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Portal del Priorat - Alfredo Arribas

Alfredo Arribas

Priorat, Spain

Portal del Priorat - Alfredo Arribas


COUNTRY

Spain

REGION

Catalonia

sub Region

Priorat/Montsant



Climate

Hot Mediterranean

WineMaker

Juan Asens

FARMING PractICes

Organic, Biodynamic

WEBSITE / SOCIAL

https://alfredoarribas.com/


The History

Though Alfredo Arribas was born and raised in Barcelona, he fondly remembers spending summers visiting and helping his grandfather, a vintner in the Ribera del Duero. His passion for wine carried over into adulthood and he often orchestrated his work travel around the wine regions and wine bars he was interested in. It was only natural that in 2001 after a successful career as an architect that he shifted his focus to wine.

Alfredo fell in love with the landscape and possibilities of Priorat on a visit and bought some land, from which he produced and released his first wines in 2004. However, before these wines were even on the market, he purchased another plot of land in the neighbouring and more accessible DO of Montsant.

The Philosophy

Alfredo is making wines with ‘no history or tradition’ in Spain.


Alfredo Works his Montsant and Priorat projects in tandem. Though both are farmed Biodynamically, he does place different emphasis on each DO. In Priorat, he makes vina de Pagos – wines from a single place, his Clos des Portal and Gotes (focused on freshness) wines. In Montsant Alfredo has pieced together 12 (and counting) vineyards of Carignan, Grenache and Grenache Blanc, all varieties grown traditionally in the region. In Montsant, Alfredo is particularly excited about his vines which grow high in the hills at 700-800m ASL. From these vines he harvests fruit and makes wines that he couldn’t find a category for in his business as it were, so he started a new once called Vinsnus to encompass his more experimental projects such as the SiurAlta wines (showcasing altitude).


The vineyards are directed by the oenologist Juan Asens. Juan’s winemaking ethos is to have as little human intervention as possible. For him, in the this means employing short macerations, only native yeasts, and a barrel ageing program that brings out the true character of the grapes year after year.


Today, Alfredo and Juan are a known for making some of the most elegant wines in Priorat and Montsant - wines that are massive in terms of flavour, yet balanced, fresh and largely uninfluenced by new oak and any other manipulation.


WINES FROM THIS PRODUCER

Alfredo Arribas

spain, catalonia
grenache blanc
$24.95

Alfredo Arribas

spain, catalonia
grenache
$25.95

150+ Producers worldwide

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