Catalan White Wines

The focus of my recent visit to southern France and Catalunya was red wines, as these are warm Mediterranean climates where Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Carignan are all common. However, there are some excellent white wines made too, often unusual and with a distinct character. Here are some highlights.

malvasia di sitges

Starting with my last winery visit of the trip, and the most unexpected. Sitges is a seaside town around 30 minutes south of Barcelona, and there is a small amount of wine made in the town and surrounding area. The winery I visited, Vega de Ribes, is located just outside the pretty village of Sant Pere de Ribes, not far from the Mediterranean sea. Although there are many varieties planted (35ha in total) and wines made, the speciality is Malvasia di Sitges, a rich, ageworthy style of white wine.

Malvasia is an historic family of grape varieties, grown across the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. There are many variants of Malvasia, ranging from aromatic, Muscat-style to more acidic yet rich, and their name is often connected to the town/region the variety is grown in. This makes the term “Malvasia” confusing and inconsistent, even if the strains are all genetically connected.

Malvasia di Sitges is the same as Malvasia di Lipari, taking its name from an archipelago just north of Sicily. It’s also grown in Sardinia (where it’s called Malvasia di Sardegna), as well as Calabria and Tenerife. The variety is therefore well suited to warm coastal Mediterranean climates, maintaining acidity but producing rich, round styles of wine.

Vega de Ribes is a 17th (seventeenth) generation family winery, and I got to meet Enric and his son Biel. When Enric started making wine 30 years ago, there were only two wineries making Malvasia di Sitges (the other, locally famous winery is Hospital Sant Joan Baptista); now there are around 30. Enric, who is quiet, unassuming, yet clearly hugely knowledgable, deserves huge credit for reviving this historic grape variety in the area.

malvasia di stiges

Biel, meanwhile, concentrates on vineyard work. He is clearly passionate about the vineyard, planting grape varieties historically indigeneous to the area. But Malvasia is a love/hate relationship for him, as in the vineyard it’s a nightmare to work with—managing the canopy during the growing season takes as long for a row of vines as a whole plot does for other varieties. The bunches of berries are loose and very long, almost touching the ground. This is great for air circulation and disease prevention, but there are so many leaves it is hard to correctly remove them while protecting the berries from the sun. It’s also a late-ripening grape variety, but it needs thin, infertile soils otherwise it’s hugely overproductive.

But in the winery both Biel and his father love Malvasia, because it produces such concentrated, intense, ageworthy wines that makes all the hard work in the vineyard worth it. The variety produces such expressive wines that there is no need for barrel ageing: the wine spends one year on the lees in stainless steel before bottling for a rich, round, fresh style.

I tasted four different vintages of the flagship “Sasserra” which attested to the consistency and ageability of the wines. 2018 was golden in colour, smoky and nutty, rich, round, and intense. 2012 was the same golden colour, but nuttier with mature dried fruit, earth, and mushroom aromas, while maintaining lively acidity (with a touch of residual sugar from the later harvest). 2006 was turning amber in appearance and was a little more oxidative, with smoky, toasty, marzipan, sweet spice aromas. 2000, the second vintage of this label, smelt like old Riesling with petrol, biscuit, rye cracker, marmalade aromas, but much richer and rounder on the palate than a lean Riesling. For all four vintages, texture and mouthfeel were the defining quality. (c. $20; ✪✪✪✪✪✪ for all four wines.)

I also tasted their sweet wine, “Melvasia” 2016 (a play on the Catalan word for honey, mel), which was just 10.5% ABV from late-harvested grapes. This had the same rich, round, creamy mouthfeel as the dry wines, but with a honeyed sweetness. Only 1,000 bottles made: liquid honey in a glass (c.$40; ✪✪✪✪✪✪).

parellada

There are three local varieties used for Cava production, Xarel·lo, Macabeo, and Parellada. All are also used for still white wine production, though not too often. The most unsual to find as a still wine is Parellada, which is planted at higher elevation as it otherwise struggles to retain acidity. However, Nin-Ortiz, based in Priorat, make a version from their plantings in Penedès by the coast. I tasted the “Terra Vermalla” 2019, and it was astonishing, nutty, smoky, and powerful, with straw, hay aromas, full-bodied on the palate but with alcohol of just 12% (c.$40; ✪✪✪✪✪).

