After a pile of rain overnight, the forecast was looking a little overcast as we set off in a similar direction to Thursday – along the coast towards Tarragona and then inland. However, rather than going up into the high hills of Priorat we skirted around to reach Terra Alta. The name of course literally means ‘high ground’ but most of the vineyards are down in the valley.
Our first stop was to the family owned estate of Celler Cal Menescal. Owner Josep Bosch I Llovet greeted us in the courtyard of the family home close to the winery. We are right in the main street of the town of Bot and a wonderful story unfurled. Josep was the first family member to go to wine school and implemented some quite dramatic changes when given free rein. Eschewing the modern Terra Alta styles that were emerging, he reverted to more old fashioned styles with longer fermentations creating a more textured approach to production. They also went from 150,000 bottles per year to just 15,000!
Josep was hugely entertaining with a great sense of humour and this carried through to our tasting which was a pairing of five wines and five cheeses. This took place in a wonderfully atmospheric upstairs tasting/dining room that oozed family history. The majority of the wines were Garnacha Blanca – the signature grape of the Terra Alta. Dry, Orange, long aged – it was a fascinating array of wines which paired magnificently with a range of International cheeses. I think I’m a bit of a cheese and wine afficionado but this took me to a much, much higher level.
A truly fabulous start to the day.
It was just twelve minutes to Herència Altés – also within the Terra Alta DO – and an estate we have visited before in 2025. This is a huge contrast to Menescal – a big estate in hundreds of acres of land, very modern winery, beautiful tasting room and kitchen and a major commitment to the environment. We took a wonderful walk around part of the estate with Naja who talked us through the landscape and philosophy before showing us their Garnacha Peluda vineyard (hairy Grenache – because of a very fine filament on the leaf underside that retains water).
A quick look at the barrels and tanks and we were ready to eat and drink. Another fascinating array of wines awaited us with Garnacha Blanca, Peluda and Negra all represented in various forms. We tasted alongside a lovely rustic lunch of olives, tomato concoctions and various meats.
This was a fascinating contrast in a truly beautiful location.
