RAIMAT VENTADA -GARNACHA BLANCA- ORGANIC 2018

The wind has found a home in Bodegas Raimat. Present through all seasons, it is a very characteristic element of our farm. “The wind always radiates character, no matter from where it blows or where it goes. It always transmits strength to everything it touches”.

The RAIMAT winery has decided to reinvent the way of understanding and choosing a wine, putting its relationship with the consumer as the main goal. For the first time in history, the winery classifies all its wines according to their intensity. The objective is to help you when choosing a wine, identifying your own preferences and the most suitable pairings.
Another of the great innovations presented by Raimat is the conversion of all its vineyards from sustainable to ecological. Respect for the environment and nature is a common denominator of this Winery of Costers del Segre in its more than 100 years of history. Raimat was a pioneer in sustainable viticulture practices. It was the first winery to introduce plant covers to reduce soil erosion, to use gravity irrigation techniques to save more energy, pest control or precision viticulture.
 
• Appearance: Pale yellow almost beige colour, reminiscent of that ripe pear flesh...
• Nose: Very clean, exuberant and with that apricot bone scent... The cork already promises quality.
• Palate: Wine with fullness, dry, low acidity, quite long and scented with fruit and liquorice...
I could say is one of those wines with a white soul.

​Spring in Raimat was colder and wetter than usual, and this caused a delay in the vine cycle. However, the summer was hot and dry. This led to a progressive and optimal maturation. During the ripening of the white grapes some precipitation fell which delayed the harvest, so we had to wait until they reached good ripening levels. The wait was worth it.
We accompany it with a turkey sirloin and cocotte potatoes, with its spices: thyme, pepper, nutmeg and ras al hanout.
 And musically I chose in honour to the wind, a theme of Madredeus from their album O Paraiso, "A Tempestade".      ​

---

.CURIOSITIES:
Other names for white Garnacha grapes: grenache, grenache blanc, alicante blanca, silina lanc, belán, rool grenache, garnatxa blanca, feher grenache, etc.
 
Antithesis of wines with Atlantic character, the white Grenache is an icon of white wines with Mediterranean character. The extraordinary characteristics of white Grenache such as low acidity compensating alcohol, the balance in the oxidative nuances so complex to elaborate and its late maturity despite the heat, makes it a variety that will not leave impassive anyone enjoying it.
White Grenache is believed to originate from a mutation of the Spanish Red Grenache. It then travelled through the Pyrenees to France, finding a second home in the Rhone.
I won't discuss where exactly the white Grenache (Alicante, Aragon or Catalonia) comes from, nevertheless, I can say is a variety native to Spain and that it is currently considered one of the most reputed in the wine panorama.

​1918 • THE CATHEDRAL OF WINE
Work of the architect and disciple of Gaudí, Joan Rubió and Bellver, the Raimat winery was the first reinforced concrete building built in Spain. Its harmonious structure of arches and the atmosphere that was created inside gave it the qualification of “wine cathedral”
Raimat is the result of a family's dream that, more than a century ago, decided to give life to lands that were considered an inert desert. Its history dates back to 1914, when Manuel Raventós i Doménech, owner of Codorníu, acquired arid and infertile lands and turned them into a sea of vineyards.
More than 100 kilometres of ditches were built to bring the water from the Canal de Aragón to the farm, and make desert lands fertile again. In addition, the family also built the first and only wine colony in Europe: more than 100 houses for workers and their families, warehouses, a church, a school ... all the infrastructure necessary to give life to an area that, until then, only housed an old Middle Ages  castle in ruins,  which is currently the heritage of the winery. The stone engraved shield that crosses the access door to the quarterdeck was adopted as a mark of the brand and appears on the label of all the bottles. It is thought that the engraving can explain the origin of the name Raimat since it contains a bunch of grapes (raïm, in Catalan) and a hand (ma, in Catalan), we also know that in the surroundings of the castle vineyards were formerly cultivated.
​

---

​In 1986 Raimat promoted the creation of a new Denomination of Origin, Costers del Segre. A designation of origin whose wines have very particular characteristics, being a designation of origin with an interior character and far from the sea.
After the creation of the D.O. novelties in Raimat continue with the construction of the new winery ... A spectacular pyramid work built in the heart of the farm's hills. For its construction it was necessary to remove tons of soil, as the aging warehouses are located inside these hills, thus achieving a perfect integration of the winery with the landscape. One of the winery's vineyards of the Cabernet Sauvignon variety is planted on the land that covers the facilities. We'll have to try it too!

---