Tanca Els Ulls, "Cartoixa de Vinyes Velles" 2022

Southwest of Barcelona in the Catalonian appellation of Tarragona, once-monastic vineyards have in more recent history been fairly unilaterally dedicated to selling their organically-farmed, old-vine crop of indigenous varieties like Cartoixà, Xarel.lo Vermell/Gris, & Cartoixà de Marina to large local cooperatives or gargantuan producers of Cava. As with many other places in the natural wine world, such inimitable natural conditions for producing wines of character, of particular place/tradition, & life that have long been undervalued are finding old-new expression. For Cesc Boronat, Nulles is the place (a tiny village six miles from the Mediterranean) where he is recuperating some family history – the project “Tanca els Ulls” (meaning “Close The Eyes” as a reference to bravely jumping into the unknown) takes foot in an old building where his grandfather once made wine a century in the past. In this way, the project is one of both preservation & inspiration – acting as a bridge between the past and a future in an increasingly hostile natural environment. How to do things the old way in a new world; the wines are pithy, zippy yet particularly broader/savory in that sea-spun way we’ve come to so love of modern Catalonian whites. An endeavor to follow – though maybe more importantly, to drink! – for sure.

A zippy orange wine of 100% Cartoixà from a vineyard surrounded by Mediterranean forest 200 meters above sea level. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with the skins for 20 days in stainless steel. After 6 months of aging in stainless, 40% of the wine goes into amphora for further aging before blending and bottling. Unfined, unfiltered with just a touch of SO2 added at bottling.