The Mas Vicenç, Pallarades and Vinyes del Tiet Pere wineries will study the wine extracted from a hundred amphorae that have been submerged under the sea in the port of Tarragona for 400 days.
50 containers of each of the native and most representative varieties of each winery were deposited: Malvasía, Macabeo and Carthusian Rojo, respectively. After testing the first amphorae, those responsible for the project stressed that this aging “accelerates” more in the sea than in static conditions and that certain varieties “gain volume.”
Some first conclusions that they want to deepen through studies that allow us to know if submerged wine “has any organoleptic effect that is worth highlighting.”
The initiative was born in 2022, after several conversations with professionals in the area who carry out similar projects, such as S’Amfora in Cambrils (Baix Camp). Since then, these three wineries from Cabra del Camp (Alt Camp), El Catllar (Tarragonès) and Vilabella (Alt Camp) have joined together as an association -Taula del Vi- and have begun to work to disseminate and promote wine culture in Tarragona.
Among the initial projects, the immersion of 150 ceramic amphorae with wine from native varieties stands out. On March 6, 2023, all of them were deposited 300 meters from the coast of the port of Tarragona, next to the wreck of ‘La Dragonera’.
Although the expectation was that they would be under the sea for a period of six months, the closed periods and administrative obstacles have caused the amphorae to have been submerged 200 days longer than expected.
For this reason, the representative of the Vinyes del Tiet Pere winery (Vilabella), Oriol Pérez, has pointed out that “this embryonic project requires establishing winemaking and aging protocols” such as, for example, the time they should be under the water. In this sense, he stressed that the wine has been submerged for 400 days, “longer than we thought, for reasons that we had not foreseen.”
On the other hand, the representatives of the three wineries explained some of the first conclusions they reached after tasting the wines. According to Pérez, aging would seem to accelerate at sea, towards what is expected statically in a winery. He has also added that the feeling in certain varieties is that they gain volume. Two initial conclusions that they will now try to corroborate and expand through a study.
In fact, Pérez has stated that beyond confirming whether marine movement accelerates the aging process, what is interesting is knowing if it increases the volume. “This would be a change,” said Pérez, who believes that “it would possibly be reproducible in dry conditions with the creation of moving machines.”
For his part, the representative of the Mas Vicenç winery (Cabra del Camp), Xavi Ferré, added that the idea of ??submerging amphorae in the port of Tarragona was also born with the desire to “continue linking” the culture of wine and sea ??in the territory. In fact, he has highlighted the influence of the sea “very present” in the wine production of Camp de Tarragona. “We were especially excited to see the evolution of these wines after 400 days submerged,” said Ferré, who is confident of obtaining positive results.
Although, at the moment, it is not defined as a commercial project, the 150 amphorae “full of maritime incrustations” can be purchased at a price of 100 euros in each of the three wineries.
