Description
Region: Spain
Appellation: Balearic Islands
Color/Style: Red, Medium Bodied
Grapes: Escursac
100% Escursac from Cati’s own finca Son Llebre vineyard. The grapes are gently pressed whole cluster, and ferment partially in ceramic amphoras and partially in stainless steel. When fermentation is finished, the two parts switch places to rest: the portion fermented in stainless goes into amphora, and the portion fermented in amphora goes into stainless steel tank.
Cati Ribot first began making wine with her father in a more conventional way. They worked with traditional varieties, strove for more extractive styles as was popular in the mid aughts, and did not work organically. This changed towards the end of the 2000s when she began training as a sommelier. She quickly expanded her horizons and connected with the growing Catalan natural wine community. The winery soon achieved organic certification and began using biodynamic treatments
As they improved the farming, Cati and Jaume also began to delve into the past of Mallorquin viticulture, planting old varieties in collaboration with the island’s governing bodies in 2006. They were one of two producers to start planting new vines of ancient varieties like Escursac, the local Malvasía de Banyalbufar, Girò Ros and Prensal Blanc (and other, even lesser-known varieties like Callet Negrella and Vinater that remain unrecognized by the D.O. authorities in Mallorca). Gradually, some of these varieties that had been excluded from ‘modern’ or commercial winemaking in Mallorca were accepted by the governing organizations and included on the official register of Spanish grape varieties. Perhaps more importantly, Cati found that she enjoyed the wines that these varieties produced far more than the wines made from international varieties in Mallorca, and that they were suited to a different sort of winemaking. Harvests grew earlier and macerations got shorter as Cati explored the potential of grapes more suited to the Mallorquin soils, her own tastes, and especially the Mallorquin climate. Owing to Mallorca’s long, hot, and sunny summers, the indigenous varieties tend to be late-ripening, drought resistant, and large-berried. These characteristics prevent them from becoming over-ripe and protect them during dry periods.
