The small municipality of Vinebre, located on an old bed of the Ebro River, has become the epicenter of the claim for an ancestral sweet wine: Vimblanc. There are those who claim that its origins date back to Priorat and that the Carthusian monks would have later spread this style of production in the Ribera d’Ebre region. The Provincial Council of Tarragona defines it as a sweet wine with a honey aftertaste, made with grapes of the Macabeo variety converted into a sunny and overripe raisin. In the past it was fermented in oak barrels, without the addition of alcohol, until a minimum volumetric alcoholic strength of 15º of alcohol and a maximum of 18º was obtained (this specification is no longer included in the regulations of the DO Tarragona). Get a brown color with golden reflections. It is stated that “Vimblanc is highly appreciated, especially the older ones, since over time it acquires more sweetness.” In Vinebre, where their City Council has already organized six editions of a unique Vimblanc Fair in the Plaza del 1 d’Octubre, they are proud of an educational project at their Les Eres school. His students step with their feet on some grapes from the local winery Molí de Rué that they leave to sun in the courtyard of their educational center. They make a vimblanc with the raisin must with a charitable purpose that they sell for 10 euros a bottle. In the past, it was made in every farmhouse in Vinebre, but in the 80s of the last century it was no longer sold. His recovery began just over 20 years ago.
The first deputy mayor and head of the Agriculture and Environment area of ??the Vinebre City Council, the winemaker Sandra Rico, states that “in Vinebre, vimblanc is tradition and heritage, where the affection of the people, together with our special climate, gives us “It allows us to obtain a product that is totally different from the rest of the wines made by the same method.” Sandra Rico adds that vimblanc “is the essence of a territory and the tradition of a people.” She also considers that “it is an enriching and special wine, with identifying and unique characteristics that are a reflection of a fighting people with their own culture.” The president of the Regulatory Council of the DO Tarragona, Maria Rosa Blanch, highlights that “it is a very special wine, the product of a very ancient tradition.” She has no doubt that the one from the Molí de Rué winery is “exquisite,” and she points out that “it keeps winning awards one after another.” At the same time, she says that “it is a pride” that vimblancs have recovered commercially, and that they proliferate in other producing areas.
The most notable Vimblanc from Vinebre is the one made by Molí de Rué, a small winery and oil mill with more than a hundred years of history. The first of these new products that came onto the market in December 2012 with the aim of recovering the traditional vimblanc of this municipality in the La Ribera d’Ebre region was the Sol i Serena from Molí de Rué. Currently, the fourth generation of the Poquet family, founders and owners of Molí de Rué, runs the business. With Noemí Poquet at the helm along with her partner Jordi Riera, this winery follows the tradition of its predecessors with the production of bulk wines within the DO Tarragona and the bottling of extra virgin olive oil, betting at the same time on modernization and the launch of new products. They have a farm store. In 2019, Molí de Rué’s vimblanc won the Premi Vinari, which recognizes the best Catalan wines submitted to a blind tasting competition. The work of recovering this wine by Molí de Rué was awarded. It is not the only award that this wine has won.
Sol i Serena is a unique natural sweet wine made with the native Macabeo variety (other vimblancs are made with varieties such as Garnacha Tinta or Pedro Ximénez). The harvest is manual, in boxes, during the month of August. The grapes are immediately spread out on open boards to complete the over-ripening process for about 10 or 12 days, depending on the weather of the year. When it reaches between 23º and 25º degrees of probable alcohol, it is destemmed and pressed using nylon coffins, extracting a yield of 20 to 25%. Fermentation occurs slowly for more than thirty days, until the process stops spontaneously. It is fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in old French oak barrels, without the addition of alcohol, with the traditional solera system. These soleras began in 2008. Of this latest edition that has just been released on the market, only 693 37.5cl bottles have been produced. At most, they have sold 900 bottles. Its sales are concentrated mainly in Catalonia.
Noemi Poquet affirms that Sol i Serena “is the recovery of a tradition from the past with a view to the future.” She defines it as “sweetness, patience and time to make and taste it.” It is a wine with a beautiful color between amber and mahogany, and with an iodine rim, which leaves dense, well-marked tears attached to the wall of the glass. It is an aromatic, enchanting, glyceric and very sweet wine. In fact, it adds up to 345 grams of sugars per liter. And it only has 9, 10º alcohol. The good sensation of acidity prevents it from being excessively cloying. He is very sweet, but at the same time, he shows good balance. It is clean, and exhibits notes of raisins, fruit jam, dried apricots and dates, as well as quince, dried figs, honey or dried fruits with a toasted touch.
Best served cold. This liqueur wine is ideal to accompany pastry products such as carquinyolis, angel hair pastissets, panellets, ensaginades or capsetes. It is also a good ally to harmonize with a musician’s dessert and even with the cheeses from Formatgeria Linens from Bellmunt del Priorat, those from Serra del Tormo from La Torre de l’Espanyol or a good British Stilton. Noemí Poquet says that “we like it a lot with carquinyolis or nuts, and it is the most typical, but it also goes very well with a hazelnut, cheese and foie coke.” And, at the same time, it is also a very good proposal these days to accompany an Easter cake.
