grenache. Different words to name the same type of grape. A local Empordà variety that we want to recover to make wines that reflect our terroir.

Let’s talk about the red hawthorn: the grapes. This is an exotic variety because they are neither white nor black but pink. Grapes from the Grenache family that complete the trilogy: Black Grenache, White Grenache and Red Grenache. Lledoner negre, lledoner blanc, lledoner roig, we call it the Empordà. The residents of Banyuls call it Grey Grenache. Rare grapes, because it is difficult to find a whole vine, and they are often mixed with other varieties.

A more vigorous variety than the Carignan, which often accompanies it. Very resistant to the north wind and drought, it gives us the best fruits – more pink than gray – when ripe well. This usually happens when you are in poor terrain. They must also be typical Empordà vines, less vigorous than those that came from France in the 1960s.

We have set out to recover this unique variety to make exceptional wines. Have you already tasted our Lledoner Roig, a single variety made from 100% of this exceptional grape?