The acronym of the names of his three children (PAul, CHarles and EMma) gives its name to Clos Pachem, the Gratallops winery of the Swiss in love with Priorat Michel Grupper. It is a company founded in September 2018 continuing, in part, its experience in the Saó del Coster winery, which was launched in 2005 also in Gratallops. Its promoter affirms that Clos Pachem “is focused on its people, on the history of Priorat and on a philosophy of sustainable cultivation, which allows the creation of subtle and elegant wines that create experiences and accompany unique moments”. He adds that “the vision of this project is to make Priorat and its wonders known, supporting wine tourism, and to sublimate it, integrating a winery with sustainable architecture that is respectful of this territory into its landscape.” Clos Pachem, according to the French-Swiss Michel Grupper, is “a tribute to projects that last through generations, as good wines do.” He also stresses that “our winery serves Priorat, not the other way around”.
He explains that “subtlety and honesty” are the parameters under which he wants his wines to be governed. The owner, a doctor who has spent a quarter of a century collaborating on projects with foundations to improve health in underdeveloped African countries, discovered good wine and good gastronomy at the young age of 13, thanks to his father Jacques. Grupper, who lives in Geneva but moves to Priorat one week a month, understands that “a great wine must move people, like when you admire a good painting or when you enjoy jazz or classical music.” He likes to explain to international clients the history of the Priorat telluric, which he is passionate about.
It is a winery “accessible, welcoming and open to all who want to discover or rediscover Priorat and its many facets”. Built with “natural, simple and durable materials”, the new winery building, whose architectural project was entrusted to the Harquitectes studio in Barcelona, ??is located on Carrer de la Font, right next to the three-nave church of Sant Llorenç from Gratallops, mid-18th century. A large warehouse dedicated to wine fermentation is the central space of the project, with very thick walls and multiple air chambers that allow 100% natural cooling of the entire building and complete hydrothermal stability. Michel Grupper assures that inside you can breathe “energy and serenity”.
They have six hectares of vineyards, olive and almond trees that take root on slate soils. It is the Planassos farm, which they say is “a living image of Priorat’s biodiversity”. They work the land with respect, using ecological, biodynamic and regenerative agricultural practices, without pesticides or herbicides. They handle biodynamic preparations against fungal diseases of the vineyard to minimize the use of sulfur and copper. They till the 5 hectares of their own vineyard with a monocultivator to minimize soil compaction and degradation. In their vineyards they look for biodiversity, both in the aerial part and in the underground. And they pay with ecological compost.
Within the farm there are different orientations, heights and depths of the terrain; generating a variability of microclimates that makes the garnachas and cariñenas, which represent the majority of the plantation, develop in very different ways. Two microplots planted during the decade of the 40s of the last century stand out, with old Cariñenas in goblet. This learning from the estate year after year, they say, “helps us to understand and act when it comes to shaping our wines.” From the winery they also point out that “the land returns what you give it and Planassos gives love, love of wine”. They are aware that “there is no wine without land, without landscape and without loving hands that take care of the vineyard”. In addition to their own vineyards, they acquire grapes, thanks to long contracts established with three viticulturists from El Lloar, Torroja del Priorat and Poboleda.
The 2019 vintage is one of the best to be remembered so far this century in Priorat. It was warm and dry, with a great health of the grapes. There was a low production, but this was of remarkable quality. The concentration with small berries was the protagonist. The minimum temperature was recorded in January: -4.6º C. The months of June, July and August were drier and hotter than normal, reaching 41.8º C at the beginning of the month despite the fact that the average temperature was higher in July. The winery states that “Planassos is the pure reflection of the survival of the Cariñena variety.” The technical director of the winery, the oenologist Pep Riba, has claimed that the wine “was the vineyard”.
Planassos 2019 is the fruit of the Els Planassos de Gratallops area, with vines planted between 60 and 80 years ago on crumbly grayish slate soils. Made with the old Cariñenas from this estate, it was harvested manually, in 12-kilo boxes, on September 19 of this vintage (around a month earlier than usual in the area). A detailed selection of the grapes was made both in the vineyard and in the winery. The berries were vinified in a 1,000-litre stainless steel vat, at a controlled temperature in a very traditional way. The alcoholic fermentation was spontaneous, carried out with autochthonous yeasts. A 15-day maceration was practiced, after which a gentle pressing was carried out to obtain a subtle extraction. After malolactic fermentation, they were aged for 12 months in a 500-litre ceramic egg. It is the first vintage of this high-end wine without aging in French oak barrels. Of a very limited edition, of the 2019 vintage of this Vi de Paratge de Gratallops, only 666 three-quart-liter bottles were produced, which were numbered and of which 26 were reserved for collaborators and friends.
Clos Pachem 2019 has a medium robe, and a beautiful ruby ??color with violet rims. Even the tears of the wine that adhere to the inner walls of the glass are tinted. It exhibits floral notes (withered rose petals and rosehip talc), profusion of red (cherries) and black (slightly acidic blueberries) fruit, Cuban tobacco leaf, a pencil tip background and hints of Mediterranean garrigue aromatic herbs, especially rosemary. Liveliness and tension thanks to a good acidity. It is tasty and makes you salivate. A wine of great balance and harmony, with 14.4º of alcohol. Elegant and fresh. The technical director of the winery has sought subtlety in a wine that is easy to drink, and in which makeup has been renounced to express the purest version of its origin.
It was his first vintage in the winery. Perfect since it just opened. Better to taste it in a good burgundy type glass. It presents slight precipitations of tartaric crystallizations due to having been filtered and clarified, with potato protein, very gently. The winery recommends pairing it with red meat or stews, as well as beef steak tartare, tuna tartare, mushroom risottos, sliced ??beetroot salads or roasted tempeh with mushrooms. It is also ideal to accompany grilled turbot or grilled Mediterranean lobster. But the owner of the winery especially likes its pairing with chocolates made from 70% cocoa, especially those from Xocoleda de Poboleda (Priorat). And the technical director opts for pairing it with a beef carpaccio with parmigiano reggiano shavings.
The beginnings of Clos Pachem were not easy at all. This wine project started in the midst of a pandemic and is now in the process of relaunching. “When we launched our first vintage on the market, everything was closed,” recalls Michel Grupper. In all his bottles he pays homage, symbolically, to his three children. Clos Pachem’s production amounts to around 30,000 bottles per year, of which 75% of the total is exported. Switzerland, Canada, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are its main international markets. It is a project that, since its inception, has been open to wine tourism, with an offer of company events, weddings and ceremonies and cultural activities. They make reds in Priorat and also have a white Garnacha protected by the DO Terra Alta that they vinify in the Coma d’en Bonet de Gandesa winery. His next novelty will be a stylized red from the DO Qualificada Priorat of the Cariñena variety, made in tartarized French concrete eggs. They will sell it from September. It is a first edition, from the 2021 vintage, with a production of 4,000 bottles that will be offered at a price of 16.50 euros.
