2014 Joan d’Anguera Altaroses

2014 Joan d’Anguera Altaroses

Where: Monstant, Catalonia, Spain

Who: Joan and Josep d’Anguera (brothers)

What: Grenache (Granatxa Fina)

Tastes like: Big without being oaky, dark fruit, pretty restrained wine

What to pair with: Grilled meats, oxtail, bone marrow

More facts

Vine age: 10 to 35 years

Soil: Limestone and clay

Farming: Demeter certified biodynamic and EU certified organic

Vinification: Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in concrete vats using indig-

enous yeasts. Aged for 12 months in old oak barrels. Naturally cold stabilized by winter’s chill and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Even more facts:

Josep d’Anguera the elder had made a name as the man who introduced Syrah to the region. After he passed away, his two sons Joan and Josep took over, under the guidance of their mother Mercè. Since then, they have been working on defining their own style and putting their unique mark on the wines.

This process has led to numerous developments. One is the conversion to biodynamics: the 2012 vintage was the first to be certified by Demeter. Others include the introduction of techniques such as crushing by foot and de-stemming only partially. There are also changes in aging vessels: the use of new wood is being dramatically reduced in favor of older barrels, foudres, and cement tanks. And the brothers are focusing less on Syrah and more on Garnacha (or “Granatxa,” the old Catalan name for the grape), a grape with a longer history in this region.

The greatest statement of this new direction can be found in the Altaroses, a wonderfully restrained and elegant expression of the Montsant terruño. With great purity of fruit, it is much lighter than what you might expect from a Montsant Garnacha, a true everyday drinking wine.

In Altaroses, the two brothers seem to have truly found their voice, and we can expect great things to come out of this estate in the future as the Angueras move forward with the implementation of their vision.

What is biodynamics?

At its most basic, the biodynamic approach to grape-growing sees the vineyard as an ecological whole: not just rows of grapevines, but the soil beneath them—an organism in its own right—and the other flora and fauna in the area, growing together interdependently.

Where biodynamics differs from other forms of organic or sustainable agriculture is in its idea that farming can be attuned to the spiritual forces of the cosmos. This might mean linking sowing and harvesting to the phases of the moon or the positions of the planets; it also might mean burying cow manure in a cow's horn over the winter, unearthing it in the spring, diluting a minute amount of the substance in 34 liters of water, "dynamizing" it by stirring it by hand in alternating directions for an hour or so and then spraying the mixture over one's vineyard.