A finale in Celler Generi
There always seems to be some winery that I forget to write about when I'm going about my vinoventures. This time, it was Arché Pagès. It was also nearly Celler Generi. Thankfully, as you can see, I've managed not to miss the Generi as I round out my European wine travels for the year.
This cellar was one that I really had no intention of visiting as I had never actually heard about it. It's in a small town called Agullana which I believe is more known for their water than their wine. It's remote and it's not in an area with much wine production; in fact this is the only winery there. In talking to other wine makers though, it was often mentioned that there is this enolog named, Jaume Serra Pagès who seems to make the rounds to a number of wineries in the area. Basically, whatever wine he touches, is nearly guaranteed to be fantastic and it was #1 Fan who mentioned to me that Jaume was doing the enolog work at Generi and that I should go have a taste and see how it is.
As it turns out, the actual winemaker is a fellow named Francesc. He's an older fellow who was actually a civil engineer that started growing wine some 20 years ago as a hobby. Once retiring, he turned to making wine full time, but he just does all the grunt work and have Jaume come in for the finishing touches. Francesc's fields are around the general vicinity of Agullana. And while he has shown that you can indeed grow wines in the area, he has also shown that the staple of Catalonia, Garnatxa, is perhaps not the best choice for the area given that he only grows Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Given that you can see the French border from his cellar, it would make sense to a large extent that he only grows French varietals.
As to the wine, it did indeed end up being 100% true that the Jaume Touch made all the difference with the wines all being excellent. For some time, Francesc made a low-end, basic wine that he sold for 3€. It is not a work of art, but it is quite good. Even though it is a strong wine, it is a well-balanced and nicely-crafted wine. It's great with food and is a tremendous value as it outshines any other wine you can buy for even twice the cost. Sadly, I don't think it's going to be made anymore given the amount of work vs. the small return on price.
The white that he makes was out when I was there. I assume it must be quite good and at some point, hopefully I'll be able to taste it as Catalan white wines are very interesting wines. There are few of them and as most people prefer red, they are often quite distinct in character to stand out more and attract folks to them. But, I wasn't sobbing over the lack of the white due to the red being tremendous. I didn't happen to know this at the time of purchase since Francesc only make 3,000 bottles a year and he doesn't do tastings. I had to buy his 2004 Reserve untasted at 10€. It sounds silly to say, but that was a large gamble I've rarely ever taken. But, his character was just right. I knew that it was going to be at least a good wine. Turns out that it's an extraordinary wine.
This red is strong, full-bodied and robust, but at the same time wonderfully balanced and smooth. What he has reached with this wine is the boldness that a winery such as Peralada tries to achieve with the smoothness that *lavinyeta constantly achieves. I've never seen two such discordant elements in one wine before that actually work. The only issue is that I have trouble describing it. The body has hints of cinnamon, cloves, blackberry, and this bright crisp element to it as well that I can only really describe as being akin to the sensation of fresh mint, but not like the taste of mint. A lot this comes from the fact that it's a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I have no idea as to the ratios, but I have a feeling it might be similar to what the English call Claret as the depth must come from 80-90% Cab and the smoothness being from the rest in Merlot. And naturally, it finishes beautifully clean. Of course there are oak overtones to it as well given that it spends (if memory serves) 24 months in French oak. Francesc uses a combination of transport and aging barrels, the later being several millimeters thinner to allow more permeation of the air to give more flavor.
The above is all about the 2004, which I bought two cases of. There is a 2005 vintage as well. It is also quite good, but it lacks just a touch of the depth of the 2004 and currently has a touch stronger vanilla from the oak. Given another year in the bottle, I'm not sure how it will age, but I have a number of bottles still in Spain to see how that works out.
I am a bit sad as I don't think that Francesc has any children who will carry on with the winemaking. He apparently has family in Barcelona, who are more concerned with drinking the wine and not so much with actually making the wine. Time will tell in how this winery goes, but I truly hope it continues as these are wonderfully crafted, small-production wines that if they were being produced in California would not only be impossible to find, but also cost upwards of $100 a bottle.
19 12 2009 0 comments
Tags: catalonia, wine, wine reviews
