In 2018, forty-five years after the death of AgustÃn Pérez and celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Ebro, the sommelier and trainer Xavi Nolla felt the need to fulfill the dream of his maternal grandfather, a humble and young Andalusian queen 1927 emigrated to Barcelona. Nolla explains that he moved to Barcelona “fleeing from the hunger and misery of his life as a miner in AlmerÃa.” A few years later he found himself immersed in a war that would mark him “forever.” He participated in the Battle of the Ebro when he was 32 years old. He adds that “her greatest wish for him was that his first grandchild, the only one he ever knew, would teach her to read and write.
In this way, capturing the memory of everything experienced in that tragic chapter, it would keep the memory alive over the years and would help to ensure that those events would never be repeated again. AgustÃn was called to the front in 1938, sent to the Segre and later to the battle of the Ebro, “where he experienced first-hand the most dramatic events that a person can experience, events that decades and decades later still brought tears to his memory” . AgustÃn survived the war and rebuilt his life in Badalona, ​​but ended up dying at the age of 66 as a result of silicosis, caused by inhaling silica particles in the mine that he had left behind when he emigrated to Catalonia. Xavi Nolla was only 3 years old when AgustÃn died.
Vinsde la Memòria was created in his memory, “a tribute to AgustÃn and to all the men and women who suffered the damage of the war, to my family and to all the families who suffered and still suffer todayâ€. His wines are reminiscent of the war scenarios that his grandfather visited between 1938 and 1939, vineyards “loaded with history, struggle, feelings and loneliness, landscapes that, behind months of documentary work, we have been able to discover.” Xavi Nolla’s wish is that the memory of the past not be erased, “of people and moments, of sorrows and pain”. He affirms that “only in this way, by remembering, will we be able not to repeat history. His Vins de la Memòria are advertised as “wines with soul and spirit, liquid words that we have produced by participating in each of the processes, from harvest to bottling and imageâ€.
Xavi Nolla looked for the owners of the vineyards in places that his grandfather visited to start the project together with his partner, Gisela Guitart. It is a wine journey that runs from Vilalba dels Arcs to the beach of Argelès-sur-Mer, now passing through the Priorat, the Conca de Barberà , Badalona and Espolla. La Bruixa, Lo Ebre and La Memoria (Terra Alta), Plom (DO Calificada Priorat), Pólvora (DO Conca de Barberà ), El Badiu (DO Alella) and La Plage (IGP Côtes Catalanes) are the wines of this project that now add the reVolt red (DO Empordà ). His eight wines are made in the Ecovitres, Mas Foraster, Can Roda, Clos Galena, Maison Albera and Celler Espolla wineries. With their project they also want to reclaim historic Mediterranean wine, but with a current and personal vision. He acknowledges that he is not a wine grower, but he does clarify that he decides the time of the harvest. And he says that he participates in all oenological decisions without being a winemaker. He assures that he pays more than three times more for the grapes he buys, which he harvests by hand, than what his suppliers had promised. His will is to “dignify the price of grapes”. He has also worked for the recovery of “authentic” brisado wines and 650-liter chestnut wood barrels. It works in the cellars from gravity and with cold control. Their wines carry out spontaneous fermentations “without manipulations”.
The 2021 vintage in the Alt Empordà was marked by the high temperatures reached during the heat waves, which lasted for days at a peak. Despite this, in Espolla, due to its location and microclimate, they were neither as long nor as hard. In terms of rainfall, although the rain had different episodes, especially in the Baix Empordà area, in Espolla the rain was very scarce during the spring. From a phytosanitary point of view, the vineyard suffered few or no fungal attacks. A final rain before harvest helped to cool the plants and to obtain a harvest of high quality and moderate yield, with a healthy grape and surprisingly high acidity.
reVolt 2021 is a very old Cariñena from Espolla, on the Banyuls road. It could have been planted in a vase in 1902 on a slate terroir, 210 meters above sea level. Yields are 3,000 kilos per hectare. Xavi Nolla buys around 1,000 kilos of grapes from this vineyard, which are vinified in the Celler Espolla cooperative. He says that “it is a century-old Cariñena aerated by the north wind, located in one of the great crus of the Empordà , which makes it an oenological jewel that allows us to discover the essence of a land and a landscape.” With the grapes from this charming vineyard, the Espolla cooperative produced, with the 2014 vintage, one of its Vins de Postal. Nolla explains that he “didn’t want to make an overripe Carignan, with overextraction and a lot of wood.” He adds that “with little extraction and little maceration and aging we can get a long-distance Cariñena.” It fermented spontaneously in a concrete tank with indigenous yeasts and was aged for six months in two new 650-litre chestnut wood bocoyes (from the Torner bottle shop in Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues). It was neither stabilized nor filtered. It is closed with certified Estate Tap (natural cork from Espolla holm oaks, which has a smaller ecological footprint than other cork stoppers).
reVolt -Xavi Nolla says that it was difficult for them to choose the name- is a play on words that goes from the curves and curves that we have to trace through the turns that life takes or to take flight again after returning home (in reference to upon the return of grandfather AgustÃn once the war was over and his time in a concentration camp). It also refers to a call for revolution. Also, his label design includes a flurry of birds. Of this first vintage, only 1,042 bottles have been produced. Nolla assures that “it is a source of pride to have a new wine, and that it is from the Empordà . It’s emotional for us.” He points out that “it is a wine that speaks of the territory in a DO that still has a long way to go and a lot to say.” He also explains that “reVolt wants to vindicate the oenological memory, value the native varieties, the use of chestnut wood for aging as it was done in the old days and a very artisan way of making, with minimal intervention.” He also states that “we do not want to be ambassadors or standard-bearers for anything, but we do want to contribute our grain of sand.” He wanted to show that “a high-quality wine can be made with all the oenological knowledge of today, but with the style of winemaking from before, without copying styles or iconic regions of the world, but rescuing Catalan identity and typicality”. The president of the DO Empordà , Xavier AlbertÃ, considers that “this is a great project beyond the sentimental”, and highlights the ancestral ways of doing things.
Medium layer and a beautiful color between ruby ​​and cherry. It exhibits cigar box cedar, vanilla and smoky notes on a bed of black and red fruit (pomegranate, black plum, blueberry and slightly tart cherries). It is also fragrant (red rose petals). It shows a tannin that more time per bottle will polish. It is young, fine, fluid, elegant and long, with an alcohol content of 14° and good tension thanks to its good acidity. From Vins de la Memòria it is stated that this red wine “is perfect to accompany traditional cuisines of rested time, game meats, spicy homemade roasts and, of course, to pair with the best meats of the territory.” Xavi Nolla likes to accompany his wine with a back of lamb baked in the Empordà style, with baked potatoes, rosemary and spices. It is also ideal to pair with rice from Pals with prawns from Palamós, with chicken from Empordà with langoustines and even with rag cottage cheese.
Vins de la Memòria was presented just now 4 years ago at El Born in Barcelona, ​​in March 2019. Xavi Nolla acknowledges that his “liquid words†project, which has also had to overcome the effects of the pandemic, has gone through “ ups and downsâ€. He adds that “economic viability is difficult in a widely disseminated project, with complicated logistics and which requires many trips.” Its current production is around 10,000 bottles per year. It hardly exports, with the exception of a few bottles sold in El Roussillon and London. 40% of its production is marketed in the Balearic Islands. He assures that “here we are, and eager to continue making memories.” Perhaps, like Jean Paul Richter, Xavi Nolla understands that memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be expelled.
