Celler tuets

Aiguamúrcia - Catalunya

The Alt Camp at the southernmost limit of Penedes sitting above the city of Tarragona is an incredibly beautiful corner of Catalonia, not far from the sea but feeling very mountainous - pine and scrub oak forests and rough terrain. It is here we met Albert of Celler Tuets. Albert and his family have been in the area, in fact that precise spot for 5 generations; he lives in the house that his grandfather built and farms the family land. This is made up of a total of 100 hectares most of which is woodland. 20 ha is planted with vines, 7 ha of this is in production for Celler Tuets. The rest of the grapes he sells to the coop.

It was in 2012 that Albert decided to keep a portion of the harvest to make wine. He was helped in his endeavours by his father, and they turned what was a barn for rearing rabbits into the cellar. The vineyards are planted on alternating layers of clay and limestone at around 600m altitude. This millefeuille helps retain water in the layers of clay Albert says. The vines they keep for themselves are generally the older parcels of local varieties - Garnacha Blanca, Macabeu, Parellada, Trepat, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Chenin Blanc, Tempranillo (Ull de Llebre) and Syrah.

The approach to winemaking is straightforward - grapes are de-stemmed with fermentation and ageing happening for the most part in stainless steel tanks. He has a few barrels which in 2021 he aged some wine which he then blended into the final Tots. He also has some amphora which he uses to age the single variety wines. 2021 was a small harvest for Albert but he realises that with the 20 ha under vine and the space in the cellar he has the potential to grow his production but he wants to do this gradually and in a considered manner.