Pioneer in the white grenache style, different work is done to extract the best virtues of each vineyard. In the youngest vineyards, an earlier harvest is carried out to enhance acidity and more primary fruit; the older vineyards are harvested in a more advanced ripening state.
Ramon Roqueta, a lover of grenache, develops his project Lafou Celler in the Terra Alta. A vineyard of his own, located in Mas Gabrielet, an estate located north of the municipality of Batea (Tarragona). As a result, they obtain elaborations with varietal typicity and the characteristic terroir.
Technical Sheet
Winery: Own Vineyards, in Lafou Celler, Batea (Tarragona)
D.O Terra Alta
Vintage: 2021
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Variety: 100% White Grenache
Service temperature: 8-10ºC
Tasting notes: Deep cherry color, presents a wide range of aromatic sensations. Hints of raw hazelnut, red fruit, and balsamic memories of undergrowth, which then evolve towards notes of plum and black olive.
In the mouth, it offers a fresh entry that refers to the fruit, good acidity that balances the sweetness of the grenache, and a long finish.
Elaboration: Lafou els Amelers comes from old vines of the 60 hectares of land that the winery owns. These are located at around 400 meters in altitude, near the municipality of Batea, in the province of Tarragona, where the winery's facilities are located.
Upon arrival at the winery, the grape of Lafou els Amelers macerates with its skins for four days and is then gently pressed at low temperatures.
90% of the resulting must is transferred to stainless steel tanks where, along with its lees, the wine rests for about four months. The remaining 10% of the wine, during this time, ages in 300-liter toasted oak barrels.
At the end of this phase, the wines from different containers are blended and Lafou els Amelers undergoes a clarifying and cold stabilization process before being bottled.
Fou, in Catalan, means ravine or narrow passage, through which rivers flow: one of the most typical and beautiful forms of the geography of the Terra Alta.
Pairing: at Made in Spain Gourmet we recommend it with complex salads and fish rice dishes.
The D.O. Terra Alta, the Mediterranean of the interior
The production and elaboration area of the DO "Terra Alta" (DOTA) is located south of Catalonia, between the Ebro River and the border with Aragonese lands, and includes the 12 municipalities of the Terra Alta region.
Its landscape maintains all the characteristic features of an inland terroir close to the Mediterranean Sea: pre-coastal limestone ranges (Puertos de Horta, Sierras de Pàndols i Cavalls), small rivers (the Algars and the Canaletes), conglomerate rock mountains, holm oak and white pine forests, and above all, agricultural soils colored by typical Mediterranean crops: almond, vine, and olive.
Within this framework, three units of agricultural landscape of clear interest are added: La Plana, the Altiplano, and the Valleys.
Characteristics
Cultivated soils generally have medium textures. They have in common their richness in limestone and their poverty in organic matter. The soil catalog of the DOTA classifies up to 17 profiles, among which the Panal stands out. Another feature that claims the Mediterranean inland character is the climatology. Abundant sunshine and scarce rainfall. Two particularities stand out: a unique balance between the two dominant winds, the Cierzo (NW) and the garbinada (southern marinades), and a cold winter that denotes a certain continental climate.
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