•WATER•
Parellatxa 2021
Artesano Vintners
Catalonia, Spain
In 2016, a couple of New Zealand winemakers Mike Shepherd and Alex Craighead decided to get together to highlight the incredible resources that can be found in Catalunya, Spain. Mike had already been making wine in and around Barcelona while Alex came in from Kindeli as a consultant. They obtained vineyards in Conca de Barberà and Priorat, and started producing wines in friends' facilities. Production has been kept small and wines are all made with wild yeasts, without added sulphites.
Aleks says: Parellatxa is a blend of Grenache and Parellada (a white grape usually used in Cava). I was in Concha de Barbera last year and it hit me just now that this would be a great wine to rep the Water theme at TWSF. When you’re in the vineyards, you feel the warm breeze from the Beleanic Sea just hitting you like a bag of feathers. It’s this body of water that puts spotlight on what a Mediterranean climate is capable of and you’ll undoubtedly taste it in this wine.
•RAW WINES•
•FIRE•
Etna Rosso 2020
SRC
Sicily, Italy
SRC is a small family operation located on the famous northern slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. SRC is named after the family member’s initials - Sandra(daughter), Rosario (Rori) & his wife Cinzia. Said aloud, SRC takes on a double meaning as it sounds like the Italian phrase “esserci”, which means essence. And that is precisely what the Parasiliti family is trying to capture in their unique and lively wines.
Aleks from RAW will tell you that this is the textbook representation of the theme “Fire”. “This comes from a high-altitude vineyard sitting at 700m above sea level and composed of volcanic soils. Of course, you won’t be able to ‘taste’ the volcano, but these soils tend to give such great complexity to the region’s prime grape, Nerello Mascalese - from florals to powerful red fruit - making these wines punch well above their price point.”
•RAW WINES•
•EARTH•
Gratitud 2021
Cosmic Vinyaters
Catalonia, Spain
Salvador “Salva” Batlle carries the countryside and nature in his veins. He was born to a viticulture family based in Baix Penedès, where they worked 22 ha of vineyards, selling the fruit to large wineries in the area. By the time he was nine years old, Salva already knew how to drive a tractor and at 16 he made his first wine. His creative path is devoted to producing pure integral wines (each grape variety is approached separately) - pureness upon pureness, with the lowest intervention and the highest respect for nature.
Gratitud is one of the rare wines in Salva’s selection that uses international grapes. Here we’re talking about Sauvignon Blanc that perfectly adapts to the warm region of Penedès. Aleks chose this wine as it represents not just gratitude to the farmers that cultivate the grapes, but also to the earth on which the fruit is grown. This is where the essence of natural wine is - it’s not about the “eccentric”, “funky” flavors; it’s about the farming. If we don’t take care of the earth, we can say goodbye to true wines.
•RAW WINES•