Herencia Altes is an ambitious wine project in the southern tip of Catalonia. This wine region boasts a rich winemaking history, with some 100-year-old Garnatxa grapes found here. Convinced of this grape's potential, Nuria Altes decided to harvest and vinify it herself. With the help of French oenologist Claude Gros, she created a beautifully concentrated, complex wine.
The vineyards are cultivated on clay and limestone soils, poor in organic matter. The climate in this area is Mediterranean with a continental influence, characterized by very cold winters and hot, dry summers. Two dominant winds have a significant impact on the quality of the grapes. These are the Cerc, a colder northwesterly wind, which ensures the grapes retain their natural acidity. And the Garvi, a mild sea breeze that ensures the grapes ripen well. These winds also prevent disease and rot in the bunches.
The grapes are harvested by hand. Once in the winery, they are destemmed and crushed, and the must is then cooled to around eight degrees Celsius. A skin maceration process takes place for ten days at around five to eight degrees Celsius until alcoholic fermentation begins. At a gravity of 1050, the free must is separated into another tank to complete alcoholic fermentation without the skins. The skins and the residue must remain in the same tank until the end of alcoholic fermentation. Twenty-four hours later, the grapes are pressed and racked to remove the thick lees. The vinification process concludes with aging for 22 months.