carinyena blanc

As noted in my Priorat post, Carinyena is an important black grape variety. But Nin-Ortiz have also experimented with a white mutation, Carinyena Blanc, which owner Carles Ortiz belives is ideal for the warming Mediterranean climate. And he might well be right. The 2021 “Planetes Blanc” (labelled as 13%, but really 12.2%: don’t tell the Priorat authorities as the minimum alcohol for Priorat whites is 13%) was toasty, weighty, and chewy, with spice, quince aromas (c. $37; ✪✪✪✪). The 2015 was as rich and full-bodied as white Burgundy with a grainy texture, stone fruit aromas, and a nutty, sweet spice maturity. Both vintages could be confused for Burgundy such was the character and quality (✪✪✪✪✪).

garnatza blanca +

Just as Garnatxa (Grenache) is the all-important grape variety for quality red wine in Priorat and elsewhere in Catalunya, so too is its white sibling. Cims de Porrera make a 100% Garnatxa Blanca which is Riesling-like in its smoky, spicy aromas, although much weightier on the palate (€16; ✪✪✪✪).

Because of that weight and body, Garnatxa Blanca is often blended. Mas Doix’s “Murmuri” is 95% Garnatxa Blanca and 5% Macabeo, with three months on the lees for a fresh, crisp style with green apple and waxy aromas (€20; ✪✪✪✪). The more serious “Salix” is 65% Garnatxa Blanca, plus Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez, which is planted in small amounts in Priorat. This is similar in style, but more aromatic and much weighter on the palate (c. $60; ✪✪✪✪✪). Again, there are comparisons to white Burgundy.

Scala Dei’s white is called “Massipa,” a blend of 80% Garnatxa Blanc and 20% Chenin Blanc, planted at 650m elevation on red clay soils, picked at the same time, and aged in two barrels and one foudre. The 2021 tasted from barrel was weighty and structured, with fresh acidity coming from the Chenin Blanc. The 2020, at 13% ABV, was creamy, with yoghurt, spice, and integrated oak, woody aromas (€40; ✪✪✪✪✪ for both).

The trick in the warm climate of Priorat is to make wine that isn’t too heavy, which is why producers are cutting back on the use of oak. Terroir al Limit are cutting back on their oak barrels, although the 2019 white is aged in foudres; at the same time, owner Dominik Huber prefers the character of bottle ageing over barrel ageing. “Pedra de Guix” is a blend of Garnatxa Blanca, Macabeo, and Pedro Ximénez, and has slight oxidative aromas and a golden colour, with a saline, creamy, waxy, nutty, toast, biscuit, and a light spice character. Again, a serious alternative to white Burgundy ($85; ✪✪✪✪✪).

roussillon

Although Roussillon is part of France, there is a definite Catalan character. I just visited one producer, Olivier Pithon, who has been in the area for over 20 years and farms biodynamically. He’s based just inland from Perpignan, surrounded by mountains but exposed to wind which allows biodynamic practices. There are three whites made, although I didn’t get to taste the premium expression (“Maccaebu”) as it was sold out. “Mon P’tit Pithon Blanc” 2021 is a blend of Grenache Gris and Blanc and Macabeo, aged for seven months in stainless steel, for a fresh, lightly creamy, nutty, and waxy style, with citrus and stone fruit aromas ($22; ✪✪✪✪). “Cuvée Laïs” 2018 (named after Olivier’s cow who sadly died last year at over twenty years of age) is 60% Macabeo and 40% Grenache Gris/Blanc, from schist soils and aged for ten months in wooden vats and barrels. This is a richer style, slightly oxidative, with toasty, nutty, lees aromas and a creamy texture ($25; ✪✪✪✪✪).

Catalan white wine has a characteristically rich, round, waxy texture which comes from the grape varieties used and the warm climate. Quality is consistently high, with an overall feel of warmer-climate Burgundy. Even if the regions are more famous for red wines, the whites are of excellent quality with enough fresh acidity to make them ideal for the warm Mediterranean climate. With more attention, they could define Catalunya (and Roussillon) as much as red and sparkling wine.