What's Pressoir Drinking? A discovery from Spain...
By Raj Vaidya
November 29, 2022
At a friend’s restaurant recently, I asked her to pick a refreshing white wine for us to enjoy with the simple tapas menu on offer. The forté of this particular sommelier has long been fresh, mineral wines made in a mostly natural style, and she has spent a fair bit of time in Spain, so it is far from unusual for her to pick a Spanish wine given the chance. However, when the white was poured blind from a decanter, on my first impression I was sure I was drinking something French, and likely something from a cool climate. Aromas of shells and gunflint along with marked acidity and tremendous vibrancy made me sure this was from high elevation, cool, and old vineyards. My guess was a Chenin perhaps, but it had some waxy undertones that eventually had me settle my guess in the Pyrenees mountains somewhere in the south of France.
Turns out, I was close but far off at the same time. Carignan Blanc is a variety often seen in the Pyrenees regions between Spain and France, though of course it’s red skinned cousin Carignan is much more well known. South of the French border in Catalonia, the area around Girona is home to some pretty old vineyards of Cariñena Blanco, and to the small winery Còsmic Vinyaters. This project is the brainchild of Salvador Batlle who has a family pedigree in fine wines from Penedès but decided to work on a 3 hectare property of old vines he bought in Empordá. Salvador is a huge proponent of aging in amphora, or clay earthenware vessels, and this bottling of old vine Cariñena Blanco from vineyards planted in the 1960’s has about 20% of the cuvée aged in amphora, another 20% in chestnut barrels and the remainder in stainless steel. The amphora and chestnut bring the texture and richness to the wine, while the stainless steel keeps the palate super fresh and linear with salinity and great precision. This wine saw skin contact prior to pressing for four days which added to the complexity of aromas and made for an all around delicious lunch wine.
