Terra Remota comes to Terra Alta with Adalta

One of the best views in Catalunya, the rooftop of Terra Remota in DO Emporda

One of my longest relationships and unabashedly one of my favourite projects in Catalunya is the fine folks at Terra Remota. The team there have given me so many great experiences in the nearly six years since we first met, and have entertained so many folks I’ve recommended to their cellar door. When Joan shared with me their new project in Terra Alta from Marc and Emma Bournazeau, led by the brilliant winemaking hands of Edith Soler, I was impatient to wait for the end results. My wait ended this week.

Born from white and red Grenache from the region of DO Terra Alta, Adalta marries the best techniques plus experience from the Bournazeaus and Edith, with 30 and 50 year old vines from elevation. Adalta’s line up consists simply of a white and red, both from 2018, their first vintage for both.

Edith Soler reviews the grapes during one of her visits to the plots.

The white Adalta was harvested on September 12th of 2018, vinified by plot, debourbaged by cold decanting, fermentation at controlled temperature (15-17C), and aged on lees for 7 months. Adalta white goes through a light filtration prior to bottling. The white Grenache vines are 30 years of age and come from two plots – one at the Antiplano area of Terra Alta (500m elevation) and one from Plano area (350m elevation) – both plots without irrigation to develop that lush full flavour of hearty white Grenache. 2018 saw 12.000 bottles produced.

The red Adalta, harvested by hand in October, comes from a plot at 700m elevation from the Antiplano region of Terra Alta. Extraction is done by light daily pumping over, maceration of five weeks, and ageing of eight months with light filtration prior to bottling, with a limited production of 6.000 bottles.

Harvesting in Terra Alta!

Look, I could go into all the brilliant sommelier terminology of how amazing they are on the nose, and all the different notes and whatnot and et cetera. But I won’t. Because that’s boring and pretty much not what I do. What I will say is the white has an AMAZING minerality and a fruity lightness that makes for super easy drinking in the summer heat. Really easy drinking as I found out this week at Terra Remota when I went for a visit. And the red? Without a doubt going to be my choice for BBQ season over the next couple of weeks. It is has the gentle punch of a Grenache, but smooth on the entry. Again, super smooth that you don’t realise the bottle is gone.

You can pick up both at the winery for 19€ at the winery, and you’ll find both exclusively at select locations around Spain. For more details on where to find Adalta, contact the winery here. However, my recommendation is to head up to the winery in DO Emporda, and soak in a visit, maybe have one of their picnic lunches and taste Adalta there, plus all their other fantabulous wines. Terra Remota is one of my top 5 fave places to visit in Catalunya for very good reasons. 🙂