Ramón Jané

Biodynamic. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Xarel.lo, 20% Parellada. From estate vineyards of calcareous clay soils. Vines between 15-45 years old. The vineyard is not tilled: true minimal intervention agriculture. When wine critics ruled the earth, they prophesied that Cabernet Sauvignon would supplant all the native red varieties in Catalunya. Toni and Ramón were in the process of ripping up almost all of theirs the last time the team visited—but they saved a little bit to make this absolute pocket rocket.

Biodynamic. 50/50 Xarel.lo and Parellada. From estate vineyards of calcareous clay soils. Vines between 10-25 years old. The vineyard is not tilled: true minimal intervention agriculture. Manual harvest in 10kg boxes, with selection of the grapes in the vineyard. Grapes are chilled then pressed. Fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and no additions; no SO2 added.

Biodynamic. 42% Mando, 40% Sumoll, and 18% Xarel.lo. Sourced from vineyards between 10 to 50 years old on calcareous clay soils. Hand harvested, and all grapes are fermented together with some full clusters. Mando and Xarel.lo macerated for 17 days and Sumoll pressed directly. Fermented and matured in stainless steel with the lees until it was bottled. Unfiltered. No SO2 added. This wine confounded us this year until we discovered a very important truth. Sure, it’s a co-ferment, but that’s only because Sumoll is the meanest grape around — a beautiful and confounding one, to be sure, but a structured variety that needs either a lot of aging time or to be fermented with about 20% white grapes.

Biodynamic and Certified Organic. 100% Mandó. Methode Ancestrale. From estate vineyards of calcareous clay soils. Vineyard planted in 2001 with Cabernet Sauvignon and was grafted with Mando in 2018. Manual harvest in 10 kg boxes, with selection of the grapes in the vineyard. Grapes are chilled then pressed. Spontaneous fermentation begins in stainless steel and then finishes in the bottle. Aged on lees in bottle for 18 months. No SO2 added. 80 cases made.

Biodynamic. 60% Garnatxa Blanca, 40% Malvasia de Sitges. From estate vineyards of calcareous clay soils. Hand-harvested in small bins; sorting in the vineyard. All the grapes are skin-fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts for two weeks, then bottled with no additions. No SO2 added. 360 cases produced. The Penedès isn’t really supposed to have Garntxa Blanca, given the trinity of Cava grapes that dominate the landscape—so this wine is a ‘black sheep’ in the region. Ramón has a plot, and he blends it with Malvasia de Sitges for what is, probably, our favorite skin contact wine of the year. Unbelievably crystalline and focused, with back palate florality.

Biodynamic. 60/40 Xarel.lo and Parellada. Method Ancestral. From estate vineyards of calcareous clay soils. Vines between 10-25 years old. The vineyard is not tilled: true minimal intervention farming. Manual harvest in 10 kg boxes, with selection of the grapes in the vineyard. Grapes are chilled then pressed. Spontaneous fermentation begins in stainless steel and then finishes in the bottle. No SO2 added. Ludicrously inexpensive and exuberant.