2020 Bodega Clandestina Orange censurat

VARIETAL: Carignan Blanc
REGION: Catalunya, SP
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
WINEMAKER: Ferran Lacruz Bosch

100% Carignan Blanc, from young vines (6 years old). De-stemmed by hand, and then macerated in stainless steel for 2.5 weeks. After fermentation and removal of the lees, the wine then stayed on the skins for another 3.5 weeks. Then aged in 160L amphora for 5 months. Zero added sulfites.

Lightly amber and clear. Nose of brine, cumquat, oxidative apples, amphora, dried apricots and samphire or saltbush. To taste it is salty, with medium acidity, mild texture, and clear in the mouth. Very dry, with apples and mandarin, limestone and tension. Very subtle grip. Such a classy, well-made restaurant wine. Ever so pithy and juicy, with restrained flavours. Delicious. Mandarin droplets. Day 2 – prime time. So much restraint, tension and salinity, A very sophisticated orange wine!

Ferran Lacruz Bosch is a talented young winemaker, who is fairly new on the scene. With only a few vintages under his belt, he is already making intriguing wines of superb quality. In and around his small village – Sant Martí Sarroca, in the Penedès wine region - he farms 8ha of old vines organically, using some biodynamic preparations. Here you will find Xarel·lo, Carignan Blanc and Malvasia. The vines are 300-350M above sea level, and grow on poor soils made up of clay and limestone. The majority of growers here sell their grapes for mass production wines, and so when Ferran said he wanted to make his own wine, everyone thought he was crazy. They told him it was a bad idea and that it wouldn’t work. These days, everyone in the local villages want ‘the wines of Ferran’ – but unfortunately they are sold out, tightly allocated across the globe.

As most of the grapes grown here go towards mass produced wines, Ferran has chosen not to be boxed in, and not to be part of any appellation, origin or regulation. He wants to make original, honest natural wines – as clean as possible – and to showcase the heights of what can be produced in this region. He feels there is so much potential here - and he is not wrong - his wines really are quite striking.

Ferran harvests by hand, collecting the grapes in 18kg crates. In some instances, he revisits the same parcel over 3 separate occasions, to pick grapes at different maturity levels. He then vinifies these harvests separately, to harness the different components of freshness, maturity and structure – before blending to create a well-rounded, balanced and precise wine. He ages his wines in a mix of barrels, amphore and demijohns. He doesn’t fine or filter, and doesn’t add anything to the wines – no sulphites at any stage. He is not opposed to sulphites, but will only use them if he sees it as absolutely necessary. The final products are salty, gastronomic wines of extremely high quality. Very stable and reliable too. Get them on your radar!