This year was the first chance I’ve had to attend the Fira del Vi festival in Falset, a small but important town close to the regions of DO Montsant and DOQ Priorat. The festival takes place in the first weekend of May, and producers from both regions offer tastings at the fair as well as organising small events around the Falset at the same time, all in the name of promoting the wines of the regions. With it taking place over an entire weekend and celebrating the wines of two of Catalunyas most famous and popular wine regions, it’s heavily attended with somewhere in the region of 15,000 visitors flocking to the town (population 3000, by comparison) to drink and make merry. It was suggested to me that I sign up for the day of ‘professional’ tasting the Tuesday after the weekend itself, when things would be a little quieter and I wouldn’t stick out so much with my notepad and desire to spit wine rather than drink it (at least until lunch!). With the sense of childish glee that only comes to those who get out as little as I do, I embarked on an early train with my friend Alex, and proceeded to chatter away like an escaped inmate for the entirety of the 2 hour journey.
It turns out, I stuck out anyway but less because of my notepad and more due to my blonde hair and blue eyes. Like many regions, the Catalan wine community is quite insular with most of the wine-makers, salesman, distributors and major figures in the industry well acquainted with one another; this isn’t Bordeaux or Burgundy, where the world of wine descends regularly to taste and score every vintage. However, in true Falset fashion, the reception was warm and welcoming, with only the occasional snigger when I butchered Catalan pronunciation during my inquiries.
The event itself was set in a sort of car-park in the middle of the town itself, with all the producers making a circle with their stalls with small clusters set up in the centre. There were apparently 65 producers showing their wines over the course of the weekend according to the guide we were given, but there were perhaps only 50 or so for the final day. However, not only were some of the ‘big’ names of Priorat present and pouring but also a whole host of smaller producers that I hadn’t had the chance to try before, so I set about trying to taste the entire range of as many producers as I could, stopping only to make notes on wines of particular interest, of which there were a great many. Lunch was at 3pm and our original plan was to come back afterwards and finish with the producers we hadn’t had a chance to visit. Unfortunately, it turns out that lunch was the signal for the end of the day and so we missed out on the fantastic wines of Val Llach, Clos Figueras and a few more. However, I will definitely be back next year and I will be bringing some wine for lunch to avoid having to very sheepishly ask producers for a full glass of wine just as they’re closing, like some sort of alcoholic, purple-toothed Oliver Twist. (My thanks to Clos Figueras for bailing me out of that one!)
Whilst the quality of the wines was universally very high, these 3 were my highlights of the event for very different reasons.
Most memorable wine – Mas Doix 1999 (Poured from a magnum)
A bit of an unfair one as it wasn’t really part of the normal line-up but if Mas Doix 1999 isn’t your wine of the day, then you and I go to very different tastings. We were poured this wine, secretly stashed away, by Valentí Llagostera, co-owner of Mas Doix and a warm, friendly character. After the 1998 vintage, he along with Ramon Llagostera and their cousin Josep Maria Doix, decided to stop selling their grapes to the local co-operative and set out on their own. They’re now one of the most highly respected producers in all of Catalunya and rightly so; were it not for this wine, the 1902 Carignan would be up for ‘Wine of the Day’ – without a doubt the best Carignan I’ve ever tried.
The 1999 Mas Doix defies the adage that Priorat can’t age and is made from roughly equal parts of Garnacha and Carineña, before around 16 months ageing in French oak. At almost 18 years of age, this still holds a remarkable amount of ripe and dried black fruits, a beetroot character and then plenty of delicious, savoury notes; leather, dried violets, wet leaves and black pepper. Still fresh with soft, integrated tannins and so much flavour – absolutely delicious. The finish just went on and on. A very special wine indeed.
Best value wine – Les Sentius 2012
One of the greatest surprises of the day was just how much excellent wine was being served at lower price points; the world knows what Priorat can offer at 50 euros and above, but it isn’t a region well known for its value-for-money wines. A great deal of the wines I was enjoying were below 20 euros a bottle and quite a few closer to 10! Fighting off some stiff competition from Gran Clos, Cal Batllet and Malondro was this excellent wine from Celler Joan Simo.
The gentleman at the stall was none other than Gerard Batllevell Simo and owner of the estate. Like many grape-growers in the region, Gerard decided to stop selling his grapes off locally and start producing his own wine in 1999. The Les Sentius bottling sits in the middle of the range, with Viatge al Priorat at a lower price point and the excellent Les Eres Vinyes Velles and Les Eres Especial Carners considerably more expensive. Les Sentius is a big, bold Priorat wine with lots of power and spice, ripe dark fruits and herbal characteristics. It’s remarkably fresh for a wine with 15% alcohol and I’d love to try it alongside a hearty stew of some sort, although at a pinch I could be convinced to sit down with a bottle by itself! At around 15 euros a bottle, this is remarkably good value for money and I have already ordered a couple of bottles for future drinking.
Biggest surprise – La Solana Alta 2014
The feeling of discovering a special wine completely by accident is such a fun thing. Ultimately, a lot of wine is going to be within a certain frame-work stylistically, particularly in the Old World regions in Europe where rules and regulations dictate so much in terms of what can be produced. Even excellently made wine can end up tasting quite ordinary when tasted alongside 50 of its peers, and it takes a special wine to jump out of these line-ups and really demand some attention. The first time I experienced this was also in Priorat and involved a slightly older bottle of Clos Mogador (2009), which remains my favourite producer from the region to this day.
On Tuesday that wine was La Solana Alta 2014 from Bodegas Mas Alta. The winery itself is a relatively new project (1999 once again!) and production is overseen by Michel Tardieu and Philippe Cambie from the Rhone Valley; two very important names in France and a hint to the origins of the elegance and style in the resulting wines. A brand new release in its first vintage and a blend of 50% Garnacha Blanc and 50% Carineña Blanc, I found myself returning to this wine over and over again. A really beautiful balance of delicate stone fruit, melon, brioche and subtle oak with lots of intensity and a long, long finish; this wine took me completely by surprise. Effortlessly elegant without losing a shred of concentration and could well be the best Catalan white wine I’ve tried so far. I silently kicked myself for forgetting to ask if I could buy a bottle or 3 at the event, as the price of 40 euros at Vila Viniteca, currently their only distributor in Barcelona, isn’t the friendliest. This will certainly find itself into a future event for one of our weekly wine tastings here in Barcelona, as well as a space in my fridge.
Overall, this was a really lovely day out to a well organised event and I will certainly be back next year. There were so many good wines being served, and not always from the well known names of the region. We finished the day with a delicious bottle of Ribera del Duero from one of my favourite producers, Finca Villacreces, from the 1998 vintage; 25 euros on the restaurant list of the Hostal Sport in central Falset. Needless to say, the train journey home was a sleepy one.