2022 Cosmic Valentia
WINEMAKER: Salvador Batlle
REGION: Penedès, SP
VARIETY: Carignan Blanc
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
100% Carignan Blanc from old vines, de-stemmed, 3 days maceration. Elevage in Chestnut and tank. "Dandelion. Honeycomb and pear with gentle phenolics. The power on this wine is incredible. Mineral and saline. Savoury with a tonic edge. Captivating." - Liz Carey
Salvador Batlle's family is based in the village of Sierra de Montmell, Baix Penedes where they work 22ha of vineyards. Salva began making wine in his late teenage years. He studied, then travelled and returned to Penedès in 2012. But Salva and his father butted heads, and so in 2013 he found a cellar in the small town of Agullana, Emporda, 15 minutes from the French border, that came with a few hectares of vines. Ultimately what he wanted to do was not be an extension of his parents but rather, to forge his own destiny.
Located 20 kilometers from the Mediterranean, Agullana sits at 300 metres above sea level. One of the first vineyards Salva began working with was planted to Carignan Blanc. "It is a fresh variety, with a lot of acidity and structure but it has always been ill-treated. A variety that has been in this area for 300-400 years but is not recognised by the European Union,” explains Salva. The madness of the system, as he points out to me, is that international varieties are fully accepted in the region "It's a sad state of affairs, but unfortunately a lot of things happen because decisions are made in offices and they forget about tradition and the terroir".