Massipa White Priorat

When winemaker Ricard Rofes joined Scala Dei he set about tasting as many back vintages as he could to understand the history of the wine style. Upon tasting a complete vertical set from 1974 to the present day he found that those produced before the arrival of modern technology were more balanced, had aged more gracefully and were generally just better wines. In order to replicate this he did away with all the technology in the winery, bringing back concrete vats and removing the shiny stainless steel. To this day he insists that the only tech he uses is temperature control when absolutely necessary! True minimal intervention and absolute respect to the heritage of these magnificent wines! They picked the Garnatxa and Chenin at the same time, when the former was at peak ripeness. At that point, the Chenin would still need a couple more days, but that slight under-ripeness is precisely what gives the wine just the right acidity. At the crush pad, they pressed both varieties together. After débourbage, the grape must was racked to a concrete tank, where it fermented at 16-18 °C (~61-64 °F). Fermentation took place with wild yeasts and the gross lees were removed from the wine, which was left on the fine lees. During the first two months’ ageing they applied one bâtonnage per week, while the wine remained in the concrete tank. After two months it was put into a foudre for static ageing on fine lees.