Mas Collet Celler de Capcanes

Intro to Mas Collet Celler de Capcanes –

Mas Collet Celler de Capcanes from Montsant has a lovely smooth lightly oaky fruity aroma and flavour of cherries and blueberries balanced with ripe tannins.

Full tasting note and wine making –

Mas Collet Celler de Capcanas has aromas of violet, ripe cherry and blueberries with smooth well integrated oaky, toasty aromas. It is medium bodied, fruit driven, fine ripe sweetness with good acidity which is perfectly balanced with the round ripe tannins culminating in a long ripe fruit finish.

It is made from a large number of grape varieties, mainly Garnacha, with Carinena, Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Macabeo and Garnacha Blanca grown at 250 -550 meteres above sea level and are aiming for organic production. The Varieties are vinified separately in stainless steel tanks and then aged in French and American oak barrels of which 20% are new.

The producer –

In the Catalan countryside there lies a little village of 400 people growing olives and a little cereal, but mostly grapes. Lauded some years ago as one of the best co-ops in the world, Capçanes is at the forefront of the movement to revitalise the wine production of the DO Montsant. Led by winemakers Jürgen and Anna, they are champions of Grenache, making remarkably distinctive single site expressions from different soil types

CAPÇANES, a village hidden away in the Priorato hills inland from Tarragona, is the source of many fine wines today with a long wine growing history. Prior to Phylloxera at the turn of the 19th century the region was very densely planted but after the devastation caused by this insect only about 1/5th of the original vineyards were replanted predominantly with Garnacha, which was the popular grape variety. Some of those vineyards, approaching 100 years old, still exist today and are in production

Growing olives, a little cereal but mostly grapes with around 220 hectares of vineyard Capçanes, alone in the Montsant DO almost certainly has more old vine Garnacha than the whole of Priorato. Lauded some years ago by the International Herald Tribune as one of the best co-ops in the world Capçanes was at the forefront of the movement to revitalise the wine production and economy of the Priorato region.

There are around 70 families involved in the co-op and the management take their well being to heart. They have run educational programmes to convince the growers to cultivate organically, more to persuade the growers to minimise the risks they run while handling potentially dangerous chemicals as much as to preserve teh environment. Nowadays over 50% of the vineyards are organic while around 90 HAs have been certified.

Drink with –

This wine is delicious with lamb, entrecote steak, game, pizza, pasta, stews, casseroles.