If Sally sells seashells by the sea shore, Xurxo Alba of Albamar makes albariño “al alba del mar” (next to the sea). There’s really not much more to say. It’s what he was born to do. It’s what he knows best. He is the personification of albariño. His cellar is in the Salnés sub region of Rias Baixas located on the northwestern coast of Spain, where the wines are heavily influenced by the Atlantic ocean. His family has been farming and making albariño for generations, but it wasn’t until Xurxo finished his oenological studies that they started bottling and commercializing their own wines more than 20 years ago.
The millenary lentiscus tree on their estate speaks volumes of their history. Manel, A.K.A the bubble man, and his daughter Nuria, are making some of the most exciting sparkling wines we’ve ever tasted. Not just from Spain but from around the world. No joke. They apply strict biodynamic practices, farming without the use of pesticides or herbicides and following the moon’s cycles for planting, pruning, harvesting and bottling. All wines are fermented spontaneously with native yeasts, only adding rosemary honey from their own bees for secondary fermentation in bottle. Under 300 total cases of his vintage made for Litrona.
The Catalan name for Tempranillo is Ull de Llebre, meaning “eye of the hare”. Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerosa settled in Massís de Bonastre in the Baix Penedés around the year 2000. There they started recovering old vines of local grape varieties from vineyards close to abandonment. People thought they were crazy for working with obsolete grape varieties nobody wanted. Some of which had been disqualified from D.O. classification, others had never even been accepted. Fast forward 20 years, those crazy Italians are making incredible natural wines without additives of any kind, becoming benchmark producers in the region so of course we had to get them to make a Litrona.
A famous wine critic once referred to Rueda as a piña colada factory due to the tropical taste of its wines. This one is far from that. Microbio (Micro-Bio) was founded by Ismael Gozalo in 1998. Ismael is the anti-Rueda, regardless of being located there. All of his wines are fermented with native yeasts coming from his own vineyards. He is a citizen of the independent republic of Verdejo where his super old, ungrafted, prephylloxera vines are king. Coined by some as “El Mago de las Verdejos,” he practices his sorcery in his medieval underground cellar located in his native town of Nieva. Barrels, foudres, anforas, dames jeannes, stainless…young, old, skin contact, sparkling, biological and oxidative aging…you name it, he’s got it. How Verdejo picked so ripe can still preserve such freshness and acidity is something only he can tell.
Finca Parera is a biodynamic farm. If you know anything about biodynamic farming then you probably know it has something to do with cows howling at the moon. Ruben Parera was born into a family of farmers but it wasn't until he finished his viticultural and oenological studies that they started making wines of their own. Located in the alt Penedes region, Xarello Vermell is the red version of Xarello, one of the main grapes used in cava. In addition to growing grapes, Ruben also grows cherries, olives, almonds, and honey, all of which are biodynamically under Demeter certification. Our collaboration started in 2019, marking the first vintage of his Litrona. Limited edition: only 335 cases produced.
