Celler Frisach - 2013 - Territori Vernatxa Ancestral Metode
$37
Celler Frisach - 2013 - Territori Vernatxa Ancestral Metode
Vernatxa (Garnatxa Blanc)
Catalunya, Spain
Celler Frisach is Francesc and Joan Ferré, who make energetic natural wines in the Terra Alta appellation of Catalonia. The surname Frisach belongs to their great-grandfather; the name Ca’ Frisach still marks the family home on the main street of their village, Corbera d’Ebre. For over two centuries, the Ferré family has farmed grapes in this area, but it was only in 2009 after Francesc returned from oenology school that the brothers decided to produce their own wines and stop selling their fruit—a change that takes gumption here, given how rare independent family wineries are in Terra Alta, let alone in their proud-but-petite hometown. The varieties that Joan and Francesc work with Terra Alta are as follows: the queen of the area, Vernatxa (Grenache Blanc), as well as native varieties Vernatxa Gris (the highly rare Grenache Gris), Vernatxa Fina (Grenache Noir), Carinyena, and the idiosyncratic Garnatxa Peluda and Morenillo. Given this Mediterranean paradise, with Terra Alta’s special, oceanic panal soils in the old river delta of the Ebro, it seems self-evident that special wines should be possible here. But we’re also lucky to have the Ferré brothers’ work: the Spanish Civil War ripped through their family land not two generations before. Franco’s push into this Catalan borderland scarred Terra Alta, and Corbera d’Ebre in particular, in some of the last battles of the nationalist march on Barcelona. In many ways, the wines of Celler Frisach are a testimony: to roots, to courage, to young descendants taking stock of losses in the past and giving their home a hopeful new expression. (Coeur)
Vernatxa (Garnatxa Blanc)
Catalunya, Spain
Celler Frisach is Francesc and Joan Ferré, who make energetic natural wines in the Terra Alta appellation of Catalonia. The surname Frisach belongs to their great-grandfather; the name Ca’ Frisach still marks the family home on the main street of their village, Corbera d’Ebre. For over two centuries, the Ferré family has farmed grapes in this area, but it was only in 2009 after Francesc returned from oenology school that the brothers decided to produce their own wines and stop selling their fruit—a change that takes gumption here, given how rare independent family wineries are in Terra Alta, let alone in their proud-but-petite hometown. The varieties that Joan and Francesc work with Terra Alta are as follows: the queen of the area, Vernatxa (Grenache Blanc), as well as native varieties Vernatxa Gris (the highly rare Grenache Gris), Vernatxa Fina (Grenache Noir), Carinyena, and the idiosyncratic Garnatxa Peluda and Morenillo. Given this Mediterranean paradise, with Terra Alta’s special, oceanic panal soils in the old river delta of the Ebro, it seems self-evident that special wines should be possible here. But we’re also lucky to have the Ferré brothers’ work: the Spanish Civil War ripped through their family land not two generations before. Franco’s push into this Catalan borderland scarred Terra Alta, and Corbera d’Ebre in particular, in some of the last battles of the nationalist march on Barcelona. In many ways, the wines of Celler Frisach are a testimony: to roots, to courage, to young descendants taking stock of losses in the past and giving their home a hopeful new expression. (Coeur)