Articles

Ukraine meets Penedès

by  |  28-03-2022

When Anna Zahorodnya was a teenager in Kostopil, Ukraine she had no idea how different her adult life would be. And who could, given that now in her 30s, she lives in a completely different... more »

Understanding DO Penedès’s ‘Vi de Mas’ certification

by  |  03-12-2021

Last week, an article I wrote for Decanter covered a rather massive number of changes that DO Penedès has planned up through 2030. Some of the highlights are: All vineyards fully-certified as organic by 2025... more »

A deep dive into the Garnatxa of Parés Baltà

by  |  09-08-2021

History can be an incredible teacher if of course one is willing to listen. This is doubly so in wine when it comes to tasting what was done in the past and it’s why vertical... more »

Checking in on Plana d’en Jan

by  |  19-03-2021

I like to say that “curiosity sates the palate”. This is why last year I did a tasting of “native” red varieties in DO Penedès. Initially I had only wanted varieties that were considered native... more »

In The Glass: Torres – Forcada 2016

by  |  19-02-2021

A story in wine spheres that probably hasn’t received enough attention is the work that Torres has been doing to recuperate the “lost” grape varieties of Catalunya. As the story goes, starting back in the... more »

Six wines from Penedès to know right now

by  |  26-06-2020

As is often the case, we’d just passed May 40th when summer suddenly exploded out of nowhere here in Spain. It seems that overnight we went from chilly nights and massive, biblical rains (that have... more »

Xarel·lo: A modern rockstar

by  |  05-06-2020

Xarel·lo is the only grape in the world spelled with a (·) or punt volat, something of a thumb to the nose of “the man”. Then it, proudly presents a middle finger to all English... more »

Corpinnat & Clàssic Penedès have been in discussions to form new sparkling DO

by  |  07-05-2020

A small news item from the Corpinnat sparkling wine group was released recently that stated they’ll be forming a new Denomination of Origin (DO) that could be with the producers of Clàssic Penedès. While released... more »

In The Glass: Celler Descregut – Horafosca 2017

by  |  22-04-2020

In the Variety Profile for Xarel·lo that just went out this week, I made a mention about delicate use of skin contact to coax even more out of what is already a great grape. This... more »

The wines from Xarel·lo in Penedès 2020

by  |  20-04-2020

Workhorse. Backbone. Structured. Aromatic. Evolving. These are but a few words one can put forth when talking about the grape, Xarel·lo and they’re all true–even if some people might say them with a curled lip... more »