portes obertes - El pinell de Brai, terra alta, Catalunya
Josep Serres Miranda was born in El Pinell de Brai, in the arid Mediterranean hills of Terra Alta. He grew up amongst the vines and almond and olive groves around the village, helping his father who has farmed in the area his whole life. Josep tried his hand at a few different professions in his youth, always working with his hands. He was a gardener in Barcelona and then worked in construction, combining his passion for climbing and bouldering and ended up abseiling down tall buildings and structures to do construction and maintenance. Eventually the land called him back and in 2012 he moved back to the village. It was his neighbour Laureano Serres of Mendall that inspired him to start making wine. The wines that he tasted from Laureano reminded him of the wines that the small growers in the village used to make in their home cellars to share amongst their friends and families. Pure wines that are wild, intense and speak of their origins and the history and people of these Mediterranean hills who have been producing wine since Roman times.
Josep farms just 2.5 hectares of primarily Garnatxa in the hills around Pinell de Brai. The region is arid and Mediterranean influenced and whilst Terra Alta does boast some higher elevation parcels Josep’s vines are in the valley planted on clay and limestone at around 200-250m above sea level where the mercury does rise quite high in the summer. Josep’s wines reflect this with their potency and concentration, yet due to a careful hand at farming, respecting biodiversity and balance in the vineyard, and eschewing the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, as well as a gentle and manual approach to winemaking Josep’s wines are always balanced, bright and alive.
Josep’s wines are hand made in every sense of the word. In the cellar everything is manual. Whole bunches are pressed by foot before going through a manual basket press. Wine is only moved by gravity, never pumped, and temperature control is only the natural insulation of his cellar. Respecting the purity of the fruit and the terroirs and tradition of the region, he only vinifies in stainless steel deposit or amphora which are made for him by a local ceramicist using clay from Pinell. The resulting wines are pure, intense and alive. They are some of the most exciting wines we have tasted form Catalunya.
